Last Wednesday night, something  that will touch your heart happened at the beginning of a candidates forum with 8th Congressional District candidates Joe Walsh, Melissa Bean and Bill Scheurer at Grayslake Central High School.

According to Illinois’ top League of Women Voters official, “phony patriotism” is driving criticism over a moderator’s reaction when she was asked if the Pledge of Allegiance would be recited before an 8th Congressional District debate this week.

Executive Director Jan Czarnik said what happened at Wednesday’s debate and a firestorm of criticism afterward, directed at moderator Kathy Tate-Bradish, was an attempt by supporters of Republican candidate Joe Walsh of McHenry and tea party members to bully the organization.

This clueless woman said:

It’s a phony patriotism issue is what it is.  They must think it helps their campaign.

Brought in from the League of Women Voters Evanston branch because she doesn’t live in the 8th Congressional District, Tate-Bradish handled the event at Grayslake Central High School that featured Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington, the Green Party’s Bill Scheurer and Walsh.

As you heard in the video, Tate-Bradish was asked by a man in the audience whether the Pledge of Allegiance would be recited after she went over some ground rules and directed the candidates to make opening statements.

As Tate-Bradish condescendingly explained that the debate was not scheduled to start with the pledge, almost all in the crowd of more than 300 stood and enthusiastically recited it anyway. Tate-Bradish, who joined in the pledge, issued a scolding, like a petulant schoolmarm, when the crowd finished.

Walsh campaign manager Nick Provenzano still does not understand why Tate-Bradish did not appear to welcome the Pledge of Allegiance suggestion. He said it was spontaneous and not orchestrated by Walsh’s campaign.

He said:

That neutral stance (by Tate-Bradish) toward the Pledge of Allegiance is troublesome.

Not just troublesome, sir.  Borderline treasonous.

Tate-Bradish stood by her unpatriotic actions and said she’s been surprised by personal attacks directed toward her on the Internet since the forum, particularly posts stating she “hates America.” ( I’m shocked, I tell you.  Shocked.)  She claims that she ran the debate in the format established by some Grayslake High students and agreed to by all three candidates, none of whom asked for the pledge in advance.

She petuantly whined:

It’s pretty patriotic to run forums in election seasons where every candidate can be heard and they’re not stomped on.

Island Lake resident Joseph Ptak, a Walsh supporter, claimed Friday he asked for the pledge at the debate. Provenzano said he was not certain who made the request.

Ptak, 58, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said the pledge was a proper way to begin the event that was in a high school and had student participation. He said many veterans were in the audience, and he objects to Czarnik questioning the request’s sincerity.

Ptak said:

I’m a Joe Walsh supporter, but first and foremost I’m an American.

Bean spokesman Jonathan Lipman declined to comment.    Somehow, I don’t doubt that.

Meanwhile, Czarnik said she’s tiring of attacks on how the League of Women Voters has operated debates leading to the Nov. 2 election. She said league volunteers run the candidate forums and voter education programs.

League of Women Voters members throughout Illinois hold elected offices in both major parties and are generally allowed to make political contributions. Tate-Bradish acknowledged she’s contributed money to Democrats, but that it would never affect how she moderates a debate.

When we host a political forum, we are scrupulously fair to each party.

Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that Ms. Tate-Bradish is a member of Obama’s Organizing for America, does it?  Of course not.

With its operations on the third floor of the DNC’s Capitol Hill headquarters, OFA consists of a vast network of volunteers whose mission is to:

let their friends and neighbors know about the President’s plan to invest in America’s future, improve health care and education, create green jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and cut the deficit in half over the next four years.

A New York Times report describes OFA as:

an army of [Obama] supporters talking, sending e-mail and texting to friends and neighbors as they try to mold public opinion.

What these Progressive ladies and their ilk, all the way up the ladder to the object of their affection, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), don’t understand, is that they have awakened a sleeping giant.  And this giant will flex his muscles on November 2nd.

Maybe these ladies were never properly explained the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance?  As I take my leave today, America’s Clown Prince, Mr. Richard (Red) Skelton will explain it, so that even they might understand.  God Bless America!

Three Republican leaders and possible future presidential candidates weighed in on Thursday concerning the firing of NPR news analyst Juan Williams, with two of them calling on Congress to hold hearings about NPR’s federal funding. 

Williams was canned Wednesday night for comments he made on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor about Muslims. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) all called NPR’s move an act of censorship and political correctness.

Huckabee said in a statement:

While I have often enjoyed appearing on NPR programs and have been treated fairly and objectively, I will no longer accept interview requests from NPR as long as they are going to practice a form of censorship, and since NPR is funded with public funds, it IS a form of censorship.  It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio), who could be House speaker next year, said that “it’s reasonable” to examine federal subsidies for NPR, which he called a “left-wing radio network.”

Boehner told the conservative National Review:

We need to face facts – our government is broke.  Washington is borrowing 37 cents of every dollar it spends from our kids and grandkids. Given that, I think it’s reasonable to ask why Congress is spending taxpayers’ money to support a left-wing radio network – and in the wake of Juan Williams’ firing, it’s clearer than ever that’s what NPR is.

What horrendous, awful thing got Williams shown the door at NPR after 12 years there?

Williams told Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly on his program:

Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

NPR explained Williams’s firing in a statement saying his comments were “inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

NPR operates using both private and public money, though most of their revenue comes from non-public sources. 

Newt Gingrich, who was the top House lawmaker from 1994-1998, said that Congress should investigate NPR and consider cutting its funding.

Calling the incident “a total act of censorship, Gingrich said:

The U.S. Congress should investigate NPR and consider cutting off its money.

Gov. Palin put her response on her widely read Twitter account, saying :

NPR defends 1st Amendment Right, but will fire u if u exercise it. Juan Williams: u got taste of Left’s hypocrisy,they screwed up firing you.

This comes on the heels of NPR receiving a $1.8 million grant from the Open Society Foundations (Institute) to begin a project called Impact of Government that will add at least 100 journalists at NPR member radio stations in all 50 states over the next three years.

The reporters, editors and analysts are supposed to cover state governments and how their actions affect people.

Vivian Schiller, NPR’s clueless president and chief executive, said that the project:

…creates capacity for local stations to hire reporters and to cover issues that matter that other places aren’t doing. Everything that we’re doing as relates to member stations comes down to two things: building local news capacity and making sure the content we create is available to all people across all platforms.

Ms. Schiller said the journalists would not be part of typical statehouse coverage, but instead would work on [enterprise journalism ?] that looks at how state government decisions play out over years, and extend beyond a single state’s borders. 

As you’ve probably heard by now, George Soros, the Puppet Master, is the money behind the Open Society Institute.   The following information comes from discoverthenetworks.org:

Established in 1993, the Open Society Institute (OSI) is the most prominent of the numerous foundations belonging to Soros. OSI proclaims that it is “a nonpartisan, nonpolitical entity” whose funding agendas are “wholly separate” from “George Soros’s private political activities,”.  Yeah, right.

OSI describes itself as “a private operating and grantmaking foundation [that] “aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform; … implements a range of initiatives to support the rule of law, education, public health, and independent media; [and] works to build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as combating corruption and rights abuses.”

In other words, it is one of Soros’ spider-web of shadow groups trying to radically change America.

OSI’s Director of U.S. Advocacy is Morton Halperin (President of John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, and a longtime affiliate of the Institute for Policy Studies and the National Lawyers Guild).

The President of OSI and the Soros Foundation Network is Aryeh Neier.  He  worked for the American Civil Liberties Union from 1963 to 1978, serving as its Director for the last eight of those years. Then, from 1978 to 1990, he was the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch.

PBS broadcaster and Schumann Center for Media and Democracy President Bill Moyers is a former trustee of the Open Society Institute.

Another noteworthy former OSI trustee is Lani Guinier, who served on the OSI board until the end of 2007. Guinier is best known as President Bill Clinton‘s 1993 nominee for the post of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Derided by some critics as “Clinton’s Quota Queen” because she favored proportional representation (based on race and ethnicity) in local political elections, Guinier ultimately failed to impress the Senate and her nomination was withdrawn by Clinton.

What has gotten everybody’s attention is the fact that  Juan Williams’ firing also comes on the heals of a fatwa issued by Soros against Conservative Commentator Glenn Beck and the entire Fox News Network.

America’s News Headquarters fired back.  Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes signed Williams to a new three-year contract Thursday morning, in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable raise from his previous salary. Williams will now appear exclusively and more frequently on the cable news network and have a regular column on FoxNews.com.

Ailes said in a statement, while getting a dig in at NPR:

Juan has been a staunch defender of liberal viewpoints since his tenure began at Fox News in 1997.  He’s an honest man whose freedom of speech is protected by Fox News on a daily basis.

NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard continues to make stupid statements, disparaging Williams’ character, because they’ve received tremendous heat from Conservative and Liberal Americans about the egregious over-the-phone firing.

On Fox and Friends this morning, Williams spoke about NPR trying to put him in a box and being upset that he was on Fox News, having an honest, open discussion about current issues.  He added:

If they want to compete in the Marketplace, they should compete in the Marketplace.  They don’t need Public Funds.

Americans agree.

Juan Williams, well-known Fox News political analyst and author, was fired by National Public Radio late Wednesday after he said on Fox News that he was often nervous when boarding a plane with people who are dressed in “Muslim garb”.  NPR released a statement it had given Williams notice of his termination Wednesday night.  That’s a nice way of saying they canned him.

Williams appeared on the “The O’Reilly Factor” on Monday where Bill O’Reilly asked him whether the United States was facing a “Muslim dilemma.”

O’Reilly said:

The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet.

Williams agreed with O’Reilly.

Williams, an avowed Liberal, added:

I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot.  You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

NPR has long been concerned with appearances by its staffers on Fox News. Williams’s contributions on Fox raised eyebrows at NPR in the past, according to the New York Times.  In February 2009, NPR said it had asked that he stop being identified on “The O’Reilly Factor” as a “senior correspondent for NPR,” even though that title was accurate.

Glenn Beck is under attack by George Soros and his spider’s web of Progressive Propaganda-spreading, shadily-funded, internet-utilizing organizations. During his television program on Fox News on Monday, he invited Soros to be his guest for the whole show.  Yesterday morning, during his radio program, he repeated the offer, adding 2 hours of radio time to the proposal.  Tuesday afternoon, on his television program, he responded to the news of the day, concerning a $1,000,000 publically-acknowledged gift to Media Matters from Soros to help facilitate an organized attack on Beck:

Now, here’s the scary part. We are heading down the same path as France or Greece or, oh, Venezuela. Venezuela, beautiful this time of year. Oh, when the trees start to change color to be a little more red like the flag, oh, it’s beautiful.

Of course, things aren’t going well, there. What a surprise. Hugo Chavez now is seizing grocery stores and rationing food. Who would have seen that coming?

Anyway, this is what eventually happens when you try to control people, because people don’t like to be controlled and so they give up. That’s weird.

But all of that is happening when good people do nothing. See what I mean? Yes. As a whole, America, for a long time, has done nothing. But here’s the great part. We’ve been doing a lot lately.

George Soros, however, while we were like — he was wide awake and he’s obviously been busy for many, many years. He’s been expanding his influence through groups such as the Tides Foundation. And if you think it’s too much to call him the evil emperor from “Star Wars” episode, really more of the “Episode Six” emperor.

If you think it’s too much, well, he is the guy who’s called for the managed decline of the U.S. dollar. Gee, George, thank you so much. I can’t wait for my money to be worth less. Thank you

I want you to watch for something. I want you to watch for his editorial because it is coming — only a matter of time. George, do you have it written yet? It will be the end of the dollar when writes it. He’s done it with four other currencies and each currency has collapsed.

See, what he does is buys up everything he can. He buys gold, like, right now, he’s buying gold in huge sums, and then he just — he waits for the right time and then he says, I don’t know, I think maybe currency is not going to go so well, I’m not sure if I’m going to stay, and he sells and everybody panics, and they collapse. Four times. You’re going to go for number five?

We will keep an eye out for that spooky, spooky dude. Opinion piece that you are — so, next week, when is it, six months from now? We’ll watch. Take your time.

He’s also done other things like he bought up the secretary of states for elections recount. SOS. Yes. In fact, the SOS, it’s the secretary of state that he helped that helped count the votes for Al Franken.

And now, here’s what he’s doing. He loves us so much he’s like a spooky, old grandfather. He’s buying up journalists. Soros’ Open Society Institute just announced for you $1.8 million to add 100 journalists at NPR radio stations across the country. The only good thing here is at least George Soros is now just buying the reporters out in the open. So, that’s great.

So, the Huffington Post is going to be funded by George Soros and the Tides Foundation and their investigative arm. Yes. And then Soros Open Society Institute is helping fund NPR. That is great.

I know George Soros is only doing this — bloggers, by the way, pause your — you know, World of Warcraft for a second, wipe the Cheetos off your fingers. Are you ready? Because I’m going issue a challenge here — because I’m sure spooky dude, George s Soros, now at the end, do you understand? Just like the emperor.

I’m sure spooky, old dude George Soros would be able to explain all of this and he’d say, well, that’s not what I’m doing here. I’m not calling for the collapse. I haven’t collapsed four currencies. No, no, I haven’t done any of those things. The Tides Foundation, what Tides Foundation? I thought I was buying laundry detergent.

I’m sure that’s what it is. And I know George Soros — I know he wants to get to the bottom of it. That’s why he’s spending all of those millions of dollars with NPR. He wants to get to the bottom of things. That’s right.

So, George, I’m offering you one hour on this broadcast, you and me, mano-a-mano, no minions, no spin doctors, no NPR journalists, just you and me. You are so much smarter than I am. You are so much more worldly. You have lived over in Europe, I haven’t.

You’re not afraid. No. You’d come on because you’re the man. Now, I might disagree with you on some of your spooky, spooky ideas, but I’m sure you could just explain them to the American people. I’ll give you the whole hour to do it.

I don’t know if you know this, we don’t have very many guests on the show. Rarely do we have a guest. You, the whole hour. One on one. It’s great. It will be the battle of ideas to fix America. I shouldn’t say “fix” because that is like neutering America. I mean fix kind of a different way than you probably mean fix America.

You can tell me and I will just — I’ll be right here. Call me. The White House has the number. I’m sure you will be for that. There it is. Mr. George Soros on this program, mano a mano. You and me, George. Come on, brother. Come on.

I realize that was a long quote, but it was necessary.  The same people who forced Political Correctness upon America during the Boooosh administration, now are waging their own unholy jihad  (Yeah, I said it.) against Conservative Free Speech.  This bunch of Pharisees have believed for a while now that rights of the 21 % per cent of Americans that claim to be Liberal supersede the rights of the 79 % of the population that are not.  Since their attempt at Liberal Talk Radio, Air America, failed in such a spectacular fashion, they are now seeking to control the flow of information that Americans are receiving through the internet, Conservative Talk Radio, and Fox News. 

Take an objective look at the Nielsen and Arbitron ratings.  Look at the best sellers list on Amazon.  Investigate which Political websites are most popular.  There’s no contest.  Like Rush Limbaugh always says:

Conservatism wins.

And the Progressives can’t stand it.

America’s First Couple have released a video, begging for volunteers, in an effort to combat the Political Tsunami scheduled to hit November 2nd:

The Obamas, after all, have made a career out of Community Organizing.  I wrote about Obama’s start in that field in The Great Disconnect, Part 2: Columbia, Community Organizing, and “Hahvahd”. 

His Community Organizing skills served him well as he transitioned into his political career. He worked for seven months in 1992 on a voter registration and education project that helped elect Bill Clinton as president and Carol Moseley Braun as the state’s first African-American female senator.  

You may have heard of it:  Project Vote.   In 2008,  Project Vote and ACORN were responsible for a voter registration drive targeting battleground states Obama needed to win the White House.

Though officially non-partisan, the ACORN/Project Vote voter drive focused on groups that they thought would vote Democratic in the presidential contest: African-American, young, Latino and low-income earners.  They referred to these groups as “historically underrepresented in elections” in a press release they issued, in an attempt to justify what they were doing.

ACORN/Project Vote operated voter registration drives in 21 states in 2008; including the battlegrounds Colorado, Florida, Michigan (since move to Obama) Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  They were very instrumental in Obama’s victory.

The Democratic Party is banking on Obama’s skills in organizing and getting out the vote. Desperately trying to get Pookie off the couch (Obama’s words, not mine) to vote in the midterm elections in Chicago and other cities, Democrats are aiming a less-than-subtle message at African-American voters:

Our President Needs You.

A big African-American turnout is key to the end game strategy for Illinois Senate Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias, just as Republican rival Mark Kirk is going to the deep well of GOP votes in western DuPage County to mine his base vote, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

With the Senate race deadlocked for months, and with even a torrent of negative ads not budging the 15 percent or so of undecided voters, getting out the Black Democratic vote is now the number one priority.

President Obama turned out African-American voters in record numbers in 2008 for his historic election as the country’s first African-American president. The Giannoulias campaign is counting on Obama to be able to crank up turnout in his adopted hometown like no other place in the nation.

Obama has been to Chicago twice to fund-raise for Giannoulias, and Illinois Democrats want him to return during the final weekend before the election for a get-out-the-vote rally.

Points to ponder:

Chicago is one of 18 cities with a President Obama radio ad blitz targeting African-American voters. The Democratic National Committee is buying $3 million worth of radio spots on stations with African-American audiences, including WGCI-FM, WGRB-AM and WVAZ-FM in Chicago.

In the spot, Scooter says:

Two years ago, you voted in record numbers, and we won a victory few dreamed possible.

First lady Michelle Obama took on a niche but crucial demographic, hosting a conference call on Oct. 12 aimed at getting female African Americans in the faith-based community to vote. (Because, you know, the Obamas are in church all the time, too)  Just as Scooter has reached out to African-America media, Michelle, on Oct. 13, phoned into shows hosted by Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden , both of which host programs aimed at African-American audiences.

In an excellent article for humanevents.com, contributor Jerome Hudson explores the phenomenon of 91% of American’s Black population still supporting Obama. 

What I don’t understand, is why they don’t rally behind Lt. Colonel Allen West?  Col. West is running as the Republican nominee of House District 22 in Broward County, Florida.  What kind of man is he?  James Lewis answered that question in an article for americanthinker.com, published 3/16/2008:

Colonel West is a man who has proved himself, not just in the rigors of combat, not just in leadership, not just in the technical craft of military tactics and strategy, but in the most difficult life-and-death dilemma a human being can face. He made an agonizing moral decision to save his men from a likely ambush. To do so, he shot off a pistol next to the head of a suspect, forcing him to confess vital lifesaving intelligence. Col. West didn’t do that to punish the man, but to save lives. It worked.

When Col. West reported his own actions to superiors, he must have known that his decision would cost him his military career. He might have ended up in prison for years. He knew it would lead to months and months of personal agony. But he made the right decision in the face of a life-and-death moral dilemma. 

Col. West has been very active in the Tea Party Movement, speaking at rallies throughout the country.  He made news recently by challenging the president to a debate:

Personally. I would support  a real American Hero over a community organizing Alinsky-ite any day of the week.  How about you?

As I take my leave today, here’s a treat.  You knew, with the title of today’s post, that this ol’ Memphis boy wouldn’t leave without laying some Temps on you, didn’t you?  Enjoy and God Bless!

On Dec. 16, 1773, American patriots dressed as Indians threw 342 chests of tea from three British ships into Boston Harbour. Led by Samuel Adams, the action was taken to prevent the payment of a British-imposed tax on tea and to protest the British monopoly of the colonial tea trade authorized by the Tea Act. In retaliation, Parliament passed the punitive Intolerable Acts, which further united the colonies in their opposition to the British.

Former Alaskan Governor and Conservative Leader Sarah Palin warned Beltway Elitists Monday that the mainstream Republican Party must embrace the core conservative principles of the Tea Party movement or disappear.

According to Governor Palin, the Republican Party machine realizes how the Tea Party movement’s “we the people” message has resonated on the political right, as well as with independents and moderates. The message emphasizes free market principles and individual and state powers instead of expanded federal powers.

Heaven forbid the GOP machine strays from this message. If so, the GOP is through.

The ideas of the Tea Party movement are the American ideals that will put us back to work.

Her comments were in response to the question of whether the Tea Party movement is dividing the Republican Party.

Tea Party-backed candidates have mopped the floor with mainstream Republican candidates, including several congressional incumbents, in several primaries across the country this year. Some pundits, professional and amateur, claim that the Tea Party victories have harmed Republican chances for victory.

Actually, the Republican Party’s own Beltway Elitism is its worst enemy.

What are the Democrats offering in response to this groundswell movement?

They are riding the back of President Barack Hussein Obama in a last-ditch attempt to try to limit the damage done to their party in the Midterm Elections.  Why would they stake their hopes on an unpopular president with sinking poll numbers?  Hey, damaged goods though he may be, Scooter remains the best asset Democrats have.  Pretty sad, huh?

Scooter is the least of his party’s problems right now. He’s still more popular than his party’s congressional leaders, individually or collectively (like Pelosi…shudder). 

Which isn’t to say that the president is everybody’s favorite public speaker. The man who turned Hope and Change into Fear and Frustration is having a huge problem trying to rekindle the fire that his base once felt in their hearts.

According to Republicans, they’ve found that Mr. Obama’s visits around the country, even if they fire up the Dems a little bit, also remind Republicans why they can’t stand him.

Considering the other losers that the Dems could put in front of the public, Scooter still represents the party’s best bet.  Like I said:  Pretty sad, huh?  His job-approval rating stands, depending on which poll you look at, from the low 40s to 46%.

And beyond that job grade, 47% say they have positive feelings toward Mr. Obama. That’s a higher positive rating than either Bush had in 2006, or Clinton had at this point in 1994, just before a Republican wave hit his presidency in midterm elections.

But they did not have the worst American economy in most Americans’ lifetimes working against them, either.

Sadly for the Dems, there isn’t any other Democratic leader,unless you count Bubba Clinton, now in the midst of a remarkable popularity comeback,who engenders similar positive vibes.  

In the most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the most despised of any current political leader tested. A striking 50% said they have negative feelings about her, compared with just 22% who have positive feelings.  And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid inspired positive feelings among just 15% of Americans, and negative feelings among 32%. Stunningly, after four years atop the Senate, the last two ramming unwanted legislation down Americans’ throats, Dinghy Harry inspired no feelings at all among a third of Americans, who either don’t know who he is or aren’t sure what they think of him.  Or don’t care.

Pretty smart thinking by the Republican Party to have most of their ads attacking San Fran Nan, huh?

So, the Democratic Party has sent Dear Leader out among us common folks, banking on the charisma that brought them the presidency to pull their fat out of the fire in the Midterms.  Unfortunately, their strategy has some big problems, not the least of which is their chosen figurehead.

The president may be becoming unhinged.  I hate saying this,  as I truly do pray for his well-being every morning.  But, this weekend, as he was saying this:

People out there are still hurting very badly, and they are still scared.  And so part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared.  And the country is scared, and they have good reason to be.

He was looking like this:

According to America’s favorite Conservative Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh:

An American president has never had facial expressions like this.  At least we’ve never seen photos of an American president with facial expressions like this.

Again speaking to our nation’s yutes, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) told 35,000 people who turned out for a campus rally that they shouldn’t be disillusioned by the sour economy (due to his failed economy policies) or slow pace of (socialist) change in Washington and that Republicans were offering no better solutions.

Scooter and Michelle (ma belle) appeared at an outdoor rally at Ohio State University on Sunday night as part of his yute emphasis, designed to sway young minds full of mush to turn out for the midterm election Nov. 2.

The first couple got a raucous, sycophantic welcome, with the crowd repeatedly affirming their remarks with shouts of “Yes we can!” and “We love you!”

Having already alienated and lost some of his early supporters, Obama actually admitted that job losses and home foreclosures had made it tough for Democrats to retain the buoyant sense of optimism touched off by his election nearly two years ago.

Scooter implored the college kids not to be apathetic. (In other words, he’s desperately trying to get Pookie off the couch.) Republicans, he said, are “counting on you to forget who caused the mess in the first place. And now they … want you to believe the election is a referendum on the economy, a referendum on me.”

Imagine that.  It’s not just the Republican Party who believes that, Scooter.  It’s the overwhelming majority of the American people…as you’re about to find out.
Attempting to shift the blame (again) to former President George W. Bush, Obama said:

It’s not like we didn’t try what they’re peddling. We tried it for eight years. It didn’t work. … Ohio, it’s up to you to tell them we do not want what they’re selling. We’ve been there before and we are not going back.

Earlier in the day, the Obamas spoke at an afternoon fundraising event for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who is in a tough race against former Republican congressman (and Fox News host ) John Kasich.

I know there are times when probably it’s hard to recapture that sense of possibility.  It’s hard sometimes to say, ‘Yes we can.’ You sit thinking, ‘You know, maybe. I don’t know.’ It’s not as inspiring a slogan.

He complained repeatedly about Republicans, bringing up Abraham Lincoln at one point and desperately claiming that the 16th president would have trouble winning the Republican nomination if he were a candidate today.

Scooter said:

You know that’s true.

And the Liberally academically indoctrinated college kids laughed.

Obama is desperately crisscrossing the country in the run-up to the midterm election, trying to fire up whatever Democratic base is left and plaintively reminding them that his socialist agenda hinges on the party retaining control of Congress.  He is so desperate, that he is hoping to get a boost from his newly-proud-of-America, Maria Antoinette-ish wife.

Not since the 2008 campaign have the Obamas campaigned side by side. Michelle Obama introduced her husband to the 350 people gathered under a tent outside the home of Carole and David Carr, owner of Brennan Industries. Tickets ranged from $750 to $5,000, the Strickland campaign said.

Wearing a mask of humility before the big-money donors, the first lady described her husband as:

a very handsome young man, the love of my life, even though he doesn’t always think it…and, more importantly, the president of the United States.

When it was his turn to speak, Obama rushed to correct her:

It’s not true that more importantly I am the president of the United States. More importantly, I am Michelle Obama’s husband and Malia and Sasha’s father.

So it’s fun having her along on this road trip. You know, usually I am all by myself and I listen to my iPod. We had a wonderful conversation on the way here and she’s telling me what I should do. It’s true.

Again, the brainwashed college kids laughed.

Obama said, laughing:

You think I’m joking. I’m not. I have witnesses.

 As of this trip, Obama has visited Ohio, a perennial swing state, 11 times as president.  In spite of, or, probably because of this, Democrats are not doing very well in the Buckeye State.

 The Ohio Poll conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati finds that Kasich is leading Strickland by 8 percentage points.

The same poll showed that former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) was leading his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, by 22 percentage points in the race for a Senate seat.

In spite of a Rasmussen poll released this weekend predicting that the Republicans will pick up 55 seats in the House of Representatives, Press secretary Robert Gibbs told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning that Democratic candidates have done, in his words, “a remarkably good job in a tough political environment.”

Obama and his administration are considering a plea bargain that would release a Guantanamo prisoner after eight more years has gotten on the fightin’ side of a key witness against him: a former Army sergeant who was partially blinded and lost a friend in the firefight that led to the capture of the al-Qaida Terrorist.

Layne Morris said Friday that Canadian-born Omar Khadr should get at least 20 years in prison, if not much longer.

According to Morris:

They ought to lock him up until he’s no longer a threat, and if that’s for the rest of his life, so be it.

Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured following the firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, was originally scheduled to go on trial Monday at Gitmo.  The charges against him include murder for throwing a grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic from Albuquerque, New Mexico. If convicted, he faces a maximum life sentence.

The trial began in August but was put on hold when Khadr’s defense lawyer fell ill and collapsed in the courtroom.

With plea talks going on, a military judge postponed the resumption of the trial, the first at Guantanamo under President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be unto him). The war crimes tribunal is scheduled to reconvene Oct. 25.  But that could turn into a sentencing hearing if an agreement is reached.

Khadr’s lawyers and U.S. officials have refused to release details about any proposed agreement.  However, the Toronto Star reported that a proposal already approved by the military would impose a sentence of less than 10 years, on top of the time he has already been in custody. Postmedia News, another Canadian outlet, reported that he would get eight, with one more in Guantanamo and the rest in his native country.  (Say what?)  Both cited anonymous sources.

There have been plea talks before, but Khadr himself has resisted, saying it would excuse the harsh treatment he endured during captivity. He also denies throwing the grenade that killed Speer.

Yeh, kid.  Just because they saw you throwing it doesn’t mean you did it.  Doesn’t the Koran tell you that it’s okay to lie to the Infidels?

This case is turning into a big problem for the administration because of his age and the fact that his father, who was killed in 2003, had close ties to senior al-Qaida leaders. His lawyers and human rights groups say Khadr was a child soldier, essentially brainwashed by his family, who should be sent home and rehabilitated.

Yeah, let’s reward this hateful heathen.  Brilliant.

But unlike most war crimes cases at Guantanamo, his involves specific American victims.

Morris, now retired from the Army and living in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, is scheduled to travel to Guantanamo to testify as a witness. He said he appreciates the challenge that prosecutors face with the case but nevertheless hopes for a longer sentence:

Knowing the facts of the case, I would think your average American would be disappointed that somebody who had demonstrated the capacity and the willingness to kill American soldiers would get a mere eight years.  That seems short to me.

Morris is no longer able to see through his right eye because of this precious child’s participation in the assault on the militant stronghold in which Speer was killed.  He said he doesn’t seek a longer sentence out of vengeance but for the sake of his comrade’s family and because he believes Khadr, now 24, remains a danger to the U.S. It wouldn’t matter to him whether Khadr serves prison time in Guantanamo, Canada or somewhere in the U.S.

Preach, brother, preach.

He should get 20 years and then be evaluated to see if he is still a security threat.  And if he is, then he can do another 20 years. And if he has somehow seen the error of his ways, and if someone wants to take a chance with him somewhere in Canada, I would be OK with it.

In a related story:

As dozens of soldiers lay dead or bleeding in a Fort Hood processing center last year, a gunman went outside and continued firing as others ran to nearby buildings, hid behind cars or carried wounded comrades to safety, witnesses told a military court Friday.

Eyewitness accounts of this Terrorist attack came Friday during an Article 32 hearing that will determine whether Maj. Nidal Hasan should stand trial in the Nov. 5 shootings on the Texas Army post. The 40-year-old American-born Muslim has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The hearing is to resume Monday.

Sgt. Lamar Nixon testified that he recognized Hasan as the gunman. Nixon, who worked in the building where soldiers must get vaccines and other routine medical tests before deployment, said Hasan had been there two or three times, including the morning of Nov. 5. Hasan had been at the center earlier to get vaccines because he was to be deployed the following month, but Hasan ignored him when Nixon greeted him, the soldier testified.

Nixon said he remembered Hasan because of “his stature and just how he composed himself — stoic.” The next time Nixon saw Hasan, it was after lunch when the psychiatrist stood from behind a front counter and began shooting after yelling “Allahu Akbar!” — “God is great!” in Arabic, Nixon testified.

Also Friday, under cross examination, Pfc. Lance Aviles said he used his cell phone to record the mass murder inside the processing center but was ordered by an officer to delete both videos later the same day. Aviles was not asked if he knew why the officer ordered the videos destroyed.

It’s unclear exactly what the footage showed, although it could have been used as evidence in the case.  However, there is no doubt that the orders to destroy that evidence came from a much higher source than Pvt. Aviles immediate superior.

Prosecutors have not said whether they’ll seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

Hasan, who was paralyzed after Fort Hood police shot him that day, remains jailed in the Bell County Jail, which houses suspects for nearby Fort Hood. The military justice system does not have bail for defendants.

The Obama administration decided a long time ago that zealously protecting the rights of bloodthirsty Islamic barbarians seeking to murder Americans somehow shows the world how noble and intelligent they are, thereby laying the groundwork upon which they might someday negotiate away America’s sovereignty.   However, just like the phony outrage of those two failed comediennes at Bill O’Reilly’s comments Thursday morning on The View, Americans see right through it.  And we will express our feelings very clearly on November 2nd.