Insight

“Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.” —Oscar Ameringer (1870-1943)

Observations

“Why precisely are so many Americans worried about the state of democracy? They’re worried that their political opponents will threaten the institutions they cherish. Forty-seven percent of voters declare former President Donald Trump a ‘major threat to democracy,’ and 39% declare President Joe Biden to be the same. But shockingly, the institution they blame most for threatening democracy is the mainstream media, with 59% of likely voters, including 54% of independents, calling the mainstream media a ‘major threat to democracy.’ Perhaps that’s the biggest takeaway from all this data: that Americans don’t hate each other, but they’re being polarized by a media determined to divide them from one another, whipping up madness where mere concern would suffice. And what’s more, Americans can feel it. All of which means that sanity may reign once again, so long as Americans reconnect with each other rather than believing everything they see on the news.” —Ben Shapiro

“America’s morals are upside-down. We have tolerated the legal (but not moral) aborting of more than 60 million innocent babies, while allowing a fiend like [school shooter] Nikolas Cruz to live. ‘Woke’ district attorneys in major cities refuse to prosecute violent criminals, only to see them repeat their crimes. If laws are not enforced, the lawless rule. Whatever happened to the concept of ‘just deserts’? Taking away Cruz’s liberty is not on the same moral level as his taking away 17 lives and heaping sorrow on the lives of their parents.” —Cal Thomas

For the Record

“There are deft political maneuverers who react to circumstances as necessary, and then blinkered and mulish politicians who can’t or won’t acknowledge reality. There are policymakers whose worldviews line up with basic economic laws, and then those always bound to be confounded by the real world consequences of their ideological fixations. There are master communicators who can make anyone feel better about anything, and then there are stumblebums whose evasions and lapses in logic are painfully obvious. Joe Biden is emphatically the latter on every count. He likes to say fighting inflation is his foremost priority, but it’s hard to identify any major initiative of his that would be any different if the annual inflation rate were under 2% rather than over 8%.” —Rich Lowry

“It’s one thing to spike the football in the end zone; it’s another, as Biden keeps doing, to spike the football when it’s third and long at midfield and getting repeatedly penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Last week, he said inflation over the last three months averaged 2% on an annual basis, a new way of counting meant to obscure that the real annual rate was 8.2%. This was reminiscent of his insistence that the inflation rate this past July was 0% because inflation was flat from June. He similarly declared victory on gas prices, when they have been rising again, and has portrayed himself as scourge of the budget deficit despite his binge of further deficit spending. If Biden is offering poor explanations for poor results, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what he says. No presidential statement can compete with declining real wages and steeply increasing food costs. The voters seem to be working themselves up to administer what is the only appropriate reaction to such heedless mismanagement and transparent spin on an essential matter affecting their daily lives, which is to make their discontent unmistakable at the polls in November.” —Rich Lowry

Theater of the Absurd

“What’s depressing is that The New York Times released a poll … that says that 71 percent of voters agree that democracy is under threat. But only seven percent of voters rank a threat to democracy as a major issue this election cycle. I find that so depressing, I can’t begin to tell you. … I mean, I understand inflation has gotten people — if you can’t put food on the table, it’s very depressing. … But to think the other party is going to be able to solve those problems is really ludicrous, because the Republican Party is happy to let corporations never pay another tax for the rest of their days. They will cut Social Security. They’re going to cut lunches for children. They’re not going to help you! So why would you vote for them? And yet I see it’s very close, that people are not understanding what the stakes are. And I find it sad and depressing.” —"The View" cohost Joy Behar

“It’s terrifying how many Americans will choose literal fascism, female serfdom, climate collapse and the reversal of everything from Social Security & Medicare to student loan relief bc they think giving Republicans the power to investigate Hunter Biden will bring down gas prices.” —MSNBC’s Joy Reid

“I think if you look at the scale in terms of a threat to democracy, I mean, 9/11 was a tragedy. We lost thousands of lives in a horrific way. We still mourn to this day. But when you look at something that is an attack on democracy, something that could actually bring about a fundamental change to American governance as we understand it, 9/11 is nothing compared to January 6.” —former FBI Agent Peter Strzok

Gaslighting

“Every day Americans save about $420 million at the pump compared to mid-June.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

The BIG Lie

“I’ve always supported [fracking] as long as it’s done environmentally sound and making sure that we’re not contaminating our waterways.” —Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman (“I don’t support fracking at all, and I never have.” —Fetterman, 2018)

Grand Delusions

“[Biden has] had a better two years than most presidents that you can name.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

“There’s a thing called the Ninth Amendment. It says there’s a right to privacy.” —Joe Biden

The Midterm Abortion Well

“Having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas. It’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs. For women, this is not a reductive issue. You can’t divorce being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child.” —Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (“The Democrat cure for inflation is to kill more children. These people are cartoonishly evil. They aren’t even trying to hide it. Literal comic book villains at this point.” —Matt Walsh | “I’m almost positive the Abrams campaign didn’t focus group ‘abort your children to manage the burden of inflation.’” —Noah Rothman)

“Here is the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill I’ll send to Congress is to codify Roe v. Wade.” —Joe Biden

Non Compos Mentis

“The right that I pushed hard and I finally got changed to marry couples in the privacy of their bedroom.” —Joe Biden

“God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you. I’m sorry.” —Joe Biden

“Send me to Washington, DC, to take on — to make sure I push back against work to work.” —Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman

And Last…

“No nation ever protested its way from poverty to prosperity or got there through rhetoric or bureaucracies.” —Thomas Sowell