Elvis Has Left the Building

Thirty-four years ago today, Elvis Presley died of a drug overdose at his Graceland estate. The man who brought rock n' roll to mainstream America and revolutionized music as a result remains a cultural icon. Thousands of people still make pilgrimages to Memphis, and he earns more money dead than he did while alive.

Although Elvis left this mortal coil over three decades ago, his political equivalent now resides in the White House. Elvis crossed racial lines: he adopted and adapted black musical styles, worked with black musicians, and brought crossover appeal to both black and white. He was a child of the South who knew the South well and loved it, but who saw its flaws and in his own way, did what he could to bring the races together.

President Obama was supposed to have extinguished America's history with racism once and for all. The first viable bi-racial candidate for president, he was supposed to transcend race for good, and then his policies would speak for themselves.

And that's the problem. His policies have been abysmal failures. From adding over $4 trillion in debt so far, to the nearly trillion dollar political "stimulus," to the multi-trillion dollar new entitlement of ObamaCare, to the war on American businesses, to the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill, to his class war, Obama has grievously failed America.

Unemployment remains stubbornly high at 9.1%. The full unemployment rate is closer to 18% when you add in those who are working part-time when they'd like to work full-time and those who have given up looking for work all together. There is non-existent GDP growth. Manufacturing and construction have stalled. The housing sector remains in collapse. Consumer confidence is at record lows.

The guy who was supposed to be the political Elvis has shaken, rattled, and rolled all the way to political and economic failure. Some of his defenders have tried to play the race card and called racism on anybody who opposes Obama or criticizes his failures. This is, of course, the lowest of the low. But the fact that Americans are judging Obama not on the color of his skin but on the content and failure of his policies shows that race is precisely NOT the issue. The economic catastrophes are the issue, as is Obama's weak and destructive leadership.

The real Elvis left the earthly building 34 years ago. The political Elvis is still very much with us as president, but we will see to it that he leaves the building in January 2013.

The O'Reilly Factor---TONIGHT!

I'll be a guest on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News tonight at 8pm and 11pm ET. Please tune in!

The Big Show

As I watched the Republican presidential debate held in Iowa last night, I kept thinking to myself: "Who among them is ready for primetime? Who is ready to go head-to-head with Barack Obama? Who is ready for the Big Stage?"

To some extent, they all are ready, because they've all be national figures, to varying degrees, for a while. But a presidential campaign is something else entirely. If you win the nomination, you are thrust into a situation for which there is no real preparation, except having done it before. But even if you're a candidate who has run a presidential campaign before, every election year is different, along with different national and international circumstances, different media, different staffs. Running previously is no guarantee of winning success the next time.

Last night, I saw: Mitt Romney running very, very carefully. He's running not to lose. Doesn't want to make a mistake. That's fine for a frontrunner as far as it goes. But what's removed from that strategy is fire, passion, and a willingness to take the fight to Obama.

Which brings us to Michele Bachmann. She is a natural born fighter. She was full of fierce combat, which along with her devotion to First Principles, makes her a Tea Party goddess. She was strong and authentic. She spent part of the evening engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Tim Pawlenty, and subjected him to several beatdowns. That's not to say Pawlenty didn't land some good points during the debate. But his exchanges with Bachmann diminished him, and he spent the remainder of his time clamoring to get in his talking points. He came off like a kid trying to get his dad's attention.

Newt Gingrich was on fire last night. I suppose he feels he's got nothing to lose and went for broke: he took it to the moderator, blasted the media, engaged in some podium-thumping, and got in some great substantive points. I appreciate his combative style, but the downside of it is unlikability. Given the gravity of the country's problems, likability shouldn't matter much---but it does. He could gain traction after his performance last night. I hope he does, because he'd make mincemeat of Obama in a presidential debate.

Herman Cain rocked the house a few times during the debate, but his acknowledgement that he was still "learning" about issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Afghanistan didn't come off as refreshingly honest. It came off as a little too honest, lending the impression of weakness. But he's a great champion of the private sector and speaks powerfully about the free market.

Rick Santorum is a principled conservative who got in some great points when given the chance to speak. Sadly, he didn't have many chances. Ron Paul became even more of a fringe candidate, showing he's clueless on the responsibilities of American superpower---or he doesn't care. Either way, he's not going to be president.

And then there was Jon Huntsman, who was a giant zero. He can self-fund his campaign, which is why he'll stay in the race. But he's given voters precisely no reason to choose him over the other candidates.

Of course, there were some personalities not on the stage but hovering over it: Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and possibly some others. Perry is getting in, which will change the dynamics of the race.

They all have some work to do before any of them face off with Barack Obama, who has been honing his BS routine for years. Unlike in 2008, he will have to run on his record, and it's an abysmal one. But he has become quite a master of spin and manipulation, and whoever faces him will have to be able to match him...with the truth, and with style married to conservative substance.

We'll see who emerges in the GOP race. It'll be a healthy competition. And as we watch the Republican candidates' learning curves, we should all remember that once upon a time, Barack Obama looked like a clueless twirp in his Democrat debates. In America, anything is possible.

The Five---TODAY!

I'll be co-hosting "The Five" at 5pm ET on the Fox News Channel today! Tons o' fun. Please tune in.

Heads Won't Roll

When the Iraq war started to go badly, President Bush got pounded in the press. He got attacked for not changing strategy fast enough and for keeping leaders too long who were held responsible for the mission going south so dramatically.

One week before the midterm elections in 2006, President Bush affirmed his support for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The day after the election, he accepted his resignation.

We are in the economic equivalent of the lowest point of the Iraq war. Things have gone south dramatically, even from their bad beginnings in the fall of 2008. We've got the multiple economic catastrophes of stubbornly high unemployment, a debt crisis and humiliating downgrade, non-existent economic growth, and deep stock market slides. Things are grim.

And yet, Obama hangs on to his failed strategy. He also hangs on to the one other person substantively and symbolically tied to the economic disaster: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Obama and the Left blistered Bush for clinging to a failed strategy and inept leaders. Where is their criticism now?

Tim Geithner: if you had any sense of shame and dignity, you'd tender your resignation.

And President Obama: if you had any sense of shame and dignity, you'd ask for it. And then you'd take it.

Kerry and Murray and Baucus, Oh My!

As part of the stinkbomb debt deal, Congress set up a so-called "Super Committee" to ostensibly do what the rest of the Congress won't or can't do: figure out another $1.5 trillion in spending cuts or face the axe of automatic, across the board cuts in defense and Medicare and ObamaCare. These cuts will be mythical, of course, just as the cuts are in the first wave of this deal.

The leadership of both parties in both houses of Congress get to appoint members to the Select Committee. Each party gets 6 representatives, and each house gets 6 members on the Committee. Yesterday, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went first with his appointments: John Kerry, Patty Murray, and Max Baucus.

If you were ever under the illusion that the Democrats are serious about spending cuts and deficit reduction, this list should disabuse you of that notion once and for all.

Reid selected a man who upon returning from Vietnam, proceeded to throw the US military under the bus to advance his political ambitions, lied about his military record, and just ludicrously called S & P's decision on our debt the "Tea Party downgrade."

Reid also selected a woman who first ran for the Senate as "a mom in tennis shoes" who has since been a reliably Far-Left vote for the Democrats.

And Reid selected another man who, at the tail end of the ObamaCare debacle, showed up on the Senate floor drunk. Slurring his words. Meandering around. Making no sense. Drunk.

Nice picks. Inspired choices.

Lest we forget the real reason all three were chosen by Reid: they're all major backers of tax hikes.

The Senate Democrats have shown us yet again that they are fundamentally unserious about the grave fiscal crisis facing the nation (never mind that they're going on 3 years without passing a budget).

Therefore, the Senate Republicans should show us how deadly serious THEY are about fixing the nation's debt crisis by appointing Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, and Jim DeMint.

And.....scene!

Liar, Liar, Downgrade on Fire

"Mr. President! Your country just got downgraded! What are you going to do next?"

"I'm going to two fundraisers!"

Obama's version of Disney World.

Last night, Obama was the star attraction at two fundraisers for his re-election. Why anyone would give the most economically destructive president in American history money to get re-elected is beyond me, but I digress.

As we ponder the humiliation of Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt for the first time in history, here's something to remember:

The two tools Obama, Tim Geithner, and the Democrats (and some Republicans too) used to scare everyone into a deal to raise the debt ceiling were the scary prospects of default and downgrade.

We now know that those were nothing more than fear tactics in order to get through this Frankenstein debt contraption.

First, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan was on "Meet the Press" on Sunday and said this:

"The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default."

So as we were saying....there was never ANY chance of default. And by the way, where was Greenspan when this debate was happening? To quote Adam Sandler's character in "The Wedding Singer:" "It would have been nice to have this information YESTERDAY!"

Second, they freaked everybody out about the horrors of a potential downgrade if no deal was reached. So a deal was reached and we got downgraded anyway, and as we've seen, the stock market has been a horror show.

All of this means that either Obama and Geithner and others didn't know what they were talking about---OR if they understood Greenspan's point, then they were outright liars when they kept threatening default.

Downgraded America: yet another case of Obama lies, America dies. I think we may be up to Obama Lies, America Dies, Volume 48,972.

AA+

The Obama Economy has reached a new low. There have been plenty of economic lows over the past fews years, all generated by the catastrophic policies of President Obama and his Democrat wingmen in Congress: the massive expansion of government, unprecedented spending, record-breaking deficits and debt, and socialized medicine. These policies took a shaky economy and turned it into a gasping near-corpse, to the point where 9.1% unemployment and 0.4% GDP growth is "the new normal."

All of these disasters, however, were merely the opening act for the big hurricane that hit us on Friday night: Standard and Poor's downgraded U.S. debt from our previous sterling AAA rating to AA+. An A+ is only great in grade school.

The Left is in freefall (along with the stock market, which sees it too). The Left sees its wealth redistribution ideology collapsing before its eyes, swamped by its own internal contradictions and disastrous consequences. So the Left flails and blames everything and everyone for the downgrade but themselves and their policies. The Tea Party becomes "terrorists." The Republicans become "obstructionists." Blame gets laid on everyone from President Bush to "millionaires and billionaires" to corporate jet owners to ATMs.

They cannot possibly look in the mirror and find the fault within themselves---because to do that would mean the end of liberalism, the end of their very existence, the end of their cottage industry of victimhood and dependency, the end of their calamitous agenda and policies. This they will not abide.

So they continue their lies and their Blame Roulette and their insults to our intelligence. But we know the truth: that the Left has wreaked enormous destruction, that the GOP put forth the ONLY plans to deal with the debt crisis (the 2012 Ryan budget and Cut, Cap and Balance), and that their ideology is now permanently discredited.

Is it the End of Liberalism? I'd like to be that optimistic but I'm not, because there are plenty of left-wingers who are deeply invested in their wealth redistribution ideology to go down without a fierce fight. Witness what's going on tomorrow in Wisconsin: $30 million has poured in to defeat GOP state senators in recall elections. The Left will not go gently into that good night.

And that is why we must stay on the offense. A dying ideology lashes out. Be prepared for the most vicious attacks and underhanded, destructive policies to come. Hold the line, fight back, and never, ever let the conservative guard down. They are fighting. So must we.

Bloodbath

The carnage of the Obama economy continues.

A partial list of the most recent economic catastrophes:

A volatile stock market, including a major slide this week; a stinkbomb of a debt deal that will only exacerbate the debt crisis; an atrocious jobs situation, with unemployment going to 9.1%, but only because 200,000 people stopped looking for work entirely; non-existent GDP growth; manufacturing slowing to a crawl; a housing sector still in collapse; and consumer confidence at a two year low.

All of this is a direct result of the Obama policies of the past 3 years: the massive expansion of government, unprecedented spending, record-breaking deficits and debt, and socialized medicine. Those wicked wealth redistribution policies have undermined and weakened the free market, replacing it with ever-encroaching central economic planning and government control. The government sector is running over the private sector, leaving it bleeding in the middle of the road.

It's not a big mystery why the economy is a staggering, gasping mess. And to think: it's all by design.

The Angry Perm Strikes Again

Since she became the Chairwoman of the Democrat National Committee, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has given Joe Biden a run for his money in the gaffe department. She has jumped the shark several times in the past few weeks, including claiming that the Republicans want to go back "to Jim Crow" and pounded the GOP for believing that illegal immigration "should in fact be a crime." DWS, not to be confused with DSK, is the court jester in a party full of clowns.

She has said two things over the past week, however, that really take the cake. First, complaining yet again about the Republicans in the debt negotiations, she engaged in epic projection, accusing the GOP of EXACTLY what she and her party are guilty of:

"This is not leadership. This is almost like dictatorship. I know they want to force the outcome that . their extremists would like to impose. But they are getting ready to spark panic and chaos, and they seem to be OK with that. And it's just really disappointing, and potentially devastating."

It is HER party that has not led, despite holding the presidency and the Senate. It is HER party that has taken itself and the country off a cliff by being controlled by extremists. It is HER party sparking panic and chaos, which they need in spades to justify their massive expansion of government. And it is HER president who is running a dictatorship. Just the other day, Obama lamented having to deal with an opposition party at all: "The idea of doing things on my own is very tempting."

DWS, she of the Angry Perm, is a Mistress of Projection. So are most members of her party, including the Master himself, Barack Obama. You should know that every time they accuse the Republicans of something, it is never true of the GOP but ALWAYS true of themselves.

And her second whopper came yesterday, when she said: "We've really begun to turn this economy around." This is the delusional messaging surrounding the gazillionth "pivot to jobs" heralded by the White House. (This follows on her equally ill-advised comment a few weeks ago that the Democrats "own this economy." Yes. Yes, they do. I'm happy to hear her acknowledge the truth, for once.)

DWS is a hot mess. So is her party. Unfortunately, they're turning the country into an epic mess, from which we will have a very difficult time recovering.