Monica Crowley

Inherit the (Passing) Wind

Today President Obama went to Camp Lejeune and gave a speech about Iraq. He spoke of the improved security situation, the country's sovereignty, and a slower withdrawal of American troops (which made Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer go bananas.)

The speech was relatively lengthy, but he apparently could not find the time to discuss some vital points. He did not mention how he opposed the war from "the beginning," a statement we heard incessantly during the campaign and a position that got him the Democratic nomination. He did not mention the establishment of a functioning democracy there and the strategic value to the United States of having a representative government operating in the heart of the Middle East. He did not mention the effect Iraq's nascent democracy is having on nations in the region, who are starting their own gradual democratic reforms, from Saudi Arabia to Egypt. He did not recognize the courage of his predecessor in seeing the U.S. engagement through to the kind of success we see there today.

On the contrary, The Bama opposed the surge that made the success he now inherits possible.

Every time he speaks about the economy, he slams President Bush by complaining about "the deficit I have inherited."

You will never, however, hear him compliment President Bush by citing the success in Iraq that he has inherited.

Because in order to do so, the man must have character.

Still waiting to see it.

Slumdog Trillionaire

There's a scene in "Slumdog Millionaire" (which just won "Best Picture") in which a young boy falls into a basin of excrement. After reviewing President Obama's newly unveiled budget for next year, this is precisely how most taxpayers feel.

It's a $4 trillion deal, loaded with trillions for nationalized everything: health care, education, lending, housing, energy---and bailouts as far as the eye can see. It's a cradle-to-grave socialist extravaganza, all under the guise of "economic crisis management."

Jai Ho!

Or maybe more appropriately: "Jai Ho" are you going to pay for all of this?

More taxes, higher taxes, less spent on defense and national security.

"Barack Obama! Congratulations! You just won "Who Wants to Be A Trillionaire!"

The rest of us will be slumming it.

Five Alarm Spending

Last night, President Obama went to Capitol Hill and did what he does best. He gave a speech. Executive leadership? Not a clue. But speechifying? Now THAT he's got nailed.

So he went to Congress and laid out a socialist takeover of America so breathtakingly expansive that it makes the French and the Swedes looks like amateurs. Universal health care. A takeover of energy requiring green everything. Nationalized education up to and including college. A nationalized lending program. And on and on.

The breadth and the scope of government intrusion is absolutely staggering But it should also come as no surprise.

The Bama aims to remake America as a European failed socialist state. To take the world's greatest democracy and superpower and turn it into just another muddled, failed nation-state. An also-ran. A run of the mill country. Nothing special.

And in order to do that, he's got to socialize everything in his path: from banks to health care, cars to education. That's why we got a Five Alarm Spending Festival last night.

All of the spending and giveaways are meant to get us away from being a nation of fierce individualists and to become a nation of diaper-wearing, thumb-sucking babies dependent on the government to do everything, including wiping our fannies.

The greater the number of Americans dependent on the government, the greater the number voting their thanks by pulling Democratic levers. This is all an effort to lock down liberal power for decades to come.

No wonder he barely mentioned national security last night. America's superpower role, its unique responsibility as a bulwark against tyranny and support for freedom, must be diminished if The Bama is to have his way. Nobody needs to be reminded of America's greatness when the president is trying to downgrade it.

If It's Tuesday, It's More Zany Liberal Spending!

While the nation is transfixed on President Obama's "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" this week, Democrats in Congress are having another field day with your money.

Another half trillion dollars worth.

In virtual secrecy, they are rushing through a massive new omnibus spending bill that includes 9000 earmarks totaling a whopping $5 billion. Is the $5 billion being spent on widows and orphans? You be the judge:

According to HumanEvents.com, the earmarks include

$2 million to study astronomy in Hawaii;

$200,000 for gang tattoo removal (I wonder if Johnny Depp can qualify to get his "Wino Forever" tat removed);

$250,000 for security cameras in the business districts in Pittsburgh;

$215,000 for Stony Brook University to teach scientists how to talk to the media ("Bueller? Bueller?");

$473,000 for the racist, illegal immigrant-promoting group "La Raza" courtesy of Sens. Bingaman and Menendez;

$400,000 to combat bullying (look out, Rahm Emanuel!);

and my personal favorite: $75,000 for Totally Teen Zone to tell kids it's OK to totally zone out with Wii and X Box (instead of doing their homework, studying, and taking out the trash).

Pork city. And the Democrats don't want you to know about it, which is why they aren't posting the bill as they said they would for at least 5 days before voting on it.

Time to bring our 2nd American Revolution to Capitol Hill. Again.

Liberal Ouija Board

Today the Obama White House hosted a "Fiscal Responsibility Summit," which is like holding Martini Appreciation Night at the weekly AA meeting.

This guy (and his big time Democratic majorities in the Congress) have only been in office a little over a month, and already their profligate spending has reached epic and unprecedented levels.

First, there was $700 billion in TARP I, approved in the waning days of the Bush administration, which set the table for:

the $1 trillion economic "stimulus;"

more trillions in "stimulus" to come, as The Bama himself has said the original Crap Sandwich was merely "a first step;"

the multi-trillion bank bailout, with full-on nationalization to come;

the hundreds of billions of dollars for the housing and mortgage bailout;

and the tens of billions of dollars (and counting) for the auto bailout.

Teed up next: the multi-trillion dollar nationalization of health care;

hundreds of billions of dollars for an energy bill;

and coming this week: another massive, super secret omnibus spending bill, costing another half trillion dollars.

The stock market slid big time again today, edging dangerously to that 7000 mark.

And The Bama has the nerve to gather members of Congress and liberal special interests at the White House today to discuss "fiscal responsibility?"

That begins at home, Buster. All of this liberal ouija board stuff will have us so deeply underwater for so long, I only pray we can someday recover.

I can see it now: "I'm Arlen Specter, and I'm a Bamaholic. I've been sober for a year now."

A Call to the New Minutemen

There is word tonight that the federal government is in talks with the distressed Citigroup, and if the discussions progress, the feds could wind up holding as much as 40% of the bank's common stock. You didn't want to be a shareholder of Citi? Too late! No one in the government cares what you think.

So let's see. We've got nationalization either being contemplated, underway, or complete on everything from the auto industry to banks, from housing to health care. Don't want the government running your mortgage? Too late! Don't want the government putting a transponder in your car to monitor your every mile? Too late! Don't want the government telling your doctor that he or she can't give you a prescription for X because they think it's too expensive or "unnecessary?" Too late!

Socialism is here. It's not even creeping; it's rampaging.

The government is now seeping into every nook and cranny of your life.

Our 2nd American Revolution of Ideas is underway to beat back the hydra-headed monster of socialism. Join our ragtag bunch of New Minutemen, before the monster devours our great nation once and for all.

The McLaughlin Group

Please join us for "The McLaughlin Group" this weekend. Check your local listings for time and channel, or visit www.McLaughlin.com for more information and podcasts.

Bush Was Right, Volume 2401

Months after we began reporting the many ways in which Team Obama was beginning to acknowledge that "Bush was right," The New York Times seems to have finally caught on.

A Times headline today heralds: "Obama's War on Terror May Resemble Bush's in Some Areas."

You don't say!

Here is how they report it: "The Obama administration is quietly signaling CONTINUED SUPPORT for..major elements of its predecessor's approach to fighting al Qaeda.

"In little-noticed confirmation testimony recently, Obama nominees endorsed continuing the CIA's program of transferring prisoners to other countries WITHOUT LEGAL RIGHTS, and INDEFINITELY detaining terrorism suspects without trials EVEN IF they were arrested far from a war zone.

"The administration has ALSO EMBRACED the BUSH legal team's arguments that a lawsuit by former CIA detainees should be shut down based on the "state secrets" doctrine. It has also LEFT THE DOOR OPEN to resuming MILITARY COMMISSION TRIALS.

"...The nominee for CIA Director, Leon Panetta, opened a loophole in Mr. Obama's interrogation restrictions....Mr. Panetta also said the CIA might CONTINUE its "extraordinary rendition" program, under which agents seize terrorism suspects and take them to other countries WITHOUT extradition proceedings, in a more sweeping way than anticipated." (All emphasis mine.)

It turns out that it's a lot easier to gas around sanctimoniously about terrorists' "rights" during a campaign than it is to lead the nation in wartime against an implacable, relentless, fanatical enemy that plots in the shadows.

Perhaps The Bama is growing up. Or perhaps he doesn't want Americans' blood on his hands.

Either way, he's quickly realizing something we knew all along: when it comes to counterterrorism, Bush was right.

21st Century Boston Tea Party

As he signed into law the $1 trillion pig in a blanket, President Obama said this: "We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive. I don't want to pretend that this marks the end of our economic problems...Today does mark the beginning of the end."

I'll say.

Today marks the largest confiscation of taxpayer money by the government in American history. No wonder the stock market tanked: investors hate socialism. So do the American people: poll after poll shows little support for this monstrosity. The path to socialist economics has now been cleared: this will be the first trillion for big government under the guise of "stimulus." There will be more trillions requested, and granted. There is already movement toward nationalizing some of the most distressed banks. The financial bailout will cost $3 to 4 trillion more. The Detroit Big Three automakers are receiving billions in bailout money, and will be back for more. Obama economic adviser Larry Summers will essentially be running the car industry from DC. Next up: a massively expensive energy bill and an even more expensive nationalization of health care.

So, Bama, you are right. Today does mark "the beginning of the end"---- the beginning of the end of capitalism in America.

Whether or not you voted for him or for Democrats in Congress, you will now have to pay for their socialist experiment. Your wallet is now attached to this. Those of us who rejected it---who are outraged by it---will now be forced to pay for it.

It's time for a 21st century Boston tea party. It's time we threw a little tea into the harbor, and let our elected "representatives" know that the road to socialism may look tempting now, but it will wreak nothing but misery and stagnation---as it has everywhere it has been tried. From the Soviet Union to France, socialism has wrought nothing but a welfare state perpetuated by a culture of victimhood.

Our peaceful revolution is one of ideas: of getting back to the ideals of limited government, of Constitutional parameters on government power, of individual liberty, and of the free market.

It's time to carry our metaphorical muskets and sound the alarm about what is happening to this great nation. If we don't, one day soon, we'll wake up to find that the country of our childhoods is gone. For good.

American cannot thrive if it's hamstrung with French or Swedish socialism. It cannot prosper. It cannot lead.

Time and events are moving fast, but it's not too late.

Let the second American revolution of ideas begin.

George and Abraham Reflect

This Presidents' Day, we honor our two greatest chief executives, the Father of the Country, George Washington, and the man who saved it, Abraham Lincoln.

Today, they must be taking one look at the Republic and saying, "We fought and died...for this?"

For a $1 trillion waste of taxpayers' money?

For states and cities in collapse because of their own irresponsible spending habits?

For taxpayers not able to get their refunds because the states are in such fiscal chaos?

For California state legislators to fall asleep on the job while trying to work out a $42 billion deficit? (I'm sorry, did we wake you?)

For a lax immigration policy that rewards illegal behavior?

For the current president to talk down the American economy with words like "catastrophe" and "disaster?"

For pandering to our enemies and hyper-apologizing for American strength?

For defeatism abroad?

No, neither Washington nor Lincoln gave their very lives for America to have this result. The best way to honor them is to conduct ourselves with the kind of integrity, honesty, humility, and grace that were integral to their characters. And to demand the same of our current "leaders."