A Sunday Morning Rerun: Hitting the Disgust Quota

Wrote this back on October 3, 2012. Holds up well, even if I say so myself.

The Media and Obama: Hitting The Disgust Quota

I never before have thought this way about an American president, not even the reprehensible Jimmy Carter.

I am disgusted with Obama. I can't think of another word that better captures how I think about this disaster of a president. I am, however, even more disgusted--if that's possible--with how an overwhelming percentage of the media cover for him. It is not just the overt editorial comments, or the spinning of the news, it is the outright lying on his behalf, such as the promoting false narratives and phony polling, and the stunning refusal to cover important stories that reflect negatively on his stewardship.

For any moderately informed person, the case against Obama is overwhelming. Any Republican president with a track record such as his would have been forced to decline a second term or faced impeachment.

The completely irresponsible nature of the media re Obama begins with his personal story. At a time when we know everything about Britney Spears, and, by the way, Mitt Romney, Obama's life remains off limits. Last August, I wrote that we are not allowed to ask how this self-admittedly mediocre, drug-using student from a highly dysfunctional family, raised in Hawaii and Indonesia, managed to attend exclusive and expensive schools. In addition, I noted,

His political rise is shrouded in mystery. After Harvard, he suddenly moves to Chicago. Why? He becomes a "community organizer" there, and rapidly rises in the corrupt and crony-filled Democratic machine. He becomes the darling of gangsters such as Rezko, close friends with known terrorists and hate-mongers, and presto he is taking down opponents right and left and soon is in the White House. We can't ask anything about it all. To do so risks charges of racism. His ascendency is a liberal Hollywood fable and it must remain unquestioned and unexamined. He is our anointed leader. He is our Athena.The drive to cover for Obama continues. Not only does he escape blame for the disastrous and deteriorating state of government finances and of the economy after nearly four years of his prescriptions, but his administration has blood on its hands and the mainstream media refuses to call him out on it.

Operation "Fast and Furious" is simply outrageous. As I wrote before, his Department of Justice engaged in an undeclared war on the people of Mexico which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans and at least two US federal agents. This operation was not botched or flawed. It had one very clear purpose and one alone: enable the Obama administration to make a case for tightening US gun laws, for cracking down on lawful gun ownership in the United States. There was no other purpose for this operation. None. As part of this effort, the US State Department was instructed to push the line about "drugs flow north, guns flow south" and to support UN efforts to make legal trade in small arms virtually impossible. As I wrote some 15 months ago,

Never mind Teapot Dome, Checkers, Chappaquiddick, Watergate, or Iran-Contra: "Fast and Furious" is arguably the greatest scandal in American political history. It most certainly is the greatest scandal never reported by the main media outlets. Obama's misadministration sought to launch an attack on the second amendment by "proving" that lax US gun laws led to Mexico's drug-fueled violence. It decided to "prove" that by providing the guns. It was the ultimate in cop weapon throw-down or evidence planting.

Imagine if the situation were the reverse. Imagine that the Attorney General of Mexico, in order to argue for stronger anti-drug laws in Mexico, decided as a matter of policy to provide drugs to the most powerful US criminal gangs. How would we react? Drone strikes on Chapultepec Castle, anybody? I must say that the Mexican reaction has been surprisingly muted to Obama's declaration of war against Mexico.The media, with the notable and worthy exceptions of FOX and now UNIVISION, ignored the story as much as possible, concentrating instead on how Republicans wanted to embarrass Attorney General Holder, and forgetting about the bodies piling up on and near the border. The media has allowed Obama to continue to portray himself as the great friend of the Mexican people when he is the president responsible for more Mexican deaths since Woodrow Wilson, another Democrat boob-hero.

As I have written extensively before (here and many previous) Obama pursued a deeply flawed and unnecessary policy in Libya--and throughout the Muslim world. Giving in to EU pressure to act against largely defanged queen of the desert Qaddafi, Obama/Clinton got us into an absurd war in Libya. As I wrote eighteen months ago on Obama's Libyan adventure,

For reasons known only to him and a handful of dopey advisors, he has blithely sent off America's superb military into an idiotic adventure on the shores of Tripoli with no thought given to what the purpose is, or how it will end. He does this without even the pretense of consulting Congress or bothering to make a case to the American people for sending their children and treasure into war in Libya. He could at least let us in on the secret: what is this war about? The two wars in Iraq, I understood; the one in Afghanistan, likewise, but this? What is it? We fight because, supposedly, the UN, the EU, and the Arab League say we can? Does that make sense? Is that worth killing and dying for? All this to create a No-Fly Zone so that a bunch of jihadist enemies of America can take out a cranky old gangster, who for the last couple of years has been our snitch inside the terror mafia? The removal of Qaddafi, who was cooperating with us against Al Qaeda, with no real thought to what would replace him created a chaotic situation in Libya that has greatly benefitted AQ's rebuilding efforts, and, by the way, resulted in the murder of the US Ambassador and three other diplomatic staff. 

I have written a great deal about the Obama misadministration's outright lies and incompetence when it comes to the attack on Benghazi and will not go over it all again. Suffice it to say, that this is a scandal of major proportions. Despite the media's best efforts to minimize the scandal, information continues to pour forth showing a president totally unconcerned with the murder of Americans on American soil by terrorists. He is informed of the attack at about 11 pm Washington time, and goes to bed--would George Bush have gone to bed? Doubt it. Next day he heads off to Las Vegas on a fund-raiser. Then his misadministration engages in a non-stop blitz of lies and evasions about what happened. The media is trying its best to ignore it all.

Everywhere else one looks abroad one sees the consequences of this misadministration's incompetence, delusions, and anti-Americanism. They turned victory in Iraq into defeat: Iran is now the predominant player in Iraq. They have done the same in Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban and AQ to reappear after the decisive defeat administered them. In Egypt, they sold out Mubarak, and got in exchange the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim world openly ridicules and attacks us. Israel increasingly fears for its survival as Obama refuses to stand up to Iran's mad pretensions. Obama has betrayed Poland and actively sought to undermine the UK in its confrontation with the Argentines over the Falklands. In Asia, the misadministration's fecklessness re Russia and China is having serious consequences for the global economy and for key US interests and allies in the region. The insane Communist monarchy in North Korea grows evermore aggressive and dismissive of the United States. In this hemisphere, we see a deliberate stiffing of our Canadian friends, and a policy of drift and disengagement that alienates allies such as Chile and Colombia, allows autocrats such as Chavez, Ortega, Correa, Morales, and Castro a free hand, encourages clowns such as Argentina's Cristina Fernandez to drive her economy into the ground, and has turned the OAS into an anti-American sounding board. The one effective policy the misadministration had in Latin America was the selling of guns to drug cartels.

At home, the story is the same. We have had years of deficit stimulus spending that was supposed to generate jobs and "jump start" the economy. It has done nothing even close to that, and, in fact, has put us on the path that leads to Greece. Unemployment remains at record levels, despite statistical legerdemain by the government; the national debt is exploding; we can expect a new wave of home foreclosures right after the elections; food stamp rolls have increased nearly 70% since Obama took office; we have yet to see the full financial and social consequences of the horrendous Obamacare law; via decree the misadministration circumvents Congressional authority over immigration; our military is scheduled for a wholesale gutting in January; and taxes will explode next year.

There is no energy policy: simple things that would have had immediate and positive effect have not been done for ideological reasons, to wit, approve the Keystone pipeline, lift the absurd restrictions on drilling, including "fracking" on federal lands, and end policies that put our coal miners out of work. As a consequence, gasoline prices have doubled; winter fuel prices will be through the roof; we continue to ship billions upon billions of dollars to hostile regimes; and our industry, commerce, middle class, and workers suffer. The media is silent on this scandal, preferring to blather on about gay marriage, contraception, global warming, and the horror of insulting Islam.

For this misadministration and its supporters everything is the fault of somebody else. Bush is to blame. Republicans in Congress are to blame. Insurance companies and evil white rich people are to blame. Some obscure Egyptian Christian in California is to blame. Blame it on the tsunami. Blame it on Europe. Blame it on the invention of the ATM. Blame it on the Tea Party.

The media ignores or sees as cute, Biden's "gaffes," utterances that would have terminated the career of any Republican politician. Now we see a video emerge in which Obama, in 2007, engages in his classic Chicago-style race baiting and lying--he outright lies about the assistance to New Orleans post Katrina. The media tries to ignore it. On CNN's website today, tucked in a corner we saw briefly--it's now gone--a link labelled "curious conservative video." The story goes on to claim that the video is an old story--tsk, tsk--and was heavily covered at the time Obama gave his speech. A complete lie--and, by the way, CNN has turned off the comments section on that story. It was not covered, and will not be covered. It doesn't fit the narrative.

So what can we say FOR Obama? Let me see. Well, he smokes, so that shows he doesn't buy his silly wife's health spiel. He, uh, has a couple of nice daughters, so that shows he doesn't favor abortion all the time. And, uh, well, he likes basketball which shows he's not completely against good relations with Canada, since the game was invented by a Canadian living in the US.

Now we head into the debates. I can't wait to hear the media spin tomorrow. It, however, won't affect me since my "disgust quota" has been fully met.