Event Horizon
The contrast could not be greater. On the one hand the spin.
‘Polls show that President Obama is pulling away in every state’. Newspapers claim that the administration’s Asian diplomacy has been a great success. Overall, the administration spokesmen say, America’s image has been much improved in the Arab world. There is no greater friend of Israel, the pundits confidently assure the public, than President Obama. What’s that you say about the pinch? Nonsense, America’s economy is in a much better position today than four years ago. Etc, etc.
On the other hand, there is the horrible truth.
A full blown crisis between Japan and China has broken out. Japanese factories are under attack, its citizens under assault all over China. Hundreds if not thousands of boats were dispatched by Beijing for islands disputed by the Asian giants. US Embassies are ablaze through the breadth of the Middle East. Now Indonesia — where the President grew up and learned that Islam is tolerant — is restive. Meanwhile Israel’s Netanyahu has characterized US policy toward Iran as ‘setting a new standard for human stupidity’ as Teheran moves closer to the a-bomb. “Insider killings” by Afghan security forces of US troops continue to increase in Afghanistan. Etc, etc.
Not to mention the economy. That’s a whole other can of worms. The administration sneeringly pretends it is in control of everything, magisterially above the fray. But beyond the circle of smoke and mirrors, nobody is fooled.
Whatever the hacks say, there are precious few who respect the administration and in particular President Obama any more. Not the Muslim world, not the allies — Japan, Australia and Israel — not even the Chicago unions. The decline in his authority and prestige — and America’s — is palpable and catastrophic. Those who don’t hate him revile him. His name now excites ridicule or mirth, but not respect.
Of course the lapdog media will deny this but they don’t matter any more. A little more free-fall and nothing the President or his tame claques say will count in the slightest.
There’s no more point in asking the establishment to wake up and smell the coffee. It’s too late.
The media’s press releases now sound very much like those of Tokyo Rose in the final days of the Pacific War. With the Imperial Navy virtually annihilated they still portrayed it as invincible. The more defeated it was in reality, the more invincible it became in fiction. “Hello boneheads, this is your favorite playmate and enemy … How are all you orphans in the Pacific? Are you enjoying yourselves while your wives and sweethearts are running around with 4F’s in the States? How do you feel now when all your ships have been sunk by the Japanese Navy? How will you get home?”
What propaganda on this scale and level of delusion indicates is not only that the broadcasts admit the reverse of what they claim but something far grimmer: there’s no more hope. The propaganda is the shriek of madness, a civilizational equivalent of the Dean Scream.
Inflation adjusted ad revenues
The clowns are now the masters. Here’s Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teacher’s Union explaining why your money belongs to her so she can educate your children.
Educate them in what?
And evil men now call the shots. And nobody is even allowed to call them evil men. The correct term is the righteously indignant believers in a religion of peace, who were until they watched YouTube, were strong supporters of the administration. Bullshit.
And they’re coming not just just for the poor girl in Pakistan, they’re coming for those who once thought they were beyond that danger. No sirree. And increasingly less so with each passing day. From now on the elites will be begin to feel Fear. Not the fear of Romney, who at last report was preparing a series of speeches on how he would fix the economy if he was elected President.
The dread will be of something worse: of actual bankruptcy and poverty from the collapse of financial institutions; of physical danger from forces they once thought they could toy with and which are now toying with them; of the total loss of prestige that comes with being a nothing. In other words they fear all the things which the America they so hated once protected them from. How do you like it?
They know, even as Tokyo knew that it’s just a matter of time now.
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Typos – “One the one hand the spin.”
“At Israel, there is greater friend,”
Wretchard’s post describes a national cognitive dissonance of sorts. The polls are bending towards Obama, the mainstream media is hammering on its victory chants… and everybody I know or talk to are darkly worried about the fate of America at the hands of this Charlatan. Could it be that when the administration threatens to punish polling organizations for publishing “negative” information that others respond with a more positive outlook? The public, having been shouted down and called racist for the past 4 years may no longer be playing ball. Not in this rigged game. I have gotten to the point where I will not discuss politics with a liberal. They are loud, aggressive, rude, dissembling louts for all I can tell. They crow for disorder and I so hope that they fail to tear down the thin veil of civility because should it happen, they will feel my steel.
Post above reminds me of the administration-let’s not discuss the merits of the article, we’ll talk about the spelling.
#1-Not criticizing your post at all-it just reminded me of how the libs attack the really tough issues-e.g., films, Romney ……..
BTW-We ought to show this Oscar-bound masterpiece in theaters so we could have another Chik-Fil-A moment?
#2-Talk to a liberal? I can’t even listen to a liberal.
The polls are increasingly meaningless. If I was called, I would hang up. Why would I care to talk to a pollster when my vote has been decided and cemented for four years. I will leave no “hanging chad” either. I’m liable to drive my pencil right through the voting stand.
My money says the Chicago strike is theater staged by the local NEA with guidance from “above”. The final act will be Obama riding into town as the great conciliator, saving the children from the stingy 1%. And just in time to make hearts throb on the way to the polls.
For the life of me I can’t see why anyone would pay to have Karen Lewis teach anyone. I would pay to have individuals like her not teach children. It’s like child abuse. And as for the gratitude which the President’s foreign policy has earned from the Muslim world, if those are our actual friends and that their actual gratitude, then what are the enemies like?
As Imperial Japan learned the problem with going all in, is that no choices are left except playing to the bitter end. The Left,so enamored of Darwin refuses to see even with all the examples in the prior century the omega point of all their Marxist dreams. Selection for fitness, whether natural or social is inevitable. The issue for all who don’t share their dream is not whether their doom (in the Tolkien sense) will occur. It will. The issue is how many of us unbelievers are doomed (in the colloquial sense) to be engulfed in their demise.
Wretchard, So depressing sounding, please pop-a-pill and chill… Don’t worry Be Happy! 0bama is able to “Evolve” so there’s nothing to worry about… How long before Hildabeast goes under the bus? Come Nov 7th when 0bama announce his second term (while his lawyers fight out any ridiculous challenge that the Electoral College really could have possible gone to Romney in a fraud filled election landslide (doesn’t matter to the MSM who was defrauding who)) it should only be but a few months later and Japan, Korea and even but only slightly possible Australia announce their own Nuclear Bomb test, Japan and Korea will follow that up announcing their own Long range missile test, the Philippines will suddenly find themselves becoming close Allies with Japan and Korea Possible with India replacing America as the bigger stick in the Alliance… How far and how fast we fall is unmeasurable, Don’t worry the MSM will make sure very few realize the depravity of it all… But they will make Damn sure everyone will know “It’s all Bush’s fault”
re: Ms Lewis
Considering her deportment and attitude why in the world would any competant adult want her teaching their children. Considering the test scores, graduation rates, college acceptance rates, and college graduation rates of the Chicago school district why would any reasonably able adult consider the status quo acceptable.
As far as racism is concerned, when I first saw her picture I wondered how an obese, excessively self satisfied, White slob had managed to become head of the teachers union. Even if she is Afro-American, I think that she is a dreadful role model.
We promoted an arrogant and supercilious creep with a mimetic genius for self presentation to the highest executive office in the country, and now we pay for it in spades. If the next election doesn’t prove the self-correcting mechanism in our democracy, then I’d say we got what we deserve and Franklin’s admonishment about keeping the republic was all too prescient.
Somebody’s got a bad case of the Mondays. Have you filled out your TPS forms yet?
It should be fairly obvious by now that these geniuses mean to double down on stupid.
Consequently, it would probably be a good idea to already have a plan -and a contingency or two as well- to fill the legitimacy vacuum in your immediate community. Be a community reorganizer…Or leave it for a community worth salvaging.
This Rosh Hashanah I find myself incredibly gloomy. Only in 1980 have I felt like this before — after the Jimmy Carter helicopters failed to rescue the hostages in Iran. In 2001 I felt trepidation but also the determination of America.
Our design margin is thinner than ever. The mental gymnastics of my acquaintances on the left of the spectrum go through to continue to justify their world view is staggering.
One thing is becoming clearer in our host’s posting. Even with the most favorable outcome in the upcoming election we already may have passed the tipping point.
Somewhat off on a tangent – does anyone but me think it would be pretty easy to game Intrade? Spending a million dollars to skew the odds seems like chump change in the grand scheme of things.
The polls are all wrong and wrong on purpose. The elites know the jig is up and that this admin. is done for. We are watching the Banzi charge just before the end.
I don’t know if Romney can sort this thing out given all the wreckage worldwide but we certainly know that the current children of Marx are incapable of doing it. Somewhere someone has to tell the Marx children to set down and shut up or they go to bed without supper and instead get eat a .45 slug. We need to cleanse the earth of them and their evil logic.
The collapse of a republic has many fathers and Obama is the inbred offspring,it was nice while the party lasted but now the fat lady is singing really loud
Talk about cascade of events. It is not hard to a see a scenario unfold here where this China situation gets out of hand very quickly and in a very big way.
Japan is China’s biggest trading partner. Japanese employers are in many ways the underpinning of the Chinese economic miracle. Now all those plants may be shuttering. We are talking about millions of newly unemployed Chinese hitting the streets in an already collapsing Chinese economy. The old saw is that Dictators in this situation respond with War. Real War.
To the chagrin of President Lead from Behind, we actually have a dog in this fight who is actually an important ally that relies upon our defense capabilities for much of it’s defense. That is Japan.
But to make matters worse for Tissue Balls Buraq, is the moment we takes sides and actually defend Japan, those Chinese rioters will likely turn their sights on American factories, as well. Not only will the loss of those Japanese plants likely cause a severe worldwide recession, but because of the foolish reliance of America Business on Chinese manufacturing might, our manufacturing supply chain could be severely disrupted by Chinese targeting our plants as well. We are vulnerable too. Very vulnerable.
A lot of very bad stuff , War and Depression, could be coming down the pipeline, real soon. But wouldn’t ya know, it’ll be all Romney’s fault.
Just to be clear, I don’t talk to pollsters because my vote was made up five years ago and it hasn’t changed. What’ll happen, will happen.
But if you think the media went all out for BHO four years ago, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Why, there’s still seven weeks to go — that’s an eternity in campaign-time. Or at least that’s what the media are hoping.
Best to view all the mainstream media as agitprop agents of The One, and shun them entirely. Just tune them out. Which it seems lots of people are doing, anyway, according to the graph up above.
W: Thanks for this and especially the video. I hadn’t realized that Jabba the Hutt had undergone a sex change and was now leading the Chicago teachers in their struggle for justice, yo! (Brad #15, yes, that is the fat lady singing, all right!)
More seriously, on the other vid, I would love to read a transcript of what is said. In English, since I haven’t yet mastered Arabic. Maybe as our dhimmitude advances, I can work on that.
Regarding the Spin Gap, yes, it’s huge. I have gone dark on talking with liberals or pretty much anyone. I know what I know, and that’ll just have to do. November 7 is going to be the tell for us all.
I have no sympathy for any US company doing business in China. Every decade some US company hears the song about what a large market China is and sets up business there. Every decade the Chinese rape them and they have to leave. But not to worry a few years later another fool thinks “it will be different this time.” It is starting to look like it was Japan’s turn in the barrel and they are shutting down businesses. Panasonic has bailed for instance.
Recently a someone looked at the poll results for every state, added them up and then compared them to the results of the national polls. Big difference the national polls were cranking in way to many Democrat voters. The add up from the state polls showed Romney winning at the time the add up was done.
Also historical indicators are going against Obama big time. The Jewish vote is down to 59% for Obama. No Presidential contender has won with that low of a number.
I still found this troubling. I want Mitt Romney to fill this vacuum and fight for what is right.
Re: Chicago teacher’s strike.
Seems clear to me that most Chicagoans are now actively hoping Karen Lewis and Rahm Emanuel BOTH lose.
Fearless prediction: Illinois–stunningly–may go Red in November or, at best, Obama will win it only in a squeaker. The protection rackets of the Chicago and Springfield crime families are wearing thin on Illinois taxpayers and they’re no longer willing to “pay the vig”.
“A lot of very bad stuff , War and Depression, could be coming down the pipeline, real soon.”
Wake up, have a cup of coffee. It’s already here. Americans have been dying by violence from Muslims for the last several decades. Why do you not see that for war? Because it doesn’t meet some obscure 17th century definition? Wake up Rip, it’s the 21st century.
No depression? Same problem there. The definition of depression is a early 20th century artifice. It was created by humans with only a passing familiarity with reality. We live in a democracy. If 50% +1 of the citizens say it is a depression, IT IS. Economists that don’t like that are free to leave. Cuba always welcomes people. North Korea will give them a bowl of rice.
Yes we are on the cusp of the collapse of mankind’s last best hope. That means there is no hope for mankind. One last desperate throw of the Die. When 40 million deer hunters grab their rifles and head out for the first day of hunting season, They need to take a few extra round and expand their target list a tad. What is the bag limits on Democrats, Journalists, Politicians, Teachers, and other crooks and miscreants. With 40 million hunters, there might not be enough to go around.
There is a “joke” going around the Net with a picture of GWB saying, “If obama is reelected, look at the mess he will inherit THIS time!” A bit of a chuckle to throw at libs, to be sure. But the more I think about it, the less funny it gets. What happens to obama and his minions happens to US!
I wish I could share wretchard’s enthusiasm about the irrelevance of the msm. Problem is, they still pack influence with the casual listeners and ignorant liberals (But I repeat myself!) who catch mere snippets of the news while waiting for the weather report.
I ferry 2 little old ladies to a Baptist Church(!) and both mimic the msm vis, “Why doesn’t that Romney guy share his ‘billions’ (sic) with us?!” That, in addition to people where I work (Who don’t know shinola from that other stuff!) spouting msm talking points as if THEY were the ones who thought it up. Such is the power of brainwashing.
The point is, the msm MAY BE irrelevant. But their faux message, even regarding the likes of the mess in the M/E, won’t have time to catch up with them until well after the election.
C’mon, Mitt! You may not realize how much hinges on you doing your job and getting this – the most significant of insignificance in humanity – out of office and ameleorating the mess he has made!
Mitt Romney; our last best hope for a future. A sad, scary, depressing thought! Or should I say, “Reality?!”
8. octa bright
I’m pretty sure Lewis is black.
Wretchard is wrong. These guys truly believe their own propaganda. They aren’t like Hirohito and Tojo, they are the mad crowd in the bunker.
The latest “news” from Yahoo is that the Romney camp is in “disarray.”
?????
I have to confess that I don’t fully buy the extent of MSM malfeasance and subterfuge expressed here. But don’t misunderstand me: It is blatantly obvious whose camp almost all of the media are, and the distortions are obvious. I stop short of accepting the notion that it is a case of full-blown orchestrated lies 24/7.
Even so, my own more moderate interpretation has the MSM behaving scandalously, and the administration and their ideological allies as being dangerously inept and corrupt. Not a very “moderated” view on my part, is it?
Again I look back to the Jesse Helms v. Jim Hunt race in NC, 1984. The print media, still alive then, pushed Hunt and bashed Helms for 2 years. The polls showed Hunt with a huge lead as of September that year. The election was a rout in favor of Helms-his supporters saw no reason to participate in any pre-election polling. The Chik-Fil-A support day showed me that conservative voters vote with their feet, not their mouth. If engaged, intelligent folks as post a BC are as angry and livid as they ever have been about this election, I have to believe that somewhat engaged voters also have a lesser but appreciable level of anger-more than THEY ever had.
The media is very likely to go so far in the tank that the juxtaposition of their rabid support compared to people’s actual lives makes them appear delusional. The BIG LIE may well work-the BIGGEST LIE will not.
People unemployed or under-employed don’t a flying F about investing in the future. They also don’t give a tinker’s damn about the “color” of a job.
Did Karen Lewis have a point to her incoherent ramble? She’s the living embodiment of the Bee Gees song that goes – “I started a joke and set the whole world laughing.”
It’s obviously time for the Jews to extend their dastardly schemes for world domination (sarc) by taking over public education in the U.S.. To restore sanity to public schools, bring back the Marx brothers and put them in charge.
The Chinese Heir Apparent has gone missing. Could that mean the Hard Liners have gained the upper hand?
http://www.theworld.org/2012/09/china-future-top-leader/
Stoi, You’re right, we are in a war and a depression right now. Pardon my clumsy writing, but all I was sayin is that both could get a whole lot worse. Much worse.
Unsk @ 16: “… because of the foolish reliance of America Business on Chinese manufacturing might, our manufacturing supply chain could be severely disrupted by Chinese targeting our plants as well.”
Surely you see the beauty? That’s the Obumble economic plan! China kicks out US & Japanese manufacturing (right after some anonymous YouTube video that mocks Confucius). The factories have to be brought home, creating massive numbers of jobs and unbelievable amounts of new tax revenues for the Big 0 to redistribute.
Of course, for the plan to work, the US needs lots of educated motivated young people coming out of schools. And bureaucrats who spend their days ripping up regulations and cutting through Red Tape.
Ah well! Let’s just face it. It is another Obaminoid plan which will never work. Nothing for it but to get Uncle Ben to print more money; that should do the trick.
To restore relative sanity to public schools, bring back the Marx brothers and put them in charge of education.
But their unfunny brother Karl has been in charge of education for decades!
18. oMan
Good point. Back in the old days, French and English were the languages of diplomacy.
Both have been replaced with the language of dhimmitude, and Obama and his minions appear to be fluent speakers.
LOL… The chicago teachers strike. It’s just a form of negoitation between Rahm and the teachers union to make sure Rahm gets re-elected and the teachers don’t get fired. We all know the rank and file would take 4% raise per year for the next 4 years. They just don’t want to lose their jobs until they can retire and get their pensions…or what’s left of them. Democrats want to control Chicago and teachers just want to get paid and get their retirement and benefits.
Well, so +1 for the Mayans, hey.
Or, maybe the Muslim Brotherhood, miscellaneous jihadis and rioters will, after all, end up electing Romney.
The first presidential debate is supposed to be domestic policy, maybe they’ll break the format some.
(and WTF was the Romney campaign thinking, agreeing to those moderators????)
My predictions tend to be to go with the status quo, in spite of all clear and present dangers. Eventually I’ll be wrong big-time, like my Mayan buddies, or else it won’t much matter, hey.
–
October 3, 2012
Topic: Domestic policy
Moderator: Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS)
October 11, 2012
Vice Presidential
Topic: Foreign and domestic policy
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)
October 16, 2012
Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy
Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent)
October 22, 2012
Topic: Foreign policy
Moderator: Bob Schieffer (Host of Face the Nation on CBS)
I’m waiting for someone to make this case economically, updated with the latest news.
Quantitative Easing Round 3 (This time it’s unlimited!) plus the latest U.S. government credit downgrade (Congressional refusal to even address budget shortfalls) equals the end of the formerly almighty dollar.
The plan’s to inflate your money out from under you until Weimar seems a pleasant memory in comparison.
Re China
Headline at drudge, “Panetta Warns of War Between China and Japan Over Disputed Islands”
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/panetta-warns-war-between-china-and-japan-over-disputed-islands
China has repeatedly created incidents with neighbors over disputed islands. It has never escalated to war. Why would this time be different?
And why confront Japan first? Would it not be safer to annex islands claimed by Viet Nam and/or the Philippines first? Taking islands from the little countries would likely not test America’s resolve. Taking territory from Japan would.
And one wonders about the timing as well?
Polling data or no polling data: I’m voting for Romney and a straight Republican ticket. If I were a Missouran I would even vote for Todd Akin.
Steady as she goes, steady as she goes. I wonder if people like me are not considered in the polling and prediction equations?
Don Rodrigo, et al—like me, feeling a little anxious at times? Don’t like this line from the opening of today’s post?:
‘Polls show that President Obama is pulling away in every state’.
Well, take heart comrades! Read this piece from DaTechGuy, and be sure to go all the way down to the first reader comment:
datechguyblog.com/2012/09/17/demoralized-as-hell-the-poll-the-media-isnt-talking-about-edition/
Don Rodrigo @ 37 said:
“Polling data or no polling data: I’m voting for Romney and a straight Republican ticket.”
I think Romney is a very weak candidate but it’s immoral, unpatriotic and stupid to vote for Obama.
I’m with Don Rodrigo and will vote for Romney even though he was a bad choice.
Having said that, the Real Clear Politics average polls are reliable. He need to maintain discipline and not fall into the trap of confirmation bias.
Yeah, we all agree that Obama is the worst President in history. That does not mean squat since the MSM controls the narrative. Future historians will look back at our era with amazement at how a nation was seduced into walking over a cliff by its entertainment media.
p.s. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area which is mindlessly liberal. In 2008, when the messiah won the election, the local moonbats had a very public mass orgasm. Darn near everyone had Obama bumper stickers on their cars. Now the situation is completely different. Obama bumper stickers are remarkably rare. For the most part, the local moonbats are quite grumpy about Obama. Keep in mind that they will still vote for him and Obama will win by a landslide in Northern California. The take away message is that Republicans should be crushing Obama in the polls but Romney is simply too weak of a candidate.
g @ 28: http://datechguyblog.com
IOW, registration advantage shifted to Republicans, this is highly predictive of outcomes, and MSM polls are *knowingly* violating it wholesale.
Looks good to me!
Imagine the post-game analysis on the poor MSM, should this result.
29. Unsk Tip of the Iceberg. It WILL get much worse. Japans only problem and why they need the USA is they are short on Warriors of a proper age. They do, however, lead the world in Robotics. Merry a Honda robot with a Hughes chain gun;
http://world.guns.ru/machine/usa/ex-34-chaingun-e.html
Have Honda and Toyoto crank out a few million and your Infantry fodder problem is solved. It will take a couple of years and several billion dollars.
Japan is stronger then China. Especially in the air and on the sea.
Major changes in warfare over the last century. In 1912 The US Military was basically a police force, charged with tracking down bandits on horseback. The newest weapons in the inventory were the .45 ACP and the 1903 Springfield bolt action rifle. The major theater of war was the Philippines. Like so many wars, it was declared over (1903) but the sides fighting didn’t get the memo. It didn’t actually end until the Battle of Bud Bagsak on June 15, 1913.
I bring this up to highlight how much war has changed. No warplanes in 1912. No mobile rocket systems. No satellites, which means no satellite communications or satellite targeting. That is extremely important. Aircraft sped up the pace of war, just as communications did. in 1912 a battlefield could be seen with the naked eye. The fastest weapons system was a horse with a man aboard. Communications were mostly by voice, with flags and bugles where possible. Mostly it wasn’t possible, what with the smoke and sounds of combat.
Some nations have kept up with the changes in warfare. Some haven’t. China is in the has not category. Japan is in the has too group.
The most important changes over the last century have been speed and range. In 1912 range was determined by artillery. a couple of Km’s on land and a little more at sea. Hits were mostly a matter of luck. So lots of shots were fired in hopes of getting lucky. Since ammunition limits are finite, engagements were limited in time. Closing the range was the only practical solution. In 2012 we can hit the proverbial pickel barrel from anywhere on the planet.
Air power has become dominant. The side with Air superiority NEVER loses. It doesn’t always win but never losing is half the battle. Most American defeats of the last century have come from losing the peace after winning the war. You don’t have that problem with nukes.
Back when the Norks were first testing their nukes, they fired a Theater Ballistic Missile OVER Japan. Some journalist asked the head Defence dude how long it would take Japan to build nuclear weapons. He said 83 days. I was surprised by a) that long? and that he didn’t have the hours. minutes, and seconds. Japanese society lends itself to precision.
The PLANavy has NO modern warships. They have several building and a couple working up (training, fixing builders flaws, experimenting with weapons loads, damage control, etc.) What they have at sea is obsolete. Japan, on the other hand has state of the art ships and high quality crews manning them.
NO, most of those who clawed their way to the top of the dung heap that is China think that 10,000 men can defeat 1500 men. They need to talk to the Arabs about what happens when a PGM fired from 600 Km’s away flies down the ventilation shaft of the command bunker and explodes. They will have to ask the privates, the commanders are mostly dead. An army without commanders is a mob. 1500 men will have no problem dealing with a mob of 9,900.
The Republicans should be crushing Obama in the polls but Romney is simply too weak of a candidate.
Romney is not the best candidate, and the establishmwent GOP is inept and clueless in certain respects, but while there is blame to be apportioned to Romney and his team, even a first-rate GOP team would not “crush” Obama, but merely win a squeaker. Why is that? Decades of “narrative” that have changed the mindset of too many “Americans” (i.e., mere residents of the geographical area known as America). The Carter comparison suffers not only because Romney is not Reagan, but because many Americans are different than their predecessors were 32 years ago. Fewer people might even be receptive to a Reagan these days. The GOP has been so badly demonized that many people who have grave doubts about Obama will still vote for him because they are afraid to make the leap to a Republican Party that they’ve been told will usher in a new “Dark Age” or something. They don’t even much care about the burning embassies/dead diplomats debacle. Their feeble psyches are cauterized.
I’m still voting for Romney. I hope everyone here will do the same despite their misgivings. Many a battle looked confusing and even lost through much of the contest, but then some shiver of action would ripple through the combatants, and suddenly, the tide is turned the other way. What turned the tide? A steady resolve that exhausted the putative “victors,” and sent them reeling from the field. Agincourt, Towton, Midway, First Manassas — the list is long.
I also hope that I am wrong about the number of my fellow citizens who are fools.
We have a problem…
For the second Presidential election in a row we have the wrong people running.
This is much bigger than the economy. Between the hard left which bought everything and the hard right which refused to pay for it we are in a bit of a mix. Too bad much of the garbage bought was digested and dumped within days or weeks of the ‘investement’. Too bad the credit card limit was so high. Too bad.
And, it is much bigger that the Islamist World. Wretchard gave us an early warning that there are other issues in this world. I remember telling libs in the 90′s that Japan and Taiwan would rebuild their military and reestablish military alliances because they could not be confident in an America that elects a Clinton. And, then we elect an Obama. Tell me, why should Japan or South Korea count on us in a pinch. Here comes ‘Executive Order’ time – if it hasn’t already.
And, what happens if Iran launches 10 nukes over Iraq and Syria to Israel – and Israel intercepts them over those countries. Who is righteous and who is the blame. The ignits in the Middle East will come up with some BS theory that the Israelis launched on themselves via special forces from Iran. What happens to the people in Iraq, Jordan, and Syria that are caught in the middle with radioactive waste falling on them.
Many times I’ve stated that a dithering weakling is more dangerous than a gun-slinging cowboy. And, not always for the reasons most think. Our conflicted, dithering weakling will wait too long leaving fewer and fewer options and finally make a panic decision.
Not Good.
And, we elected THE ONE. At least Hitler signed Chamberlain’s paper. That, at least, had more legal backing than ‘mere words’.
It occurs to me that last week was supposed to be the Islamists’ Tet Offensive. Y’know, prove to the Great Satan that we are weak in front of the overwhelming masses of the noble warrior-people rising up against.
It didn’t work out, because today’s Walter Cronkites work for the Democrat Party, and these people aren’t going to breathe a word that might shine darkly on their Lil Prince.
No “news” = no Tet.
Meanwhile, the attack on Camp Bastion produced our largest loss of aircraft since the Vietnam War, per the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444517304577653474068522602.html?KEYWORDS=bastion
Dang, Haji got screwed out of his Tet! And his Tet happened in 30 countries all around the world, not just in South Vietnam.
stoicheion @ 41 and Unsk @ 29,
The China/Japan thing is a “bolt out of the blue”. China has a cold hatred for the Japanese that goes back many generations (Japan behaved very badly while occupying China during WW-II). Also Japan is one of China’s strongest economic rivals. China needs to sell stuff to the United States but Japan could go “poof” and business would simply improve for China.
My initial reading is that China’s economy is just about to implode. China’s communist/technocrat leaders have correctly realized that they’ll need to start a war to stay in power. Japan has been very foxy about their military posturing and developed significant dual use technology, e.g. nuclear power technology, ship building and expendable spacecraft launch capability, etc. The Japanese could retool to become a military superpower almost at the flip of a switch. Of course that “flip of a switch” could still take about three years.
Different topic: The levels of obfuscation concerning the recent Islamic Fascist outrage are interesting. The MSM spins the narrative that mobs in Libya and Cairo attacked the American embassies as an act of spontaneous rage over obscure YouTube videos. The more reasoned analysis is this was an al Qaeda military assault that was planned over several months with the YouTube nonsense serving merely as a convenient cover story. However there maybe an even deeper analysis: The assaults on the American embassies were an act of hopeless despair that was exploited by al Qaeda.
The “Arab Spring” has failed. The old dictators have been swept away but most Egyptian/Libyans are still unemployed, not getting enough to eat and without future prospects. Simply venting their rage against their local government is no longer an option because “They have already done that!”. Trying to reform themselves is also not an option because they have this huge millstone around their neck with the word “Islam” stenciled on the side of it. Hating America and Israel is all they have left.
These people are thrashing around like mindless caged animals and self destructing due to hopeless despair.
@ 36. feeblemind
Just a sensationalist headline. While there is real risk of conflict, I don’t think anyone seriously believes that China would ever attack Japan.
A few reasons
1. US has Japan’s back
2. China values a pacifist Japan – The moment China attacks Japan is the moment that Japan ditches article 9 of their constitution (the antiwar clause) and rearms their military. China will not dare open that can of worms.
And if it makes anyone feel better, Panetta got up on TV yesterday standing alongside the Japanese minister of defense and told the world that the US would “fulfill its treaty obligations”.
The terrible Ifs accumulate.
People like Lewis and the Democrats, unlike the Republicans, will hold nothing back. They know that it isn’t win or go home. For them it is win or face oblivion. They are nailed to the mast of their crimes. This was deliberate by the leadership of the Left. By going beyond disputes over politics and marginal tax rates to actionable outrages, intentional abuse and criminality, they have lashed their supporters to the mast. They can’t lose and face the consequences.
If Romney manages to win then we can expect convoys importing paper shredders from China into DC and taking evidence out that will dwarf the WMD shipped out of Iraq in 2003.
David @ 46 said:
“… Panetta got up on TV yesterday standing alongside the Japanese minister of defense and told the world that the US would “fulfill its treaty obligations”.”
Soothing words from the Obama administration…. That and 75 cents will buy you a can of Dr. Pepper.
The very fact that those soothing words needed to be said is interesting.
Stoi, I was hoping you would give us an update on the comparative military strengths of China and Japan. Glad to know that Japan can probably take care of itself, because I know Buraq will be of no help.
However, the demonstrations and the riots all across China seemed to be been pre-planned and coordinated, so something must afoot in the minds of the PLA. The shuttering of Japanese plants is one hell of a self inflicted wound otherwise, and one that is probably not so easy to reverse or heal. So what’s up?
40. Josh
g @ 28: http://datechguyblog.com
IOW, registration advantage shifted to Republicans, this is highly predictive of outcomes, and MSM polls are *knowingly* violating it wholesale.
………….
Yeah I buy this too.What’s more I don’t think the election will be close.
For the longer term, likely there’s enough bad stuff accumulated to make the next two years pretty tough — as was the case with Reagan’s first two years. But I think the country will come out of it.
There’s enough cool technology coming to ensure another big prosperous age–not just for the USA but for the whole world.
But even though the homosexual nazis in government, I think are going to be turned out of office, their supporting ideologies show no sign of losing strength at all. So that even though the conservatives will storm storm back into power in the high places, they will be isolated islands of conservatism in an otherwise homosexual nazi establishment. And they will act accordingly.
How do you change a liberal establishment that has become educated idiots.
The answer is that everybody has to regularly read and understand the bible. It is the hand book of life.
How do you change liberal mainstream culture so that regular bible reading is one of the things that a man or a woman in the liberal mainstream culture has to do regularly like working out or eating right.
Some people are naturally wise like some people are naturally strong or thin. Most are not. How do you get strong. By regular workouts. How do you get wisdom.By regular bible reading.
So promote the necessity/virtue of wisdom (roughly defined as doing the right thing in the right way at the right time)and the necessity of regular bible reading to gain wisdom.
@46, David…
You are not getting it. Our ‘At your back’ statements are not worth a warm bucket of spit. Because a huge percentage of Americans will fight for nothing we cannot sustain our own defense – much less the defense of nations thousands of miles away. Hell, I fully expect our military to have to fight their way out of Afghanistan – like a modern day 10,000.
We have squandered the Arsenal of Democracy. We spent – and spend – it on government benefits and welfare that have already been digested, and now fill sewers and landfills. The hand to mouth payments (which include a load of crappolla piled to the middle class and rich) have come at the expense of infrastructure, defense, education, etc..
And, we have overpriced that infrastructure, power generation, power transmission, education, and bureaucracies by supporting left hands squabbling with right hands. We get nothing done. See the Stimulus.
We can offer little or nothing to Japan.
The PLA is the enemy of the CPC and the Chinese people.
Its a shame that the Communist Party Schools in China don’t teach Japanese history with sufficient exactitude so that they understand how the militarists came to be the dominant power in Japan after the Meji Revolution.
Instead, likely what they do is teach them what the Japanese did once they arrived in China during the 1930′s. Everything that came before is likely else is glossed over.
(3:00 AM DC) Ring… Ring… Hello? Panetta! Yes, A Yes Mr. President. Get me that fine navy we showed at our (DNC) Convention and call in that Air force too! Yes sir Mr. President, Yes sir… But, but wait! Mr. President, those weren’t ours!…
Yup, it can’t get any better for a half baked Journalist, yet we won’t hear one word from any American Jurno’s!
I give it 50-50 odds that Israel strikes Iran in some way, shape, or form prior to the elections. Probably depends upon what O’s polling numbers look like at this time next month.
Slightly off topic in this thread, but I heard a Rush caller make a great point: If this unseen, no-budget film inflamed an entire region, what will happen when the high budget production of Brave Sir Barack’s killing of Bin Laden hits the silver screen?
Maybe this point has been made, but how did these angry and destitute Arab youth see this Youtube video? I’m sure they’re flush over there with wireless towers and smartphones. Maybe that’s the answer-give them free internet access and instead of being outside burning s..t and throwing rocks, they’ll all be closed up in their huts downloading internet porn.
With these polls getting more and more ridiculous (D+11???), anyone get the feeling that they are setting up the narrative that Romney Stole The Election, even if RR wins by 5 points or more? The consequences, if that is indeed what is happening, is bone-chilling.
W: “The administration sneeringly pretends it is in control of everything, magisterially above the fray. But beyond the circle of smoke and mirrors, nobody is fooled… The propaganda is the shriek of madness…”
“Even the names of the four ministries by which we are governed exhibits a sort of impudence in their deliberate reversal of the facts; the ministry of peace concerns its self with war; the ministry of truth with lies… These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy; they are deliberate exercises in doublethink… Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously [the lie and the truth], and accepting both of them [Insanity]… with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth… Those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is; in general the greater the understanding the greater the delusion; the more intelligent the less sane… If one is to rule, and to continue ruling, one must be able to dislocate the sense of reality… If human equality is to be forever averted; if the “high,” as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently; then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.” George Orwell – 1984
I’m with Eggplant 45. This deal concerning Japan seems like a smokescreen for trouble back at the economic ranch. Which may be scarier than China picking a fight with Japan. And who knows what happens when Pandoras box gets opened in a region that so highly treasures stability and tranquility.
Stonewall @ 57 quoted George Orwell from “1984″:
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously [the lie and the truth], and accepting both of them [Insanity]… with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth… Those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is; in general the greater the understanding the greater the delusion; the more intelligent the less sane..”
The fallacy with “1984″ was Ingsoc had to keep its population pacified with the propaganda of Doublethink while also continuing an endless war against Eurasia and Eastasia. It is not credible that the engineers and scientists of Oceania could be good communists practicing Doublethink while remaining effective at their jobs (the Scientific Method demands that the Truth be honored). This central tension was implied with Winston Smith being a Ministry of Truth bureaucrat. However despite the contradiction of Doublethink, Smith could still do his job throwing history down the memory hole.
The contradiction of being a good engineer while living in a communist society was the root cause behind the Soviet Union’s collapse. The socialists running the United States will ultimately fail for the same reason.
dlsada @ 55 said:
“Maybe that’s the answer-give them free internet access and instead of being outside burning s..t and throwing rocks, they’ll all be closed up in their huts downloading internet porn.”
Internet bars are common in the Middle East. Osama bin Laden was a big fan of computer porn. Access to the Internet has probably made the situation worse in the Middle East due to Arab language al Qaeda websites and confirmation bias.
DB@56: I wonder if more Republicans will respond to exit polls than to the pre-election polls. That might head off a “Romney stole it” media flap.
I read that Pew Research said their response rate for telephone polls was 37% in 1997, only 9% now. That would make any poll unreliable.
Most people have Caller ID now. What are the voting characteristics of people that answer their phone for numbers they don’t recognize?
John
#56. Yes, or they are “preparing the battlefield” for some massive vote fraud. Before the last election Obama bumper stickers were everywhere here in the Colorado foothills southwest of Denver. Just got back from a run “down the hill” to Home Depot. Didn’t see a single Obama ad anywhere.
And I hope those who think Japan can deal with China are correct. A real blitzkrieg attack by China, maybe even with a nuke or two just might overwhelm the JDF. Now is a great time of opportunity for the Chinese. Obama is still the Commander In Chief, and it is impossible to imagine that he would support the Japanese, much less react quickly and decisively. If China decides to move, I doubt very much that Japan will have 83 days to develop their nukes; maybe not even 83 hours.
Back in my working days people often asked me “John, what do you REALLY think about ..(whatever we were discussing)?” This post by our host made me think of that. We live in interesting times.
#7 CharlesWhite
This.
Keep in mind that the media is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party. And that Americans receive their news from …. the Democrat owned media. It would not be hard for them to conspire to create a meme of Obama winning. Who would be able to disprove it in a country where the Attorney General is openly threatening polling companies who report poll results that are Thoughtcrime.
Subotai Bahadur
Google has sided with the bully. If you look on Google Earth about 200 km west of Manilla, there should be a place called Scarborough Reef. Instead it is obscured. Blue Ridge Seamount, a further 80 km west, is named but not Scarborough Reef. If you search for Zhongsha Islands, the Chinese name, that is what Google will give you. So Google sold its soul to the Chicoms for a handful of silver.
25. tdiinva.
No, think not: Wretchard is likely correct. This is cynical cold-blooded manipulation, spreading known lies. To the extent O and friends have to rationalize, it’ll just be the usual blather (also used by Romney in the primaries) about omlets, eggs and the end justifying the means.
The poor old duffers of the GOP redoubts, jammed into their leather Queen Anne wingbacks, don’t know what’s hitting them and never will. Meanwhile, Zombie’s HoneyBs lap it all up.
“Taking islands from the little countries would likely not test America’s resolve. Taking territory from Japan would.”
The point is to test America’s resolve, or rather the Obumbler’s resolve. Since he is a proven coward, it is easy to predict what he will do. Flee! That is what the Japs are worried about. The biggest upside to finding suitable targets and nuking them is that it removes the uncertainty from political calculations. China thinks they can beat Japan in a conventional engagement. I think they are wrong but then again they didn’t ask me what I thought. China knows that if it goes beyond conventional, Japan is unarmed. There are many nations that could build nukes but don’t because they have been led to believe that the American nuclear arsenal will protect them. If they can demonstrate that America will NOT use nukes to protect anyone, even ourselves, then all bets are off. Japan, Taiwan, S. Korea, Germany, Poland, Brazil, Italy, etc. will build their own nukes. They will also sell them. When PogO Pogo has nukes, we are all in trouble.
Meanwhile, if the bad guys are going “Those crazy Americans will nuke you for farting in public. Nasty Bastards!” You now have a bedrock of certainty that can be built on. Being 100% certain what the only superpower will do under set circumstances is a political necessity. Wars start because somebody screws up and guesses wrong, leaving the more powerful to exercise that power.
Japan KNEW they could not win a war against America. Getting their OIL cut off left the choice of surrender or grabbing an OIL supply. At the time Noone accepted that the Japanese DO NOT surrender. America had to teach them that with nuclear weapons. China will find out if they learned that lesson. The Japanese mistake was thinking that America would not fight and die for a bunch of brown skinned people.
Pootie has a seat at this table. Siberia is a treasure trove. Offering a good deal to China would stop the Chinese expansion into the Pacific. Plus China is scared of Russia. About the only major player that is. Fracking technology could solve China’s energy needs for the next several generations.
There are other avenues beside war. That said, China will keep pushing until they get their war. Then they will lose and the road not taken will look pretty good.
”A real blitzkrieg attack by China, … just might overwhelm the JDF.”
If you mean ”blitzkrieg” a la the Germans in WW II, they can’t do it. They don’t have the amphibious capability to land a sufficient force to invade; that is just about the most complicated thing in warfare. Goes double for some kind of airborne assault.
Atom bombs? Maybe … if they’re willing to take a few in return (and assuming they can deliver any by missile or aircraft).
The title of wretchard’s article is “Event Horizon”. From the always reliable wiki:
Emphasis mine. No escape. Now go read this:
The 3 Conjectures
Now go read what Steven Den Beste had to say about it. Time was if SDB quoted you that meant something.
USS Clueless
Someone mentioned the Maya. Chew on this for a second.
Any group that thinks in societal cycles more than 10 generations long might have something to say. 144,000 days. Back then 1/10th of that was a life.
The chance to keep the Islamist jinn in the bottle is gone. GWB understood that them being busy there kept them from being busy here. The worst of them are the Mullahs in Iran. We used to have them surrounded. (Go look at a map before you start picking pepper.) Not any more. The One We Were Waiting For made sure of that.
The terrible if’s accumulate. And that is why wretchard may be feeling slightly cranky. No one ever wants to be right for this kind of scenario.
Boghie @ 51:
No, Boghie, “You are not getting it.”
Really? There are some 80 million gun owners is the US. That makes the citizen militia the largest standing army in the world. A lot of those gun owners are cranky old vets like me who are sick unto death of what we see happening by TWANLOC in DC.
Ask yourselves why China would want Japan. Japan has no natural resources to speak of. They can only feed themselves marginally and the demographics are horrible. 23% of the population is over 50. I think the real issue is control of the sea lanes in that part of the world.
Subotai Bahadur – I agree with our host that “The administration sneeringly pretends it is in control of everything, magisterially above the fray. But beyond the circle of smoke and mirrors, nobody is fooled… The propaganda is the shriek of madness…” They are only left with the shriek of madness. That does not mean they might not try some foolishness but I doubt they would get away with it.
A full blown crisis between Japan and China has broken out. Japanese factories are under attack, its citizens under assault all over China.
But, but, but, Obama’s GM has bet the bank on China.
The majority of Muslims are not terrorists.
The majority of terrorists are Muslims.
And I hope those who think Japan can deal with China are correct. A real blitzkrieg attack by China, maybe even with a nuke or two just might overwhelm the JDF…
In war, there’s no guarantee that the best side will win. Luck does play a distressingly large role in any single battle. Over the long run, the better side will generally win the war, but if they’re not lucky at the outset, they may need some deep reserves to last long enough for that. I’m not sure Japan has deep reserves. Upshot is that while China would probably lose, there’s a slim chance they might get lucky.
Contrast that with what Chinese leaders are facing at home. I can’t imagine they see much hope to ride a total economic disaster through without being chucked out of power, possibly hanged or shot as well. If they see the Chinese Miracle collapsing, taking their changes with Japan might seem like their best hope. Sort of how war with the US looked to Tojo seven-plus decades ago.
Maybe it’s just me, but somebody said something about not letting a good crisis go to waste recently… Could the Chicoms be thinking that with Bibi about to teach Ahmadinejad & Co. a sharp lesson, the time is now to put some pressure on Nippon and the US to see if there’s a chance to pull a quick one AND avoid a potential domestic implosion at the same time?
By the way, Richard, you DO seem pretty angry of late, and I don’t think you even live here in the States, do you?
Theme song for the Obama era (error):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzHAlwEK7a4&feature=player_embedded
In my childhood, I kept fetching up against a truncated telling of the story of King Canute. It portrayed him as proud and determined to show he had power over the Ocean itself. It wasn’t until I was much older that it got through to me that Canute was actually trying to show his ministers that he was just a man, and they shouldn’t expect miracles from him.
Obama is now standing awkwardly in a riptide of convergent inconveniences.
Evidently, he never got the grown-up version of the Canute tale.
He has fervently tried to sell out his country to his Muslim Cousins, in whose culture he reminds us he was raised up, and whose values he has never renounced. But in breaking faith with the nation that nurtured him, he seems rather to have earned the contempt of his once-upon-a-time co-religionists. Just as Benedict Arnold among his British hosts never overcame the stigma of a man who had used the privileges and advantages of his life to betray his fellows, by pissing on his own people and laws, Obama has thrown away whatever chance he may have had to enjoy any respect from the Muslim world.
Stunted self-obsessed homunculus, pathetic excuse for a leader, he alternates between swanning about in the limelight and groveling under his desk, fouling his breeches in fear while his betters make actual decisions and take real risks.
He will be remembered as is anyone who throws a spanner into the turbine. It takes no genius to destroy.
My advice to everyone is to be ready for a great deal of excitement over the next few years. Obama doesn’t seem to recognize the powder trail he’s set alight. Focused on his obsession of cutting Amerikkka down to size, he doesn’t seem to have considered the demons he’s been feeding and freeing with his casual vandalism. A crisis is accelerating toward us, and he is manifestly unfit to comprehend it, much less counter it.
If they should lose, can the Democrats can be counted on to give up their typical post-loss spoiling, and respond to the crises coming our way?
That film clip was horrifying; satanic. And Hellary, the effing fool, thinks we’ll believe her when she says (slooowing and deeepening her voice) that these savages were “helping” Chris Stevens get to the hospital….
Here’s a tidbit from Ace of Spades (Maetenloch’s overnight thread). About those polls. . . .
>>Betsy of Betsy’s Page has first hand experience with the kind of clown questions you get from PPP:
“I was polled on Sunday by PPP about politics in N.C. and, for the last question, they asked “Who was more responsible for killing Osama bin Laden, Obama or Romney?” I was just flummoxed. I couldn’t figure out what it was doing in a poll of standard questions on whom I was going to vote for or if I approved or disapproved of certain politicians.
“Well, now it’s clear what the purpose of the goofy question was – to generate stats so they could make fun of Republicans. Well, I’ll confess – I answered “not sure.” That wasn’t because I wasn’t sure but it was my way of registering how ticked off the question made me. As I tell my students, one problem that we can’t account for in polling is that people lied. So I lied. Now my answer is part of a Comedy Central gag.” <<
FDR hailed for WWII victory, although in office from 1933- while the storm accumulated and strengthened to apocalyptic proportions during his tenure. FDR hailed for ‘saving’ the US economy, although his tinkering nearly killed the patient prior to applying the paddles of wartime expansion.
Often enough in my government work, the ‘hero’ is the unacknowledged cause of the problem from which they have come to the rescue. Is there a parallel to be drawn here, to BHO?
Perhaps the clincher is the finale, to leave the country battered, traumatized, nuclear, and in permanent military and economic traction.
Bloody hands:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2202979/Benghazi-attack-U-S-consulate-pictured-Libyan-attack-revealed-officials-knew-attack-plans-48-HOURS-before.html
BFTP #47-
People like Lewis and the Democrats, unlike the Republicans, will hold nothing back. They know that it isn’t win or go home. For them it is win or face oblivion. . . This was deliberate by the leadership of the Left. . . They can’t lose and face the consequences.
Exactly.
At the root of all of this is the need to keep the government checks coming. While I enjoy reading all of the analysis of the philosophical corrosion that exists on the left, and agree with most of what is said here, and even occasionally contribute, that stuff is largely academic. This election is about Lewis and those like her keeping the government checks and pension coming forever. Period. To lose means facing the choice of losing all the material trappings or even worse being forced to work in the dreaded private sector (which our own president described as “behind enemy lines” in his book).
As poster KWB #33 points out, this is the sole motivator for millions of Americans now. No other issue – not foreign policy, not liberties, not losing their guns, not being forced to endure cultural assault, nothing – will divert them from voting for the party of the guaranteed paycheck and the guaranteed pension.
Not even any social issue. In fact, what we see now is that like the old man in Heller’s Catch 22, those dependent on government guaranteed income stream will be in favor of whichever stance on social issues the Dems support because keeping the Dems in power in order to keep the checks coming is the penultimate goal. Adapt or starve, from their point of view. This mental state amongst the government work force, plus a similar one from those on the dole, is 99% of what this election is about and if you believe otherwise you are delusional.
How else does one explain calling Romney’s true statements about 47% of the households not paying federal income tax and therefore unreachable by the center/right a “gaffe”?
@Mad Fiddler #74
“If they should lose, can the Democrats can be counted on to give up their typical post-loss spoiling, and respond to the crises coming our way?”
If the experiences of the Bush years are any indication, then no, they cannot. The American left worships at the altar of their own power and given the quasi-religious fervor with which they pursue that I have no illusions of them ever siding with their conservative countrymen short of a thermonuclear exchange.
They will not wake up, they will not approach current events rationally, and they will never, ever stop. (That is until there is nothing left to plunder.)
I think Obama is going to be reelected and the United States will never again be the same. I’ve reached the conclusion that it’s time to stop trying to preserve the hopelessly corrupt old order of things by negotiating with those who consider hardworking, decent people the primary source of what is wrong in the world. It’s time to start laying the groundwork and support networks for my progeny and those of like mind to pick up the pieces after it all comes tumbling down.
Forums such as this are going to become increasingly important lifelines for those Americans who refuse to sacrifice their souls for political, cultural, and economic expediency.
Dear Wretchard,
The U.S. role in the dispute between Japan and China of which you speak is minimal. And while the Japanese are wise not to believe that the Obama administration would be an honest broker — or honest anythin; again, this has next to nothing to do with what is happening. The truth: China’s current leaders, in the midst of what is obviously an acrimonious and very labored transition of power to the new leadership, has begun to realize just how poorly their economy is doing right now — and is going to do in the near future, and are in desperate need of a scapegoat — enter the Japan.
I will not rehearse a plethora of unverifiable statistics in support of my thesis; one statistic and something in today’s news will do:
1. In 2,000 the Shanghai stock index was about 1500; today, after 12 years of supposedly 8% plus economic growth, the index is under 2,100. Work it out.
2. Do a Google search of the term “ghost steel”, then after you have read about it, multiply its effects 100 times — and you will understand just why the Chinese leaders are as frantic as they are. [In a country which prizes stability above all things -- and for very good reasons (the history of rebellions and civil wars in China is heart-breaking*), just consider the recent farce of the disappearance and reappearance of Xi Jinping, the purported -- and very probably, next leader of China: this is NOT the Chinese way].
* Note this is a note to friends on the above, but it is germane to my views of China: As you both know, I love Chinese poetry and worship Tu Fu and Li Po. So when I think of revolutions and civil wars in China, I am really thinking of An Lushan’s rebellion circa 750 and the Tibetan invasion which happened soon after that. Reading Tu Fu’s poetry from that period has to devastate any sensitive Chinese reader — as it does any Sinophile.
Postscript to the above: my own tribute to T’ang poetry.
THE CLARITY OF T’ANG
Blue moonbeams shatter on a silver lake,
Dark trees resolve into an emerald snake
Which switchbacks granite to a glacial fang:
Thin air, rare stars: – the clarity of T’ang!
TH LARITY OF T’ANG
Blue moonbeams shatter on a silver lake
Dark trees resolve into an emerald snake
Which switchbacks granite to a glacial fang:
Thin air, rare stars: – the clarity of T’ang!
THE CLARIRTY OF T’ANG
Blue moonbeams shatter on a silver lake
Dark trees resolve into an emerald snake
Which switchbacks granite to a glacial fang:
Thin air, rare stars: the clarorty of T’ang!