Caught A Little Of the Demo Convention Yesterday...

[liberty]

Uh, Lib, if you're relying on Ann Coulter for facts, you better pack it in now.

I believe her name is Mona Charen not Coulter.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Syndicated columnist and CNN commentator Charen offers a moral indictment of those public figures-politicians, entertainers and professors-who, she says, stubbornly refused to see communism for what it was: a brutal, dictatorial death machine. Throughout the Cold War, some public figures and activists cheered the Communist movement and berated America for its capitalist ways. Famous actors traveled to Cuba to smoke a cigar with their favorite dictator; posters of Che Guevara, Castro's military leader, adorned college dorms during the '60s; the Soviet Union was praised and defended for its social progress. Charen particularly singles out the media as having played a significant role in distributing tendentious if not false accounts of world events. One example tells of Katie Couric's visit to Cuba in 1992. Upon her return, according to Charen, Couric raved about Cuba's "terrific health-care system," but uttered not a word about the men and women detained in Cuban prisons. The author highlights the kind of historical revisionism and self-hatred that marked some of America's most noted public figures and warns that the lessons learned from communism are just as relevant today. The tragedy of September 11, Charen says, has produced a cadre of left-leaning pundits who wasted no time in blaming America for the violence perpetrated by terrorism. Charen is operating as a polemicist here, and some readers will object to her tarring all liberals with the same brush. But there is a strong market for conservative polemics today, and many readers will cheer Charen on.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

[Gob]

Here's me thinking you Americans didn't do irony!

Have you noticed how often the president’s supporters talk about the “likeability” factor in politics these days? No longer do we hear that presidential candidates must convey “the vision thing” or “gravitas” or credibility as commander in chief. Not that those criteria were precisely calibrated. Four years ago, many commentators were assuring us that Joe Biden brought gravitas to the Obama ticket, which is a little like saying that helium provides ballast, but at least they thought a certain policy weight was important – even if their perception was ludicrous. This year, however, we are told that voters cast their ballots based mostly upon which candidate they’d prefer to “have a beer with.”

If that truly were the most important qualification in the minds of most voters, we might as well abandon the Electoral College, chuck the Constitution with its complicated rules and just select presidents by liking them on Facebook.

That would suit Obama. When he or his surrogates are not suggesting that the Romney/Ryan team will throw grandma off a cliff or kill steelworkers’ wives, the president seems to revel in his favorite subject: the coolness of Barack Hussein Obama. [my bold]

Nearly all politicians offer glimpses into their personal lives to humanize and endear them to voters. George W. Bush sometimes described his fitness regimen. His father let it be known that he disliked broccoli. Ronald Reagan had a fondness for jelly beans and horseback riding. Bill Clinton played the sax (to say no more).

But Barack Obama, the man who published his first (of two) autobiographies at the age of 34, has cultivated a cult of coolness about himself. Perhaps because he cannot run on trillion-dollar deficits, the looming fiscal cliff, increasing poverty, the loss of America’s AAA bond rating, or the decline in middle-class incomes. Or perhaps because he is just shallow enough to think that celebrity matters, he has indulged in record-setting levels of vanity during his time in office.

Obama doesn’t just love himself; he also thinks it’s uplifting for others to love him, too. So he has shared his NCAA brackets, slow-jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon and crooned a few Al Green lyrics at a fundraiser. Human-interest fluff, you say? Everybody does it?

This from an article entitled; "a new level of shallowness." Unless she was self referrencing, she obviously has no idea of "depth."

People pay this woman to write such trite shit?

[Scooter]

Care to provide links to some actual quotes?

Didn't think so.

But by all means, keep on demonstrating what a moron you are.

Nothing yet?

Didn't think so.

[Grim Reaper]

The best I can find is that 'better red than dead' was not a pro-Communist slogan, it was strictly an anti-nuclear weapons slogan.

The existence of the 'better dead than red' slogan, which was anti-Communist, only made the other slogan seem pro-Communist in comparison.

[Gob]

The main one being the US!

Please take some of that overflow of vacation time and salary and come spend a month here. I bet you'd leave with a completely different impression of our amazing country.

Not that I'm disagreeing with you Guin, but some of your countrymen actually agree with my joke!




On the subject of threats to the US;

American fears about China's economic strength have fed into the US presidential election campaign - shaping public fears in some surprising ways, according to new research.


Foreign rivals have long been used as foils in US elections.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Japan played the role of bogeyman. Tokyo's rising trade surplus with Washington came to symbolise fears of declining American competitiveness. And US presidential candidates vied with each other over who could be tougher on the Japanese.

In the 2012 American election, China has become the test of presidential resolve. Both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney have pledged to ratchet up the pressure on Beijing.

Romney has promised that on his first day in office he will issue an executive order branding China a currency manipulator, possibly triggering a trade war. And on 17 September, the Obama administration filed an unfair trade case at the World Trade Organization against alleged Chinese subsidies of auto parts exports.

There are substantive reasons for this. China accounts for 40% of the record US merchandise trade deficit. But the political rationale for such actions and promises is also clear.

Trade action allows a candidate to stand up to foreigners (who don't vote), while demonstrating concern about the economy and its victims, a political triple play. Most important, recent public opinion surveys show that such rhetoric and initiatives have broad support, especially among Republicans.

Most Americans describe relations between the US and China as good and most consider China a competitor rather than an enemy or partner, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.

At the same time, when asked which country represents the greatest danger to the US, more Americans volunteer China (26%) than name any other country, including Iran and North Korea. And about half (52%) view China's emergence as a world power as a major threat to the US.

Republicans are more concerned than Democrats about the impact of China's rise. Six in 10 Republicans believe Beijing's rise as a world power poses a major threat to the US, compared with 48% of Democrats. And Republicans (74%) are more likely than Democrats (61%) to say China cannot be trusted.

Moreover, contrary to the popular narrative that Democrats are protectionists and Republicans are free traders, far more Republicans than Democrats see the US trade deficit with China as a very serious problem for the United States.

Similarly, GOP members are more likely than Democrats to worry about the loss of US jobs to China. And Republicans are more concerned than Democrats about the large amount of American debt held by the Asian nation.

With such concerns, it is hardly surprising that Republicans are also far more likely to favour toughness with China on economic and trade issues. Democrats are more likely to say building a strong relationship with China is a top priority.

About two-thirds of Republicans say it is very important for Washington to be tough with Beijing, compared with 53% of Democrats. At the same time, 59% of Democrats believe building a strong bilateral relationship with China should be a top priority, while only 48% of Republicans agree.

And GOP voters also think they can do a better job than the Obama administration in dealing with China. Republicans are nearly twice as likely as Democrats to say the president should be tougher on Beijing.

Security issues involving China are less of a public concern or a partisan issue. Only about half the public is worried about cyber attacks from China or Beijing's growing military power and just 27% are concerned about tensions between China and Taiwan.

And there is no real difference between the party faithful on Beijing's military ambitions nor its relations with Taipei.

The 6 November US presidential election will not be determined by the candidates' stance on China.

But given the public's fairly hawkish views on China, both Obama and Romney will not shy away from continuing to sound tough on Beijing. Whether the victor will carry through on his promises will not be known until next year.

[Lord Jim]

That looks like 5% to me...

You can get 5% to believe anything....

Much higher percentages believe in alien abduction, that the moon landing was a hoax, and that 9/11 was an inside job...

[Gob]

Not if you're Mebyon Kernow you cannot!!

UK general elections
1983 General election 1,151 1.2%
1997 General election 1,906 0.8%
2001 General election 3,199 1.3%
2005 General election 3,552 1.7%
2010 General election 5,379 1.9%

2010 UK elections
In the 2010 general election, Mebyon Kernow fielded candidates in each of the six constituencies in Cornwall. Their best result was in the St Austell and Newquay seat, where they came fourth, with 4.2% of the votes, up 4% from the previous election.

North Cornwall: 5th place, (last) 1.1% of votes, -2.1%
South Cornwall: 6th place (last) 1.3% of votes, -0.4%
Truro and Falmouth: 5th place (out of 6 candidates)2.1% of votes, -0.4%
Camborne and Redruth: 5th place (out of 6 candidates) 1.4% of votes +1.4%
St Ives 7th (last) 0.8% of votes, +0.8%

[Lord Jim]

Yeah, that's...

Pretty sad...

You'd think even The Taliban would be able to pull better numbers than that....

[Gob]

Oh, you won't mind if that last line of yours appears on several Cornish nationalist sites will you Jim? I promise not to tell them who said it! Gold!!

[Lord Jim]

Go right ahead...