How to Market a Disaster for Profit and Ratings

Today Glenn Reynolds asks:  

Why weren’t hurricane warnings issued for Sandy? 

Because, silly...it wasn't a Hurricane, it was a Superstorm!

You know, that class of storm that did not exist until some aspiring intern at one of the ratings whores media outlets turned to his/her boss and said "Dude, hurricanes are boring. Can't we call it Superstorm Sandy?"  And thus an ironclad, socially-conscious, and fraudulently empathetic marketing ploy was born.

Of course, there is no such thing as a "Superstorm".  Don't believe me, just ask both the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service.  Find me "Superstorm" in their glossaries.

During its existence, Sandy was both a Tropical Storm and a Hurricane.  One thing it never was...was a "Superstorm."

Of course we can't let such a small oversight get in the way of a sure-fire money raising scheme.  Just ask the allegedly straight-laced Red Cross.

There have been, like, a million hurricanes.  Thus that term is so 2005, and it doesn't bring in the cash/ratings like it used to.  Marketing ploys to the rescue.

Frauds and charlatans all.....

A Thought for Tomorrow...

Stolen blatantly from PJ Media, thanks!

First Time Ridicule

I am sure this "First Time" video plays well in many urban neighborhoods on the coasts, but I am not sure it is going to help Obama win Ohio...

Now the left would like to portray the response from the right as "hate", but I think the better word is "bewilderment".

So of course the best response to such tripe...is ridicule!

Why Obama Is Toast

#hhrs #tcot #sgp
Redstate has an exhaustive analysis as to why Obama is toast.

"The waterfront of analyzing all the factors that go into my conclusion here is too large to cover in one post, but the signs of Obama’s defeat are too clear now to ignore. Given all the available information – Romney’s lead among independents, the outlier nature of the 2008 turnout model, the elections held since 2008, the party ID surveys, the voter registration, early voting and absentee ballot data – I have to conclude that there is no remaining path at this late date for Obama to win the national popular vote. He is toast." 

If you can find a more thoroughly researched piece of election analysis (outside of Keith Backer's BattleGroundWatch), please let me know. Congrats to Dan McGlaughlin on a great effort!

The Risk of Unwanted Presidency

Perhaps you have seen this truly sophomoric ad put out by the Obama campaign. You must watch the whole thing.

While it has left Powerline speechless, the best statement I have seen on this tripe is in the comments over at Ricochet.

"She doesn't warn about the 

risk of an 'unwanted Presidency'"

Pink Jumps the Shark

Over on Instapundit, Ed Driscoll comments on one of my current pet peeves:

ENOUGH, ALREADY: 11-year-old boy convinced NFL to use pink penalty flags this week. Fighting breast cancer is certainly a noble cause, and I’m thrilled that the NFL is raising millions... But am I the only one who dreads watching a month’s worth of pink sneakers, and now pink penalty flags every October?

I agree with Ed that fighting any cancer, especially through publicity, is a noble cause. But I can't understand why exactly the NFL has adopted this so completely. It is not like the cause of fighting breast cancer is lacking for other advocates or publicity/propaganda.

The breast cancer fight and the pink ribbon have been well know for a long time. So the only possible reason that the NFL has gone to such lengths to show its commitment to the cause, is that in its zeal to attract more fans it has surrendered to the political correctness gods.

But lets face some facts. The majority of NFL fans are guys. So, sure, it is good to raise their awareness that their wives and girlfriends could be affected by this disease.  But shouldn't this league that makes billions of dollars off of these guys, owe it to them to raise their awareness about a cancer that could directly affect them...Prostate Cancer?  In fact, prostate cancer has a higher rate or mortality for males, than breast cancer has for females.

 

So why wouldn't the NFL want to do a service to the vast majority of their dedicated fan base, and alert them to a disease that does not have a existing national awareness campaign??

Dear NFL, next October please bench the Pink paraphernalia, adopt the blue ribbon, and make it "NFL Prostate Cancer Awareness Month"

National 'Don't Get Cocky' Day

beseachAfter three debates, I think we can fairly sum up the President's arguments and plan for his next term like this:

Thus, I beseech the great and powerful Insta-deity to declare today to be National 'Don't Get Cocky' Day.

14 days.  Good momentum. Right is on our side.   Don't. Get. Cocky!

Mitt Romney is a Liar!

Wait, I meant that other guy.

 

Bravo, Mr Ramirez....again.

Free The Likely Voters! Vol III

OK, so here we are...Oct 8, 2012, and Gallup is still holding Likely Voters hostage. Here we are, 29 days from the Presidential election and one of the most respected polling outfits for some reason seems fit to put forth "Registered Voters" as a reasonable prediction of the outcome of said election...

Here are today's "unlikely" results....

Now, Gallup did put out a video today where their Editor-in-Chief says that they will soon be putting out their LV screen results. Not a moment too soon. And surprise!  Gallup says they will "tighten the race."

 In 2008, by this point on the calendar, Gallup had been giving us LV numbers for two solid weeks. And in 2004, 6 months! Well, it should be interesting to see the results when they do finally release the hostages....

UPDATE:  Based on a post over at the invaluable Battleground Watch blog, Gallup will start posting their LV screens tomorrow.

Hunting Season

EJ Hill over at Ricochet has a great Photoshop:

Flipping PBS the Big Bird

Free the Likely Voters! VOL II

A few days ago I posted my observation that the esteemed Gallup organization for some reason had yet to "unleash" their Presidential poll results for "Likely Voters". After today's poll release, there is still no joy. Now, I had heard that Gallup would start their "Likely" screen on Oct 1. So, it could well be that since the Gallup poll is a 7-day running average, we might not see results posted until tomorrow. But in looking at their interactive webpage, you will the following graph:

The one thing that caught my eye, was the statement at the bottom of the page.

"From 1952 to 1988, only Gallup's final pre-election survey was among likely voters. Starting in 1992, Gallup reported likely voter percentages more frequently."

We are within 30 days of the election, so it seems ever more likely that "more frequently" may mean "never" in 2012. And why is that??

UPDATE:  Hot Air's Ed Morrissey has added some smaller sample Gallup analysis that shows Romney has pulled even with the President (47%-47%, Registered Voters!) in the three days following Thursday night's smackdown Debate, down from an Obama 5-point lead (50-45%).  More to follow later on the continuing hostage drama playing out over at Gallup....

Coexist with my Intolerance!

Prof. Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection has posted another in his collection of absurd liberal bumpersticker displays:

My only question to this young lady is...

Hey missy, how does your "Coexist" sticker...err, coexist, with your "Livingwithoutreligion" sticker??   Or better yet (and this is a common problem with those who display 'Coexist'), how does your "Coexist" sticker coexist with the hate and intolerance you display on some of your other stickers?

Get back with me when you figure it out....

Who Will Raise Taxes?

Obama, silly!

We Can't Afford Four More Years

#hhrs #tcot #sgp

First Presidential Debate - Word Cloud

Once I finally got a complete transcript, I put together a couple of word clouds.

First, a look at the words spoken by Mitt Romney:

Second, the words that came out of President Obama's mouth:

Lastly, here is a combination, along with Jim Lehrer:

CBS News Memory Holes Most of Romney's Debate Opening

I noticed an interesting omission from CBS News' "transcript" of last night's smackdown Presidential debate....Mitt Romney's entire opening statement, along with his whole 5-Point Economic Plan.

Here is what CBS shows:

[Obama] I think we've got to invest in education and training. I think it's important for us to develop new sources of energy here in America, that we change our tax code to make sure that we're helping small businesses and companies that are investing here in the United States, that we take some of the money that we're saving as we wind down two wars to rebuild America and that we reduce our deficit in a balanced way that allows us to make these critical investments.

ROMNEY: Now, I'm concerned that the path that we're on has just been unsuccessful. The president has a view very similar to the view he had when he ran four years, that a bigger government, spending more, taxing more, regulating more -- if you will, trickle-down government -- would work.

That's not the right answer for America. I'll restore the vitality that gets America working again. Thank you.

LEHRER: Mr. President, please respond directly to what the governor just said about trickle-down -- his trick-down approach, as he said yours is.

Now here is what they left out (courtesy of CNN)...

[Obama] I think we've got to invest in education and training. I think it's important for us to develop new sources of energy here in America, that we change our tax code to make sure that we're helping small businesses and companies that are investing here in the United States, that we take some of the money that we're saving as we wind down two wars to rebuild America and that we reduce our deficit in a balanced way that allows us to make these critical investments.

Now, it ultimately is going to be up to the voters -- to you -- which path we should take. Are we going to double on top-down economic policies that helped to get us into this mess or do we embrace a new economic patriotism that says America does best when the middle class does best? And I'm looking forward to having that debate.

21: 06:31: LEHRER: Governor Romney, two minutes.

21:06:32: FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY: Thank you, Jim. It's an honor to be here with you, and I appreciate the chance to be with the president. I'm pleased to be at the University of Denver, appreciate their welcome, and also the Presidential Commission on these debates.

And congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your anniversary. I'm sure this was the most romantic place you could imagine, here -- here with me. So I...

(LAUGHTER)
 

Congratulations.
 

This is obviously a very tender topic. I've had the occasion over the last couple of years of meeting people across the country. I was in Dayton, Ohio, and a woman grabbed my arm and she said, "I've been out of work since May. Can you help me?"
 

Ann yesterday was at a rally in Denver and a woman came up to her with a baby in her arms and said, "Ann, my husband has had four jobs in three years, part-time jobs. He's lost his most recent job and we've now just lost our home. Can you help us?"
 

And the answer is, yes, we can help, but it's going to take a different path. Not the one we've been on, not the one the president describes as a top-down, cut taxes for the rich. That's not what I'm going to do.
 

My plan has five basic parts. One, get us energy independent, North American energy independent. 

That creates about 4 million jobs.
 

Number two, open up more trade, particularly in Latin America. Crack down on China, if and when they cheat.
 

Number three, make sure our people have the skills they need to succeed and the best schools in the world. We're far away from that now.
 

Number four, get to us a balanced budget.
 

Number five, champion small business. It's small business that creates the jobs in America, and over the last four years, small business people have decided that America may not be the place to open a new business because new business startups are down to a 30-year low.

Now, I'm concerned that the path that we're on has just been unsuccessful. The president has a view very similar to the view he had when he ran four years, that a bigger government, spending more, taxing more, regulating more -- if you will, trickle-down government -- would work.

That's not the right answer for America. I'll restore the vitality that gets America working again. Thank you.

21:08:40: LEHRER: Mr. President, please respond directly to what the governor just said about trickle-down -- his trick-down approach, as he said yours is.

Given that CBS cut out the end of Obama's opening, it is more than likely to be an editing error.  But this is still sitting out there on the web, inaccurate, and at least on my search, the top Google search hit for debate transcripts.

Not a good thing for a major news organization to be missing almost 2 full minutes of transcript....

Free the Likely Voters! No Justice, No Peace!

It is well documented that polls of 'Likely Voters' are more likely to be more accurate, while polls of 'Registered Voters' and 'Adults' tend to produce results less accurate and more favorable to the Democrats.

So for a while now many have been waiting for one of the most respected poll outlets, the long running Gallup survey, to switch over from a 'Registered Voter' sample, to one showing the more accurate 'Likely Voter' result.  Alas, for some reason, it has not happened yet.

This is fairly strange, given the fact that here is it early October, and the Presidential election is fast approaching.  I hate to have conspiracy theories bouncing around my skull, but could it be that there is a result hiding in those LVs that somebody doesn't want let out?  It is obvious that many other polls are in the tank for a desired result, but one might hope that Gallup would be above that.

Take a look at Gallup's Presidential Election Center, where they show Obama leading Romney 49-45 among RVs:

Not a Likely Voter in site!

But as you can see below, in 2008 and 2004 respectively, according to their interactive website Gallup started publishing their LV screens in September 2008 (or as Jay Cost points out - June), and March(!).

So what is the deal, Gallup?  Have you been forgetting to ask that delicate question that identifies 'Likely Voters'?  If so, why can't they come out and play?  Are they locked up in an LA Times safe along with Obama's Rashid Khalidi video??

FREE THE LV'S!  FREE THE LV'S!  FREE THE LV'S!

The Value of Quality Opposition Research

Bwahahahahaha!

So AFSCME, one of the major Democrat Party enforcement arms, decided they could put out an ad that would tug at the heart-strings of middle-class and undecided voters, and convince them that Mitt Romney is sooooo out of touch with regular America.

Unfortunately, they failed to do even the basic amount of opposition research. And not the low-down, dirty kind. But the kind that simply requires a library card.

Here is the ad:

 "We’re kind of like the invisible people. He doesn’t realize that the service we provide – if it wasn’t for us, it would be a big health issue, us not picking up trash."

That sounds great.  Rich, white guy who hasn't a clue about me or what I do for him.

But here is the paragraph that could have saved them a lot of time:

"During my campaign for governor, I decided to spend a day every few weeks doing the jobs of other people in Massachusetts. Among other jobs, I cooked sausages at Fenway Park, worked on asphalt paving crew, stacked bales of hay on a farm, volunteered in an emergency room, served food at a nursing home, and worked as a child-care assistant. I’m often asked which was the hardest job – it’s child care, by a mile.

One day I gathered trash as a garbage collector. I stood on that little platform at the back of the truck, holding on as the driver navigated his way through the narrow streets of Boston. As we pulled up to traffic lights, I noticed that the shoppers and businesspeople who were standing only a few feet from me didn’t even see me. It was as if I was invisible. Perhaps it was because a lot of us don’t think garbage men are worthy of notice; I disagree – anyone who works that hard deserves our respect. – I wasn’t a particularly good garbage collector: at one point, after filling the trough at the back of the truck, I pulled the wrong hydraulic lever. Instead of pushing the load into the truck, I dumped it onto the street. Maybe the suits didn’t notice me, but the guys at the construction site sure did: “Nice job, Mitt,” they called. “Why don’t you find an easier job?” And then they good-naturedly came down and helped me pick up my mess."

Yep, he hasn't a clue.

Sounds like he did a whole season of Undercover Boss on his own....

Paying Phone Bills are for Suckers

What was I thinking, paying for my cell phone, when Uncle Sugar could be picking up the tab?!?

This is Our America - Part I

 The American dream is threatened like never before, and it is critically important that Americans stand up this November and make their voices heard.

What Could Go Wrong?

Over at Instapundit, guest host Ed Driscoll asks:

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Obama set to release 55 Gitmo inmates.

Of course the question was tongue-in-cheek, but the answer is...

This:

Former Gitmo inmate may have led Benghazi attack

Ups and Downs - A Poll Breakdown

Below is a representation of Rasmussen's Daily Presidential Swing State Tracking Poll, courtesy of race42012.com.

It is definitely a tale of ups and downs.  So lets break it down, and overlay some events, and see what might make it move the way it did...

So, obviously both candidates got 4-point bounces out of the their respective conventions.  Then the chaos in the Middle East happened.

There are certainly too many Obama Administration equivocations since Sept 11 to put on this graphic, but needless to say, it doesn't look like the good citizens of the swing states are taking to kindly their handling of the situation.  Now it is also hard to say whether Mitt Romney benefited from the press conference where he called out the Administration, and the Court Eunuchs Main Stream Press said he failed miserably, but the trend is in his favor.  Or perhaps he is just the lucky winner, as the real miserable failure pushes a tepid policy of appeasement between fund raising.

Gangster Govt at Work

#hhrs #tcot #sgp #dnc2012
"OK people, listen up!  We are going to keep taking this vote, until you vote the way we want you to.  And if you don't cooperate, we will just declare victory anyway."

So sad....it doesn't bode well for America under the Democratic Party.

The Iranians are Coming!

Hot off the Blackfive press:

Iran plans to patrol American coast with its Navy

The head of Iran's navy says the country aims to put its warships in international waters off the U.S. coast "in the next few years." The comments Tuesday from Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on state TV are part of Iran's response to Washington's beefed up naval presence in the Persian Gulf. 

Bwaaaaahahahahahaha!

The Iranian Navy can barely make it through the Suez Canal, I wish them luck in crossing the Atlantic...

The RNC is on a Roll - Part V

Another great ad...Are you a bump in the road?

The RNC is on a Roll - Part IV

An RNC ad that asks "Are you better off?"

The RNC is on a Roll - Part III

Great RNC ad where Jimmy Carter describes Obama's utter failure.

The RNC is on a Roll - Part II

A second *great* RNC ad that eviscerates President Obama.

The RNC is on a Roll

Who is @Reince Priebus, and what has he done with the old @GOP?

I wouldn't blame you if you had ignored the RNC, what with its recent record of hamfisted party and message management, and ability to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.  But it seems that those days are gone...at least for the moment.

Perhaps in its greatest achievement this election cycle (outside of raising boatloads of cash) is the fact that the RNC has hired a crew that actually knows how to put together an effective, and devastating political ad.  One that sticks the rhetorical knife in, twists it, and all without some over-the-top,scary voiceover.

It has suddenly (and finally!) dawned on someone in the RNC that the scariest voiceover for political ads, can be that of Barack Obama...

Dem Convention being held at Jim Crow Stadium

 #hhrs #tcot
As a black man, will Pres. Obama even be able to get into the convention??  'Cause we all know (according to the soft bigotry of the liberal mind) that black people can't afford to get official IDs.

Forget the fact that the Dems can't even bring themselves to speak the real name of the stadium where their convention finale will be held (Bank of America Stadium) for fear of being connected to "Big Banks" (which they are of course are anyhow), I have to laugh at the fact that the liberal do-gooders who rail against simple and common sense Voter ID laws are making anyone who wants to get into the convention produce....an ID.

Power to the People!

They better not let this get out.  They might have some disappointed Minnesota artists on their hands...

Out of Touch

As usual, it is all about Obama.  Our Warriors are but pawns in supporting his political future...

Obama's Successful Stimulus!

#hhrs #tcot   
Did I say "successful"? I meant putrid failure!

Thanks to Jim Pethokoukis for giving us this July update on the progress of Obama's deficit-busting crony payoff Stimulus.

Most importantly, note the green comment in the upper right corner.

[h/t - Instapundit]

Obama's America - This Space for Lease

Marooned in Marin has a great pictorial rundown on today's visit to Manassas, VA by the new Romney/Ryan team.

But perhaps the most apropos shot was not of the rally itself, but a scene just down the street, as a small gaggle of of Obamatons hang outside the local Campaign collective.

 But what caught my eye was the yellow sign, hanging amongst all the blue ones....

Normally one wouldn't see a Campaign HQ wanting to rent out their space until after the election.  

All joking aside, the fact that Obama would take over a storefront that has apparently gone under during his economic reign is totally appropriate, and the ultimate bumper-sticker for his economic plan.

Obama's America - This Space for Lease

Almost as good as Obama's America - Under New Management.

CNN Commits Act of Journalism!

Holy Crap, CNN does its job!


I doubt we will see this again....

UK Police Arrest Harry Reid!

OK, maybe not, we can only dream.  But let's take some time to juxtapose some news events from today...

Senator Harry Reid said of Mitt Romney:

"His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son..."

Harry Reid remains a United States Senator.

Meanwhile over in Britain...a young lad tweeted the following to British Olympic diver Tom Daley who had lost out on a medal:

"You let your dad down i hope you know that."

That 17-year-old was arrested by police "on suspicion of malicious communications."

I don't know which is worse, the death of free speech in the United Kingdom, or the fact that Harry Reid represents what is so great about this country...

Math v. Vitriol

With Wisconsin lost, all that is left for the Left to do is mewl and spit vitriol.
This is the perfect time for Conservatives to take the high ground, and win the day with calm, common sense, and actual honest-to-God numbers.

As Matt Welch argues over at Reason, "No amount of crying over evil Scott Walker will help governments fix their bleeding balance sheets."

Get Serious About Governing, Democrats

  [...]   Wisconsin has been the front line of America's Democrat vs. Republican, blue vs. red rhetorical war for 16 months now, ever since newly elected Republican governor Scott Walker pushed through a budget repair bill that withdrew government from the union dues-collecting business for public employees and removed the collective bargaining power of most government unions, an act that triggered historic public protests. So on the morning after Walker survived a labor-led recall election by a higher margin than he originally won office in 2010, there were plenty on the left grumbling darkly about the Dark Lord rising over our once-free country. 

At The American Prospect, Harold Meyerson compared Walker's actions to a "jihad" and suggested (paradoxically) that a post-union labor movement might just resort to rioting. Walker "wins one for the plutocrats," Joan Walsh lamented at Salon, without really explaining how the monocle-wearers could win 38 percent of the union vote. 

Such demonization was of a piece with leftish commentary in the run-up to the recall. Esquire's Charles P. Pierce described Walker as a "goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage its midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin," which would now be subject to "the habits of oligarchy." Even more grossly, The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel wrote in The Washington Post that Walker's policies were intended to "cleanse the electorate of people who don’t look, earn or think like him."    

[...]    

So, progressives: What is the right percentage of a government budget to be spent on public sector pensions? If this requires that cities and states simply need to come up with bigger budgets (through increased taxes) precisely how much bigger would be appropriate? If you don't want to increase overall budgets, what other government services are you willing to cut?    

[...]    

As long as Democrats keep dodging these questions, no amount of plutocrat-baiting will reverse their political fortunes. Governments at all levels are out of money. Progressives are going to have to come up with a better response to that than saying "we were robbed."

Indeed....

Dear Brett Kimberlin...

I won't be moving to an undisclosed location....

(No slight intended to the esteemed Robert Stacy McCain, who obviously felt the actual threat required such action.  I just saw the picture in my blog history, and the idea popped into my head...)

Mitt Romney on Taxes and California

#hhrs #tcot   
From Jim Geraghty:

On California governor Jerry Brown’s call for a referendum in November on his proposal for an $8.5 billion tax hike:
“I think you are seeing the result of a series of actions in California, actions that have led to public-sector unions’ having benefits and wages out of line with those in the private sector. There’s an unwillingness to deal with fiscal problems before they reach near-crisis level. And the high rate of taxes in California is causing businesses to leave California.

“I hope that doesn’t accelerate, but as the governor continues to raise taxes on the most successful, the most successful will leave. Others will decide to not open their doors because the risk will be too great that even if they’re successful, the government will end up taking what they earn. The governor is taking them in the wrong direction. I wish Californians had elected Meg Whitman. She would have been more successful and explained to Californians the need to cut back on spending and eliminate unnecessary programs. There are other states that have very different records. I think it’s interesting that the state with the highest or among the highest tax rates in the nation also has the worst or near the worst deficit.

“You can’t tax your way out of debt or a deficit. You simply have to rein in the size of the government, because the government will simply ask for more and more and more, until the taxpayers finally say ‘enough.’”

Mitt Romney on Greece

#hhrs #tcot   
From Jim Geraghty:

On whether Greece should leave the euro, and whether the euro was a mistake from the beginning: 
“I think the euro is under the stress that many had predicted. Cobbling together in one currency nations with such different fiscal policies and such different levels of productivity was bound to cause strains that, if not addressed, could imperil the other nations and the currency itself. The fact that Greece has found it difficult to live up to the commitments it made coming into the euro — that has made those stresses even greater. And now you have an extremely threatening setting that has the entire world holding its breath. We’re all concerned about what might happen to Greece and the people there if aggressive action is not taken to restore its fiscal balance and allow it to grow again and start participating fully in the world economy. I can’t predict precisely what will happen. That will depend upon the people of that nation, the leaders of that nation, and the leaders of countries like France and Germany. They may decide that it’s in their interest to try to cover for the shortfalls of another nation, but that is yet to be seen.”

Mitt Romney on Bain Capital & Private Equity

#hhrs #tcot   
From Jim Geraghty:

On the fact that one of his successors at Bain Capital, Jonathan Lavine, is a top Obama bundler:
“I have no problem with people who have differing political sentiments participating in the political process. I can say I know that the Obama campaign misfired with this attack. The GS Steel Enterprises events that are in question occurred after I left the firm, so that obviously is not a very effective attack. Although the whole idea that we’re going to attack people in private equity — who make over 100 investments to get results in any one investment — is a very strange course for the president to take. I realize, however, that the president wants to do anything he can to deflect attention from his record, and he will persist in personal attacks.”


On how a firm like Bain can make money while the companies it manages, such as GST or Dade Bering, can fail:
“With very few exceptions, the times you are successful in an investment are when the enterprise itself becomes larger and more successful. That is how our firm and other firms were able to achieve such success. There are a few exceptions where an enterprise is doing well, and realizing dividends from its success, but then it encounters a reversal in circumstances, and it no longer does well. . . . That tends to be rare. The people in my firm, in every investment we made, we wanted to make the business more successful. The cartoon caricature of investors coming in, taking all the money out of a business and leaving it bankrupt is, of course, absurd. The only way you make money in the industry that I’m familiar with is by making the business more successful, more profitable, not by making it less so.”

Mitt Romney on Patriotic Debt

#hhrs #tcot   
From Jim Geraghty:

During the campaign of 2008, Obama said that running up $4 trillion in debt was “unpatriotic.” On whether he would use the same term to describe Obama’s running up $5 trillion:
 
“I’ll call it inexcusable and disappointing that a president who was so critical of his predecessor for roughly $400 billion to $500 billion annual deficits is now running trillion-dollar deficits and has not apologized for them. When a president says that he pledges to cut this deficit in half by the end of his first term, and he’s doubled it instead — that shows he is on the wrong track. I try to avoid highly incendiary language, but this is something that puts our country very much at risk.”

Mitt Romney on Restoring our AAA Credit Rating

#hhrs #tcot   
From Jim Geraghty:

On restoring America’s AAA credit rating, and how long that would take:

“I believe that if we show we have tackled our long-term unfunded liabilities, which are primarily Social Security and Medicare, and if we have killed certain federal programs, and if we’re on track to have a balanced budget in about eight years or so, at that point rating agencies will recognize that our credit rating is solid.

“ . . . Right now, the challenge from having been downgraded is not as apparent [as it might be] to the American people because the world is frightened of the euro, and so people are bringing their cash to the United States. That is holding down interest rates here. In addition, the Federal Reserve is purchasing our treasuries and holding down interest rates here. But at some point these features will come to an end, and if we are not on track to having a superior credit rating, we will start paying the costs of higher interest.”

Mitt Romney on the National Debt

From Jim Geraghty:

Mitt Romney on getting Americans to focus on the difficult, sometimes abstract issues of the deficit and accumulating national debt:
 
“I think it helps to translate the federal-debt and unfunded-liability numbers into personal numbers. The total amount of accumulated debt and unfunded liabilities is approximately $520,000 per American household. What that means is that each household will be paying the interest on the debt and paying the principal on the unfunded liabilities over the coming decade or two. It means that our kids will get saddled with that $520,000 — which of course will become a good deal larger over the next four or five years if the president is reelected.

“That number says that as interest rates go up, as they undoubtedly will down the road, people will get burdened with a tax figure that makes it harder for them to start their lives out, get homes, and build a future for themselves. It really kills the American Dream to be burdened with that kind of a figure from the beginning of your life. And so I think that’s the most effective way I can talk about the personal impact, long term, of this debt and unfunded-liability burden.

“There is also a recognition in this country that what Greece and Italy and Spain are facing could conceivably be brought home to us. The recognition that you reach a point where the world decides that your obligations are perhaps not going to be met, or that they will be inflated away — in which case people will ask for higher interest rates, and you’ll find yourself in a doom loop.”

The Next Summer Blockbuster

The Money Pit - Staring Barry Obama and Nancy Pelosi

[h/t - EJ Hill @ Ricochet]

Obama Names Special Investigator in Secret Service Scandal

[h/t - Rob Long]

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part IX

TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY? JUST WAIT UNTIL OBAMACARE SETS IN!

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part VIII

DID OBAMACARE SLOW PRIVATE SECTOR RECOVERY?

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part VII

MEDICAID EXPANSION BURDENS STATE BUDGETS

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part VI

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

A MEDICAID MONSTER

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part V

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

STATES: OBAMACARE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part IV

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

PREMIUMS CONTINUE TO RISE UNDER OBAMACARE

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part III

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

IF YOU LIKE YOUR HEALTH CARE, CAN YOU REALLY KEEP IT?

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part II

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

MILLIONS REMAIN UNINSURED UNDER OBAMACARE

h/t: Adam Freedman

If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free - Part I

From the Heritage Foundation's Obamacare in Pictures:

OBAMACARE EXPANDS DEPENDENCE ON GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE

h/t: Adam Freedman

Dogs and Cats...Living Together

Yesterday both the Tea Party and #OWS came out to protest Obama.

Zombie (a national treasure/hero for braving many a lefty protest) has a great pictorial round-up.

He has a great picture of one of the 99%...

Though I am pretty sure he is actually part of the 1%....or 0.001%....of something!

Clean Energy Payola

How Obama spread your $$ around to his "Green" buddies, in a convenient poster...

[h/t - Doug Ross]

May I See Your Teeth Please?

So...you thought Obamacare's mandatory, free contraception against religious beliefs was controversial?  How about "tooth-level surveillance"?

From Mark Steyn's The Church of Obama:

"...As Philip Klein pointed out in the American Spectator two years ago, the Obamacare bill contained 700 references to the secretary “shall,” another 200 to the secretary “may,” and 139 to the secretary “determines.” So the secretary may and shall determine pretty much anything she wants, as the Obamaphile rubes among the Catholic hierarchy are belatedly discovering. His Majesty King Barack “shall have full power and authority to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts, and enormities whatsoever they be.” In my latest book, I cite my personal favorite among the epic sweep of Commissar Sebelius’s jurisdictional authority:

“The Secretary shall develop oral healthcare components that shall include tooth-level surveillance.”

Before Obama’s Act of Supremacy did the English language ever have need for such a phrase? “Tooth-level surveillance”: from the Declaration of Independence to dentured servitude in a mere quarter-millennium.

Henry VIII lacked the technological wherewithal to conduct tooth-level surveillance..."

And just think...removing those tracking devices in you molars under Obamacare will be great fun when Novocaine is deemed too expensive...

Is it 2016 Yet?

Since apparently the CPAC organization forgot that we live in a digital media age, and has not posted any videos of the speeches from CPAC 2012, here is a great one by Sen Marco Rubio (from his own youtube channel).

Is it 2016 yet?

For Whom the Bulb Tolls

As Instapundit is more than happy to point out, you can still get old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs over on Amazon...

But if you want to find them, don't try looking in new childrens books.  In a perfectly unoffensive book that I recently purchased, we find a main character who suddenly has an idea.  What appears above her head?  This? 

No....this:

For over a century the incandescent light bulb has been the symbol of ideas that have come instantly to mind.  Now I guess this "new & improved" politically correct image will be the symbol of ideas that take a few minutes to actually reach their full brightness....  

But this is what we should expect in our future lives in a European-style social democracy.  Things that are not quite as quick, efficient, or enjoyable as they used to be...but it will all be for the common good.