The Patriot Post® · President Goes Wobbly on Nuclear Weapons

The Foundation

“National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.” –John Adams

Editorial Exegesis

“President Obama came to office in 2009 promising to negotiate with America’s enemies and create a world without nuclear weapons. Four years later, North Korea is threatening America with nuclear attack, Iran is closer to its own atomic arsenal, and the world is edging ever closer to a dangerous new era of nuclear proliferation. The promises and the reality are connected. … All of this is occurring even as Mr. Obama has pursued the most aggressive nuclear arms control agenda since the 1970s – or more likely because of it. In April 2009, the President famously declared that reducing U.S. nuclear stockpiles ‘will then give us a greater moral authority to say to Iran, don’t develop a nuclear weapon; to say to North Korea, don’t proliferate nuclear weapons.’ Mr. Obama has since cut the U.S. arsenal in the Start treaty with Russia and he’s negotiating more reductions that he may not submit for Senate ratification. None of this ‘moral authority’ has had the least deterrent effect on Iran or North Korea. The truth is the opposite. The world can see the U.S. has acquiesced in North Korea’s weapons program and lacks the will to stop Iran. It can see the U.S. is shrinking its own nuclear capacity through arms control, even as rogue threats grow. And it can see the U.S. is ambivalent about its allies getting nuclear weapons even as it does little to shore up the U.S. umbrella or allied defenses. Above all, the world can hear Mr. Obama declare for domestic American audiences that ‘the tide of war is receding’ despite the growing evidence to the contrary. On present trend, the President who promised to rid the world of nuclear weapons is setting the stage for their greatest proliferation since the dawn of the atomic age.” –The Wall Street Journal

Upright

“As we celebrate the remarkable life of Margaret Thatcher, it is fitting that we remember the most important aspect of it: She won, and she deserved to win. Those who opposed her and reviled her were on the wrong side of the most important question of their age, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with tyrants, many of them as guilty as those who manned the gulag watchtowers. And even today, when they make their pilgrimages to sit at the feet of Castro or bury Chávez, when they put leftist terrorists on their payrolls, they know: They lost. What they do not know, because they are incapable of understanding the fact, is that they deserved to lose. We should not allow them to pretend that they were on the right side all along.” –National Review’s Kevin D. Williamson

“We tend to think that leaders like [Margaret Thatcher], Ronald Reagan, et al. ought to be the norm – that if we could only find another Thatcher or Reagan we could regain control of our societies. But alas, such figures are the exceptions, especially in democracies, where the ability to get elected now appears to be the sole qualification to run for office, even high office. How else to explain the election, twice, of a man of mediocre accomplishment such as Barack Obama? … Wishing for another Thatcher or Reagan is not the answer. Hoping that another will come along is not a plan. Not strangling them in their cradles when they do finally appear is the key.” –columnist Michael Walsh

“Hatred follows those who stand for the truth. It does take courage to stand for what you believe, for what is right. It’s a lesson that many politicians need to learn. It’s easy when the media and public opinion support you, but what to do when the hard choices need to be made for the greater good that short-sighted spectacles cannot focus on. The lessons of Thatcherism stand the test of time. … Above all, we must learn to, as Mrs. Thatcher so ably put it, ‘stand on principle or not stand at all.’” –columnist David C. Jennings

“[B]eing underestimated is a great gift in politics. Ronald Reagan was dubbed an ‘amiable dunce’ before he was known as the ‘Teflon president,’ and Thatcher had imbecile charm before she was dubbed … the ‘Iron Lady.’ … It’s worth remembering that Thatcher did not destroy the British equivalent of what Americans call liberalism. She destroyed socialism, which was a thriving concern … in Britain. When Labor decided to get serious about winning elections again, Tony Blair had to repudiate the party’s century-long support for doctrinaire socialism and embrace the market. Soon, Bill Clinton followed suit, bending his party to Reagan’s legacy. Suddenly, liberals were playing the ‘me-too’ game. That’s one reason the left still hates her and Reagan so much. Thatcher and Reagan didn’t just force change on their societies, they forced change on their enemies, proving that the wave of the future is not so inevitable after all.” –columnist Jonah Goldberg

Insight From Margaret Thatcher

“You don’t win by just being against things, you only win by being for things and making your message perfectly clear.”

“There is no week, nor day, nor hour, when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their supreme confidence in themselves, and lose their roughness and spirit of defiance. Tyranny may always enter – there is no charm or bar against it.”

“If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing.”

“That nations that have gone for equality, like Communism, have neither freedom nor justice nor equality, they’ve the greatest inequalities of all, the privileges of the politicians are far greater compared with the ordinary folk than in any other country. The nations that have gone for freedom, justice and independence of people have still freedom and justice, and they have far more equality between their people, far more respect for each individual than the other nations. Go my way. You will get freedom and justice and much less difference between people than you do in the Soviet Union.”

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Demo-gogues

Irresponsible big government: “[Mine is] a budget that doesn’t spend beyond our means, and it’s a budget that doesn’t make harsh and unnecessary cuts that only serve to slow our economy.” –Barack Obama on his budget that spends way beyond our means and will slow the economy in the process

Fun with stats: “Now, the truth is, our deficits are already shrinking. That’s a fact. I’ve already signed more than $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction into law, and my budget will reduce our deficits by nearly $2 trillion more, without harming the recovery. That surpasses the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that many economists believe will stabilize our finances.” –Obama

Gun grabbers: “There is only one thing that can stand in the way of change and that’s politics in Washington. This is not about me. This is not about politics. This is about doing the right thing for all the families that are here that have been torn apart by gun violence. … Every once in a while, we set politics aside, and we just do what’s right.” –Barack “Skeeter” Obama

“We will not walk away from the promises we’ve made. We are as determined as ever to do what must be done. … [W]e can protect more of our citizens from gun violence while still protecting our Second Amendment rights. Those two things don’t contradict each other.” –Obama

False choices: “What’s more important to you, our children or an A grade from the gun lobby?” –Obama pressuring Congress to adopt gun control measures

“Ninety percent of Americans support universal background checks. Think about that. How often do 90 percent of Americans agree on anything? … And yet, there is only one thing that can stand in the way of change that just about everybody agrees on, and that’s politics in Washington. … If our democracy is working the way it’s supposed to, and 90 percent of the American people agree on something, in the wake of a tragedy you’d think this would not be a heavy lift.” –Obama

Super-sizing scare words: “I’m … convinced that reasonable limits on gun trafficking across state lines, super-size magazines and certain combat-style weapons make sense, and I’ll be pleased to vote in support of such measures.” –Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)

Dezinformatsia

Revisionist history: “[Margaret Thatcher] was developing this notion, economically, that regulation had been a problem. And so, many city bankers and individuals in the financial community felt completely unleashed to do as they wanted. And the result was a kind of flagrant excessive and ostentatious pursuit of cash. … Gordon Brown wrote a book … called ‘Where There Is Greed,’ which was basically a critique of that kind of selfishness that she seemed to embody.” –MSNBC’s Martin Bashir

“You know, the bigger question is not whether [Margaret Thatcher] was to blame for all of our problems, but would Britain have got better without her? … Would the economy have taken off in the ‘80s without her? Probably. Would it have been restructured? Probably. Could it have been done in a more humane way? Absolutely. … Margaret Thatcher, no question, she stood up to communism. She … had an attitude to her domestic enemies that, frankly, was the antithesis of freedom.” –MSNBC’s Richard Wolffe

Downplaying the assault on Liberty: “[T]here’s something else that’s going on now that is really, really dangerous, and it’s this festering sense that we need to have these semi-automatic weapons because the government in Washington is about to oppress us. And that is paranoia that these groups like the NRA, the Gun Owners of America, they feed this crap and it really is anti-American.” –Time magazine’s Joe Klein

It takes a village? “We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children. So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.” –MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry

Newspulper Headlines:

We Blame George W. Bush: “Cancer Clinics Are Turning Away Thousands of Medicare Patients. Blame the Sequester.” –Washington Post website

More Cowbell!: “Politico Has a Fever Over Possible Hillary Clinton 2016 Presidential Run” –NewsBusters.org

Breaking News From 2008: “Why Hillary is less 'inevitable’ than you think” –Washington Free Beacon

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping: “North Pole Man Acquitted of Kidnapping” –Anchorage Daily News

Bottom Story of the Day: “So Far, Forced Spending Cuts Not as Bad as Advertised” –CNN.com

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

Village Idiots

Once again lamenting Obama’s not king: “What I will say is that this is not the president’s idealized budget. It is not what he would do if he were king, or if only people who supported his proposals were in Congress.” –White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

Blame the sequester: “It is important to bear in mind that the March household and payroll surveys are the first monthly surveys to look at employment since the beginning of sequestration. While the recovery was gaining traction before sequestration took effect, these arbitrary and unnecessary cuts to government services will be a headwind in the months to come, and will cut key investments in the nation’s future competitiveness.” –Obama’s economic adviser Alan B. Krueger

Rose-colored glasses: “I think it’s important to look at the overall picture on the economy. We have made a lot of progress, 6.5 million private sector jobs created over the last three years. The housing market’s coming back, manufacturing’s coming back. The American auto industry is back, but there’s more to do. And so, we shouldn’t focus on any individual month because if we created 290,000 jobs this month, I would have given you the same answer, which we’re making progress, but we have to do more.” –Obama senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer

Village Academic Curriculum: “The courts have consistently determined that the Second Amendment does not ensure each individual the right to bear arms. Instead, the amendment provides the right for the states to arm a militia such as the National Guard. The courts have never found a law regulating the private ownership of weapons unconstitutional. The courts have also said that the Second Amendment is not incorporated against the states. This means that the rights of this amendment are not extended to the individual citizens of the states. So a person has no right to complain about a Second Amendment violation by state laws.” –Connecticut Northeast Middle School social studies worksheet

Short Cuts

“Here’s something I didn’t know. When Vice President Biden and President Obama meet for lunch at the White House, the chef goes out of his way to personalize their meals. For example, Biden’s lunch always comes with a toy.” –comedian Jay Leno

“The Associated Press removed the phrase illegal immigrant from its style-book [last] week. The editors feel the label is stigmatizing. From now on, all Associated Press reports will simply refer to an illegal immigrant as a person diagnosed with Happy Feet.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

“The Department of Homeland Security defended their large ammo purchases saying that they buy in bulk to ‘significantly lower costs.’ That’s true. Now try it with fence-construction materials.” –Fred Thompson

“The Republicans just need to take Obama aside and tell him, ‘Shut up, you idiot. You lost on this [gun control] issue. Lost. Clock has expired. It’s over. You think you’re winning just because you’re the only one on the field still trying to play because everyone else has left to the victory ceremony. No one cares about your stupid gun control anymore and only a dwindling number of really dumb people think it will actually achieve anything. We know you hate freedom, Obama, but your just going to have to find a different one to attack. Here, have a cookie.’ Omit that last part if you don’t have a cookie to give him; teasing him with a cookie would just be mean.” –humorist Frank J. Fleming

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