RIDE RIGHT THROUGH THEM, REDUX: My lengthy Insta-post from this morning is now cross-posted at Ed Driscoll.com, if you’d like to comment.
UPDATE: DaTechGuy himself weighs in on last night here.
Archive for 2012
October 12, 2012
SOLYNDRA: “The Internal Revenue Service urged a bankruptcy judge to reject solar panel maker Solyndra LLC’s bankruptcy plan Wednesday, saying it amounts to little more than an avenue for owners of an empty corporate shell to avoid paying taxes.”
How unpatriotic.
STILL MORE FROM SEN. BOB CORKER: Corker Questions Vice President for Misleading on Deadly Terrorist Attacks in Benghazi.
“The vice president’s comments last night about the situation in Benghazi, which claimed the lives of four Americans, absolutely do not square with facts on the ground in Libya,” said Corker. “Within 24 hours of the incident, the administration knew that this was an orchestrated terrorist attack, and they clearly were aware of the specific details, including requests for additional security, that have finally been made public this week. With the vice president continuing this ruse with his comments last night, all Americans should ask what the administration is trying to hide.”
Indeed.
UPDATE: Intel sources: Video from Benghazi attack debunks administration claim about protests. “They’re hoping to identify known jihadists among the perpetrators, but Lake reports the tapes have already made one thing clear. There was no protest at the Benghazi consulate that day.”
MORE: Biden Burdens His Boss. “Vice president Biden did precisely what he should not have done: Open up more questions and create more problems for the president. The next debate will consist in large part of President Obama debating his vice president on everything from taxes to Libya. Obama is once again on defense with 3½ weeks to go in the race.”
FORTY YEARS OF DRUG-WAR FAILURE IN A SINGLE CHART.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Inputs Skyrocket, Outputs Unknown. “President Obama has more than doubled funding for Pell Grants and made them a campaign issue this year. But no data exist showing exactly how many Pell Grant recipients ever graduate from college. What evidence there is suggests less than half do.”
MICHAEL WALSH: “The lefty sneer was on full display last night during the vice-presidential debate. . . . In perhaps the most personally disgraceful performance in the history of debates, Joe Biden smirked, mugged, snorted, and sneered his way through 90 minutes of heckling his opponent, Paul Ryan — often aided and abetted by the moderator, Martha Raddatz, who was every bit as bad as we all feared the ex-wife of president Obama’s Harvard Law School classmate, Julius Genachowski, would be.”
UPDATE: Lanny Davis: Ryan Hit Home Run in Debate Against Biden.
VIDEO: HOW TO ANSWER A BIG GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDIST.
SYRIA JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE: Syrian activists say jihadis seize missile base.
FLOATING FREE: Dutch architect dreams of future floating cities. “The islands are designed to move with the waves and sea levels but because they are so stable, Olthuis said being on one of his artificial islands is like being on normal land.”
NONE OF THEM BY BIDEN: 30 Great One-Liners.
BACK FROM BENGHAZI, Sen. Bob Corker says Obama Must Have Known About Libya.
This morning, I spoke with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who had just returned from Libya, about the Benghazi debacle. He was animated and clearly flabbergasted at the administration’s reaction. “It baffles me that the vice president of the United States would continue to say things that don’t square with the facts on the ground, “ he said in reference to VP Joe Biden’s remarks in the debate Thursday night. He reiterated, “There was no protest. There was no reaction to the [anti-Muslim video], and they knew it in 24 hours. I don’t understand what they are doing.”
This week he had extensive meetings with the FBI and intelligence officials on the ground in Benghazi as well as officials from the Libyan government. He was emphatic: “What I know is our intelligence officials on the ground in real time and also in Washington within 24 hours knew what had happened.”
Corker, who with the departure of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is next in line to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has tried to jump-start hearings in the Senate. However, it conceded, “There is no way before the election [to have hearings] with the majority that doesn’t want them.” The game plan here for Democrats, it appears, is to sweep the scandal under the rug until the election.
With help from the bylined Democratic operatives in the press. Much more at the link.
UPDATE: Okay, this is worth quoting, too:
In fact, Corker explained that the U.S. government had information for some time about the internal security breakdown in Libya. He noted that Foreign Relations Committee had hearings in which the Libyan security situation was referenced. But the administration, Corker believes, still clung to the story that Libya was doing just fine. He said, “That narrative is the reason you are seeing the administration acting the way it is.”
Bitterly clinging to their Libya narrative, I guess. . . .
WHO WON THE VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE? DOESN’T MATTER. “The question pollsters should have asked was this: Is Obama still bleeding?”
GOOD ADVICE: Andrew Klavan: “Don’t Get Cocky.”
RASMUSSEN: Florida: Romney 51, Obama 47.
NEWS YOU CAN USE FROM THE ONION: How to get more “likes” on Facebook.
IT’S LIKE THEY’RE TRYING TO CONVINCE THEMSELVES: Did some blogger really call Obama the Democrats’ Reagan? Because they’ve been doing that from day one.
DON’T BLAME US, BLAME HILLARY: White House: Obama and Biden were never aware of requests for more Benghazi security.
Vice President Joseph Biden speaks only for himself and President Barack Obama, and neither man was aware that U.S. officials in Libya had asked the State Department for more security before the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, a top White House official told The Cable.
Biden has come under fire for saying at Thursday night’s debate, “We weren’t told they wanted more security. We did not know they wanted more security there.”
The Cable asked Deputy National Security Advisor for Communications Ben Rhodes whether Biden was speaking for the entire Obama administration, including the State Department, which acknowledged receiving multiple requests for more Libya security in the months before the attacks. Rhodes said that Biden speaks only for himself and the president and neither of them knew about the requests at the time.
It’s clowns all the way down.
UPDATE: Reader Jeff Johnson writes: “Maybe if Obama would have attended more Intelligence Briefings he would have known about the security requests. I guess those requests never made it to his iPad.”
MORE: White House Throws Hillary Under The 2012 Bus. “The widening breach between Clinton and the team of Obama and Biden comes as the president is being outpolled by Gov. Mitt Romney. Both Biden and Clinton would likely be front-runners to compete for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2016, should they decide to run.”
POST-DEBATE PODCAST: Kristol Reacts to the Vice Presidential Debate.
UDPATE: Bishops to Biden: You Lied.
AT LEAST WHEN THEY GAVE OBAMA THE PRIZE, HE HADN’T FAILED YET. Crisis-Ridden European Union Wins Nobel Peace Prize.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH EDITORIALIZES: Obama administration can’t spin its way out of blame for Benghazi. “The murder of Stevens and his colleagues raises serious questions about the administration’s priorities and competence.”
Indeed it does. Or maybe it just answers them.
REMEMBER HOW I SAID YOU CAN’T RELY ON “PROFESSIONALISM” IN THE AGE OF OBAMA? Secret Service Agent Arrested After Being Found Passed Out In Miami. “Law enforcement sources told CBS4 Engler told police he was an agent out of Washington and was part of the advance team for the president’s visit on Thursday. Once the President left Miami, Engler said he went drinking and got very drunk, law enforcement sources said. . . . It’s the latest black eye for the agency charged with protecting the life of the president. In April 2012, the agency was involved in a prostitution scandal in Colombia during the Summit of the Americas.”
UPDATE: Reader Drew Kelley writes: “Shouldn’t all of the errant SecSrvc agents be transferred to Valerie Jarrett’s detail? Then she would have the security level she rates!”
BUZZFEED: The Media Dropped The Ball on Benghazi. “Hillary Clinton’s State Department stonewalls a victim’s mother, while tossing the White House under the bus. But is the press giving Libya big enough play?” Nope. Might make Obama look bad. Can’t have that.
CHANGE: Obama’s election strategy collapses in Ohio. (Keep in mind this comes from Europe, too. I never thought and still don’t think that Romney’s ground-game was that bad. It’s possible from across the pond they don’t see how dangerous it is to have a Romney yard sign. OTOH, I’m getting three this weekend — corner property. I aim to misbehave. Let the chips fall where they may.)
ANTI-SEMITISM IN MICHIGAN: Dearborn Police Harass Man For Flying Israeli Flags.