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Ramble for 7/22/11

College Point, NYC,NY— I’m here dropping off a load of iced tea, and such. Just amazingly hot here, and across the region. We had an earthquake of about 3.0 up around Belleville, Ontario,Canada last night, and I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t heat related.

Before we look at the political stuff today, I should explain that my internet connectivity has been a problem here in the truck the last few days, mostly because of a messed up setting that was kind of buried in the setup of the phone. It’s back now, but there’s also been a lingering problem with the charge cables for the phone which I connect with.

I’ve picked up a new 110v charger to get me by, since I have a couple sources of 110 volts n the truck… but I must say I’m not overly happy about that situation, and I wonder how many others have discovered this issue with their cell phones… since they started using USB cables for charging, I’ve discovered that USB cables can be quite finicky.  I have several cables, now, only one of which actually works, and that one doesn’t always work in the places I plug in. I’m working on it.

  • THE SPIN HAS A DISCONNECT:I mentioned yesterday that Obama’s approval ratings have been in John Crapper’s elegant device for the last five quarters running.  Clearly, the American people don’t like the agenda of Obama, and want to reverse their error. So, why is it so many spinner and talking heads insist that the America people want compromise with the agenda they so overwhelmingly disapprove of? Wishful thinking, I suppose. THe majority of the press wants a full-on leftist again, despite the obvious failure of liberalism…. and a lot of the talking heads want another Bush-McCain center-left Republicritter. But I say the American people want neither.We find ourselves at a crossroads, much as we did with Jimmy Carter… where the American people are ready to elect real conservatives because they see clearly now as few other times, what disasters liberals and those who compromise with them, can be to our country. The only outstanding question is will the GOP actually offer up conservatives, including for POTUS, or will they offer us center left again? If the latter, I fear we may not survive the result, as a country.
  • WHY IS IT GETTING UGLY OUT THERE? I’ve noted here in the past that the leftyloons are getting restless, and their rhetoric is getting downright ugly.  Why? Simple, says Andrew Klavan: [1]

     It’s the increasingly apparent failure of Barack Obama. With the notable exception of Osama bin Laden’s execution, the Obama presidency has resembled nothing so much as an episode of Mr. Bean, one slapstick misadventure after another. The stagnant economy, the rising unemployment, the staggering, soon-to-be-crippling debt—hiked more under Obama than under every president from Washington to Reagan combined—these can no longer be blamed on his predecessor but are his to own.

    True enough, but add to that, I think, understanding that Obama is the purest example of the modern day liberal we’ve seen in politics in a long while, mixed with the slowly dawning realization that his failure is not a matter of competence or personality. Rather, he has failed because his ideology… the one they themselves believe in so fervently, is flawed…. fatally so.  What we are seeing is disillusionment, not unlike what we saw in the 60’s, following the death of JFK, etc. As Klavan suggests:

    This has to be fantastically humiliating for our left-wing media. If you’ve forgotten what they were like during Obama’s 2008 candidacy—the weirdly sexual thrills up their legs, the unreasoning comparison of Obama with America’s greatest men, the pseudo-religious idolatry—you have only to turn to August’s edition of Esquire to find a representative reminder that has to be read to be believed. It’s a column from Canadian writer Stephen Marche hilariously titled “How Can We Not Love Obama?” and subtitled “Because like it or not, he is all of us.” At one point, Marche writes: “‘I am large, I contain multitudes,’ Walt Whitman wrote, and Obama lives that lyrical prophecy.” And later—and I swear I’m not making this up: “Barack Obama is developing into what Hegel called a ‘world-historical soul,’ an embodiment of the spirit of the times. He is what we hope we can be.”

    Of course this embarrassment, this disillusionment, this reaction to reality, is not limited to the media. We’re seeing some of it leaking out into the world at large. Comment sections on blogs, for example. Watercooler discussions.  I’ve seen 400 mile long arguments ensue among truck drivers, which is why this article struck a chord with me. I suppose it is true that often the public needs to be angered to be engaged… And there is sufficient anger now to turn Obama out at the next election.  But some of this defense of the obvious failure of liberalism is getting pretty hairy.

  • UH-OH…. Democrat Senator Tom Harkin engaging in witness-tampering? [2] It does look that way. Do not expect it to be investigated, however.