The Foundation

“Amplification is the vice of modern oratory.” –Thomas Jefferson

The Demo-gogues

Blaming voters for not getting the message: “I think that, over the course of two years we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that, we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn’t just legislation. That it’s a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone. And making an argument that people can understand. And I think that we haven’t always been successful at that. And I take personal responsibility for that. And it’s something that I’ve got to examine closely as I go forward.” –Barack Obama

Editor’s Note: Obama gave 42 news conferences during his first year in office, which is twice as many as George W. Bush did in the same period. On top of that, he visited 58 cities in 30 states, held 21 town hall meetings and read 52 speeches off the teleprompter telling us the virtues of ObamaCare. The problem is not a failure to communicate – the problem is that he did communicate.

The BIG Fake: “This is a great opportunity to show everyone that we got the message and that we’re willing, in this post-election season, to come together and do what’s best for the country we all love.” –Barack Obama

She has some ‘splainin to do: “Because I’m effective. It’s why they had to do it. They had to put a stop to me because we were effective in passing health-care reform, which the health insurance industry wanted to stop; Wall Street reform, which Wall Street wanted to stop; [reforms of] students loans for taking the money out of the banks and giving it back to the taxpayer and to families. … I’m one of the most effective fundraisers that the Congress has had … because I believe in something.” –soon-to-be-former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on why the Republicans attacked her

Whose money is it? “At a time when we are going to ask folks across the board to make such difficult sacrifices, I don’t see how we can afford to borrow an additional $700 billion from other countries to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent, even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. We’d be digging ourselves into an even deeper fiscal hole and passing the burden on to our children.” –Barack Obama with nothing to offer but class warfare and lies about “cost”

PC on Islam: “The phrase jihad has a lot of meaning within Islam and is subject to a lot of different interpretations, but I will say that first Islam is one of the world’s great religions. More than a billion people practice Islam and an overwhelming majority view their obligations to a religion that reaffirms peace, fairness, tolerance. I think all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted by violence.” –Barack Obama

Pot and kettle: “No one nation has a monopoly on wisdom, and no nation should ever try to impose its values on another.” –Barack Obama, who despite his rhetoric is always keen to impose his “values” on everybody else, no matter what

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Upright

“No matter how many ways they try to analyze last week’s election, the American left will forever reject the most obvious explanation of all: for the first time since Jimmy Carter, Americans got a long, hard look at progressivism. Not the progressivism cloaked in the mainstream media- and Democrat-concocted facade of high-minded reasonableness. The haughty, elitist arrogance of those who truly believe they are the only lights shining across a darkened landscape populated by misguided misfits – misguided misfits who thoroughly rejected their enlightened benevolence.” –columnist Arnold Ahlert

“Here’s Barack Obama’s problem when it comes to dealing with newly elected Republican members of Congress. They are convinced they won because voters rejected Obama’s agenda of national health care, spending and bailouts. But Obama cannot admit that his agenda – his legacy – is fundamentally flawed and that voters repudiated it. The result will be irreconcilable conflict.” –columnist Byron York

“Unlike the Democrats today, [John F.] Kennedy never pretended he was poor or even middle class; he let us know he was upper crust. And if you doubted it for a second, he’d put Jackie on display with her very expensive designer fashions. Today, kazillionaire politicians like Boxer, Feinstein, Bloomberg, Kerry, Clinton, and even a schmuck named Rockefeller, want us to believe they’re just a bunch of regular folks who carry their lunch in a paper bag and shop at Walmart.” –columnist Burt Prelutsky

“Whenever the party that controls the White House does not also control Capitol Hill, political pundits worry that there will be ‘gridlock’ in Washington, so that the government cannot solve the nation’s problems. Almost never is that fear based on what actually happens when there is divided government, compared to what happens when one party has a monopoly of both legislative and executive branches. The last time the federal government had a budget surplus, instead of its usual deficits, there was divided government. … By the same token, some of the worst laws ever passed were passed when one party had overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress, as well as being led by their own President of the United States.” –columnist Thomas Sowell

“As to whether the president ‘gets it’ about the midterms, it doesn’t matter. As Bill Kristol has observed, Obama is not in the same position as President Clinton was in 1994. Hillarycare was defeated. President Clinton was thus free to let voters know that he had gotten the message and would never try anything like that again. And he didn’t.” –columnist Mona Charen

Editorial Exegesis

“An unlikely assortment of people ranging from Sarah Palin and Paul Volcker to Rep. Paul Ryan and World Bank head Robert Zoellick all believe quantitative easing is a big mistake. So do we. The discontent has also gone global. The governments of China, Brazil, Japan, Germany and Russia continue to express concern that the Fed’s money printing will distort the world economy and lead to a trade war. Will it? Since the first round of quantitative easing that ended in March – during which the Fed printed $1.7 trillion in new money – there’s no question new economic stresses have emerged between the U.S. and its key trading partners. Domestically, economic growth has slowed, and we’ve actually killed more jobs than we’ve created. Even so, oil has doubled to nearly $90 a barrel, key commodities have soared to record highs and gold has surged past $1,400 – all bad inflation omens. Now, the Fed is embarking on a second round, dubbed QE2, in which it will spend another $600 billion and maybe more. But don’t expect it to be any more effective than the first round. … The Fed has taken a page from the Obama administration’s failed hyper-Keynesianism, believing it can refloat the flagging U.S. economy on a sea of newly-printed money. It can’t. Economists have agreed for years that no nation can devalue its way to prosperity. … QE2 will not only saddle us with higher debts, it will lead to more market volatility, higher inflation and, eventually, slower economic growth and lower standards of living for all. Thanks to the midterm elections, the worst excesses of Congress’ tax-and-spend fiscal policies will likely end soon. Unfortunately, we may have to wait until early next year to stop the Fed from making things worse.” –Investor’s Business Daily

Marine Corps Birthday

On Nov. 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to create two battalions of Continental Marines for the War of Independence from Britain. In 1798, President John Adams signed the Act establishing the United States Marine Corps. The 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General John A. Lejeune, issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921, directing that on Nov. 10 every year, in honor of the Corps’ birthday, the Order’s summary of the history, mission and tradition of the Corps be read to every command. Wish them Happy Birthday here.

We at The Patriot Post offer our thanks for a job well done. For those interested in great items bearing the Marine Corps’ insignia, please visit The Patriot Shop. Semper Fi!

Dezinformatsia

Belly Laugh of the Week: “After a momentous midterm election, now the focus turns to how the GOP adapts to the Tea Party, and how President Obama adapts to the newly empowered GOP. Pundits have suggested that the president follow the Clinton model by seeking common ground with Republicans in Congress, and he’s certain to try – it’s in his DNA.” –Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift

Good question: “Are you willing to concede at all that what happened [on Election Day] was not just an expression of frustration about the economy but a fundamental rejection of your agenda? And given the results, who do you think speaks to the true voice of the American people right now, you or John Boehner?” –AP’s Ben Feller to Barack Obama

Non Compos Mentis: “The Republican strategy of the last two years has been to force Obama over to the left so he could only pass left-backed legislation.” –MSNBC’s Chris Matthews

Straw man: “I’ve been talking about left-wing bloggers this morning – right-wing bloggers ginned up a funny controversy about the president going to India, and there’s been a lot of noise on the far-right about him going to India. That’s exactly where he should be. I would send my president to India, like once a month, if I could, for long weekends. … [A]ny right-wing bloggers out there that are critical of the president being in India – anybody – is an idiot.” –MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough

Newspulper Headlines:

Breaking News From 1980, 1994: “Republicans Promise an Era of Limited Government” –Associated Press

We Blame Global Warming: “Obama Faces Chillier Reception Abroad” –The Wall Street Journal

Goodness Gracious: “Great Balls of Fire Over Canada: NASA Investigates” –CTV.ca

Questions Nobody Is Asking: “The Ego Factor: Can Barack Obama Change?” –Politico.com

Dog Trips Over Clinton, Sees Earthquake – Now That Would Be News: “Earthquakes Dog Clinton on Overseas Trips” –Associated Press

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: “Thousands of Democrats to Be Jobless in Washington” –Washington Post website

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

Village Idiots

Fighting for Pelosi: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi is one of the strongest, most progressive leaders in Washington. Her determination brought health care reform back to life last winter, when the Senate and the White House were ready to scale back. She fought harder than anyone for bigger, better job creation bills. And right now, she is the strongest voice in leadership for ending Bush’s millionaire tax bailout. But after Tuesday’s elections, some corporate Democrats are taking the wrong lesson – saying that Democrats should be less progressive and more like the Republicans. And they’re pushing Speaker Pelosi to step down. This would be a terrible loss for progressives, and for the country.” –MoveOn.org

Unbelievable: “The president himself has to reconnect with the people. Remember, President Clinton reconnected through [the Oklahoma City bombing], right? … And the president right now seems removed. And it wasn’t until that speech that he reclicked with the American public. Obama needs a similar – a similar kind of event.” –Democrat pollster Mark Penn (They “need” another terrorist attack?)

Advice: “Seriously, if we ran Tom Hanks, if we ran Oprah – there’s a whole column of people who are beloved people. Smart and good.” –Michael Moore suggesting a new slate of Democrat candidates

California dreaming: “We’re nothing but a mirror of our consistent thoughts. You tend to manifest what you focus on. If you look around for what’s wrong, you’ll find it. But as all we know up here in San Francisco, when you focus on what’s right, you see it all around you. … There is absolutely nothing wrong with California that can’t be fixed by what’s right with California. … If you’re from another state, you’d love to have the problems of California.” –California Lt. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom

Short Cuts

“John Kerry told a crowd that Rush Limbaugh has turned America into Know Nothings. He is one to talk. John Kerry lost the presidential election six years ago when any idiot could have beaten President Bush, but John Kerry proved he’s not just any idiot.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

“If the Republicans are celebrating this week, here’s hoping that somewhere just one of their spokesmen will have had the candor to say what the real lesson of any GOP victory this year should be: ‘We better not screw up again.’” –columnist Paul Greenberg

“Republican landslides are apparently inevitable whenever Democrats try to turn our health care over to the Department of Motor Vehicles.” –columnist Ann Coulter

“Elections have consequences. Voters make choices. But a campaign is like dating – it’s the sales phase of the relationship. Once an election is over, citizens are watching to see how candidates live up to the promises they’ve made. Will the ‘love’ and ‘trust’ be earned and re-earned month after month?” –speaker and columnist Terry Paulson

“Nancy Pelosi says she will seek to become the House minority leader. Who better to be the minority leader than the person who led their party to become the minority?” –comedian Jay Leno