Getting Back on the Road to Prosperity

The Foundation

"The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men." --Alexander Hamilton

Editorial Exegesis

"[T]he president's top-down interventions have virtually paralyzed our economy -- and [Mitt Romney has] presented a solution. ... The answer is pro-growth tax and regulatory reform. The answer is tax and regulatory certainty for businesses. The answer is growing our way out of the budget deficit with a broader, simpler tax base and reduced rates and deductions for all -- especially the risk-taker, the job creator and the entrepreneur. ... Mr. Obama has a much different recipe for lifting the middle class: higher taxes on investors, job creators and small businesses; borrowing money to fund more public-sector jobs and government construction projects; borrowing money to fund more green energy enterprises and projects...; and pushing more young people to seek a debt-funded college education when they have little hope of landing a job upon graduation. The suggestion that tax increases and higher energy prices will lift the middle class defies logic. But it's not terribly surprising coming from an administration that's completely lacking in business experience and openly hostile to free-market capitalism. ... Mr. Obama has never been the uniting agent of change he promised to be. His two biggest initiatives, the economic stimulus and his health care reform law, were rushed through a Democratic Congress without a single Republican vote, and the electorate responded in 2010 by giving Republicans control of the House. ... Mr. Romney, however, is a Republican who was elected governor of heavily Democratic Massachusetts. He had to work with Democrats to get things done. His leadership and ability to bring people together saved the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. As a businessman, his management skills turned failing companies into profitable ones. Mr. Romney vows to do that, again, in Washington. If we are to avoid a lost decade and a future calamity created by inaction on entitlements and government growth, this nation needs a team of turnaround experts. ... Mr. Romney is a fine family man who donates millions of dollars to his church and charity every year. There is not a whiff of scandal about him. This is why his opponents have tried to turn his very successes against him. ... The choice is clear. Only Mitt Romney has the principles and experience needed to put America back on the road to prosperity." --Las Vegas Review-Journal

Upright

"Romney is finally succeeding in setting himself apart from Obama and giving voters a sense of something to look forward to with a Romney presidency. ... Moreover, Romney would unabashedly move to restore U.S. international leadership, saying our allies crave it and the world needs it. He sent a very clear signal that ... the days of deference to international organizations and the ideologies and goals of others would be over. The battle lines are clear." --columnist Keith Koffler

"A look at the president's career shows he has never stayed in a job four years without looking to move on to something better. ... Now Obama has been president for nearly four years. ... And his entire career suggests that by now he should be angling for a bigger, better job. The problem is, there isn't such a position -- and a second term in the same old job doesn't count. The chief benefit of winning re-election to a second term might simply be to avoid being labeled a loser, to avoid joining Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush as presidents who couldn't win a second time." --The Washington Examiner's Byron York

"Unlike Mitt, I loathe Sesame Street. It bears primary responsibility for what the Canadian blogger Binky calls the de-monsterization of childhood -- the idea that there are no evil monsters out there at the edges of the map, just shaggy creatures who look a little funny and can sometimes be a bit grouchy about it because people prejudge them until they learn to celebrate diversity and help Cranky the Friendly Monster go recycling. That is not unrelated to the infantilization of our society. Marinate three generations of Americans in that pabulum, and it's no surprise you wind up with unprotected diplomats dragged to their deaths from their 'safe house' in Benghazi." --columnist Mark Steyn

"The Obama campaign has put out a series of creepy e-cards. One incredibly irresponsible one encourages young female students to write home to their parents: 'Dear Mom, Mitt Romney says he would repeal the Affordable Care Act. So here's a quick question: Can I borrow $18,000 to help pay for my birth control?' The Family Research Center writes that, 'If your daughter needs $18,000 worth of birth control, you have far more serious issues to deal with than the cost.' At that level of promiscuity, as encouraged by the Obama administration, it is not only 'uncool,' it is creepy. What's next, e-cards detailing how to deal with the aftermath of venereal disease and shattered self-respect? Immaturity + creepy = 51-year-old Obama and his Liberal pals running your college student's sex life." --columnist Sharon Sebastian

"The classic blowhard is the loud blusterer, who always retells his own arguments and run-ins from the perspective of his own genius, thereby offering the embarrassing proof that he regrets just how poorly he was outfoxed and outargued without a script." --historian Victor Davis Hanson

Demo-gogues

No success: "This country does not just succeed when just a few are doing well at the top. It succeeds when the middle class gets bigger. Our economy does not grow from the top down, it grows from the middle-out. We don't believe that anybody is entitled to success in this country. But we do believe in opportunity. We believe in a country where hard work pays off and responsibilities are rewarded and everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody's doing their fair share and everybody's playing by the same rules." --Barack Obama, emphasis added

The BIG Lie: "[O]n Friday, we learned that the unemployment rate is now at its lowest level since I took office. More Americans are entering the workforce. More Americans are getting jobs." --Barack Obama (Actually, the only reason the unemployment rate is so low is that so many Americans are leaving the workforce.)

Twitter spin: "We still have a lot of work to do, but w/unemployment dropping below 8% to the lowest level in 4 years, our economy's on the right track. There are still far too many people looking for work, but the policies advanced by Pres. Obama & Democrats are helping move our economy fwd. We could move faster if Republicans dropped obstruction, yet Sen. McConnell said his 'single most important' goal was defeating Pres. Obama. It's time for Republicans to put politics aside, and put the middle class first." --Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in a series of tweets

Let's sure hope not: "We've come too far to turn back now." --Barack Obama

"[W]e've made too much progress to return to the policies that led to the crisis in the first place. I can't allow that to happen, I won't allow that to happen, and that is why I'm running for a second term as president of the United States." --Barack Obama

Clueless? "Now, four years ago, I made a few commitments to you. I told you I'd end the war in Iraq, and I did. I said I'd end the war in Afghanistan, and we are. I said we'd refocus on the people who actually attacked us on 9/11 -- and today, al-Qa'ida is on its heels and Osama bin Laden is no more." --Barack Obama, who must have missed the memo that al-Qa'ida attacked three of our embassies, including the one in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11

Mountains out of molehills: "[Mitt Romney] said he'd bring down our deficit by going after what has been the biggest driver of our debt and deficits over the last decade -- public television, PBS. You didn't know this, but for all you moms and kids out there, you should have confidence that finally somebody is cracking down on Big Bird." --Barack Obama

He now does what he denounced then: "If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things." --Barack Obama in 2008

Dezinformatsia

Speaking truth to power: "The U.S. military is preparing to retaliate for the Libyan attack. But, even if [Ambassador] Stevens is avenged, will the president get the credit he deserves if his acolytes have left the impression that they're willing to rewrite the story for political advantage?" --New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd

Blame the lies: "I think that there were so many lies coming across that stage [during the debate], and so many inaccuracies, it was hard for the president to comprehend it and decide which one he wanted to attack first. ... He has not had as many debates as Mitt Romney. Romney knows where President Obama is weak. ... He was the guy in the board room, he was the corporate shark, he knew how to get this audience done and he was going to run over everybody." --MSNBC's Ed Schultz

Blame the job: "You do have to step back and understand that Mitt Romney has spent, literally, two months, almost every night, rehearsing every answer for this very moment. He practiced hours and hours and hours, did multiple -- literally, double-digit rehearsals -- to be able to practice for this moment. The president had to be the president, and had to be a candidate, and so he didn't have nearly as much prep time." --Politico editor Jim VandeHei

Blame Twitter: "First of all, I think that Twitter and the whole blogosphere thing made that the first presidential debate that was scored minute by minute. And it drove the consensus that exists today, that -- 'Oh my gosh, Obama was crushed, Obama was devastated.' You know this is such hokum. It was a social media phenomenon." --Fox News contributor Juan Williams

Newspulper Headlines:

We Blame George W. Bush: "Team Obama Blames John Kerry for Debate Loss" --Breitbart.com

We Blame Global Warming: "Al Gore Blames Obama's Poor Debate Performance on High Altitude" --Twitchy.com

Shortest Books Ever Written: "Why a President Romney Would Have Obama to Thank for an Economic Recovery" --The Washington Post

Longest Books Ever Written: "MILLER: Media's Love Affair With Obama" --The Washington Times

News You Can Use: "How to Melt Your Brain With a Single Piece of Paper" --BuzzFeed.com

Questions Nobody Is Asking: "Is Climate Change the Sleeper Issue of the 2012 Election?" --TheAtlantic.com

Bottom Story of the Day: "Candidates Ignore Climate Change Debate" --San Francisco Chronicle website

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

Village Idiots

Again with the excuses: "The president showed up [at last week's debate] with the intent of answering questions and having a discussion, an honest discussion of where we will go as a country, and Romney showed up to deliver a performance, and he delivered a very good performance. It was completely un-rooted in fact, it was completely un-rooted in the positions he's taken before and he spent 90 minutes trying to undo two years of campaigning on that stage, but he did it very well." --Obama adviser David Axelrod

Her own set of issues indeed: "I rarely step foot in the West Wing. In fact, people are shocked when they see me there. I rarely walk in that office because the truth is, [Obama's] got so many wonderful advisers. He's got a phenomenal cabinet. He's got people who are in the trenches on these issues every single day, and I'm kind of stepping in and out, and I've got my own set of issues." --Michelle Obama

From one socialist to another: "The Venezuelan National Elections Commission has declared that President Hugo Chavez won reelection, I believe roughly 54 to 45 percent, with 90 percent reporting. We congratulate the Venezuelan people on the high level of participation, as well as on what was a relatively peaceful election process." --White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

Won't fix gang violence: "If we were to pursue a tax on something like guns and ammo, clearly that wouldn't be popular with the [gun lobby] out there, and it may not generate $50 million, but ... it is consistent with our commitment to pursuing violence reduction in the city and in the county." --Kurt Summers, chief of staff to Cook County (Chicago) Board President Toni Preckwinkle

Rule of men becomes tyranny: "What people don't understand is sometimes we have to step outside the boundaries of the Constitution to get things done. Laws are made to protect corporations and we need laws that protect Mother Earth." --envirofascist Paula Hern

Short Cuts

"Harry Reid announced plans to try to legalize online poker nationally. The game is a valuable educational tool. Poker teaches children to keep a straight face and act confident when all you're holding is your parents' mortgage and the national debt." --comedian Argus Hamilton

"Vice President Joe Biden said that the middle class has been 'buried' for the last four years. So THAT'S what Obama meant by 'shovel-ready jobs.'" --Fred Thompson

"Yesterday I went to see Taken 2, one of those films in which Liam Neeson spends 90 minutes gunning down half the inhabitants of a foreign city. Funniest line: 'Go to the US Embassy. You'll be safe there.'" --columnist Mark Steyn

"They're saying close to 60 million people may have watched the debate. In fact, the only person who didn't tune in was President Obama. ... President Obama talked ... about finding other sources of energy for the future. Other sources? He couldn't muster up enough energy for the 90-minute debate!" --comedian Jay Leno

"I guess Obama told himself before the debate, 'This should be easy ... unless he brings up how I was president the past four years.'" --humorist Frank J. Fleming

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