As far back as July 12, 2007, I did a post noting that Gov. Deval Patrick was on the Obama short list for the Supreme Court should he win the election. Well, the time for serious speculation is upon us because Justice David Souter is retiring. Allahpundit said it well,
Farewell at last to Bush I’s worst mistake.
At first glance, the idea of Obama taking Deval Patrick off our hands is an appealing one. I would caution those who think it is a good thing. Which would you prefer, two listless, ineffectual terms in the corner office, or this guy making critical decisions about national security and social policy for the next 25 years?
This is kind of like the Globe situation. You’d love to see them gone, but then you realize that the joy would be short term and the implications would be negative and for the long term. Remember Deval, it’s all right here in Massachusetts!
So, today is D-Day for the Boston Globe. They need to find $20 million in cost cuts by midnight tonight.
I was recently joined in-studio by Jay Fitzgerald of Boston’s most financially stable daily paper, the Boston Herald and the outstanding Hub Blog as well as Todd Hyten, aka Armchair General Savin Hill, for a discussion about the sudden, near-death experience of the Boston Globe specifically, and newspapers in general.
Here is my position on the demise of the Globe: Beleive me, I understand the schadenfreude. However, despite their arrogance, liberal leanings and biases, we still need to the Globe to do the kind of reporting necessary to keep an eye on the hacks on Beacon Hill. These people already run unopposed about 90% of the time. The thought of them operating without media coverage is scary. We need the Globe, not for their liberal world view, but for the reporting on state government. If you think reform is nearly impossible now, what do you think will happen without the Globe around? For one, Marion Walsh would be making $175K and in her new hack-for-life position. It was Frank Phillips who broke the story and pushed it until we (taxpayers) got a happy resolution (Walsh taking a hike).
Reading Adam Reilly’s Phoenix article on the Globe got me thinking about this scene from one of my favorite movies,
The New York Post has a retrospective on Obama’s 100 days. They say 100 Days, 100 Mistakes. This is just over the top Obama bashing if you ask me. I read their list and there are no more than 87 legitimate mistakes.
My favorite review of this meaningless, media contrived number is from Reason,
Obama’s Vision Deficit
After 100 days, the new president has revealed himself as an effective salesman of exhausted ideas.Far from sketching out a truly forward-looking set of policies for the 21st century, as his supporters had hoped, Obama is instead serving up cryogenically tasteless and headache-inducing morsels from years gone by.
On issue after issue, Obama has made it clear that instead of blasting past “the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long,” (as he promised in his inaugural address), he’s moving full speed ahead toward policy prescriptions that already had less fizz than a case of Billy Beer back when Jimmy Carter was urging us all to wear sweaters and turn down our thermostats. Instead of thinking outside the box, Obama is nailing it shut from the inside.
For those who say the media is too Pro-Obama, I say come on. Wake Up. The fourth estate is on the job.
Word!
The best part of yesterday’s game may not even have been the steal of home by the electric Jacoby Ellsbury. It was the fact that that the Sox shut down the Yankee offense using AAA pitchers. OUCH.
PS: Ellsbury is to the Sox what Rondo is to the Celts. Both are an absolute joy to watch.
Gore pleads for unity on climate, despite divide
WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Al Gore, the leading American voice on climate change, urged lawmakers Friday to overcome partisan differences and take action to reduce greenhouse gases…”I wish I could find the words to get past the partisan divide that both sides have contributed to. … It shouldn’t be partisan.”
The man is shameless, among other things. Nobody has done more to poison the debate about the environment, its problems and potential solutions than Al Gore has. Actually, debate is not a word that should be used in association with Al Gore. The word that I should use is debase.
Let’s summarize
Gore calls global warming climate change a “social, moral and ethical issue”, yet it is one not worthy of debate? Al Gore, the man with all the answers, simply refuses to debate anyone with knowledge of climate issues. Don’t you find that curious? When asked to debate by Bjorn Lomborg, Gore replied,
“”I want to be polite to you. The scientific community has gone through this chapter and verse. We have long since passed the time when we should pretend this is a ‘on the one hand, on the other hand’ issue,” he said. “It’s not a matter of theory or conjecture, for goodness sake,” he added.
Tell me again who is “politcizing science”? Science is the process of discovery. It perverts science to claim that a debate about something as dynamic as the environment is “over”. Gore demonizes critics, calling them the modern day equivelent of ‘flat earthers’. He goes on 60 Minutes and equates those who question his world view with those who think the moon landing was staged.
Worse still, Gore attacks the character, integrity and reputations of his critics by saying they are “bought and paid for by the oil lobby”.
To conclude, Al Gore has done more than anyone alive to make the global warming climate change debate a nasty one. It is Al Gore who has done the demonizing, moralizing and vilifing in the name of global warming climate change.
UPDATE: Schwarzenegger said what?
Did you know that air-drying your clothes for 6 months saves 700 pounds of carbon dioxide?
To put that one in perspective, read this.
First, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod referred to the Tea Party protests as “an element of disaffection that can mutate into something unhealthy.” Really? Will angrry taxpeayers end up on a Homeland Security watchlist or something?
Obama must have been trying to prevent some “unhealthy mutaton” from taking place, so he tried to assuage the potential terrorists taxayers by announcing some real fiscal discipline.
$100 million in cuts on $3.6 Trillion in spending. That’s two-hundreths of one percent. So draconian! Obama’s Mini Me, Deval Patrick, is trying to pull the same stunt in Massachusetts. He’s added 5,000 jobs to the state payroll and then acts like a hero when he lets 150 people go. Gee, thanks.
Just how insulting is this feeble, post Tea Party gesture by President Obama?
He got elected leader of the free world on the power of meaningless words and a nice smile, so he must assume the voters are stupid.
Ret. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters is one of our favorite guests and we are honored that he is such a good friend of the show.
His New York Post columns have been absolutely terrific lately. In fact, Ralph has the single best description of Obama foreign policy to date,
Obama means well. Just as Jimmy Carter, his policy godfather, meant well. But the road to embassy takeovers and strategic humiliation is paved with good intentions — coupled with distressing naivete.
Ralph told us he finds President Obama “awesomely naive” and he described him as “Jimmy Carter without the raging testosterone.” OUCH.
Ralph was just terrific as he broke down Obama’s Apologypalooza World Tour 2009. We also discussed the Homeland Security report that smeared not just conservatives, but veterans as well. If you think Ralph is upset with the president, you should hear what he had to say about Janet Napolitano, the Director of Homeland Security.
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