Also coincidental - the President this evening will be at a Studio City, California fundraiser hosted by George Clooney where many of the Hollywood progressive crowd support same-sex marriage - and will be only happier to pony up the big bucks for the President's reelection now that his position has fully evolved.
The Washington Times describes in their headline on the announcement that President Obama 'buckles' to the pressure from the very vocal pro same-sex marriage elements of his progressive base. Since the President has already 'buckled' once to appease a vocal (and wealthy) element of his progressive base when he ruled against the Keystone XL pipeline - it's no surprise that he will 'buckle' once again.
For many, this decision really isn't that much of a surprise. It was telegraphed earlier in his term in office when he announced that his Administration was going to do nothing to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act, the legislation signed into law by Bill Clinton two months before that year's presidential election which defined marriage as between one man and one woman in the eyes of the federal government.
The Wall Street Journal makes this point in today's editorial - Obama's Marriage Act...
Congratulations to President Obama for matching his public policy with what everyone already knew were his private beliefs. His statement Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage spared the public the ruse of waiting until after the election to state the inevitable.An Obama campaign bundler reacted to the news saying that raising money for the President's reelection would be 'immeasurably easier' after the President evolved his decision.
But did they consider the impact on this to the more socially conservative in his progressive base - like the Blacks and Hispanics who oppose same-sex marriage? The high preference of blacks to support traditional marriage is not unique to North Carolina. In California, during the Prop 8 vote, it was the majority of Blacks supporting traditional marriage that was the margin in the passage of the Proposition.
Then there is the effect on the conservative and independent voter who considers themselves as socially conservative. This decision could motivate them to turn out and cast their ballots in November - against President Obama.
Was there a slip in Obama's statement yesterday that should drive further concern?
Mr. Obama’s statement today is a marvel:
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don't ask, don't tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
On my behalf? On my behalf?
Most Americans thought they were fighting for the country, not on Barack Obama’s behalf. Slip of the tongue, to be sure, but can one think of another president who’d have made it? They are fighting under his command, under his orders, to be sure, but this particular locution is offensive and solipsistic. Mr. Obama has switched his position on the sanctity of marriage back and forth and has a new one, again, today, revealed when politics made that advisable to him and to his campaign. Whether this is the end or he will “evolve” some more is anyone’s guess.
But let’s leave our soldiers out of this. They aren’t fighting for Mr. Obama and his campaign, and no one sent them out to risk their lives to win same sex “marriage.”
Narcissist in Chief...
Then we have the case of the Washington Post - which is collapsing in credibility as well as financially / subscription levels...
Jim Geraghty's Campaign Spot blog on National Review makes this observation regarding the 5,500 word hit piece on Mitt Romney that was published in today's edition...
It’s entirely possible that it’s a coincidence that the Washington Post has a long story on a teenage Mitt Romney bullying and cutting the hair of a classmate who was believed to be gay, the day after Barack Obama announces his support for gay marriage.
But it is a fascinatingly convenient coincidence for the Obama campaign.
Yes, what a fantastic coincidence. Who could have figured that a deep investigative article that had to have taken weeks to develop, focusing on high school prank that Romney was involved in against someone suspected to be gay, would be printed the day after the President selects same-sex marriage as the latest deflection from his pitiful economic record? Particularly since the person who was the victim is no longer alive - and no one really knows if they were gay or not. Let's just help with the deflection and smear Mitt Romney at the same time. Now Romney can spend his time talking about this issue as opposed to the President's record...
Except that Mitt Romney has already come out to address this - and bury it....
“Back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that,” Romney said in a live radio interview with Fox News Channel personality Brian Kilmeade. Romney added: “I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize.”
Not helping the Washington Post's credibility is that the primary source for the information on the prank for the smearjob now admits that 'Actually, I wasn't present during the prank...'
In the parlance of the game "Clue" - Ace, of Ace of Spades, skewers the WaPo hit piece, using scissors, in the blogosphere.
President Obama is threatening to veto the Department of Justice budget passed by the House of Representatives as it halts an Administration devised rule that requires gun dealers in the 4 US states bordering Mexico to report all gun sales involving multiple semi-automatic rifles to the federal government...
Several House Republicans have charged that the Obama administration had an anti-gun agenda when it carried out Fast and Furious, and are particularly wary of Attorney General Eric Holder, who once expressed the need to “brainwash” the American people into disliking firearm ownership.
They cite emails CBS News acquired in December, in which lead Fast and Furious Agent Bill Newell and ATF Field Operations Assistant Director Mark Chait discussed how to use the scandal’s aftermath to promote the long-gun reporting requirement for multiple sales.
How many have died because of the Obama Administration's creation of the Fast and Furious program? Hundreds at least, if not into the thousands. We do know that Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed by guns used by Mexican drug cartels and acquired via the Fast and Furious gun running program. We also know that the entire basis behind this program was to create a case to justify their anti-gun agenda and rules. Yet, the DoJ and Administration are undertaking a Watergate scale cover-up to prevent discovery of just how callous they are in their 'end justifies the means' approach to governance.
James Hansen is the Director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and a climate change fanatic. He has penned an op-ed screed published today in the New York Times which attacks Canada for developing its natural resources, saying that Canada's actions are 'dooming civilization'.
The piece is the usual over the top fearmongering with a recitation of the same cooked numbers / bad science leveraged ad nauseum by climate change fanatics to demand the end of the use of fossil fuels and major wealth redistribution. It also target's Canada which is actively developing its natural resources (and via the Keystone XL pipeline - send 800,000+ barrels of oil to the US per day for US refineries and the US market) as being the latest bogeyman destroying mankind.
Why Canada? Why not target the People's Republic of China which is the number one polluter in the globe today - and one that is also actively developing it's own resources, but also those it can steal from its neighbors, with virtually no controls that are present in Canada or the US? Why? POLITICS!
They know the PRC doesn't give a rat's ass about climate change. They will not change or spend funds to address climate change as pinheads like Hansen demand. If Hansen and his ilk operated in the PRC, they would like find themselves in jail pretty quickly. But Canada - there they can threaten, cajole, and intimidate into action to change its policies.
What's most laughable about this is one of Hansen's closing statements...
The science of the situation is clear — it’s time for the politics to follow.
That's a little backwards...the politics is what came first, then the science was cooked to fit the desired political solution.
The real mission is to destroy our economy (after all, they hate capitalism already) in order to 'save' the environment...
Alarmists insist only the carbon-dioxide molecules that are the byproduct of capitalism can cause environmental damage. As this new research claims, natural cycles, such as the El Nino climate pattern, are not responsible for elevating bad carbon-dioxide levels. “The major conclusion of our study is that the annual growth of atmospheric CO2 levels is strongly dependent on the absolute growth of the world economy, so that the annual absolute increase of (world gross domestic product) is a key variable to capture the annual increase in atmospheric CO2,” the report found.
This finding highlights how the global-warming movement has always been about reversing the industrial revolution, making the world a better place. Al Gore’s seminal 1992 work “Earth in the Balance” declared the internal-combustion engine a “mortal threat” to the future of the planet.
I did find this piece of Sierra Club panic / propaganda particularly humorous - as they try to rally more support to kill the 'Zombie' pipeline - Keystone XL....
Keystone XL remains a dangerous and unnecessary project. Americans agree that this pipeline should not be built once they learn the details. Our challenge is confronting a multi-million dollar lobbying and a PR campaign by TransCanada to force through their pipeline. It's hard for anyone to hear the truth with all that money being spread around, but we're working with people whose land is being taken and whose health and livelihood are threatened.
Progressive pinhead Peter Arnett created a fake quote from a US military officer during the Vietnam War to help discredit the US effort in SE Asia that is right out of the progressive / hard left playbook - quoting the fictitious officer as saying 'We had to destroy the village in order to save it from the communists...'. This is all part of the same mindset - we have to destroy the [capitalist] economy in order to save the environment and the world.
Twin bombings ripped through a Damascus neighborhood, killing at least 55 and wounding more than 170 in the deadliest attack in the Syrian capital since the protest movement against Assad started 14 months ago. The attack appears to have targeted the feared Palestine branch of the Syrian Security services. The Free Syrian Army, the primary battle force for the rebel movement, issued a statement denying responsibility for the attack.
How is that reset working President Obama?
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has announced that he will be skipping this month's G-8 meeting and a highly anticipated meeting with President Obama - snubbing the President. The official statement from the Kremlin says that President Putin needs more time to set up his new government. However, this is just a quick excuse. During his bid for returning to the Russian Presidency, Putin campaigned very hard against the US and US actions around the world. Recently, Russian officials effectively threatened pre-emptive military action against the US if it deployed missile defense systems in Poland - and Russia has been one of the biggest supporters of not only the Iranian nuclear ambitions, but also the actions of the Syrian despot to brutalize his own people.
Wrapping up today - A PSA from 'Gunny' on Voter Registration...
This Day in History
1775 - Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead a successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York. The cannon captured from this fort, and from the batteries at Crown Point the next day, permitted General George Washington to drive the British out of Boston in 1776.
1869 - The Presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah and drive the ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads - making transcontinental rail travel possible for the first time in the United States. A new era opens in the US.
1871 -Treaty of Frankfurt am Main is signed ending the Franco-Prussian War. Germany becomes a unified nation and France, the loser, is occupied by German troops until they pay war reparations to Germany in addition to losing Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. France is in decline, Germany is ascending, and one of the foundations for WW1 is laid...
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover is named the acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. By the end of 1924, he will be officially named the Director of the FBI - a position he would hold until his death in 1972.
1940 - Germany invades Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.
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