Solutions
by Chris Muir
Solutions.
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Posts Tagged ‘David Axelrod’
Why Obama Will Be Clinton Without The Comeback
by Thomas Del BeccaroThe retirement of Evan Bayh is the latest heralding of difficult 2010 election year for the Democrats. It is also a symptom of Obama’s mid 40s approval rating. Smart Democrats know that the average midterm election year losses for the President’s party, when his approval rating is below 50%, is 41 seats in the House. Three Presidents in the modern era suffered such a fate – Johnson, Ford and Bill Clinton. Of those three, only Clinton went on to win a second term. While it is likely Obama will suffer huge mid-term losses, it is more than unlikely that he will enjoy Clinton’s revival.
Clinton suffered the loss of 54 House seats in his first midterm election, despite a growing economy, because he broke his middle class tax cut promise – and the Republicans were smart enough to unanimously oppose that and run on the Contract With America. Despite the loss of the House for the first time in 40 years, Clinton won reelection.
Clinton was able to win reelection in part because Bob Dole was not an effective candidate for the Republicans on the tax issue. Clinton also famously triangulated in 1995 and 1996 with the help of longtime strategist Dick Morris. Dropping ideology for practicality, in 1995 and 1996, Clinton pushed a national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy, issued an order clarifying the rights of religious expression in schools, supported uniforms for public schools, banned human cloning, signed Megan’s law and welfare reform to name a few less than ideological triangulations. Even before that, Clinton incurred the wrath of unions by pushing the ratification of NAFTA.
Of course, as the Governor of a swing state, Bill Clinton leaned an early lesson in pragmatism after he was defeated in his bid for a second term. After apologizing for the policies that led to his reelection defeat, he regained the governorship and went on to enact mandatory competency testing for teachers and granted tax breaks to businesses – again with triangulating guru Dick Morris by his side.
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Pants On Fire Alert: Axelrod Edition
by Capitol ConfidentialDavid Axelrod, top political advisor to President Obama, was one of three White House advisors who took to the Sunday shows yesterday to plead the Administration’s case. Numerous outlets have noted that the three advisors gave three different accounts of the Administration’s record on jobs created–or ’saved’.
But, the reality was actually worse than that. Axelrod alone could keep his own spin straight:
A year ago I told the president that a year from now your numbers will be much different than they are right nowbecause of the economic forecast we were hearing,” Axelrod said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We knew that even as the economy started growing it would take time for the jobs to follow. That’s the nature of the economy.”
FACT: The unemployment rate known “a year ago” (i.e. on January 24, 2009) was 7.2% for December 2008 (Note: The December 2008 rate has subsequently been adjusted up to 7.4% by DOL).
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Obama’s Options: What Would Slick Willie Do?
by Paul A. RaheIt is evening. Dinner is over, and I can see Bill Clinton sitting back at a table. In my fantasy, he has a mischievous smile on his face and a cigar in his right hand; his left hand lies on the knee of a scantily-clad lass less than half his age; and he is waiting in vain for the President to call.
Republicans, when on the spot, are apt to ask themselves, “What would Reagan do?” Democrats would be well advised, when in similar straits, to ponder what Bill Clinton would do. For whatever one might think of him — and in the last couple of years Democrats have been as likely to badmouth the man as Republicans — Slick Willie is a survivor who knows how to stage a comeback when nearly everyone thinks him not only down but permanently out. It was with such a figure in mind that H. L. Mencken wrote these immortal words: “The smarter the politician, the more things he believes and the less he believes any of them.”
I have no doubt what advice Clinton would give Barack Obama if the latter were to make that call. He would tell him to jettison Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod; to hire a David Gergen, and a Dick Morris; to leave Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and their minions twisting in the wind; and to announce in his State of the Union Address that the era of big government is once again at an end.
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White House Spintacular: ‘Scott Brown Win Is A Referendum Against Bush Years’
by Andrew MarcusThe Chicago Tribune reassures its readers – White House: Mass. ‘messages heard’
And what were those messages?
Axelrod said: “You know, I’ll let others assess responsibility. I think the main thing that we saw in Massachusetts was the same sense of concern on the part of middle class folks about the economic situation, about their wages being stagnant, about jobs being lost, about their economic security that’s been in jeopardy.
“And this is something that predated the big recession that we’re going through,” the president’s chief political advisor said. “And that’s something that we have to pay a great deal of attention to. It is the focus of this president’s attention at all times. And we have to convey that.”
Translation: Coakley lost because the people of Massachusetts share the same concerns as the President; They all hate Bush, even if they don’t know it.
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Guess Who Posed for Pictures: 3rd Party-Crasher Carlos Allen with White House VIPs
by Morgen RichmondI think we may now know why the White House kept silent about the existence of a third intruder at the White House state dinner in late November. After the embarrassment of the incident with the Salahi’s, think about how much more embarrassing it would be if pictures of yet another uninvited guest began circulating throughout the media. How embarrassing? How about this embarrassing:
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Obama’s Vacation Optics – Axelrod and Co. Fail to Protect President’s Image
by Kristinn TaylorRichard Nixon had advertising executive H.R. Haldeman; Ronald Reagan had image master Mike Deaver; Barack Obama has public relations guru David Axelrod.
(The Oval Office, December 29, 2009. Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
All three men understood the power of visuals in communicating the strengths of the presidents they served on the campaign trail and in the office of the presidency.
I don’t know where David Axelrod has been since President Obama began his ten-day Christmas vacation in Hawaii, but it is safe to say he is goofing off as much as his boss.
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The Blueprint Penned From the Pen: Manufacture a Crisis, Manufacture Rage
by Larry O'ConnorIn today’s Big Government post by Joel Pollak readers were treated to an amazing glimpse into the political strategy that has been put into place over the past year by the Obama Administration to force the radical overhaul of the American health care system all under the guise of “Health Care Reform”
If anyone doubts that the strategy blue print written by convicted felon Robert Creamer (while he was serving his time in Federal Prison) was really put into action by the administration, one only needs to look at the endorsements page and notice a rave from none other than David Axelrod:
Bob Creamer has devoted his life to progressive causes. Here he provides a fascinating narrative of how progressives have won in the past and provides a blueprint for future victories.
When David Axelrod reads and endorses Creamer’s book and describes it as a “blueprint for future victories” then it might be more than just a coincidence that what Creamer suggested/predicted is exactly what has come to pass.
As odd as it seems that President Obama’s top political advisor would see fit to publicly endorse a book by a newly released felon, it is still instructive to actually look at Mr. Creamer’s “blueprint for future victories” and see how Mr. Axelrod and the Democratic leadership has used that blueprint for President Obama’s Health Care scheme.
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Was Democrats’ Health Care Strategy Written In Federal Prison?
by Joel B. PollakOn August 31, I headed to the health care town hall meeting of my congressional representative, Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). I suspected that she planned to stack the meeting with paid organizers, after she vowed on Real Time with Bill Maher to bring “millions” of people into the streets to support the so-called “public option.” So I brought a video camera.
A friend and I took turns filming protesters on both sides of the issue. We caught an organizer from the group Health Care for America Now (HCAN) instructing followers to block dissenting views: “So if they stand up and start asking questions, and you’re in that area, simply stand up, and start chanting… ‘Health care now! Health care now!’”
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Anatomy of a Beat-Down Part 2: Why Kenneth Gladney Was Beaten And by Whom
by Larry O'ConnorYesterday we discussed the events leading up to the August 6th health care town hall meeting featuring Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO). The event was hosted by Health Care For American Now (HCAN) and Organizing for America (OFA), the former a front group for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the latter an off-shoot of the Obama Campaign now run by the Democratic National Committee (DNC). We revealed a four page document released by HCAN two days before the August 6th town hall meeting. In that document, guidelines are revealed for members of HCAN (union members) on how best to stifle the protestations of ObamaCare.
The meetings hosted by HCAN (like the one on August 6th in St. Louis) were set up using these rules. Americans showed up at these meetings thinking that it would be an opportunity to address their elected representatives and talk to them about the single most important piece of legislation our congress has proposed in decades. Instead, they were pushed to the back of the room and shouted down by the well-trained SEIU members. Eventually, an American citizen who was distributing “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and buttons was assaulted by a handful of the SEIU members. His name is Kenneth Gladney.
Let’s look at that memo and how it matches the events of August 6th: (more…)
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Seeing Red Over Palin Parody
by PubliusFrom the New York Post:
A parody of Sarah Palin’s book “Going Rogue: An American Life” has been causing huge confusion — forcing Palin’s publishers HarperCollins to take out ads to direct buyers to the official version.
The rival book, “Going Rouge: An American Nightmare,” was released on the same day as Palin’s memoir and features an almost identical cover.
Colin Robinson, co-publisher of the book, compiled by Nation magazine staffers Betsy Reed and Richard Kim, told Page Six: “We have been contacted by numerous media outlets across the country asking for interviews with Sarah Palin, or companies offering security for her while on tour.
One Web site not only thought we were Ms. Palin’s publishers but called the book ‘Going Rough.’
“We’ve noticed that someone, presumably HarperCollins, has been buying ads on Google redirecting people looking for ‘Going Rouge’ to ‘Going Rogue,’ which seems very unsporting of them.” (more…)
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AstroTurfing and Global Warming: The Testimony You’re Not Supposed to Hear
by Christopher C. HornerThe Democratic majority objected to my appearing at a House hearing this morning addressing AstroTurfing in the global warming advocacy industry. The majority were not amused by the prospect of a discordant note being struck. As such, the Republicans will have no witnesses. They have agreed to this after being challenged. In Washington, we call times such as these “weekdays”.
The hearing actually has devolved into something of an effort to rehabilitate certain Members who are now imperiled by their vote for the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, particularly Tom Periello of Central Virginia (my Congressman, who has been hoodwinked by someone into stating, in defense of his vote, that the reason we are losing jobs to India and China is because they’ve already passed Waxman-Markey-type laws. Really. I agree we need to find out who is spreading such scurrilous tales to our lawmakers).
So, Rep. Periello will open the proceedings with a statement. The hearing was already delayed once because he refused to let anyone see what he was going to say in advance. They might ask questions. I don’t think that’s much of a threat.
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Obama Presidency: Bullying from the Pulpit
by Chris BergThere used to be a certain level of decorum incumbent upon the office of the President of the United States. After all, the office is more than the man that occupies it. It’s also more than his politics or platform. In many ways the Presidency is the embodiment of America. It’s the face we put forward to the world. With the election of President Obama the presidency has also awakened dreams in many children who never believed the White House was attainable.
The mandates of the office dictate how those entrusted with its power should act. The Obama White House has failed to maintain the high standards of this office. Rather than operating in a dignified manner the staff has desecrated the office by resorting to old-school Chicago-style politics. That is to say they’ve used the Presidency to reward their friends and single out and attack their enemies.
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Axelrod and Emanuel Help Shape ACORN Coverage?
by Larry O'ConnorWhile I know it doesn’t rise to the journalistic importance of the “Balloon Boy” story, I would have thought yesterday’s press conference at the National Press Club featuring Hannah Giles, James O’Keefe, Andrew Breitbart and the latest video featuring the Philadelphia office of ACORN would have gathered a little more main-stream media attention.
This past Sunday, David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel made unprecedented statements on the Sunday morning shows. They both echoed the same two talking points which were essentially:
1. Fox News is not really a legitimate news source because it has a ‘point of view’ and2. We encourage all legitimate news networks to stop treating them as if they are legitimate.
The ACORN press conference and new video have been news for over 24 hours, and as of now, the networks’ coverage is as follows:
Fox News – ran a story within an hour of the press conference and duplicated coverage on their web page
NBC – nothing
MSNBC – nothing
CNN – nothing
AP ran a story late yesterday.
CBS – has only re-run the AP story
ABC – has only re-run the AP story
MSNBC – nothing
CNN – nothing
AP ran a story late yesterday.
CBS – has only re-run the AP story
ABC – has only re-run the AP story
I’m just wondering… do you think the networks got the White House’s message?
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Astroturfing the NEA: Winner & Associates in on the Scheme?
by Rusty ShacklefordColor me unsurprised to find out that an employee of Winner and Associates — who you’ll recall we revealed were behind the astroturfing campaign to discredit Sarah Palin — was in on the National Endowment for the Arts phone call outlining how the Obama Administration would use that government organization to push its agenda.
From a list of those participating in the conference call:
After we uncovered the link between Winner and Associates, David Axelrod, and the smear campaign against Sarah Palin designed to look as though it was coming from the “grass roots” we begged — literally begged! — the MSM to look into whether the large campaign consulting firm was subcontracted by David Axelrod for work on the Obama campaign. As I noted at the time, I’m just a blogger and don’t really have the resources necessary to conduct a thorough investigation.
As Ace notes here, once Ethan Winner confessed that he was behind the video, the MSM concluded that there was nothing more to investigate. This despite the fact that I showed that at least two other Winner and Associate employees — a subdivision of the largest advertising agency in the world — participated in the astroturfing campaign during normal business hours.
Three employees, one of them the President of the subdivision and another a VP, claimed they were doing this on their own time — which we showed could not have been the case — and on their own dime. On their own dime? Maybe, but it still seems unlikely.
And now we have another Winner and Associates guy at the NEA conference call? He’s also listed as one of the founders of Generation Obama. (more…)
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