First Wynn, Then Davidowitz, And Now Marcus

Most of the reader should remember Steve Wynn's rant. We posted some of the transcript. Then we posted Howard Davidowitz's hilarious critique of Obama's economy. Now the founder of Home Depot, Bernie Marcus has waded into the discussion in an interview in Investor's Business Daily. This interview is a scathing criticism of Obama and his crowd of job destroyers. Marcus says it would be impossible to start a company like Home Depot in Obama's regulated economy but he also reveals an insight into the fear that exists in the business community.

IBD: Why don't more businesses speak out?

Marcus: They are frightened to death — frightened that they will have the IRS or SEC on them. In my 50 years in business, I have never seen executives of major companies who were more intimidated by an administration.

IBD: What's your message to the business community?

Marcus: It's time to stand up and fight. These people in Washington are out there making your life difficult, and many of you won't survive. Why aren't you doing something about it? The free enterprise system made this country what it is today, and we've got to keep it alive. We are on the edge of the abyss.

At the Job Creators Alliance, we're trying to recruit people who are willing to step up and say: " I've had it. There's no one representing me. I want to be out there and fight."

You can bet that Marcus and his friends at the Job Creators Alliance will fight. Men like Wynn, Davidowitz, and Marcus got where they are by being smart but aside from being smart they can also be a little bit mean. They have money and they have political connections and they know how to fight. As election nears don't think you've heard the last from these men and the small army of business leaders their blunt words have emboldened.

Leftist crazy talk is everywhere

  Perhaps it's the dog days of summer that are affecting people's behavior.
  Crazy talk is everywhere. I'm not going to link to it since it's easily found everywhere.
  A crazy guy in Norway apparently quotes from some American bloggers, et al, and now libs and MSM but I repeat myself are claiming, just as they did after the Gabby Giffords shooting, that conservatives are responsible for the Norway murders.
  Immediately, then, Muslims (because the shooter was anti-jihad which makes a lot of sense since he went on a jihad himself) have become victims though, at this point, it does not appear any Muslims were killed or wounded.
  Probably the most incisive commentary so far on this heinous crime and its consequences is written by Mark Steyn over at NRO. This is just a bit of Steyn:

Nevertheless, Breivik’s manifesto seems to be determining the narrative in the anglophone media. The opening sentence from USA Today:

Islamophobia has reached a mass murder level in Norway as the confessed killer claims he sought to combat encroachment by Muslims into his country and Europe.

So, if a blonde blue-eyed Aryan Scandinavian kills dozens of other blonde blue-eyed Aryan Scandinavians, that’s now an “Islamophobic” mass murder? As far as we know, not a single Muslim was among the victims. Islamophobia seems an eccentric perspective to apply to this atrocity, and comes close to making the actual dead mere bit players in their own murder. Yet the Associated Press is on board: 

     Security Beefed Up At UK Mosques After Norway Massacre.

But again: No mosque was targeted in Norway. A member of the country’s second political party gunned down members of its first.

  Lots of accusations are being hurled against any blogger who initially claimed that the murders were probably jihadists. Go figure. Who would make that connection. Huh.
  Powerline pushes back against the leftist accusations and mockery of those who assumed it was jihadists:

Was that wrong? Not at all. Any time mass murder attacks take place, it is not just likely but highly probable that they are the work of Muslim jihadists. Over the last several decades, jihadists have launched hundreds if not thousands of terrorist attacks. They dwarf, in numbers, similar outrages perpetrated by anyone else. That is why, whenever a bomb kills innocent bystanders or an armed man guns down children, the first thing everyone thinks is that it likely will prove to be another instance of Islamic terrorism

  It was interesting that everywhere in headlines when the murders first happened, the words "Christian" and "conservative" were in many headlines describing the shooter. "Anti-Islamic" shooter was another word used.
  As Steyn says, "Muslims are now the preferred victims even in a story in which they are entirely absent." How careful are the headline writers not to include the word Muslim murderers in their titles.
  So numerous conservatives are named in the shooter's manifesto (in addition to Obama), which apparently means that conservatives are guilty of...something. Again. Without having done anything or used the kind of murderous language common among leftists.
  Pamela Geller at AtlasShrugs (another writer accused of inciting the Norwegian shooter) wonders who altered his Facebook page to include the words "Christian" and "conservative."
  In fact, she has screen shots of both Facebook pages. Some dark conspiracies are emerging about that particular deal.

Did he have two different Facebook pages, one in Norwegian and one in English, and he only identified himself as a Christian and a conservative on the English one? Or did he pause from his murder spree to add "Christian" and "conservative" to his Facebook profile? Or maybe the whole page is a fake, as has been reported here.

But in the case, who faked it, and why? Who is so anxious to portray Breivik as a Christian and conservative? And if this was faked, can we trust any of the material that is now being released about Breivik being anti-jihad?

  This is the way the page looked the day his name was announced. Geller has a picture of the reworked page. 

  We'll have to wait to see these issues resolved. 

  Meanwhile the fight continues.

  Oh, and, btw, the word fight is not to be taken literally.

  Most sane people would be able to figure that out.

UPDATE: It should be noted that Christianity is a religion of peace. The shooter identified himself as "Christian," but there is a difference in identification as "Christian" and "Christian identity," as Verum Serum points out and concludes in this piece:

I know the distinctions made here will hold little interest for many, however I think it may come as a relief to many religious Christians that Anders Breivik did not place himself among their ranks. He does not have a “personal relationship” with God in the protestant tradition. On the contrary, he describes himself as practical, secular, and not very religious.

Again, Breivik does label himself “Christian”, but that Christianity is of the Christian Identity variety, i.e. having to do with certain cultural norms and traditional holidays. To call him a “fundamentalist” as some news outlets have done is simply false. In fact, he has little in common with the explicitly religious Christianity taught and practiced in Christian churches around the world each Sunday.

Blue Dogs; A Dying Breed

Put Blue Dogs on the endangered species list? The pack of so called conservative Democrats was thinned precipitously in 2010 when voters sent 22 of them to the pound, including best of breed, Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin of South Dakota. Rep. Jane Harmon resigned early this year to take another position. Reps. Joe Donnelly, David Boren, and Mike Ross will not run for re-election. Had they had the good sense to hire Michael Vicks as a coach they may not be a dying breed.

"Undefeated" On Pay-Per-View!

Can't find a theater in your area that will run Sarah Palin's "Undefeated"? If you can hang on another month everything will be alright. On Sept. 1, the film will be made available via On Demand and pay-per-view through national and regional cable and satellite operators, such as DirecTV, DISH Network and Time Warner Cable. After relying on word-of-mouth and social media for the theatrical premiere on July 15, ARC is planning a more traditional marketing campaign for the small-screen debut. Also DVD's will soon be available including a special Walmart edition.

Bachmann Decks Pawlenty

Tim Pawlenty tried to get his sinking campaign a much needed boost by stressing executive experience. That's fine. Tell the voters how well you did as a governor and promise more of the same. Pawlenty, however, is desperate and has launched an attack on Michele Bachmann's supposed lack of that experience. When this tactic didn't work he raised questions about Bachmann's ability to serve due to her migraine headaches. That blew up in his face. So back he went to the lack of executive experience screed. Today the Bachmann campaign slapped the taste out of his mouth with this statement:

"Actions speak louder than words. When I was fighting against the unconstitutional individual mandate in healthcare, Governor Pawlenty was praising it. I have fought against irresponsible spending while Governor Pawlenty was leaving a multi-billion-dollar budget mess in Minnesota. I fought cap-and-trade. Governor Pawlenty backed cap-and-trade when he was Governor of Minnesota and put Minnesota into the multi-state Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord. While Governor Pawlenty was praising TARP -- the $700 billion bailout in 2008 -- I worked tirelessly against it and voted against it."

Pawlenty is the only candidate in the Republican field to attack another Republican; not just an occasional jab, but an unrelenting and sustained attack. Let's see if he can take a counter punch.

Congressman Wu Won't Go

Good news for House Democrats! Congressman David Wu says he's not going anywhere. Politico is reporting that the Oregon Democrat, through a spokesman, has said he has done nothing serious enough to force his resignation but he will not seek re-election. Nancy Pelosi has stopped short of calling for Wu's head instead replying "no comment" when Mr.Wu name is brought up. Maybe a diffident back bencher can ride out a scandal that a motor mouthed New Yorker could not.

Boehner Shows Leadership

I've never been enthusiastic about John Boehner and wonder if anyone outside his immediate family has either. He's not a bad looking guy and he wouldn't have gotten to where he is today without discipline, hard work, and some brains but nothing about the guy is exciting. Lately though, and especially when he follows Obama on the news reports, he looks poised, calm, confident, and reassuring. No drama Obama, on the other hand, scold, pouts, and threatens. Then he summons congressional leaders to the White House like he thinks he's ordering a pizza.

I've long suspected the Democrats' strategy was to actually have a shutdown of the government, confident the Republicans would be blamed by the voters. The president's debt commission's report has been out for going on two years and the Republicans would have gladly implemented its recommended tax reforms but instead it was ignored. Only after a historic election when they lost the House did the Democrats become interested in tax reform and that wasn't until the debt limit debate began in earnest. Then they selectively chose hedge funds, oil companies, and corporate jets, all highly visible targets, as the objects of their new found antipathy. This is all politics and class warfare. Now the latest demand is the debt ceiling be sufficient to get everyone past the next election the purported reason being the uncertainty is bad for business.

In the past few days, since he broke off negotiations with the White House, John Boehner is looking down right presidential. He has promised a debt ceiling bill based on Cut, Cap, and Balance in a shorter form that would allow a small increase in the debt ceiling with spending cuts equal to the amount of increase. The time gained by the short term extension would be used to enact tax reform and the other legislation necessary for a long term debt limit deal. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi immediately dissed the idea and this morning Timothy Geithner and Bill Daley hit the talk shows with the message that a stop gap measure would be unacceptable to the administration.

Looking confident and svelte in his dark suit, John Boehner quietly announced he would continue to work on the bill anyway. He is doing what Obama warned Eric Cantor not to do. He is calling Obama's bluff! Better yet he is showing leadership.
Update: Read what Boehner said to the Republican Caucus.

Sunday's Super Senior Jean Shepard

Jean Shepard's signature song, a duet she did with Ferlin Husky, "Dear John" launched her career. Recorded in 1953 during the Korean War it must have had more poignancy than most country songs. Miss Shepard is 77. The video below is not the best quality but is the latest I could find. It was recorded two years ago when she was only 75. You can read more here or look for more videos here.

Previous Sunday's Super Seniors Connie Smith Narvel Felts , Jim Ed Brown, Jack Greene & Jeannie Seely, Jim Glaser

 

Pressure On Wu To Go.

Congressman David Wu is under pressure from his party to resign following news reports of sexual misconduct involving the daughter of a donor. The seven term Congressman spoke to Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi today. Though not confirmed it is believed that Pelosi told him to resign. The party's inept handling of the Anthony Weiner scandal managed to monopolize media attention for ten days, knocking the party off message in its attempt to discredit Congressman Paul Ryan' budget plan. Maybe if he hurries he can go through rehab with Weiner. Sing; Wu lost that loving feeling

Boehner To The Rescue?

Speaker John Boehner has told rank and file GOP congressmen to be alert for a deal by 2 PM Sunday. The deal will be the product of House negotiations with the White House excluded from participation. Boehner must believe that he and the leadership of both congressional parties can work out a deal that they can live with and the President be damned. One would expect a short term, stop gap, deal that included the things that Vice President Joe Biden had agreed to in his negotiations with GOP leadership. Such a deal would probably be enough for the government to continue operating for another 6 months; a deal Obama has promised to veto before waffling. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have voiced support of a congressional solution to the debt ceiling impasse. Stay tuned and enjoy the drama.

Gasparino: Prez using "d" word irresponsible

  For those of us who have not been keyed into economic terms and the way the government operates (if there is any method to which it operates other than seat of the pants), much of this discussion is somewhat obscure. Actually the way this whole mess is being conducted is pretty illuminating.
  On FNC this morning, Charles Gasparino said that the most irresponsible thing he's heard from this debt argument is to use the word "default" repeatedly regarding the economy. In addition, he's pretty certain US credit rating will be downgraded sometime early next week. He said that all bills will be paid and for The Prince to say otherwise is irresponsible and will lead to the rest of the world thinking that American money is just a piece of paper.

Steve Wynn Now Howard Davidowitz

"These guys just keep digging the hole bigger. They're crazy." Howard Davidowitz, an investment banker, is no fan of Washington period. In this video he makes Steve Wynn seem mild in his assessment of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Jared Bernstein. Reading a transcript of this video would not convey the message as it would miss the animation in Davidowitz's face. The RNC should buy the rights to this video.

David Wu "The Oregon Predator"

Serial sex offender and Democratic Congressman from Oregon, David Wu may soon replace former Congressman Anthony Weiner as his party's most embarrassing member. The Oregonian is reporting that the congressman is refusing to respond to an accusation from an unknown woman who left a voicemail on his district office phone stating that the congressman engaged in "aggressive and unwanted sexual behavior". The young woman is described as being the daughter of a donor who according to her FaceBook page must have graduated from high school in 2010. Two sources said the woman believed there was not enough evidence to press charges. There were no witnesses, and it would be her word against a seven-term member of the U.S. Congress.

In 2004, The Oregonian reported on a 1976 case when Wu was a student at Stanford University and was disciplined for trying to force an ex-girlfriend to have sex.

Wu refused interview requests related to the Stanford incident for months and hired an attorney who aggressively attacked the paper's reporting and sought to stop publication. When the story ran three weeks before the 2004 election, Wu quickly apologized for his "inexcusable behavior" and was re-elected.

The alleged incident raises new questions about Wu's behavior during the 1st District congressman's re-election campaign last year. According to staff at the time and emails from the period, he behaved so erratically that staff avoided scheduling him for public appearances and ran a campaign that relied heavily on advertising. Shortly before the Nov. 2 election, senior staff quietly shut down the campaign office and sent other campaign workers home.

Hold that Tiger!

“I Never Believed the President Negotiated in Good Faith"

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson says, “I never believed the president negotiated in good faith..." Appearing on FoxNews, the Tea Party favorite went on to say Obama is not the adult in the room. Clearly this business of calling a press conference every time something goes wrong after avoiding the same press for months is not a winning strategy either. As it has been reported here the Presidents polling numbers look good only when compared to the national debt.

Who Knew Norway had A Tea Party?

Reporting on the terrorism in Norway, the New York Times must be taking its cues from Janet Napolitano and her Dept of Homeland Security.
"American counter terrorism officials cautioned that Norway’s own homegrown extremists, with unknown grievances, could be responsible for the attacks."

Of course it not the Muslims but no one knew Norway had a Tea Party or any combat veterans under age 80.

Ron Paul Is Competitive With Obama

Click to enlarge.

Ron Paul is competitive with Obama. Scott Rasmussen has released a new poll that show Obama beating Ron Paul 41-37 percent. That's within the 5 percent margin of error. Dick Morris has looked at polling data all the way back to the 1960's and in presidential elections 80 percent of the undecided went to the challenger. If that rule were to hold true in this case Paul would get 54 percent of the vote. All this speculation is really, just plain silly at this point. The election is more than a year away; far too early to start speculating on final election numbers. But notice that even against the serious candidate, John Huntsman Obama cannot poll 50 percent while he loses to Romney by 1 percent. Rasmussen points out that Romney's numbers really aren't his own. He beats Obama by 1 percentage point solely because he is perceived to be the front runner. In 2004 when Howard Dean was thought to be the front runner he polled the best of the Democrats against George Bush. When John Kerry became the front runner his numbers matched Dean's. In other words any Republican front runner would beat Obama by 1 percent. BTW Michael Barone has written a facinating article where he compares presidental elections to the previous mid term election and that does not make Obama's chances look any better.

This time Norway

  It doesn't always happen in the "evil" United States. It often happens in other countries. 
  Usually the "right wing extremist" epithet is hurled before anyone really knows what happened.
  Then when the identity of the current terrorist becomes apparent, the media goes silent. Decapitated in their commentary about the truth of what happened.
  When the left wing politics or the Asian ethnic origin emerges, the media sets about, clucking, justifying their original assertions with a, "Well, they're the most likely..." and completely ignoring reality.
  In fact, as soon as they discover the identities of the perps, "the motive is unknown." No one can figure out how or why anyone would want to do this to a civilized culture.
  Civilized.
  That would be a clue.
  I wasn't there in New York on 9/11 but it marked me forever.
  Today feels like September 11.
  John Podhoretz feels it too:

The monstrous events today in Norway—as of this writing, word is that a gunman slaughtered at least 30 kids at a youth camp who had gathered to hear about the earlier bombing of government offices in Oslo—have stirred in me a kind of rage I haven’t felt this viscerally since the days after 9/11, when my apartment in Brooklyn Heights looked out directly on the violent purple gash in the sky that hovered over the wreckage like a demonic counterimage of the holy cloud that followed the Jews through the desert in the aftermath of the Exodus. Perhaps it is that my own daughter is, as I write, at her own day camp outside New York City, and so there is something visceral, primal, in my sense of connection to the dead and dying and their parents. This rage, which is accompanied by all manner of violent thoughts about what should be done and could be done to the living body of the depthlessly evil monster who committed this Satanic act, is disturbing in its intensity. I would like it to go away. But it won’t, and it shouldn’t, because without it–without a stark response to something so purposefully awful–we are unilaterally disarming ourselves. The monster and his comrades have the passion to commit their foul deeds. If we respond with dispassion, we are ceding to them part of the animating force that makes us human. If we decide to intellectualize our emotions rather than allow them to influence us, we are turning our back on our responsibility to those whose lives were stripped from them.

  Podhoretz dares to call it what it is.
  Evil in Norway. 

Brilliant he's not

  Sigh.
  I have nothing against non-brilliant people.
  I am one myself.
  But the foolish adoration (Deepak Chopra, I'm talkin' to you) many have shown toward *The Prince* surpasses belief and contributes to nausea.
  C'mon, people. He's just a dude.
  A dude who really LIKES himself, in addition to the foolish adorers.
  The conservative blogosphere has a collection of Obama/Biden gaffes, by no means complete. Every day brings new material, if conservatives are quick and alert enough to catch it. Certainly they won't get the material from the LSM.
  A pretty good wrap up is over at IrishExaminerUSA by Alicia Colon.
  Here's the opener.

Ever since Barack Hussein Obama emerged as a candidate for president he has received glowing accolades from celebrities and liberal pundits for his supposed intelligence. After his election, Barbra Streisand gushed, "It's such a wonderful thing for our country and our world. He's so intelligent and so smart." Gore Vidal was on the Joy Behar show and lamented that "he's too intelligent for the job." Behar agreed and said that after George W. Bush's presidency, the American public wasn't prepared for "the shock of such a smart guy." Mr. Vidal also had no compunction in showing how much he loathed President Bush. After mimicking the former president he told the viewers he wanted to murder him. Behar responded by chuckling.

  The rest of the piece is delicious, for those of us who are aware, although by no means comprehensive, particularly when Colon points out that Bush (and Palin, for that matter) was mocked for his GPA but we aren't allowed to even see Obama's.
  I think we've seen enough to know that *The Prince* is pretty clueless and certainly determined to "remake" America, as he claimed during his campaign. 
  From Political Humor:

"The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries." --Tampa, Fla., Jan. 28, 2010

"UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the Post Office that's always having problems." –attempting to make the case for government-run healthcare, while simultaneously undercutting his own argument, Portsmouth, N.H., Aug. 11, 2009

"What I was suggesting -- you're absolutelyright that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith..." --in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who jumped in to correct Obama by saying "your Christian faith," which Obama quickly clarified [ed:when prompted by the MSM dude who had his back]

"Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain...administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change." --Amman, Jordan, July 22, 2008 [ed: yes, and that wasn't a lie, was it?]

  There's more. And more. And more. And more. 

  Some commenters are pretty mean in their criticism:

  We won't go that far. 
  It's pretty obvious something ain't right though.

Pawlenty Flinches Again

Tim Palwenty has done it again. Readers will remember Pawlenty's Obomneycare witticism. It was a funny on the Sunday talk shows but when Pawlenty was given a chance to say it to Romney's face on the CNN debate he punted. Now he has a headache after his attack on Michele Bachmann. Pawlenty was probably behind the Daily Caller article that broke the news of Bachmann's migraine headaches. Then Pawlenty and Pawlenty alone questioned Bachmann's ability to serve as President. No other candidate took up the issue.
When New Hampshire State Rep. Win Hutchinson, a Pawlenty supporter, called the attack "lowest form of gutter politics" a Pawlenty aide was dispatched to sooth the Senator's ruffled feathers. The senator, apparently somewhat mollified by visit declared he is “with Pawlenty, for now.”
Does anyone wonder why this guy's campaign has fizzled so fast?

Obama blames Bush again

  Obama is out on the stump today blaming Bush again today. He's bragging that the budget was balanced under a Democrat Bill Clinton, failing to mention that the Republican Congress is what pulled Clinton toward fiscal solvency.
  To hear this spoiled brat claim that he's actually interested in solving the debt crisis is truly nauseating.
  Basically he's reciting his USA Today editorial lines, except he's spending more time mentioning "ten years" worth of debt and Bush's programs, "wars." Apparently Obama isn't spending any money on wars.
  "interest rates will rise" We won't have enough money to invest in [crap I think is important like the sexual habits of Chinese prostitutes]
  Raising the debt ceiling is about paying for all the stuff Bush put into place.
  Cocky. Raises eyebrows. Drawls slightly when he thinks he can relate to the great unwashed.  Lifts head majestically, undoubtedly waiting for the media to manufacture the halo circle around it in Photoshop.
  He wants to cut defense spending. Big surprise. University audience claps.
  He's willing to take on the rising cost of Medicare. [Sure. By handing pain pills to senior citizens and cutting $500 billion from Medicare.]
  It's not fair!!! he says before he mentions the "wealthy" and the "corporations" paying more and doing their "fair share." The obsequious heads bob and the hands clap.
  Hedge fund managers paying less than their secretaries.
  Huh. What about GE's paying NO TAXES on $5.1 billion last year? What about that? What about GE's profit earnings up over 21%? GE, Immelt, Obama's best buddy?
  This isn't about punishing wealth. Everybody should be rich. The rich should pay though.
  Does he know if he confiscated all their wealth it wouldn't be enough for all the wild programs he's running up?
  Decries political opportunism.
  Complains about House Republicans.
  First question is from an atheist, complaining about not getting a job because she's an atheist. Obviously fishing for his concerned query, which doesn't come. He describes faith based organizations. Doesn't do too bad a job on this.
  Fox cuts away to announce Harry Reid is dismissing Senate for the weekend, saying there's agreement on something. Boehner says no.