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The Foundation

“It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled. It must be the combined virtue of the rulers and of the people to do this, and to rescue and save their civil and religious rights from the outstretched arm of tyranny, which may appear under any mode or form of government.” –Mercy Warren

Editorial Exegesis

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a novel conception of his job priorities. One recent day, the Nevada Democrat took it upon himself to lecture Republicans on how they should conduct their business. Claiming Republicans practiced ‘obstructionism on steroids’ in 2011, Reid said he hoped ‘that they understand that everything doesn’t have to be a fight. Legislation is an art of working together, building consensus, compromise. And I hope that the Tea Party doesn’t have the influence in this next year that they had in the previous year.’ … In those same remarks, Reid offered this laugher about his party’s purported efforts in 2011 to break the legislative deadlock between President Obama and Senate Democrats on one side and House Republicans on the other: ‘I don’t think … anyone can question or they should question our having reached out to Republicans. We’ve done everything we could to work with them. We’re going to continue to do that. In spite of the obstructionism, we have been able to accomplish a lot of good things in the last Congress.’ Let it be noted, however, that the most prominent missing item among those ‘good things’ Reid claims to have accomplished was fulfilling one of the Senate’s most basic constitutional duties – approving an annual federal budget. … National Journal reports that Reid told a meeting of his Democratic colleagues earlier this week that ‘the party is positioned to dictate a congressional agenda designed to get most of its congressional members – and President Obama – re-elected. Working with the White House, Senate Democrats are plotting a 2012 floor agenda driven by Obama’s re-election campaign and the fight for control of Congress. The year will see an intensified version of the course Democrats pursued this fall through votes on the president’s jobs bill.’ In other words, while blasting Republican ‘obstructionism,’ Reid is plotting systematic obstructionism throughout the coming months. This is spelled h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y.” –The Washington Examiner

What do you expect from congressional Democrats this year?

Upright

“[L]et us now, in full public view, credit [Barack Obama’s] greatest public service as president: He is sending Americans back to the Constitution. … Mr. Obama’s overreach has provoked something unique. This is the rise of a populist movement with the historically unpopulist priorities of making the federal government smaller and insisting on its constitutional limits. … You can say Mr. Obama probably will not like where a greater public familiarity with the Constitution is likely to take us politically. But you can’t say the former University of Chicago professor hasn’t made it exciting.” –columnist William McGurn

“President Obama, man of the people, will deliver his presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. – so that Democratic Party fundraisers can reward big donors with skyboxes and other lavish perks. … The self-proclaimed Party of the 99 Percent is reportedly busy creating special-access VIP packages for the 1 percent – under the illusion of throwing open its doors to the masses. DNC officials refuse to disclose fundraising updates until after the convention, even as they champion their own ‘openness and accessibility.’ And no doubt, Obama will use his stadium-size pulpit to ‘stand up’ to the very same ‘fat cats’ who’ll be watching him while sipping Courvoisier in their DNC-appointed luxury seats. Such is the audacity of progressive cognitive dissonance.” –columnist Michelle Malkin

“One of the weirdest things about Cornell West’s recent rant on Fox News was that he is one of the highest-paid professors in the humanities in the United States … yet he damned those who, like himself, are rich. … With recent news that Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley professors, like the 1 Percenters at J.P. Morgan and Goldman-Sachs, were among Obama’s most generous campaign contributors, I think we can discern the new three rules of fat-cattery: 1) Protestations of being liberal exempt you from the crime of being a 1 Percenter; 2) The less risk to your affluent status … the more willing you are to put up with income-tax hikes, which renders you one of the good, blue 1 Percenters; 3) Damning Wall Street on Monday while shaking down Wall Street on Tuesday is just the way things are, whether for Barack Obama or for an Ivy League development dean.” –historian Victor Davis Hanson

The Demo-gogues

Where to start with this one? “I’m not a perfect man. I’m not a perfect president, but I promise you this – and I’ve kept this promise – I will always tell you what I believe and I will always tell you where I stand. If you stick with me, we’re going to finish what we started in 2008.” –Barack Obama

That’s the problem: “The reason I was successful was not because I was a flawless candidate or I ran a flawless campaign but it was because together we were able to give voice to this shared vision of what America should be. And I want you to know that I have kept faith with that vision all these years.” – Barack Obama

Nobody works harder than a bureaucrat: “[B]y the way, you won’t meet harder working folks than some of the folks in these federal agencies – devote countless hours to trying to make sure that they’re serving the American people, but they will tell you their efforts are constantly undermined by an outdated bureaucratic maze.” –Barack Obama

Belly Laugh of the Week: “As opposed to the Tea Party, which was practically a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party, we don’t really have much of a connection with the Occupy [protesters]. In fact, they probably have some sentiments that overlap between the two [groups].” –House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Race bait: “A white president, frankly, could be pushed a great deal more than we would push President Obama because nobody would accuse him or her of having partiality toward African-Americans. So its a tough spot – it also means that we still have a long way to go in terms of race relations in this country and the president has, I think, moved through these troubled waters about as well as any African-American could becoming the first black president.” –Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)

Essential Liberty

“Last week, President Barack Obama, at a Capital Hilton fundraising event, told the crowd, ‘We can’t go back to this brand of you’re-on-your-own economics.’ … President Obama’s vision was shared by our Pilgrim Fathers of the Plymouth Colony in modern-day Massachusetts. They established a communist system. They all farmed together, and whatever they produced was put in a common storehouse. A certain amount of food was rationed to each person regardless of his contribution to the work. … In 1623, after much debate, a new system was set up, in which every family was assigned a parcel of land, and whatever they produced belonged to the family. … After Gov. Bradford’s establishment of what Obama calls ‘you’re-on-your-own economics,’ harvests were so bountiful that Bradford is credited with establishing what we now call Thanksgiving. … Years ago, typing was done on a mechanical typewriter; milk was delivered to doorsteps via horse and wagon; slide rules were used to make calculations. Should any of these products and practices have survived, or was it OK for natural selection to consign them to the dustbin of history? Try cornering the president or his supporters, and ask them whether they believe government should ensure that the unfit survive and rather than ‘you’re-on-your-own economics’ there should be ‘you’re-on-somebody-else economics.’” –economist Walter. E. Williams

Dezinformatsia

Class warfare: “Here’s what I’ve discovered. It seems to me you have two ways of looking at wealthy people. Some of us, most of us look at people like Steve Jobs, Spielberg, Iacocca, name brands, Gates. Self-made people who deserved their wealth because they went out and swung that pick and may have failed, but they succeeded. And there’s other people always looking at it this way. ‘Oh he had a break. He went to Harvard, the Business School.’ His old man looked out for him, he had these connections and of course he’s working for Bain. How did he get that job?” –MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Mitt Romney

So under-appreciated: “When given [Obama’s] education, given that he was the first to head the Harvard Law Review, he could have made millions in the private corporate world. He chose, way before anyone ever thought he would be the president, to go back to Chicago and to work as a community organizer and to serve the underserved and the ignored.” –“The Reverend” Al Sharpton

In what alternate universe? “They say the stimulus didn’t work. The stimulus worked. It was just too small. While we had the stimulus, employment was rising. So, you know, the president knows what to do.” –Salon’s Joan Walsh

Non Compos Mentis: “Why Are Obama’s Critics So Dumb?” –Newsweek cover story

Race bait II: “The fact that a conversation about the attitude and disposition of Mrs. Obama remains such a hot-button topic is a major disappointment for those who thought times would change after her husband’s election in 2008. Many in the African-American community were certain the mere presence of Michelle Obama on the international stage would effect perceptions of black women worldwide. Surely it would be impossible to ignore the grace, charm and intellect of the 5'11” Chicago native, with her Harvard Law degree, committed marriage, and two young daughters.“ –Newsweek’s Allison Samuels

Newspulper Headlines:

The Real Reason Mrs. Obama Is So Angry: "Barack Obama’s Got Sons?” –Washington Post website

We Blame George W. Bush: “Obama Blames Nixon for NOAA” –Politico.com

We Blame Global Warming: “CES: Why 3D TV Isn’t ‘Cool’ This Year” –Macworld.com

News You Can Use: “How to Stay Healthy: Don’t Get Old” –TheAtlantic.com

Questions Nobody Is Asking: “What Are Newspapers For?” –Washington Post website

Bottom Story of the Day: “Justice Department Backs Obama Recess Appointment” –Reuters

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

Village Idiots

Let them eat cake: “We absolutely live in a bubble. So I have to keep my kids on track to do things that we would do as if we weren’t here. Whether it’s vacation or camp or taking a trip we would normally take. It’s letting them get outside of the bubble, to get them to a place. That’s so important and I fight for that, for them.” –Michelle Obama on taking million-dollar vacations

The horror: “[L]ast year we made history together by finally passing health reform. But now there are some folks actually talking about repealing this reform. So today, we must ask ourselves, are we going to stand by and let that happen? I mean, really? Are we going to let insurance companies refuse to cover things like cancer screening, prenatal care, that don’t just save money, but they save lives? Or are we going to stand up for our lives and for the lives of the people that we love?” –Michelle Obama at a fundraiser

Race bait III: “Yes, we have a great deal to celebrate [on civil rights]. But let’s be clear. We have not yet reached the promised land.” –Attorney General Eric Holder

Blame Republicans: “I think it’s very clear that the Republicans voted against the American Jobs Act each time when the whole act was before Congress, when each component part, practically all of them, the Republicans voted against it. … They didn’t like the way we were gonna pay for it. Where we were going to have a modest tax increase on those who are the wealthiest and they oppose that. They wanted to protect the wealthiest and as a result, the direct impact is going to be all across our country we’re going to see layoffs of people who provide very vital resources – services, to our communities.” –senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett

Short Cuts

“[A]ccording to the Mayan Calendar, the world is supposed to come to an apocalyptic end on December 21st. I am of two minds about the prediction. On the one hand, I’d hate to think that I might never see another Christmas or another birthday. On the other hand, if, by some awful turn of events or through some political skullduggery, Obama actually gets himself re-elected on November 6th, the end couldn’t come soon enough for me.” –columnist Burt Prelutsky

“Michelle Obama has recently taken issue with her critics for allegedly perpetuating the idea that she is an ‘angry black woman.’ … One does not have to take a leap of faith to believe Mrs. Obama to be an ‘angry black woman.’ It is nothing more than a logical conclusion given the evidence she has provided.” –columnist William Sullivan

“During a recent interview, Michael Moore refused to credit capitalism for his commercial success in the film industry, saying ‘socialist countries’ have movies too. Yes. As well as jails full of dissident filmmakers.” –Fred Thompson

“President Obama reportedly agreed to give his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium. It’s sure put the convention over budget. When you’re sixteen trillion dollars overdrawn Bank of America’s fees really add up.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team