American Glob

Not a bad idea. You can get the basics from the Washington Post…

CLEVELAND — House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) called Tuesday for the mass firing of the Obama administration’s economic team, including Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and White House adviser Larry Summers, arguing that November’s midterm elections are shaping up as a referendum on sustained unemployment across the nation and saying the “writing is on the wall.”

Boehner said President Obama’s team lacks “real-world, hands-on experience” in creating jobs that are needed for a full economic recovery. The Republican lawmaker cited reports that some senior aides complained of “exhaustion,” including the recently departed budget chief Peter Orszag.

Of course the money quote comes at 0:46 in the video below. “We’ve tried nineteen months of government as community organizer and it hasn’t worked.”

Read more at Memeorandum.

Remember back in February of 2009 when a lot of liberal pundits were saying the Republicans would be out of power for generations to come? Forget everything they said…

Is it deja vu all over again for Democrats?

Some neutral observers and senior strategists within the party have begun to believe that the national political environment is not only similar to what they saw in 1994 — when Democrats lost control of the House and Senate — but could in fact be worse by Election Day.

A quick look at the broadest atmospheric indicators designed to measure which way the national winds are blowing — the generic ballot and presidential approval — affirms the sense that the political environment looks every bit as gloomy for Democrats today as it did 16 years ago.

Read it all.

Read what other bloggers are saying at Memeorandum.

Weasel Zippers Links. Thanks!

I never thought I’d agree with Dana Milbank but as they say, there’s a first time for everything…

“You must always remember that the president is about 6.”

This advice was offered more than 100 years ago by a British friend of Teddy Roosevelt’s. The nation has matured since then, and so has the presidency. Now the president is about 12.

While President Obama’s wife and younger daughter were conducting international relations in Majorca on Sunday with Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, the commander in chief was at home hosting a fantasy camp for himself. He and his buddies had a birthday weekend barbecue and basketball game with LeBron James, Alonzo Mourning, Magic Johnson and other legends of the sport.

The day before, it was a four-hour golf outing for Obama and the boys. On Monday, he hosted the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints at the White House and talked about his own exploits on the gridiron last year with Saints quarterback Drew Brees. “He tossed me a nice tight spiral that I then lateraled to a kid on [Dallas Cowboys linebacker] DeMarcus Ware’s shoulders,” the president recalled. “I also want to point out I beat [Pittsburgh Steelers safety] Troy Polamalu over the middle on that throw.” Obama turned to Brees. “You remember?”

Boys will be boys — even if they’re presidents.

Read it all.

Does this mean that Dana Milbank agrees with Rush Limbaugh???

Rush has been calling Obama a “man-child” for a long time…

Could it be because they’re treated better by America than they would be treated by the government of their own country?

In a word? Yes.

The Obama administration would quickly send home six Algerians held at the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but for one problem: The men don’t want to go. Given the choice between repatriation and incarceration, the men choose Gitmo, according to their lawyers.

The administration secured a significant legal victory Thursday when a federal appeals court overturned a lower court’s ruling that had barred the government from repatriating one of them. The detainee had asserted that if he is returned, the Algerian government will torture him or he will be targeted by terrorist groups who will kill him if he refuses to join.

Hat Tip to John Hinderaker at Powerline who adds:

The detainees fear that they might be tortured or killed if they return to Algeria. Which is to say, actually tortured, something that has never happened at Gitmo, notwithstanding the global hyperventilation of the last seven or eight years.

Wouldn’t it be nice if leftist organizations, like – oh I don’t know – the Democratic Party, would acknowledge this as a fact just once?

I guess it’s too bad that the Algerian detainees aren’t Uighurs because if they were, they’d probably be headed to the sandy pink beaches of Bermuda.

Of course, that plan worked so well that it inspired graffiti in the subways of Boston, Massachusetts.

It turns out the folk music icon behind Alice’s Restaurant, one of the best known anthems of the 1960′s, is a Republican. Arlo Guthrie revealed his political affiliation this weekend in an interview with Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post.

Me: Did you learn your ethics from your dad? [Woody Guthrie] Might it be that this land was really made for just him and a few of his cronies?

Arlo: You know, it’s possible! I’ve heard that song sung at Republican conventions.

Me: Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Arlo: Yeah!

Me: Wait. What were you doing at Republican conventions?

Arlo: I’m a registered Republican now.

We talked a bit longer, Arlo and I, and it was amicable, but it all went by in a blur. My mind was cartwheeling. By becoming a Republican, Arlo Guthrie has shredded the last remnants of my faith that our hippie principles had any lasting meaning. How can he do this to us?

I’m a peaceable man, but if I had a hammer …

If he had a hammer? Is Gene Weingarten suggesting that the idea of Arlo Guthrie being a Republican makes him feel violent? I guess in Gene’s world, you can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant… as long as you’re a Democrat.

Chill out, Gene. Make love not war, man.

Kudos to Arlo Guthrie. By not blindly toeing the line of liberal politics, he is still genuinely counter-culture. How refreshing it is to know that some members of his generation are still capable of thinking for themselves.

When someone is proud of their record, they run on it. When someone has nothing positive to say about their own accomplishments, their only alternative is to demonize the opposition.

According to yesterday’s WAPO, that’s precisely what the Democrats are doing…

The Democratic Party is moving faster and more aggressively than in previous election years to dig up unflattering details about Republican challengers. In House races from New Jersey to Ohio to California, Democratic operatives are seizing on evidence of GOP candidates’ unpaid income taxes, property tax breaks and ties to financial firms that received taxpayer bailout money.

Just ignore the fact that the Democrats have been in charge of congress since 2006 and the White House since January of 2009. They want you to believe that all of America’s problems can be blamed on the minority party. You know, the one that didn’t even have enough power to stop the health care bill from passing.

WARNING: Satire ahead…

Iowahawk imagines a chat session on JournoList.

DAVE WEIGEL: some azzhole has been leaking transcripts from Journolist again and emailed to my editors

EZRA KLEIN: wtf???

DAVE WEIGEL: ya… ALL the stuff

DAVE WEIGEL: ezra u stupid fuck u said this chatroom was off the record

EZRA KLEIN: omg sorry idk what happened,,, i made everybody swear pinky oath

DAVE WEIGEL: a lot of good that does me now, they have all the shit i wrote about the teabaggers even the pictures i posted

MATTHEW YGLESIAS: how bad can it be??

DAVE WEIGEL: this bad

Of course, Iowahawk is demanding Andrew Breitbart’s very real reward of $100,000 for the JournoList archives.

I’m reminded of the words of Emilio Barzini, a fictional character from The Godfather, who said “Certainly he can present a bill for such services; after all… we are not Communists.”

In the wake of Obama’s disastrous handling of the gulf oil disaster, Organizing For America is crafting a new image for The One – he is only a man. Really?

The Democrats of Mobile, Ala., have not forsaken President Obama, says Democratic activist Darlene Gay-Allen. But they have questions. Will scarce jobs become more scarce as the oil spill defiles their sliver of coastline on the gulf? Will it be safe to keep living in this city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina? Does Obama have any power to help them?

In answer, she cues up the music. “I’m Only a Man” by the Dells sometimes blares from a boombox as she registers voters around town and tries to persuade her neighbors to back the president during trying times.

“We try to explain to people it’s going to take time to get this all back on track,” said Gay-Allen, a volunteer for Organizing for America, a voter outreach group that grew out of the president’s vast grass-roots network during the 2008 campaign. “President Obama is only a man, and he’s doing the best he could.”

In Sarasota, Fla., where the oil has not yet reached the beaches but has already delivered a blow to the tourism industry, longtime Democratic activist Rick Farmer said his effort to win over voters has never been more difficult. The oil spill has deepened anxiety over persistent unemployment and an anemic housing market.

“I can’t tell you how much anger there is out there,” he said. “I have people ready to spit in my face.”

Forgive me if my sympathy level equals ZERO.

Maybe they should have said Obama is just a man when the media was repeatedly crowning Him with halos.

The Washington Post wants you to get off Obama’s back already. He’s not Superman….

Obama, it turns out, is not Superman. In (unhappy) truth, no president is, no matter how politically gifted and no matter how many people, in this country and around the world, root for his success. Americans like to read politics and history as a tale of the Great Man — they are eager subscribers to the Hercules myth of how the world works. snip

Obama, fairly enough, is reaping what he sowed in assigning himself an impossible mission as a global savior. But Americans are his culpable enablers. Few people want to hear this, but he’s doing the best he can, considering the difficult circumstances that he and the nation face. And what he needs most from the public is a quality that distinguishes adults from children: patience.

Or, put another way: America, grow up!

Yeah! Grow up you childish voters who expected great things. You’re just not being realistic! Obama is doing everything he can.

Besides, where did you get this crazy idea that Obama is some sort of Superman?

I have to admit. Sometimes the media just makes this too easy…

A well deserved victory.

Nikki Haley, the Republican South Carolina candidate for governor is on her way to the South Carolina governor’s office.

Despite the smear tactics used against her by bloggers and competitors, she got almost 49% of the vote in last night’s Republican primary.

I’m so looking forward to November. Can you already picture campaign events for Nikki Haley with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie?

What about Sarah Palin or Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal? Haley will likely also get support from Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, as well as Florida senate candidate Marco Rubio.

Below, you’ll find a round-up of Nikki Haley awesome-ness.

Erick Erickson of Red State, an ardent and early supporter of Haley, says she is now The Most Dangerous Woman in South Carolina…

They called Nikki Haley a whore. They called her a raghead. Now they better start practicing calling her Governor.

Nikki Haley came within a percentage point or two of avoiding a runoff for the Republican nomination in South Carolina. Despite all the smears and all the foul play, she is a winner.

The second place finisher, Congressman Gresham Barrett, goes into the runoff roughly 27% behind Haley.

This race also makes Nikki Haley the most dangerous woman in South Carolina. The old order, the old way of doing things, has been decidedly defeated. The runoff becomes the last stand — a TARP voting establishmentarian versus the outsider accountant they threw everything at.

Politico notes that Haley mopped the floor with her competition despite the smear campaign…

State Rep. Nikki Haley trounced U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, her closest rival in the four-way Republican primary for governor Tuesday, but will face him again in two weeks in a runoff election.

Amid two allegations of infidelity and an ethnic slur, Haley ran as the reform candidate scorned by the good ol’ boy network – and she’s been crowned the voters’ Cinderella. With nearly all the precincts reporting, she was winning nearly 49 percent of the vote, more than twice Barrett’s 22 percent. But she needed to pass 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff.

“We knew from the very beginning it was us versus the establishment,” Haley told a cheering election night crowd in Columbia. “I won’t stop until we get a conservative House, a conservative Senate, and conservative governor.”

David Weigel at the Washington Post explains why there will be no runoff election…

A surprisingly blunt press release from the Republican Governors Association all but calls for Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) to stand down and let Nikki Haley start running for governor of South Carolina, after she missed the right to avoid a runoff by the narrowest of margins.

The statement from Executive Director, Nick Ayers:

The voters of South Carolina made a clear choice in Nikki Haley, notwithstanding the possibility of a runoff. The outcome is all but certain. Nikki Haley withstood a barrage of innuendoes and slurs in the closing days of the primary season and persevered to the finish with dignity, determination and confidence. Moreover, receiving half of the votes against two other statewide incumbent Republicans and a sitting Congressman speaks volumes of her strength as a candidate and bodes very well for her in the General Election. We congratulate Nikki for her grit and determination.

Congratulations to Nikki Haley!