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Obama: "The Condescender in Chief" Part One of Four By Dave Andrusko Good evening, and thanks for taking time to read Today's News & Views as we come to the end of the week. Part Two is a thoughtful critique of another proposal to ration care according to "quality of life" criteria. Three is the latest compilation of stories about the upcoming November 2 elections. Part Four announces NRL PAC's endorsement of Chip Cravaack in Minnesota. Over at National Right to Life News Today (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), Liz Townsend highlights the importance of the abortion issue in Brazil's presidential elections and pro-life Congressman Chris Smith pays his respects to the late Dr. Mildred Jefferson. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha.
Unless you read the several items that follow, the headline to the story in today's POLITICO is unfathomable. It reads, "99 Dem House seats in danger." Reporter Alex Isenstadt invokes "the nonpartisan Cook Political Report" which "predicts a GOP net gain of at least 40 House seats, with 90 Democratic seats in total rated as competitive or likely Republican." He adds, "The number of Democrats in danger is more than double the 39 seats Republicans need to seize control of the House. It reflects an elastic electoral environment that favors the GOP by every measure: money, momentum and mood of the country -- in this case, sour on Democratic incumbents." This is not just freshmen who are in
peril. Even veterans who've been in the House for decades are at risk,
including Democrats who voted for ObamaCare, such as Minnesota's Jim
Oberstar. (See Part Three to read about NRL PAC's endorsement of his
pro-life opponent, Republican Chip Cravaack.) Caution Two: the truest cliché in the world is that the only poll that matters is the poll on Election Day. What else reinforces this gloomy picture for Democrats, almost all of whom are pro-abortion? Over at Gallup, the headline is, "GOP Holds Solid Leads in Voter Preferences for Another Week." Lydia Saad writes, "Gallup's tracking of the generic ballot for Congress finds Republicans leading Democrats by 5 percentage points among registered voters, 48% to 43%, and by 11- and 17-point margins among likely voters, depending on turnout. This is the third consecutive week the Republicans have led on the measure among registered voters, after two weeks in September when the parties were about tied." (Emphasis added.) This is an incredibly large spread. There is not just "Big Picture" evidence but results from individual states. For instance, in today's Wall Street Journal, "Right Turn Seen in Granite State" is the headline. "Two years after Democrats turned this state as blue as it's been in nearly a century, polls suggest Republicans are poised to reverse the balance of power," we read. From our single-issue perspective, the great news is two-fold. Pro-life former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta (R) is leading pro-abortion Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter by 12 points in the most recent WMUR/UNH poll, released Friday. In the contest for Senate to replace the retiring Judd Gregg, if you average the results of the polls taken (as realclearpolitics.com does), pro-life former state attorney general Kelly Ayotte (R) is ahead by 9% over pro-abortion Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes. There are lots of other polls, but the other evidence is even harder for Democrats to overcome. It starts with voting for ObamaCare, as we have discussed dozens of times. But it also extends from ObamaCare to Obama himself. As we talked about last week, the newspaper, "The Hill" has and continues to do extensive polling in the most competitive races. People's opinion of Obama is playing a role, and not to the benefit of the Democratic candidates. (http://www.nrlc.org/NewsToday/EndangeredDems.html) The most relevant quotes from these stories from "The Hill"? "When asked if they wanted the legislation [ObamaCare] repealed, 56 percent of voters in the surveyed districts said yes. 'Only Democrats were opposed to repeal (23 percent to 64 percent),' [Pollster Mark] Penn said. 'Undecided voters wanted the healthcare law repealed by 49 percent to 27 percent.' In each district, a majority of those surveyed said they want the controversial law gone." And, most illustrative of all, "One telling finding is that only 42 percent of respondents said they recalled voting for Obama in 2008 even though the president received, on average, 53 percent of the vote in those districts." One more thought about something most of you have no doubt heard and/or read about: the increasingly off-putting observations of President Obama. I have long argued that he is as politically tone-deaf as he is as inarticulate (when forced to ad lib), but even I have been amazed at the amazingly condescending things that have come out of his mouth unprompted. The following is from an Associated Press story, one of many I could have quoted from. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WEST NEWTON, Mass.--President Barack Obama said Americans' "fear and frustration" is to blame for an intense midterm election cycle that threatens to derail the Democratic agenda. "Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hardwired not to always think clearly when we're scared," Obama said Saturday evening in remarks at a small Democratic fundraiser Saturday evening. "And the country's scared." Obama told the several dozen donors that he was offering them his "view from the Oval Office." He faulted the economic downturn for Americans' inability to "think clearly" and said the burden is on Democrats "to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling." As columnist Mickey Kaus has pointed out, this is a "vulgar economic determinism: When people are afraid for their economic livelihood they do foolish things, like clinging to their guns and God [a reference back to another amazing statement Obama made as a candidate] or, in this case, voting in opposition to Obama's presidency. When they feel more secure, they'll come around." We are just too stupid to realize how lucky we are to have him. Wow! No wonder one columnist has dubbed Obama, "The Condescender in Chief." |
We
are now 14 days away from the pivotal November 2 mid-year elections. As
promised, the closer we get, the more regularly I will provide you with a
sample of the most telling and revealing news, from a pro-life perspective.