Author: Eldon Kramer

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Obama: Making it up as he goes

“Obama’s incompetence is truly dangerous,” read the headline on a Washington Times op-ed written by Joseph Curl, I recently ran across while going through my tickler file as I prepared to write this post.

Coffe cup salute (usatoday.com)

The commander-in-chief shows outright disrespect for the military as he salutes with a Styrofoam cup in his saluting hand. (usatoday.com)

Recalling the bumbling of Jackie Gleason on the old “Honeymooners” show, “incompetence is funny, sometimes hilarious,” wrote Curl. “But in real life, incompetence can be dangerous, even life-threatening,” he added as he drew an analogy of a real-life Homer Simpson in charge of safety at a nuclear power plant.”

Curl reviewed the president’s long list of recent missteps in the Middle East beginning with his “impotent ‘red-line’ threat” that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons would prompt “enormous consequences.” Nothing. Continue reading →

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An unusual request for help at the UN

  “In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri – where a young man was killed, and a community was divided.”

Unbelievably, those were the words of President Obama as he brought to a close his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday intended to seek support for the war against – my words – Islamic extremists.

“So yes, we have our own racial tensions,” he went on to say, “And like every country, we have our racial and ethnic tensions.”

Can you believe it? Comparing the Ferguson shooting to the beheading and mass killings by ISIL, al Qaeda and other Islamist extremist spin-offs?

Courtesy elektroka

(Poster courtesy elektroka)

Nine paragraphs into his speech, he finally gets to the point. “There is much to be done to meet the tests of this moment. But today I’d like to focus on two defining questions at the root of many our challenges – whether the nations here today will be able to renew the purpose of the UN’s founding (he’s dreaming); and whether we will come together to reject the cancer of extremism (not likely).”  He left them with this less than memorable quote, “For America, the choice is clear.  We choose hope over fear.”  “Hope,” where have we heard that before?

We are facing the most barbaric, evil terrorists we could have imagined, and our president is talking “hope?”

I was also taken aback by an earlier statement in his speech. “I have made it clear that America will not base our entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism. Rather, we have waged a focused campaign against al Qaeda and its associated forces – taking out their leaders, and denying them the safe havens they rely upon.”  Then he said, “At the same time, we have reaffirmed that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.  Islam teaches peace.  Muslims the world over aspire to live with dignity and a sense of justice.  And when it comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them – there is only us, because millions of Muslim Americans are part of the fabric of our country.”  Really, Mr. President?  How do you think Americans would respond to a poll on that? Continue reading →

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And she wants to be president, Part 6

Just four days ago I stated that the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty can be attributed to Hillary Clinton’s decision to cut back security at the Benghazi mission compound. (See my post Lack of security in Benghazi points to Clinton, 9/13/14.) Two more events tend to support my contention that confidants aided in the cover-up.

An after-hours document scrubbing at State

attkisson (realclearpolitics)

Sharyl Attkisson interviewed former state department official Raymond Maxwell about an after-hours document scrubbing. (realclearpolitics.com)

maxwell (whatamimissinghere.com)

Former state department official Raymond Maxwell told Sharyl Attkisson about an after-hours document scrubbing. (whatamimissisnghere.com)

Two days after that post, Sharyl Attkisson broke a story of a Sunday after-hours document scrubbing in the basement operations center at the State Department. Her source was former Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell, who was a leader in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, charged with collecting e-mails and documents relevant to the Benghazi probe. He was a 21-year Foreign Service veteran at State.

Hearing about the document scrubbing effort, he decided to look into it. Upon arrival he observed boxes and stacks of documents and the presence of one of Clinton’s top advisors. She told Maxwell, “We are to go through these stacks and pull out anything that might put anybody in the front office or the seventh floor in a bad light.”  The seventh floor was where Clinton and her principal advisors were located. Continue reading →

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Lack of security in Benghazi points to Clinton

On March 28, 2012, U. S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz sent a cable to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting additional security assets. The response, bearing Clinton’s signature, while acknowledging his request, instead articulates a plan to scale back security for the U. S. Mission in Libya, including the Benghazi Mission. – Source: INTERIM PROGRESS REPORT for the Members of the Republican Conference on the Events Surrounding the September 11, 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, Libya

Gowdy (LIBERTYNEWS.COM)

Rep. Trey Gowdy will chair the House select committee on Benghazi that gets underway on Wednesday. (LibertyNews.com)

In the two years following the attack, Congressional hearings and media reports have, for the most part, concentrated on the night of the attack. They questioned whether we could have dispatched air assets in time, if there was a stand-down ordered and if so who ordered it?

While answers to those questions are important, my effort since that fateful night has focused on the failure to provide proper security despite five months of warnings. I firmly believe Hillary Clinton is clearly responsible for placing Ambassador Chris Stevens and other Americans in jeopardy not only that night but in the preceding months. Continue reading →

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Yes, Bin Laden is dead, but …

Dr. Afridi (mohammed rauf AFP getty images

Dr. Shakil Afridi was imprisoned for helping the United States identify the location of Osama Bin Laden. Three years of quiet diplomacy has not helped to secure his release. (Mohammed Rauf photo/AFP/Getty images)

“Bin Laden is dead”…. “we took out Bin Laden” How often have we heard those words over the past three years in speeches by President Obama, Vice President Biden and members of the national security team?

But what about Dr. Shakil Afridi? “Who’s he?” would likely be the response from most Americans.  Using the cover of a door-to-door vaccination program, Doctor Afridi, was the key to our locating Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The doctor was first tried for “conspiracy against the State of Pakistan and high treason;” charges that carry the death penalty. He was later sentenced to 33 years in prison for lesser trumped up charges. Continue reading →

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Our community organizer is taking us into an “unwar” against an enemy of “non-Islamists”

In the hours leading up to any major presidential address, the media starts their countdown – we’re just six hours, five hours, four hours … from President Obama’s speech on the ISIS threat. It’s followed by the question posed to some member of Congress – what does the president have to say tonight?  Last night was no different.

The president missed his opportunity again, but I wasn’t disappointed because after six years of his presidency I no longer expect him to say the right thing.

obama (pool image, getty images)

President Obama again missed an opportunity to exhibit his understanding of the ISIS threat during his address to the nation. (pool photo, Getty images)

He started his speech with the usual “we took out Osama bin Laden” and reminded us of his mistake in bringing Americans home from Iraq and his plan to do the same win Afghanistan. Most military leaders say that a contingent of troops left in Iraq could have prevented the ISIS push across the Syrian border.

Some blame Obama’s failure to get a status of forces agreement in Iraq, but he didn’t really try to get one, because he didn’t want one. He sold his base on getting out of Iraq beginning in 2007 and has never wavered from that agenda. Continue reading →

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GOP addresses women’s concerns; Dems fear strong female Republican candidates in mid-terms

 It’s your body.  They want to take away your birth control.  They will repeal Roe v Wade.  They oppose equal pay for women.

They’re at it again.  Democrats, NOW, NARAL and other feminist groups. They’re following their belief that if you tell a lie enough times it eventually is believed to be the truth.  Their playbook, Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, says, “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.”

I’m not a woman, but if I was, this would be an outright insult to my intelligence.

A friend recently brought to my attention his concern that the GOP was ignoring the belief among women that Republicans were oblivious to issues of concern to women.  He cited an article about a study conducted by two Republican groups that painted a dismal picture of Republicans among women.

imagesT8YBR0JNThese groups, American Crossroads and the American Action Network,  well aware of how women voted in 2012, aanconducted the study not only to see if two more years under Obama changed their position, but to develop a strategy for addressing their concerns.  While married women clearly supported Mitt Romney, single women overwhelmingly supported the President in 2012.  The mere fact that Republicans undertook this study should tell skeptics that the party is aware of this shortcoming and should tell women, “yes we hear you.”

I’m confident that Republicans will be presenting ideas that could interest women to at least give the GOP a “fresh look.”  At the same time, however, it will be incumbent upon Republican candidates to neuter those claims quoted at the top of this post. Continue reading →

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Chuck Todd’s naive remark

todd & obama (mrc. org)

Chuck Todd, the new host of NBC’s Meet the Press, hopes to improve the show’s ratings. He is shown here during Sundays exclusive interview with President Obama. (mrc.org photo)

“I’m as pissed off as anyone watching D.C. not work.  We’re in this horrible period when no one wants to practice politics,” said Chuck Todd, the new host of NBC’s Meet the Press.  I couldn’t help but note this pullout quote from Roger Yu’s piece on Todd in USA Today.

I am reminded of an old one-liner about a patient who read a bio about his doctor entering the practice of medicine. He later told the doctor he was uncomfortable having a doctor who is still practicing.

I found Todd’s quote to be a somewhat naïve observation for someone who has covered the White House for some time.  Surely he has seen how President Obama considers the political ramifications of everything he says and does.   In his book, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recounted the conversation of Hillary Clinton telling Obama she made a political decision during the 2008 campaign to be anti-war because of his position. Continue reading →

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Surprise! Senate subcommittee whitewashes IRS scandal; claims “no political bias”

“The majority report (Democrat) asserts that there was no political bias in the way the IRS selected groups for additional scrutiny and that conservative groups and liberal (progressive) groups were treated equally,” was the finding of the Senate subcommittee led by Michigan’s outgoing Sen. Carl Levin.  As usual, the report was released late Friday to avoid major news coverage.… read more

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Kerry, Clinton rank climate change #1 threat

Two former secretaries of state, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton took to microphones this past week to push their belief that climate change is a bigger threat than radical Muslim extremists, despite the fact that Americans disagree.

kerry (the federalistpapers.org)

John Kerry turns to the Bible for guidance to push the threat of global climate change. (thefederalistpapers.org)

For Kerry, it was his second attempt to convince us.  On Feb. 16, 2014, speaking primarily to an audience of students in Jakarta, Kerry said “climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.”  He went on to say that when he thinks of global threats – terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction – the reality is that climate change ranks right up there with every single one of them.”

In Hawaii last month, Kerry called climate change “the biggest challenge of all that we face right now.”

On Sept. 2, 2014, at a ceremony to promote Shaarik Zafar, a Texas attorney, to be a special representative of the Muslim Communities, he said, “confronting climate change is, in the long run, one of the greatest challenges that we face, and you can see this duty or responsibility laid down the scriptures, clearly, beginning in Genesis.” Kerry believes our respect for God’s creation translates into a duty to protect and sustain His first creation, Earth.  Why did Kerry choose this venue to make this pronouncement?  He believes “Muslim-majority countries are among the most vulnerable” when it comes to the impact of climate change.”

And this is our foreign policy negotiator. Continue reading →