YOU IMPORT HALF YOUR CALORIES. YOUR BIGGEST SOURCE OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE IS TOURISM. SO WHAT DO YOU DO? ‘Destroy the idols,’ Egyptian jihadist calls for removal of Sphinx, Pyramids.
Archive for 2012
November 12, 2012
UPDATE: Reader Bob Beasley writes: “With each passing hour, FEMA’s response to Hurricane Sandy further acquits George W. Bush of antipathy or indifference to the plight of post-Katrina New Orleans.”
He should have just put on a bomber jacket and dropped by for an afternoon. Then everything would have been fine.
KATRINA ON THE HUDSON SOUND: Long Islanders: Now two weeks of power woes.
ABE GREENWALD: Democrats Should Be Doing Some Soul-Searching, Too. “Barack Obama ushered in America’s first large-scale experiment in personality-cult politics. The experiment continues apace. . . . When the personality at the center of the cult leaves the stage in four years, Democrats will own his results without the benefit of his appeal.”
THIS MUST BE MORE OF THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WE WERE PROMISED: After Toppling Khaddafy, U.S. Can’t Find A Viable “Partner” In Libya. “These are the wages of our war against Qaddafi. We participated in the ouster of a bloodthirsty despot on humanitarian grounds without giving much thought as to what would follow. In some ways, the Obama administration had fanciful, careless ideas about Libya roughly analogous to what the Bush people thought would happen in Iraq with the fall of Saddam—that Libya would somehow remain coherent rather than slowly succumb to the forces of entropy. Sadly, it’s not working out that way. Not only has the terror threat metastasized to neighboring countries, but the security and integrity of the country we were ostensibly trying to help is in question.”
Hillary’s record as Secretary of State has been deeply unimpressive. This will probably come up if she runs in 2016.
THE CIRCULAR FIRING SQUAD CAN DISBAND: 407,000 Votes in Four States Away from the Presidency. Romney got out-hustled in a base-turnout election. Bigthink concerns about demographics, messaging, etc. may or may not have merit, but aren’t why he lost. (Bumped).
UPDATE: Paul Hsieh writes:
I share your observation that voter turnout was critical. But I don’t think you should too quickly discount the bigger concerns about messaging.
Like many others, I also thought that the enthusiastic turnouts at the October GOP rallies in CO and OH, as well as voters stating they’d “crawl on their hands and knees through broken glass” to pull the lever for Romney indicated a hidden enthusiasm edge not reflected in the polls.
But in retrospect, the vote totals showed that Romney’s support may have been deeper than McCain’s in 2008, but not significantly broader.
So in that respect, those GOP rallies indicated something akin to the small-but-intense fan base for Apple computers in the mid-1990s. Of course, one of Steve Jobs’ key accomplishments in the 2000s was to turn that into an LARGE-and-intense fan base for Apple products.
I won’t rehash the “bigthink” arguments about the best next direction for the GOP. I just want to propose that *if* they can improve their message and inspire genuine enthusiasm for a positive pro-freedom agenda, then rallying (and growing) the base won’t be a problem. Although I have a mixed opinion of Ronald Reagan policies, he was an acknowledged master at communicating an inspiring, upbeat message to the voters. If the GOP finds a good message and a good messenger, then the turnout problem will take care of itself.
See Jededia Bila, below.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Michael Ubaldi writes:
If I had a nickel for every middle/upper-middle-class American with a job, a spouse, a house, and children — but a cultural upbringing in which John Stewart is Walter Kronkite, big government is small, and Democrats are indistinguishable from Republicans on taxes or defense, I’d easily have half a million nickels to distribute among Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Colorado.
This part of the electorate didn’t need a GOTV outreach. They’re responsible, active traditionalists whose normalcy is defined by liberals. Shaking them out of the delusion is going to have to be done gently but firmly. No red meat, but no Democrat-lite; and we need someone who can accomplish that.
And who would that be?
MORE: You can’t discount this explanation: “There is a rational explanation for the President’s reelection which doesn’t invoke a deep or complex meaning. The only way to explain the outcome is in the simplest and direct prose: the moochers prevailed.” “Obama’s winning tactic was to do what any respectable man does when he wishes to have something; he bought it. From cell phones and contraceptives to food stamps and unemployment benefits, the Obama administration kept the money flowing to ensure a steady turnout on Election Day. The coup de grâce was painting his opponent as a second coming of Dickens’ Scrooge that was ready to cut the voters from their trust funds. The campaign made no attempt to hide this tactic.”
JEDEDIAH BILA: “Outreach is not pandering.” (Bumped).
MEGAN MCARDLE: Colorado and Washington now have legal marijuana. At least until the feds start cracking down. I wonder if we’ll see jury nullification — or even stronger popular pushback — if the feds mount a big enforcement effort. here.
A REMINDER: InstaPundit is an Amazon affiliate. When you shop through the Amazon links on this page (including the “Shop Amazon” tab at the top) or the searchbox in the right sidebar, you support this blog at no cost to yourself. It’s much appreciated when you do!
ALAS, SHOOTING BACK IS STILL NOT PART OF THE PLAN: School Shooting Protocol Shifts From Lockdown-Only. “By locking doors and hiding, students become easy targets, he said. . . . Taking that knowledge into account, Crane’s program suggests that students keep moving, make noise, and sometimes throw things.” Of course, there’s some idiot quoted who says that you’re less likely to be sued if you tell people to be passive. Not sure why. If there were a shooting in my kid’s school and they’d taught students to sit still and be targets, I’d file a lawsuit over that.
AT AMAZON, up to 50% off Winter Clothing, for men, women, and children. Winter is coming.
Also, today only: Fujifilm FinePix SL300 14 MP Superzoom Digital Camera, $149.99.
Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Harriman, Tennessee. Spare a moment today to think about our veterans.
SANDY: Looking more and more like Katrina On The Hudson.
UPDATE: Reader Jeff Levengood writes: “They told me if I voted for Mitt Romney I’d live in a country where people were left to fend for themselves, and they were right.”
LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Check out Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg. And hit the tipjar if you like what you see.
ANOTHER REVENUE-RAISING PROPOSAL:
Maybe 15 Years ago a columnist at the Atlantic noted that the not-for- profit sector was placing itself in the same position the Catholic monasteries in England were in at the start of Henry VIII’s reign. The monasteries held all the wealth and the Henry’s government needed revenue.
A one time excise tax on the fair market value of the endowments of all the private foundations would work nicely. An to be fair, the rate should be low for the small guys and 90% for the behemoths like Ford and Carnegie.
Colleges are a bit trickier. Some of them have much larger endowments than others. Maybe it should be a graduated rate based on a multiple of an amount based on the theoretical current income to the school if all students enrolled at the beginning of the school year paid full tuition and fees. If the FMV of the endowment is less than eight to ten times that number the tax would be nominal. The rate for a school like Harvard where the income alone from the endowment could pay the combined tuition and fees with lots of money left over should be 90%. After that haircut place the schools on a system that confiscates part of their endowment if future tuition increases ever exceed the CPI.
People are really getting creative out there. Speaker Boehner, take note. A bit overdone in this formulation, perhaps, but . . .
UPDATE: Taxing Big Blue. “The point is that anyone can tear pages out of Barack Obama’s beloved Alinsky playbook. He can be forced to live up to his own standards. His ideology can be bent into shapes that will enrage his loyal constituents. The President says he wants a ‘balanced approach?’ Let’s jump on the see-saw with gusto, and give him one hell of a ride.”
VIRGINIA POSTREL’S ADVICE TO REPUBLICANS from 1998. Turns out the GOP didn’t quite hand over the country to Al Gore. But this remains true: “Telling voters that America is awful is the fastest way to electoral defeat.”
I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO Amity Shlaes’ forthcoming book on Calvin Coolidge.
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Ex-ICE Chief in Fla Gets Prison in Child Porn Case. “A former top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in South Florida has been sentenced to 70 months in prison on a federal child pornography charge. . . . Mangione ran ICE’s South Florida operations from 2007 to 2011, including numerous child pornography investigations. He retired a few months after investigators searched his home and office computers in April 2011.”
CHARLIE SPIERING: Why did the FBI hack Paula Broadwell’s private email account?
WHAT DID BIG BIRD KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT? Voice of Elmo on leave from Sesame Street after he was accused of having ‘sexual relationship with underage boy.’
TAX FOUNDATION: The Fiscal Cliff: A Primer.
EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION hacked at Web security conference in Azerbaijan.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Foodstamps Surge By Most In One Year To New All Time Record, In Delayed Release. “While there had been speculation that the BLS may delay the release of its October nonfarm payroll number until after the election, it turned out there was no reason to worry. Perhaps this is because the number, while at stall speed, was not quite as horrible as some had expected (even if the change in average hourly earnings did tumble to new all time lows) and so boosted Obama’s reelection chances. There was, however, another closely tracked number which perhaps is far more indicative of the economic “growth” in the past 4 years, which certainly had a delayed release. The number of course is that showing how many Americans are on foodstamps, and usually is released at the end of the month, or the first day or two of the next month. This time the USDA delayed its release nine days past the semi-official deadline, far past the election, and until Friday night to report August foodstamp data. One glance at the number reveals why: at 47.1 million, this was not only a new all time record, but the monthly increase of 420,947 from July was the biggest monthly increase in one year. One can see why a reported surge in foodstamps ahead of the elections is something the USDA, and the administration may not have been too keen on disclosing.”