Ron Paul on the Election of 2012

"People do not want anything cut.  They want all the bailouts to come. They want the Fed to keep printing the money. And they don't believe that we've gone off the cliff or are close to going off the cliff. They think we can patch it over, that we can somehow come up with some magic solution. But you can't have a budgetary solution if you don't change what the role of government should be. As long as you think we have to police the world and run this welfare state, all we are going to argue about is who will get the loot."

--Ron Paul

For Anyone Following the November Election

On July 26, Obama was ahead of Romney nationally by 1 point (46 to 45 in the average of all public polls). Massive advertising and media coverage about Bain Capital and allegations of felony tax evasion helped Obama to open up a lead of 5 pts (48 to 43) as of August 11, his largest lead since April of this year.

After announcing the selection of Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate and the Republican national convention, Romney's campaign experienced an uninterrupted bounce of 4 points, peaking on September 5 and tying Obama (47 to 47).

After the Democrat's national convention, Obama's average in the polls peaked on September 10 at 49, a 2 point gain.

As of today, September 13, Romney is now at 45 and Obama leads Romney by an average of 3.3 points. His lead has shrunken over the past 3 days.

Anything else you've heard on the news or from your favorite pundits in the past 6 weeks has been pure chatter.

Sir Galahad

"If there’s anything we have learned about Mr. Obama during the last two-and-a-half years, it is his obsessive need to advertise his moral superiority. He wants us to believe – he is desperate for us to believe – that his motivations are pure, that he is the only adult in Washington, that he is a champion for the national interest while his critics are champions of special interests. It is not enough for Obama to be president; he wants us to believe he’s Sir Galahad.


"As for the president’s claim that some folks in Congress refuse to 'put the country ahead of party' and that they would 'rather see their opponents lose than see America win': this repeats a nasty little Obama habit, which is not simply to disagree with his opponents but to impugn their character. The Tea Party and Republican Members of Congress can’t possibly believe that the federal government is too large, spending needs to be reduced, and taxes shouldn’t be raised. And they certainly can’t believe that the philosophy they hold and the policies they embrace are in the best interest of America. It’s easier to assume they are knaves and traitors to their country.


"As Mr. Obama is increasingly overwhelmed by events, as he and his presidency shrink before our eyes, his worst tendencies are being exacerbated, his narcissism further exposed, his anger at an unaccommodating world more pronounced. A man of supreme self-regard is watching things crumble before his eyes. He is obviously not well equipped to process any of this. It is enough for one to feel, if only for a moment, some pity for Mr. Obama. These are not easy days for him, and certainly not for his country."


--Peter Wehner, Commentary

Just... Lead

"The United States should be in a renaissance. In a food- and fuel-short world, we have vast agricultural and energy resources. While there are riots, strikes and unrest from Europe to the Middle East, America remains quiet. Foreign depositors even now still believe that the United States is the least-likely nation to either confiscate their capital or renege on the interest owed on it.

"China, Russia and India have enormous environmental, demographic and social challenges ahead of the same sort the United States dealt with decades ago. Our military is far superior to the competitors.

"After nearly three years of blaming, apologizing and explaining what America cannot and should not do, it is past time for a confident President Obama to remind the country that we can do almost anything we wish.

"Instead of lecturing some Americans about why they owe their old wealth to others, why not inspire them to create even bigger new profits to enrich everyone?

"And in these tough times, let the first family give up vacationing at Vail, Costa del Sol and Martha's Vineyard; trim White House entertainment expenses; and set an example of thrift for the country to match new budget frugalities.

"In short, President Obama could end the current psychological depression and acrimony by promising to lead from the fore rather than continually harping from far behind."


--Victor Davis Hanson, Stanford University

Barack Delano Obama

"By fixating on the debt and stimulus plans, Obama and Congress are overlooking challenges to the economy from taxes, employment and the entrepreneurial environment. President Roosevelt's great error was to ignore such factors -- and the result was that sickening double dip. . . . Change that is too arbitrary and too frequent petrifies firms, especially before their rules have been tested in the courts. In 1938 Lammot du Pont, head of the eponymous chemical concern, spoke of a 'fog of uncertainty' slowing business and noted in the company's annual report that arbitrary government always slowed business down: 'by land and sea the universal practice under conditions of fog is to slacken speed. . . .'"

-- Amity Shlaes, senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations

These United States

"If you're asking if the United States is about to become a socialist state, I'd say it's actually about to become a European state, with the expansiveness of the welfare system and the progressive tax system like what we've already experienced in Western Europe. . . . The curse of longterm unemployment is that if you pay people to do nothing, they'll find themselves doing nothing for very long periods of time."

-- Harvard historian Niall Ferguson

Truer words...

"I think therefore I speak."

-- The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World

Good for the Gander

"Do Democrats realize that we really have crossed the Rubicon? In the future when the Republicans gain majorities (and they will), the liberal modus operandi will be the model—bare 51% majorities, reconciliation, the nuclear option, talk of deem and pass, not a single Democrat vote—all ends justifying the means in order to radically restructure vast swaths of American economic and social life. Is someone unhinged at the DNC? They just blew up any shred of bipartisan consensus when their President polls below 50%, the Democratically-controlled Congress below 20%, and health care reform less than 50%. Usually unpopular leaders and their unpopular ideas seek the shelter of minority rights and prerogatives. What will they do when they are in the minority—since they’ve entered the arena, boasted 'let the games begin' and shouted 'by any means necessary'?"

-- Victor Davis Hanson, Stanford University

Who Said This?

"You've got to break out of what I call the, sort of, 50-plus-one pattern of presidential politics, which is you have nasty primaries where everybody's disheartened, then you divide the country 45 percent on one side 45 percent on the other and 10 percent in the middle... We're not going to pass universal health care with a 50-plus-one strategy."

-- Presidential candidate Barack Obama, Oct. 9, 2007

Modern Day Woodrow Wilson?

"There is more than a passing similarity between Obama's health care battle and Woodrow Wilson's campaign for the League of Nations; there are also striking similarities between the men themselves.... Like Wilson, Obama is a self-styled progressive who is deeply skeptical of the Founders' creation. Like Wilson, Obama is firmly convinced of his own rectitude and his moral superiority over his political foes. As with Wilson, this makes Obama firmly opposed to compromise with these foes; he views compromise as betrayal of a fundamental belief, and as Wilson did, he views his opponents as morally defective. Obama, like Wilson, is a Nobel Peace Price winner (although Wilson actually did something to merit it)....

"Wilson's failure to compromise on the League is considered one of the greatest failures by an American president. Obama may well succeed... in the narrow sense of seeing his initiative passed into law, but regardless of whether he does or not, he and his party will reap a political whirlwind. Wilson's political misjudgment cost America, and the world, in the balance of the 20th century. Obama's political misjudgment is likely to be very expensive for America in the balance of the 21st."

-- Craig Pirrong, University of Houston

With Apologies to the Psalmist

Obama is the shepherd I did not want
He leadeth me beside the still factories
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party
He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line, I shall fear no hunger
For his bailouts are with me
He anointeth my income with taxes
My expenses runneth over
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever

-- Contributed by Crissy Martinez

Never Trust A Mormon With A Wet Bar In His Home

"Mitt Romney still hasn't entirely decided whether to take the pragmatist or the crusader path if he runs in 2012. Primarily, [Romney's new book] presents Romney as a pragmatist. . . . Private-school vouchers, a perennial conservative priority, are mostly 'politically infeasible,' he writes. Likewise, the conservative call to carve out private accounts from Social Security; instead, Romney backs voluntary 'add-on' accounts more like those that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama proposed. He complains that Republicans are 'overly fond' of bashing federal regulation. Someone may have to pass Thomas Donohue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce domo, smelling salts after that. . . . Although he squirms and hedges, he concludes that climate change is real and is affected by human activity. He praises federal energy regulation for squeezing more efficiency from cars and home appliances. And Romney says that increased domestic production, although worthwhile, wouldn't 'appreciably' reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

-- Ronald Brownstein, National Journal

Dr. Sowell Tells It Straight

"Personal responsibility is a real problem for those who want to collectivize society and take away our power to make our own decisions, transferring that power to third parties like themselves, who imagine themselves to be so much wiser and nobler than the rest of us."

-- Thomas Sowell

Even Schwarzenegger Gets This

"Health care reform, which started as noble and needed legislation, has become a trough of bribes, deals and loopholes. You've heard of the bridge to nowhere. This is health care to nowhere. California's congressional delegation should either vote against this bill that is a disaster for California or get in there and fight for the same sweetheart deal Senator Nelson of Nebraska got for the Cornhusker State. He got the corn; we got the husk."

-- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, withdrawing his support for President Obama's health care plan during his State of the State address this week

Where is the 'Global Warming?'

"The cover of Al Gore's new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, features a satellite image of the globe showing four major hurricanes -- results, we're meant to believe, of man-made global warming. All four were photoshopped. Which is nice symbolism, because in a sense the whole hurricane aspect of warming has been photoshopped. True, both greenhouse gas emissions and levels in the atmosphere are at their highest, but this year had the fewest hurricanes since 1997, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For the first time since 2006 no hurricanes even made landfall in the U.S.; indeed hurricane activity is at a 30-year low."

-- Michael Fumento, Forbes

Barack W. Bush

"Well, let's see. I'm trying to sum up President Obama's first 11 months in office: He gave billions to Wall Street, cracked down on illegal immigrants getting health care, and he's sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. You know something? He may go down in history as our greatest Republican president ever!"

-- Jay Leno, The Jay Leno Show

Ironies of Fort Hood

"Major Nidal Malik Hasan was revealed Monday to have contacted Al-Qaeda before he killed thirteen U.S. soldiers and wounded dozens at Fort Hood Thursday. He jumped on a desk, shouted 'Allah Akbar' and opened fire. The FBI is still looking for a motive...

"Sgt. Kimberly Munley ended Major Hasan's Fort Hood rampage Thursday. She faced him and shot him four times as he shot her in the leg. She's buying a display case for the Medal of Valor and retaining a defense lawyer for the hate crimes prosecution...

"Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan was an Army psychiatrist who flipped out and started killing people last week. The U.S. government paid for his medical school tuition, paid for his training, and certified him as a competent doctor. This latest foray into government health care is making everyone appreciate their HMO...

"Major Hasan's fellow soldiers said they knew the Fort Hood shooter was radical but they were afraid they'd be accused of discrimination against Muslims if they reported him. Political correctness has now killed more people than swine flu."

-- Argus Hamilton

Afghanistan Elections

"The only opponent to Afghan President Hamid Karzai has backed out of the planned recount. He's not going to be in the race. He says he wants to spend more time with his family. And not get killed."

-- Jay Leno, The Jay Leno Show


"Abdullah Abdullah just quit next week's runoff election against Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzi. Abdullah Abdullah said, he was just following in the footsteps of his role model, Palin Palin."

-- Jimmy Fallon, Late Night


"So Abdullah Abdullah says he is pulling out because he wants to spend more time with his wife, Paula Abdullah...

"No runoff election in Afghanistan. Apparently a second election would be way too expensive to rig...

"Abdullah Abdullah may be out of the race, but they say in four years his son will be on the ballot. That would be Abdullah W. Abdullah."

-- David Letterman, The Late Show

Obama Golfs -- A Lot

"According to CBS News, President Obama has played more golf in nine months than George Bush in nearly three years. Actually, Obama's a good golfer. You know what his handicap is? Joe Biden."

–- Jay Leno, The Jay Leno Show


"They say now that President Barack Obama's playing a lot of golf. Did you know he plays a lot of golf? I didn't know that. Good for him. Play golf. Play all the golf you want. The world is going to hell anyway. What possible difference could it make if he's playing golf?

"In fact, he has played more golf in his few months in office than George Bush played in eight years. So Barack Obama, playing more golf than George Bush. But to be fair, President Bush played more mini-golf."

-- David Letterman, The Late Show

The Real Questions

"Instead of solely considering 'costs' [of ObamaCare], shouldn't we ask if Americans are willing to 1) Die sooner from cancer, 2) give up access to specialists, 3) be refused safer, more accurate diagnostic imaging, 4) lose the most accessible screening programs, and 5) lose their autonomy in pursuing treatments for their families?

"Shouldn't we ask if Americans want to replace the most advanced and successful medical care in history with the restricted care and lower cost social programs of Europe, to insure the less than 5 percent of people who don't buy insurance but receive care anyway?"

-- Scott W. Atlas, M.D., Chief of Neuroradiology, Stanford University Medical Center