Liberal Activist Elena Kagan Hides From Past, Disdains Congress, Sidesteps Confirmation Process

It's always a treat to hear a liberal activist campaign for office or sit for a confirmation hearing. They are inevitably unwilling to admit to what their intentions are.. that will have to wait until they are in office.

Much of the same has been occurring up on Capital Hill in the Elena Kagan confirmation hearing.

The most offensive part of the event is her denial of her role in subverting a statement of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to make them appear to have decided in favor of partial birth abortion, when in fact they had stated they saw no reason why the procedure should ever be performed. As domestic policy aide to the Clinton administration Ms. Kagan read their statement and characterized it as being a disaster to her pro-abortion cause.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pressed Kagan about a note she wrote saying it would be "a disaster" if the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement saying there was no case in which the procedure was necessary, and about her intervention to prevent the group from doing so.

She responded that the disaster would have been if the organization's statement didn't reflect its full view that in some instances, the procedure was "medically best."

But in point of fact she re-wrote a statement and sent it to ACOG. Her revised version replaced the original, and was used as the basis for the court deciding to allow the procedure. He involvement was a little hard to conceal when the original copy of the ACOG statement showed up... written in Elena Kagan's handwriting.

"This was all done in order to present ... both to the president and to Congress the most accurate understanding of what this important organization of doctors believed," Kagan said.

Nope. It was done to obscure what the group had previously asserted, and to mischaracterize their actual position.

Later, responding to Graham, Kagan denied that she had tried to allow the broadest possible practice of the procedure, in line with her own views on abortion.

"It's not true. I had no agenda with respect to this issue," Kagan said.

Right.

Questioned by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on guns, Kagan said she accepts a recent ruling upholding individuals' rights to possess firearms, but she would not say whether she believed there was a "fundamental right" — meaning one that applies to states as well as the federal government — to bear arms.

She would not say. That was the general theme for the festivities.

The Second Amendment is pretty clear. It was placed there as one of the promised inclusions to allow ratification of the constitution. It and the other first ten amendments are discussed at length in the Federalist Papers, and are a corner stone of the nation's founding. Collectively they are referred to as our Bill of Rights, and they constrain the powers of the Federal government and clearly place the government in the hands of the people.

You could have got more information out of one of the moai's of Easter Island than we did from one Elena Kagan.

The farce that this hearing was could not be better illustrated than by Democratic Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who was thwarted several times in his attempts to get Kagan to say whether she would recommend that the Supreme Court hear specific cases, or weigh in on standards for deciding a case. The senator wondered aloud whether there was any way short of opposing her confirmation to get a straight answer.

"It would be my hope that we could find some place between voting no and having some sort of substantive answers," Specter said, "but I don't know that it would be useful to pursue these questions any further."

How strange that it was this same Elena Kagan that called the Bork hearings a great good, for they allowed an open exchange between the potential judge and the Senators looking to confirm the selection. Apparently the openness that Judge Bork brought to the Senate chamber was a very good thing, but not anything that Elena Kagan could take a position on in respect to herself.

How very dishonest of her. Is that the caliber of character that recommends one for the United States Supreme Court?

I think not.

Biden Sick Of Smart Ass Comments From Ice Cream Manager

The attitude of this administration toward the common people of the nation isn't hard to comprehend, but lest there be any doubt, Joe Biden put it to rest with yet another gaffe, this time in a small Wisconsin ice cream shop.

Asked "What do we owe you?", the store manager replied "It's on the house" and then added half jokingly that he could call it even by cutting his taxes...

To which the nation's Vice President replied:

"Why don’t you say something nice, instead of being a smartass all the time?"

All the time?

Has Mr. Biden had quite a few run-ins with this particular ice cream shop manager? It sounds like he's just about had it. Maybe the security detail could steer him to a different ice cream vendor next time.

Seriously, Biden's known this guy all of about five seconds, and yet he feels free to characterize him as being an habitual smart ass.

Now if he was talking about me, perhaps he'd have a case. : )

It's to laugh.

Conor Friedersdorf Chides the Right

The political free-for-all that is the three ring circus of blog ace Robert Stacy McCain has from time to time had entertaining back and forths with one of the right's promising young writers, Conor Friedersdorf. Conor has raised the ire of many on the right with his forthright criticism of a number of conservative pundits and talk show personalities, the most recent of which was Mark Steyn, discussed in some detail at The Other McCain.

Dissent and differences of opinion can be good to argue and ultimately strengthen your position and your ability to defend that position. This kind of open debate occurs far more on the right than on the left, and the difference in experience shows in how arguments between the two camps play out.

What I find troubling in Conor Friedersdorf is that he has taken the past two years and attempted to advance the notion that the Right is undermined by its most vocal and forceful proponents. Who in the political sphere pushes conservatism? There may be a number of republican politicians with sound conservative credentials, but none have captured the imagination of the party or are the parties natural standard bearer. One may yet present, but the problem of a politician taking stands is you become a target, as Representative Joe Barton found out. Sarah Palin would be the exception as someone willing to take a stand, be outspoken and espouse the conservative position, and she is doing so across the nation.

The vast bulk of the conservative argument, however, is advanced by talk show personalities, who disseminate the conservative view of the world and its response to the days events. Conor would have those people change their message or be pushed to the margins. It is a position that does find him favor among the left… a conservative willing to impugn its most effective communicators. John McCain got a lot of play in the DC crowd for much the same thing, but inside the halls of power.

Since there is no voice in politics galvanizing the right, the standard bearers for conservatism are largely the conservatives in the media, chief among which would be the radio media as represented by Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Mark Levin, and perhaps Sean Hannity. For Conor to then target these individuals, be critical of them and undermine their message moves the party backward. Conor, I believe, argues that the party has been hi-jacked by these individuals, whose hyperbole ultimately make conservatism appear less reasonable and less palatable to the population as a whole.

I think he is wrong, but the guy can write.

'Persuasion' Open Thread

What did you think?

Obama Spending Spree Bill Coming Due

President Obama on controlling the debt:

"Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I'm not sure that's good politics.

I'm doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it's the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step-up, because I'm calling their bluff.

We'll see how much of that, how much of the political arguments that they're making right now are real and how much of it was just politics."

And there you have it, Mr. Obama planning the massive tax hikes that will kill what's left of the economy. Yes, the solution coming out of this guy's mouth will not be the kind of thing you or I would come up with when we find out that we are killing ourselves with expenditures that we do not have the income to afford. No cut backs on expenditures. No reduction in Federal programs or even reduction of the political slush funds.

Nope.

It will be the President attempting to transfer the payment for all these 'economy saving' steps of Obamonomics onto the backs of the US economy in the form of crippling tax increases. And those that oppose his reckless spending schemes will be called hypocrites for not going along with the tax burden this clown wants to lay down on us.

Well, the people are not behind this, President Oil Leak. And though you may desire to govern against the will of the people, the people will not accept you.

AL Gore Off the Reservation

Unbelievable.

The complaint against one of the globes most tiresome moralists is an eye opener. It is available in a somewhat redacted form here.

The gal is pointedly detailed, is knowledgeable about her area of study, and goes into great specificity about the interaction. No question the woman filed the complaint. No question the Portland police looked into it. The woman in question declined to proceed, understandably so (see multiple Clinton sex abuse sex-capeds), with the legal and physical threats endured, along with the general sullying of her reputation. No way she would come out a winner in this. Even if the facts she alleges occurred were proven completely correct in everything she said, how many clients would want to be a part of it?

Three years later AL and Tipper part, and no one can figure out why. Recent high profile divorces had a sexual component to the story: Edwards, Sanford and the ever ambitious Tiger Woods. But no one has an imagination capable of putting a sex angle on the AL Gore story. Suddenly, up pop rumors with Laurie David. Then a sex story in the Enquirer looks like a laugher, but no, Portland Police confirm that a complaint had indeed been filed.

And according to the highly detailed complaint, AL is overbearing, threatening, and just plain weird. Early in the massage:

While he was still face down, he suddenly asked me:

"What has become clear to you lately?"

I answered

"How much is enough"

And I elaborated on this idea a little bit, and then I asked him what he had become clear about lately himself, and he said

"Letting go of results"

Sheesh! Come on , AL, this was six years after you LOST the election. There is more to life than pretending to be president.

The evening proceeds, and by the account gets more weird and creepy with each passing minute, AL Gore vacillating between anger and belligerence when he doesn't get his way, to giggling bad boy when she attempts to reproach him. Later this hollowed out oak of a man switches tactics and pressures her to listen to Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” in the bedroom where his i-pod docking station was.

Personally, I can’t believe girl’s go for that whole ‘my i-pod docking station is in the bed-room’ thing, but AL is in with Apple, so he gives it a go, all the while she is trying to figure out how to get out without getting him hostile or excessively friendly. So here is this 2000 Presidential runner-up listening to 'Pink' to assuage his angry feelings toward the guy that beat him in the election. If Big AL had won the election, do you think you would find George Bush listening to 'Pink' go on about what a slug AL Gore was as president? Six years later?! No way.

Anyway, after the i-pod and another grope and grab session, AL is offering up a Karaoke version of "Dear Mr. President" when this gal gets fed up with the sing along, and flat out asks the guy:

"Just how long were you whacked out after the election?"

'cause I'm thinking 'You're nuts', and he goes

"Six and a half years, so far..ha, ha, ha, ha..."

And I'm thinking, 'Okay, we acknowledge that you're nuts. Now how do I get out of here?'

Wow. She walked in a big AL Gore fan and a believer in the global warming clap trap, and escapes thinking what a nut job this guy is and how could I have voted for him and placed Captain Queg’s thumb on the red button.

This man spent years telling falsehoods, scaring children and drumming up support for an environmental movement that the document dump at Hadley CRU has shown to be a manipulation and giant fraud. The most compelling aspect of AL's presentation was his call to take the moral high ground and for each of us to do the right thing. Never mind that his mansion in Tennessee burns energy like a roman candle, or that he flies around the globe without a second thought.

Well, it turns out the phrase "Never mind" applies to the whole thing.

General McChrystal Returns Home

General Stanley McChrystal was in charge and responsible for the Afghanistan theater of war, a difficult and dangerous place where men under his command were dying every week. It was the hottest war zone at the time President Obama took office, and was the theater of operations that the president had been saying for years was where we should be fighting, where we should be placing our major military efforts to confront the terrorists responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center. It was the good war, so he said. It was the right war to fight, as opposed to that bad, unwinnable war in Iraq that Senator Obama had criticized President Bush and candidate McCain over, as he did, over and over again. And yet after all this rhetoric and political grandstanding, upon winning the office of the presidency he completely ignored General McChrystal and his command in Afghanistan.

In March of 2009 President Obama had given General McChyrstal the mission to secure the population and destroy the terrorists that oppose us. McChystal generated a plan to pacify the area. The plan was geared toward killing the Taliban. To that end General McChrystal needed a significant increase in force to provide security and safety to the population areas while McChyrstal and his special ops units would go out at night to seek and kill the enemy. As the Washington Post reviewed in this article of December 2009, the general submitted his plan in August of 2009. On reviewing the plan in September, the president was frustrated by the plan's call to increase the force strength deployed. The plan's stated goal of destroying the terrorists that opposed us was thought by the president as a fools errand. Apparently he considered that to be a goal that was impossible to achieve. In answer, General McChyrstal replied that it was needed to complete his mission of destroying the terrorists forces that oppose us. Frustrated, the President stated he desired to stabilize and keep secure the Afghani government. The general had to refer the president back to his original order of March of 2009 before President Obama realized that the plan before him was directed to achieving the goals he had asked General McChyrstal to achieve.

To this plan President Obama said nothing...for months... while McChyrstal and his command continued to take casualties in a war the president clearly was not committed to fighting. Finally, after months of deliberations, months of political posturing, months of trillion dollar bailouts and private industry take overs, the President approved a plan for a surge in Afghanistan troop levels, but at only the minimum level McChyrstal thought was possible to have any chance of success.

The president supplied General McChyrstal with conflicting orders, conflicting goals, extreme delays in response, and in all this time only met with General McChrystal twice. Then the Rolling stone article came out. Suddenly General Stanley McChystal is summoned to Washington to meet with the President. Suddenly the President's war in Afghanistan was an item of interest. Suddenly the commander in chief is chapped and we're being distracted from an enormously important mission. It's ass kicking time.

No Mr. President, what you're up to isn't ass kicking. Ass kicking was what Stanley McChystal and his special ops guys were all about, going out into the dark of night to locate and kill a deadly enemy in a war that you left him and his command to fight.

Now he is stateside, and his command is the worse for it.