Digest

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Foundation

"As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed." --James Madison

Government & Politics

Media Duped by Nobel Prize Prank

Wait, it's not a hoax? Are they serious? Early Friday morning, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Barack Obama would receive a consolation prize for losing out on the 2016 Olympics -- namely the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Here in our humble editorial shop, our first reaction was, naturally, to spew coffee on our keyboards. Our second reaction was to wonder, For what? There's been no signing of peace treaties, no ending of wars, no stopping of nuclear proliferation. Obama hasn't stood up for human rights in China, hasn't denounced the oppression of women in the Muslim world, hasn't stared down brutal dictators such as Castro, Chavez, Kim and Ahmadinejad. Again, we ask: For what?

The Nobel Committee explains that it was "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," and the fact that he has "created a new climate in international politics." Didn't Al Gore get the award two years ago for seeking to stop climate change?

Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee, gushed, "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future." In other words, it was the Nobel Prize for Narcissism. Unfortunately, the committee did not pass out barf bags prior to the announcement.

Apparently, the fact that the community organizer took up residence in the White House less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline was not as important to the committee as being able to give a slap in the face to his resolute predecessor, George W. Bush. It certainly sends a message against actually winning in Afghanistan.

The president joins other you've-got-to-be-kidding winners Jimmy Carter, who is largely responsible for present-day Iran, Gore, who does nothing but scare people about global warming, and Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat, who assumed room temperature in 2004. Obama's win is one more sign that the award has long since jumped the shark.

Blogger David Bernstein has started a great list of the "Top Ten Reasons Obama Won the Nobel Peace Prize." Among our favorites are these: "For extraordinary diplomacy at the Gates-Crowley 'Beer Summit'"; and a reader's suggestion, "He was the 10th caller."

Hope 'n' Change: There's More to Obama's Olympic Fail

As we all know by now, last Thursday, Barack Obama took time away from a raging war and a terrible economy to fly to Copenhagen to lobby in person for the 2016 Olympic Games to be hosted in his "home" city of Chicago. The Windy City was blown out of the competition in the first round, though, and the Games eventually went to Rio de Janeiro, taking the Olympics to South America for the first time.

But here's the kicker. Not only was Obama's own political capital spent, but he squandered taxpayers' capital as well. The Pentagon recently estimated the cost of flying Air Force One at $100,219 an hour -- without Obama on board. At that rate, Obama's 14-hour excursion tapped taxpayers for at least $1.4 million. Other passengers jacking up the price included White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. First lady Michelle Obama traveled to Copenhagen separately, though she claimed she was making a "sacrifice" to do it.

Assorted leftists had a conniption over the results, with some, including the "Reverend" Jesse Jackson, going so far as to blame -- wait for it -- George W. Bush for the worldwide ill will that cost Chicago the Games. "The way we [refused to sign] the Kyoto Treaty, we misled the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us," Jackson complained. Never mind that Kyoto was unanimously rejected by the U.S. Senate in 1997, four years before Bush took office.

Fortunately, Obama can finally claim to have actually saved jobs. Nine of them, to be exact. The first-ever White House Olympic Office will stay in business, continuing to employ its staffers. Doing what, we don't know.

Finally, if there's one thing Obama's Olympic Fail settled, it's that we can't compare him to Adolf Hitler in all things. At least Hitler brought the Olympics to Berlin.

On Cross-Examination

"Hey Chicago, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the International Olympic Committee just isn't that into you? It's not as though the choices were to hold the games in the Windy City or cancel them altogether. Maybe the IOC delegates chose Rio de Janeiro on the basis of its merits as a venue. The notion that it must have been motivated by hatred of America reflects a most unattractive combination of arrogance and self-pity. --Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto

Democrats Still Have a Few Tricks in the Bag on Health Care

The normally reliable Congressional Budget Office released a report on the Democrats' proposed takeover of the health care system this week. The report absurdly claimed that a Senate panel's $829 billion package would not add to the federal deficit. As we reflect that George W. Bush's Medicare prescription drug program alone created $7 trillion in unfunded liabilities, it appears that the CBO is using a lot of outcome-based math for its calculations.

The CBO's report, however, is not exactly hard and fast. As Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) points out, "This is an estimate of a concept, not a formal cost analysis of an actual bill." No matter. The Leftmedia are gleefully reporting the "no new debt" part of the report without that unfortunate detail. It's all part of trying to get the so-called fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats to heel and vote for the bill.

There are other details worth mentioning. For example, the plan would still leave uninsured 16 million of the supposed 47 million currently uninsured. And Democrats claimed no one would be left behind.

According to The Washington Post, "[T]he package would raise $200 billion more by levying a 40 percent excise tax on high-cost insurance policies -- the 'Cadillac' plans that cost more than $8,000 for individuals or $21,000 for a family." The House plans to slap a "surtax" on income above $500,000 rather than impose the "Cadillac" tax.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says she's open to a value-added tax, or VAT, to help finance the plan. "Somewhere along the way, a value-added tax plays into this," she said. "Of course, we want to take down the health care cost, that's one part of it. But in the scheme of things, I think it's fair to look at a value-added tax as well."

The VAT is a tax on manufacturers and distributors at every stage based on the "value" added to a product by each additional step, and it's largely hidden from consumers. As a result, it's attractive to politicians -- even ones who promised not to raise taxes on the middle class. Almost every European country with socialized medicine also has a VAT, and if the health care takeover is accomplished, then the same should be anticipated for the United States.

With all of these shenanigans, is it any surprise that Democrats defeated an amendment to post the bill online for the American people to read before the vote? Indeed, rather than adhering to Barack Obama's promise of transparency, the Heritage Foundation's blog, The Foundry, details "the four part scenario that would railroad the bill through the Senate using a very unusual closed door procedure to craft the bill with no input from the American people." This includes some legislative tricks such as attaching it to an unrelated tax bill or using reconciliation, meaning only 51 votes, not the filibuster ending 60, are required in the Senate.

But don't worry: Democrats know what's best for you.

The BIG Lie

"When you cut through all the noise and all the distractions that are out there, I think what's most telling is that some of the people who are most supportive of reform are the very medical professionals who know the health care system best." --Barack Obama before a Rose Garden gathering of about 150 Obama-activist doctors in white lab coats -- that the White House passed out, the better to stage the photo op

The truth, however, as noted in a recent Investor's Business Daily poll, is that two-thirds of doctors oppose ObamaCare, and nearly half said they would consider leaving medicine if it passes.

This Week's 'Braying Jackass' Award

"I don't expect to actually read the legislative language [of the health care bill] because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I've ever read in my life." --Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)

Less Hot Air From the Federal Government?

Expanding an initiative originally authored by President George W. Bush in 2007, President Obama signed an executive order setting emissions targets for federal agencies to be met by the year 2020. Federal agencies now have 90 days to spell out how much they will reduce the greenhouse gas load from their facilities, with the more difficult setting of reduction goals for employee commutes and travel due by the middle of next year. Obama's revision of the Executive Order added long-term goals missing in Bush's original.

Noble as these ideals may be (cough, cough), the difference between this executive order and the pending cap-n-tax legislation before Congress is that private-sector companies would be penalized for not meeting the goals set by legislation, whereas the executive order exempts all federal agencies from any penalty for not meeting the guidelines. Indeed, the order states, "This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the Federal Government and is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States."

If only the onerous environmental regulations proposed by Congress and put in place by faceless Beltway bureaucrats for the rest of us would be so lax.

News From the Swamp: Rangel Stays Put

The House voted 246-153 to refer a GOP privileged resolution (H Res 805) to the Ethics Committee. The resolution was aimed at forcing out New York Democrat Charlie Rangel as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee until completion of an investigation into his shady financial dealings. The vote effectively killed the resolution, though the Ethics Committee voted Thursday to expand the probe to look into Rangel's failure to report $500,000 in assets on financial disclosure forms -- a minor oversight.

Rep. John Carter (R-TX) sponsored the resolution, saying, "We cannot tolerate a double standard in this country, one for the common man and another for the rich and powerful. To allow Mr. Rangel to continue to serve as chairman ... sends a clear message to the American public that this government refuses to abide by the same laws they impose on the working people of this country." Leave it to Democrats to circle the wagons around another scofflaw. And so much for Nancy Pelosi's raving back in 2006 about the "culture of corruption."

New & Notable Legislation

The Senate passed the Pentagon budget, including war funding this week by a vote of 93-7. The $626 billion measure also bans the transfer of Guantanamo residents to prisons in the United States and includes $128 billion for Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.

The House voted 281-146 Thursday to pass its $680 billion defense-spending bill, complete with the totally unrelated expansion of federal hate crimes to include those committed against people because of their sexual disorientation.

Republican Suicide

In a potential political suicide, the New York Republican Party selected NY State Assembly member Dierdre "Dede" Scozzafava to replace U.S. Rep. John McHugh (confirmed as Barack Obama's Secretary of the Army) in an upcoming NY-23 special election. In the ultimate sign of these perverted times, supporting Scozzafava is the National Republican Congressional Committee -- along with ACORN, SEIU and their affiliate, the Working Families Party.

To get those dubious endorsements, Scozzafava backs Obama's stimulus bill(s), Card Check, Cash for Clunkers and the Davis Bacon Act; refuses to sign either no tax or no pork pledges; and voted for bank bailouts, forced union dues payments from NY state employees and more than 190 instances of higher taxes. Furthermore, the company for which she recently resigned as chief operating officer has over $192,000 in tax liens.

As for the Republican endorsement, it is just a dark indication of how lost and misguided the GOP remains to this day.

If Scozzafava sounds like the ideal Democrat candidate, she is -- NY Democrats considered running her as their candidate but, allegedly, developed cold feet over, of all things, the tax issue (or maybe Democrats calculated it easiest to run her with an R in a Republican district, especially considering the weak political novice Democrat attorney that they did choose.)

The third choice in this three-horse race is NY Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. With national backlash against both parties and with endorsements from powerhouses Fred Thompson and the Club for Growth, Hoffman has strong polling numbers. But, as the mother's milk of politics, Hoffman requires substantial financial backing, and quickly, to defeat his ACORN/SEUI/WFP opponent and send true hope and change to Washington.

Obama No Friend of Dalai Lama

It's been at least 18 years since the Dalai Lama trekked to Washington without paying a visit to the White House, but this week's visit from the Tibetan religious leader lacks a meeting with Peace Prize-winning Barack Obama. And while an appointment with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on the agenda, the fact that Obama is snubbing a face-to-face visit with this prominent human rights advocate and critic of the Chinese regime is yet another signal of his willingness to bow to the world's despots. Strangely, it also serves as a rare break from the Obama sycophants in Hollywood who desire to "free Tibet."

Furthermore, environmental concerns can't be discounted. Considering the huge sum of Treasury bonds currently held by the Chinese government, this appeasement could be seen as part of a larger shift in our relationship with China. The administration appears willing to overlook Chinese human rights and trade abuses in the interest of worldwide cooperation on environmental issues.

While the Dalai Lama is a man symbolic of a people's plight, China's abuse of its Tibetan minority is real. It's unfortunate that, while Obama snubs their religious leader, Tibetans may be persecuted out of their enjoyment of the greener planet Obama's supporters seek in their dealings with the Beijing regime.

Clearly, standing firm for human rights in the face of tyranny is not a prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

From the Left: ACORN Fraud Numbers Are Fudged Too

Leave it to ACORN to prune its own accounting. While the community organizers have admitted to the embezzlement of just under $1 million by then-president Wade Rathke, documents acquired under subpoena by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell peg the take up to $5 million. Rathke and an anonymous donor repaid the $1 million, but the whereabouts of any additional money not previously accounted for is unknown.

Caldwell's investigation, which centers on alleged violations of state employee tax law and obstruction of justice, comes at a time when ACORN is already under fire for advising two undercover investigative reporters on how to skirt tax law and bring illegal aliens into the country as child prostitutes. The fallout from that scandal has led to renewed efforts (still pending in Congress) to de-fund ACORN of the millions of federal dollars they receive and ACORN's removal from "assisting" in next year's census.

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National Security

Warfront With Jihadistan: McCrossing Swords With The One

The Leftmedia reported this week that "The One" was unhappy with his commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. Shortly after the publication of a leaked report warning of a high potential for failure without additional forces, the general publicly disclosed his request to the commander in chief for 40,000 additional troops. Gen McChrystal currently leads 68,000 U.S. as well as 100,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan.

In advocating his position -- actually, the president's position announced by Obama in March -- Gen. McChrystal flatly rejected a diametrically opposed half-measure favored by many leftists, including Vice President Joseph Biden. That alternative favors a significantly scaled-back presence composed of unmanned aerial vehicles and Special Operations forces, a move McChrystal characterized as leading to "Chaos-istan" -- this state is also known as "Democrat-istan," but we digress. The general further highlighted the folly of this option metaphorically, remarking, "You can't hope to contain the fire by letting just half the building burn."

Of course, liberals immediately launched the Newspeak juggernaut to undermine both McChrystal and his request. Tactics included hauling out the usual "experts" to comment on the "constitutionality" of the general's "insubordination," and of course the inevitable comparison to Gen. Douglas MacArthur and his high-visibility firing by President Harry Truman during the Korean conflict. Unfortunately, logic and an objective understanding of history have never been a strong suit for Dim-o-crats, as evidenced by their failure to appreciate the substantial disconnect deriving from the MacArthur-McChrystal comparison.

In the former case, MacArthur disobeyed a direct order by the president to sue for a negotiated peace, instead issuing his own call for victory and public announcement that U.S. forces could easily defeat opposing forces in battle. Truman promptly removed the general for blatantly disobeying orders and challenging authority. In contrast, if anything, Gen. McChrystal's remarks simply detailed conditions necessary to satisfy the administration's policy mandated when he assumed command in Afghanistan.

For our part, we believe Gen. McChrystal understands the score very well in Afghanistan. Having weighed the options, he took a calculated gamble to use the media to place the onus on Obama to follow through with his stipulated policy. Gen. McChrystal and, more importantly, his troops lose that gamble only if he receives just enough support from the Obama administration not to get the job done. Of course, that would never happen -- right?

This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award

"We know that al-Qa'ida and its extremist allies threaten us from different quarters of the globe, from Pakistan, but also from East Africa and Southeast Asia, from Europe and the Gulf; and that's why we're applying focus and relentless pressure to al-Qa'ida by sharing more intelligence, strengthening the capacity of our partners, disrupting terrorist financing, cutting off supply chains and inflicting major losses on al-Qa'ida's leadership." --Barack Obama, neglecting to mention Afghanistan or Iraq as places we're fighting al-Qa'ida

IAEA Director Attacks Israel

"Israel is the number one threat to the Middle East, given the nuclear arms it possesses." So said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, a career Egyptian bureaucrat, this week in Tehran. ElBaradei, while announcing a coming inspection of the rogue Iranian regime's nuclear program, took the opportunity to sound off on Israel, complaining about the Jewish state's 30-year refusal to allow nuclear inspections. Israel will not confirm or deny its nuclear arsenal, but neither is it threatening total annihilation of other Middle Eastern countries. For the record, Iran is.

As noted by Investor's Business Daily, "Looking back on the past four decades, the Jewish state's policy of refusing to confirm or deny its nuclear arsenal is, as the Old Testament proverb goes, a wisdom 'more precious than rubies.' The only fully free, Westernized country in the Middle East has been able to let its surrounding enemies know that it will defend itself with the deadliest of force if its existence comes under direct threat." Meanwhile, ElBaradei is barking up the wrong tree -- and not unintentionally.

Immigration Front: Arpaio Handcuffed on Alien Arrests

"The Obama administration is curbing the powers of an Arizona sheriff who has led one of the most contentious fights against illegal immigrants," reports The Wall Street Journal. "Under an agreement involving local enforcement of federal immigration law, Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies will no longer have the authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants in the streets in the course of their duty."

Long a lightning rod in the immigration debate, Arpaio has arrested approximately 30,000 illegals since 2007 as part of a partnership with the federal government. But the sheriff was forced to sign a revised agreement restricting his ability to determine immigration status of those inmates booked into Maricopa County jails -- it can no longer be a reason for federal arrest by county officers. Lest readers think old Joe caved, however, he declared, "They took away my authority on the streets. That doesn't matter because I will still pursue illegals on the streets of Maricopa utilizing the authority I have as the elected official."

Business & Economy

Dollar Looking Weaker

With the dollar's continued decline due to excessive debt racked up by the Obama administration, the oil-rich nations of the Middle East, along with a cabal of other countries including Russia and China, are discussing a switch to currencies other than the dollar for trading oil. This would mark the first currency change since the Bretton Woods Agreements (signed during WWII) collapsed in the early 1970s, eventually resulting in the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Such a switch away from the dollar obviously portends a loss of American influence on the world's currency system. This erosion of the dollar is a direct result of out-of-control government spending, debt and money printing. These policies have so destabilized the dollar that even the Communist Chinese government has asked the administration to change course before inflation further devalues the dollar and Chinese investments in the United States.

Unfortunately, Obama's agenda doesn't include saving the dollar. When the dollar crashes under the pressures of unsound monetary policies and rising inflation, it will be too late to refocus.

Kerry Says Recession Helps Environment

Echoing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's maxim, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste," Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA) wants to capitalize on, extend and even increase current unemployment rates to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Endorsing draft legislation of a so called "cap and trade" bill co-introduced with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kerry stated, "Let me emphasize something very strongly as we begin this discussion. The United States has already this year alone achieved a 6 percent reduction in emissions simply because of the downturn in the economy, so we are effectively saying we need to go another 14 percent."

Translated: the recession is good for the environment, so we should make it permanent. Or, as the Heritage Foundation notes, "It took a solid year for the United States to reach 10 percent unemployment through the financial meltdown and the housing crisis, let's keep it there, or make it worse, with cap and trade. Why not be even more aggressive?" Democrats apparently want 18 percent unemployment to hit the magic 20 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions. Never mind the nearly two million jobs that cap and tax will extinguish by 2012. What's a job when the environment is supposedly in question? Nice to know where Senator Kerry's priorities lie.

Meanwhile, Leighton Steward, a geologist and former believer in global warming is on Capitol Hill this week to inform our wise representatives that CO₂ does not cause warming. In fact, carbon dioxide emissions are good for the planet.

Predictably, Auto Sales Plummet After 'Clunkers' Ends

Despite plaudits by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as "the one stimulus program that seems to be working better than just about any other program," Cash for Clunkers has turned out to be one big flunker. As The Wall Street Journal reports, not only did this bureaucratic brainchild drive a 25 percent drop in new car sales for U.S. automakers in September as compared with last year, but the program's grand vision of advancing environmental salvation translated into a mere 0.2 percent reduction in annual oil consumption (less than one day's worth), and that's a best-case scenario.

To top it off, according to the University of Delaware's Burton Abrams and George Parson, all factors considered, the program imposed a net cost of about $2,000 per vehicle. In short, government made the country $1.4 billion poorer and spent nearly $3 billion to do so. And that's Washington's definition of a "working" program.

Culture & Policy

From the 'Non Compos Mentis' File

It's a well-known fact that mockumentarian Michael Moore is a self-aggrandizing gasbag, but perhaps right now we should be thanking him. In keeping with the filmmaker's love of shooting his mouth off, he recently "outed" ObamaCare in Rolling Stone Magazine. "If a true public option is enacted -- and Obama knows this -- it will eventually bring about a single-payer system, because the profit-making insurance companies won't be able to compete with a government-run plan and make the profits they want to make. I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I'm counting on the fact that Republicans won't be reading Rolling Stone."

Moore made no bones about the fact that he supports the single-payer system that exists in "every other Western democracy." Clearly, he had not done his research on the quality of health care in England and Canada, and he most certainly does not realize (or care) that, if Obama gets his way, there will be nowhere to run for those in other countries who are acutely ill and not receiving treatment in a timely manner.

"Capitalism: A Love Story," Moore's new film, is doing about as well as the market will bear. On its opening weekend, it came in seventh among commercial releases, bringing in only $4.8 million from 962 theaters. This is a far cry from the unfortunate success of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Perhaps Americans are onto Moore and looking for real facts this time, not Moore's twisted version of them.

So, Mr. Moore, first of all, some Republicans do read Rolling Stone Magazine. Perhaps they know it's prudent to keep abreast of what the leftist propaganda machine is cranking out; perhaps they just like pop music. Second, it's not just Republicans who are fighting ObamaCare -- it's every Patriot willing to stand up and fight for what we as a nation hold dear: self-determination.

Climate Change This Week: Antarctic Ice Report

According to World Climate Report, "The ice melt across during the Antarctic summer (October-January) of 2008-2009 was the lowest ever recorded in the satellite history." Marco Tedesco and Andrew Monaghan, in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, report, "A 30-year minimum Antarctic snowmelt record occurred during austral summer 2008-2009 according to space borne microwave observations for 1980-2009. Strong positive phases of both the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode (SAM) were recorded during the months leading up to and including the 2008-2009 melt season."

So where is all the media attention? NASA researchers for years have dutifully released a plentiful supply of stories about melting sea ice in the Arctic, but icy news at the South Pole has yet to prompt a NASA report. Obviously, if warmers can silence the opposition, it helps build the hoax -- er, "consensus."

Village Academic Curriculum: Videos of the Week

Courtesy of Real Clear Politics, "Kids from the Ron Clark Academy are on CNN singing for health care reform set to Miley Cyrus' 'Party in the USA.' The song mentions 'Obama says everyone needs health care now.'"

From Michelle Malkin, "Take a look at the Obama worship song that students at Longfellow Elementary in Howard County, MD were assigned to memorize last week."

Meanwhile, Obama's "Safe School Czar" Kevin Jennings -- the one we reported last week failed to disclose a 15-year-old boy's homosexual relationship with an adult male -- complained this week that "kids are being aggressively recruited to become heterosexual in this country." And to reiterate, he's in charge of making schools "safe."

Faith and Family: DC to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

Speaking of promoting certain sexual disorientations, the Washington, DC, City Council introduced legislation Tuesday to allow same-sex marriage in the District. The bill will likely become law by the end of the year. Once Mayor Adrian Fenty signs the bill, it goes to Congress, which has 30 days to pass a joint resolution of disapproval. That, in turn, would have to be signed by Barack Obama. So, in addition to Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Iowa, DC will allow such nuptials soon.

And Last...

"Saturday Night Live" last week featured a skit involving "Barack Obama" evaluating a checklist of campaign promises, such as closing Guantanamo Bay, getting out of Iraq, "reforming" health care and more. He concludes, "So looking at this list, I'm seeing two big accomplishments: jack and squat." But wait, he adds, "I brought a white police officer and a black professor together for a beer. Who else could do that? ... You're right -- Oprah -- but no one else."

The skit was mildly humorous, because, of course, Obama already has done much to America. But, as usual, the Left has no sense of humor when it comes to their own. Believe it or not, CNN actually took the time to "fact check" the skit, complete with an interview of Politifact "expert" Bill Adair. CNN's Kareen Wynter couldn't resist a swipe at Republicans, saying SNL's Obama skit "won't resonate with the audience as much as ... comic Tina Fey's dead-on impersonation of former GOP vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin." If CNN really wanted to fact check this comedy show, they might point out that, in the Eastern Time Zone, more than half of "Saturday Night Live" is not actually on Saturday night.