Monica Crowley

Mr. Bipartisanship, Part II

President Obama went to Racine, Wisconsin today ostensibly to discuss jobs (or the lack thereof) and the economy (weak, weak, weak). Instead, he launched into a lengthy diatribe about the evils of the Republican party.

He ripped into the GOP as having "pretty much the same" approach to solving problems: "cut taxes for the wealthy, cut rules for corporations, and cut working folks loose to fend for themselves." (I know: he's the King of the Cliche. Dude needs fresh material.) He attacked the Republicans as "fearmongers" on health care: "All of you were told, you know, you were going to lose your health care. Death panels are going to be set up. Remember that? And now we're about three, four months into it, and everybody's looking around." He also said that the GOP only opposed him to "get more votes" and that that makes people "pretty cynical about politics."

Somebody call Dr. Phil, because we have some kind of psychological pathology here. To paraphrase David Geffen about the Clintons, the man lies with such ease, it's disturbing.

Every accusation he leveled at the GOP is a flat-out lie, and the charge about the GOP being only interested in getting votes is pure projection. Ditto the allegation about creating cynicism.

SOS with this guy!

Here's an idea: now that 12 other countries are on the scene in the Gulf to help contain and clean up the oil gusher, I say we all board their ships and beg them to take us with them.

Mr. Bipartisanship

Wasn't Obama the guy who said during the 2008 campaign that if he were elected president, he'd usher in a new era of bipartisanship, listen to and work with Republicans, transform American politics and bring it into the 21st century, and heal the political divisions of the past?

In the understatement of the year: he has not done any of those things. In fact, he's inflamed partisanship by continually dissing the GOP on everything from blaming Bush to locking the Republicans out of the health care negotiations to whining about the GOP not caving to his every radical progressive whim.

The slash n' burn tactics have backfired: they've turned off the GOP from even trying to work with a guy who keeps dissing them, and the GOP's poll numbers indicate a Lazarus-like rise from political death.

Meanwhile, the thin-skinned prez invited 20 Senators to the White House today to discuss energy policy. Miraculously, some Republicans were even included. But only to a point.

When Sen. Lamar Alexander raised the BP oil gusher, Obama tried to hush him. Alexander was baffled: how can you discuss energy in America without discussing the blown-out oil well destroying the Gulf Coast? Obama snapped: "That's your talking point."

"No," Alexander replied, "it's my opinion."

Obama has no presidential leadership abilities, no inclination to bipartisanship at all, a malignant progressive ideology, destructive intent, and no class.

Other than that, he's awesome.

Miss Bush yet? Me too.

The O'Reilly Factor---TONIGHT

I'll be a guest with Bill O'Reilly on "The O'Reilly Factor" TONIGHT at 8pm and 11pm ET on the Fox News Channel. Please tune in.

The Bill of Rights Hangs By a Thread

Today, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that upheld the Second Amendment. The Court held that the constitutional protections for the right to bear arms apply to state and local governments as well as the federal government.

This case should not have been a head-scratcher, since the Court has previously held that constitutional restraints on the federal government also apply to states and localities when other civil rights are in question.

And yet: four of the nine Justices voted against the Second Amendment and found reason to make exceptions for the civil right (to "bear arms") with which they disagreed on personal and ideological grounds.

The Second Amendment was preserved by a single vote.

The Bill of Rights hangs by a thread.

Elections have consequences.

Electing hard-Left liberals: it's enough already.

The McLaughlin Group

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

Bush Was Right: Volume 13,768

President George W. Bush called the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan critical to our short and long-term national security.

President Barack Obama called the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan critical to our short and long-term national security.

In 2008, Bush recommended a surge in troop levels in Afghanistan to try to turn the situation on the ground there around, much as a similar surge in Iraq had done.

In 2009, Obama approved that surge plan.

In 2007 and beyond, Bush relied on the military brilliance, counterinsurgency expertise, political acumen, and emotional intelligence of General David Petraeus.

In 2010, Obama is relying on the military brilliance, counterinsurgency expertise, political acumen, and emotional intelligence of General David Petraeus.

Bush adopted an "all-in" strategy.

Obama adopted an "all-in" strategy.

"Change" looks more and more like "back to the future." Bush was right. Again. And again. And again.

The Feds Strike Again

In yet another genius move, the federal government has halted the dredging that was being done to create protective barriers along the Louisiana coastline. Governor Bobby Jindal had been begging the feds for weeks for the permits to build the sand berms, which will protect coastal wildlife and marshland from the encroaching oil. The feds stalled as they conducted "environmental surveys." The only "environmental survey" that matters is the one headed to the coast, killing everything in its path.

About a week or two ago, Jindal took matters into his own hands and ordered the sand berms built. The feds brought up the rear, as usual, and agreed to just a handful of them. Construction had just about begun when the feds threw the brakes on the project again today.

Apparently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department had "concerns" about where the dredging is being done.

Um....memo to the Fish and Wildlife Dept: there will BE NO FISH AND WILDLIFE if you keep screwing around.

The entire federal bungling of the oil spill has proven what conservatives have always argued: that the federal government is an inefficient, lumbering, expensive, soul-sucking, and more times than not counterproductive force. Protect us from enemies foreign and domestic, and then get out of the way.

Still, all of this bumbling may eventually have a silver lining: it may spell the end of whatever remains of the appeal of big government.

Imus In The Morning

I'll be a guest with Imus at 8:30am ET. Watch on the Fox Business Network, listen on your local radio station, or hear it streamed live at www.WABCRadio.com .

McChrystal Goes Rogue...Again

Shortly after President Obama assumed the Commander-in-Chief duties, he retired the existing commanding general in Afghanistan and hand-picked his successor: General Stanley McChrystal. McChystal was always known as a brash and outspoken military man, an expert in counterinsurgency, greatly respected by the troops under his command, and as having little patience for fools.

His requirement to have to answer to Obama, then, was a trainwreck waiting to happen.

Last year, McChrystal made no secret of his desire to have as many as 80,000 additional troops to press the fight in Afghanistan. He went to the press to state that objective and to dismiss those, like VP Joe Biden, who opposed any kind of surge.

That outspokenness got him into trouble: Obama summoned him aboard Air Force One in Europe and dressed him down a bit. And while McChrystal was right on policy (never commit militarily to an operation without committing overwhelming force and having a clear plan), he was wrong to go public with his troop level requests, and his concerns and reservations.

Today we've got another trainwreck smash-up.

McChrystal is being recalled to the White House to meet with Obama tomorrow to explain disrespectful comments he and his aides made to Rolling Stone magazine about Obama, Biden, other top national security officials, and the war strategy. Once again, McChrystal is right on policy (Obama is a destructive, disengaged, uninterested fool whose withdrawal timetable and ridiculous hamstringing rules of engaement are costing us lives and progress), but he was wrong to go public with that criticism.

Obama will decide if he's Harry Truman and McChrystal is Douglas MacArthur.

But there are 2 big points to consider as this story unfolds:

1. McChyrstal is a four star general, graduate of West Point, has extensive combat experience and a chest full of medals. In other words, he knows what he's doing. This was NOT a mistake. These comments were not "off the cuff" or limited to just one or two flippant remarks. And the interview was deliberately given to far-Left, anti-war Rolling Stone. None of this was a coincidence.

That can only mean one thing: that McChrystal is playing a game of chicken with Obama. He was daring Obama to respond. Obama runs a huge risk if he fires him. If the war goes under, it'll be Obama's fault for firing an insubordinate and prickly but effective general. If he doesn't fire him, he may look weak and McChrystal will likely feel freer to do what he needs to do to win on the battlefield. Either way: McChrystal has made his point.

2. Many are asking today: Does Obama still have the necessary trust and confidence in McChrystal? I think the more appropriate and important question is: Does McChrystal have ANY trust and confidence in the Commander-in-Chief?

A Tale of Two Leisure Trips

This weekend, we entered the 9th week of the Gulf oil catastrophe.

Over the last few days, BP CEO Tony Hayward attended a yacht race off the Isle of Wight in which his own luxury yacht took part. It came in fourth. And the lamestream media rained holy hell down on him. "Captain Clueless," screamed the NY Post front page yesterday. And yes, for the newly sidelined CEO of the company that is destroying the Gulf of Mexico, it was hubris run amok. Hayward deserved to be barbequed as an arrogant, out-of-touch jerk.

Also over the weekend, President Obama played two rounds of golf, attended a major league baseball game, and watched hours of World Cup soccer. The response from the lamestream media? Crickets and tumbleweeds.

Message: Hayward is an elite jackass. Obama is an angelic do-gooder.

Actually, both men fall into the first category, and Obama requires an additional adjective: dangerous.