"Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard"

"[President George H. W.] Bush then spoke, and went after Clinton and Al Gore in a personal, demeaning way I’d not heard from the President before then:

...the president unleashed a rhetorical fusillade on Bill Clinton and running mate Sen. Albert Gore Jr., attacking their fitness for office, their character and charging, "My dog Millie knows more about foreign policy than these two bozos."

"In particular, Bush targeted Gore, whom he now calls "Ozone Man," or just plain "Ozone." "You know why I call him Ozone Man?" Bush said. "This guy is so far out in the environmental extreme, we’ll be up to our neck in owls and outta work for every American. He is way out, far out, man."

"When I heard that, I thought to myself, "What President talks like that?" Part of the advantage the office gives an incumbent is its gravitas...Bush abandoned that in the final week in schoolyard name-calling. That’s not why Bush lost the election, of course. It was, however, the moment that I knew he’d lost it — and was pretty sure he knew he was losing, too.

"Keep that in mind when you hear Barack Obama on the stump talking about "Romnesia." Those elementary-school attacks using people’s names are something one usually farms out to surrogates (and is pretty lame regardless). That comes with the grasping of “binders,” literally grasping in Joe Biden’s case (and literally literally, not Bidenesque “literally”), as a major campaign theme. When the President himself starts using attacks like this, it speaks to his desperation more than his opponent’s positions. It adds more heft to the argument that the first debate wasn’t a fluke, but demonstrated an actual gap in presidential stature between the two men."

"Obamateurism of the Days and Weeks...

What was the Obamateurism of the Week (10/21)?

1. Obama says “the media’s attention span is fairly short,” while avoiding news reporters and chatting on sports talk radio.
2. “I’ve been here so much that I’m a professional Ohio State cheerleader.”
3. Refuses to talk to reporters about Benghazi, but grants interview to Us Magazine.
4. ”There are millions of women all across the country who rely on Planned Parenthood for mammograms ..."
5. "I don't look at my pension. It's not as big as yours so it doesn't take as long."

Read on (this is just a partial list):

Previous weekly “winners” in 2012:

Scolds Congress for campaigning instead of addressing issues – after he campaigned while embassies burned... “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam”.. Goes to Las Vegas fundraiser after attack on Benghazi consulate... No time to meet with Netanyahu, makes time for the Pimp with a Limp radio show (He “avoided talking about 9/11 on 9/11′s anniversary, but made time to mock the Dolphins bad record,” noted the Miami Herald.)... Sends form letters to families of SEALs KIA, personal letter to family of rapper Heavy D... Hiding from WH press corps while giving interviews to People and Entertainment Tonight... Asks supporters to find businesses to support his “you didn’t build that” argument. Pitches amnesty policy at naturalization ceremony of people who entered legally... Removing silverware from tables before speaking to Hispanic voters... Scolds American Crossroads for lack of transparency … on same day Obama asserted executive privilege in Fast & Furious probe... Declares Lech Walesa “too political” to accept award, gives another to Dolores Huerta, chair of Democratic Socialists of America... “Polish death camp“... “When I think about, ah, those soldiers or airmen or Marines, sailors, who are out there fighting on my behalf …”... Includes Nazi collaborator/Hitler admirer in proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month. Gets annoyed when asked about number of vacations, doesn’t answer question... Attacks Limbaugh while remaining silent on Maher contribution to his super-PAC...

"If the president was convinced on Day One that it was, without doubt, an act of terrorism, as he now claims, why on Day 25 is he being such a pussyfoot about it?"

President Obama says that he called the assassination "terrorism" on Sept. 2. But a transcript of his words reveals a sentence so oddly constructed that it is not clear whether he referred specifically to Benghazi as terrorism, or to other acts since 9/11. But if the president now says that's what he meant, then fine.

It's what happened subsequently that doesn't jibe.

For the next two weeks or so, the president's administration, including his spokesman, Jay Carney, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, tried to sell a false narrative that the deaths were sparked by an obscure anti-Islamic video made in Hollywood.

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice repeated the spin, doubling down on it by saying that the president's popularity among Muslims is as high as ever. (Why Obama's Muslim popularity even enters the discussion is just plain weird.)

And, finally, on Sept. 25, the president, was asked directly on the television show "The View" whether Benghazi was an act of terrorism. He said: "We are still doing an investigation. There is no doubt that the kind of weapons that were used, the ongoing assault, that it wasn't just a mob action. Now, we don't have all the information yet so we are still gathering."
...
The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin points out that [the day after the Beghazi terrorist attack] President Obama didn't meet directly with his national security team because he then flew directly to Las Vegas for a campaign speech.

Imagine that. A U.S. ambassador and three others killed on foreign soil in an attack the president now says he knew was terrorism. What does he do? He flies to Vegas without meeting face-to-face with his national security advisers.

What kind of president behaves like that?

~ Las Vegas Review-Journal, Oct. 21, 2012

"The much-vaunted Lilly Ledbetter Act is itself an example of hypocritical behavior. Equal pay was already the law of the land before Obama signed it.

Rather than an advance for women, the Act was a lollipop for the president’s trial lawyer bundlers. It was about making it easier for them to sue companies long after the statute of limitations had expired–-meaning that it was about lawyers making money, not ordinary women seeking fair employment.

"According to liberals’ own standards, the Lilly Ledbetter Act, Obama’s first crowning achievement, has failed. If liberals insist on continuing to perpetuate misleading statistics on equal pay for women, they also have to admit that this aspect of Obama’s record is a failure.

"Even within Obama’s own White House, a wide pay disparity exists between male and female employees. The Washington Free Beacon reported on their findings in April of this year:

According to the 2011 annual report on White House staff, female employees earned a median annual salary of $60,000, which was about 18 percent less than the median salary for male employees ($71,000).

"The Free Beacon also pointed out the myriad ways the White House has been a difficult place for women to get ahead."

~ Commentary, October 2012.

The War on Black Women, by Democrats:

George Washington Carver was a Republican; Jackie Robinson was a Republican. They are two of the most revered black pioneers in the history of humankind.

Something tells me they would be mortified by the injustice suffered by Hollywood’s Stacey Dash last week. The lovely 46-year-old actress sent this Tweet: “Vote for Romney. The only choice for your future.”

She immediately was vilified in the Twitter-world. It’s ironic that a woman who starred in a movie called Clueless literally was being lambasted as clueless.

In Stacey Dash’s case, to many, she didn’t have a choice. You either vote for President Obama or subject yourself to national humiliation. No land of the free and home of the brave for her. Because the “Black Thought Police” will make up her mind for her. The bottom line is that when Dash transmitted that tweet, she lost all inalienable rights as a black person.

Samuel L. Jackson, a black actor who has a penchant for gutter-hardened profanity... unabashedly told Ebony magazine: "I voted for Barack because he was black. Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people — because they look like them. That’s American politics, pure and simple. (Obama’s) message didn’t mean (bleep) to me."

Imagine if actor Leonardo DiCaprio, in a didactic tone, said he was voting for Romney because he’s white. Suffice to say, what’s good for Sam wouldn’t be good for Leo.

Stacey Dash is stationed at the polar opposite of Sam. In response to the Twitter-transmitted vitriol, Dash told Piers Morgan of CNN: “It is my right as an American citizen. It’s my constitutional right to have my choice of who I want to vote for for president.”

Dash is right. She had to endure all of this trauma and drama for simply making an informed choice.

As Dash advised, “I say, do your homework. Look at your country. Think about the next four years of your life. You know? And also, look at — look at Mitt Romney’s track record, you know, as a CEO, he’s excelled. As the governor of Massachusetts, he did quite well. And you know, listen to what he says. You know, I believe him. And I believe he deserves a shot.”

That quote is her way of saying that she, indeed, has a clue.

~ Gregory Clay, assistant sports editor for McClatchy-Tribune News Service, writing in the Miami Herald, Oct. 17, 2012