Monica Crowley

A Small, Small Man

Barack Obama is a radical progressive, but he's not a stupid man. How, then, to explain his continuing assault on average Americans and their beliefs? How, also, to explain his obsession with news outlets that report or represent those views?

In an article this week in Rolling Stone (the same magazine that knocked out his top general in Afghanistan and the nation's top counterinsurgency expert, Stanley McChrystal), he re-loaded and took aim again at Fox News: "I think Fox...is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It's a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world."

This echoes complaints he's consistently aired about Fox since he began running for president almost 4 years ago. The leopard hasn't changed his spots. In fact, he's added more spots: to his attacks on Fox, he's added criticism of talk radio and the Tea Party.

Yesterday at one of his contrived "backyard town halls," he took shots at "these cable shows and these talk show hosts." He added, "A lot of them have figured out, the more controversial I can be, if I'm going out there and I'm calling Obama this name or that name or saying he wasn't born in this country or - that will get me attention. I will then write a book, I'll go and sell it."

You would think that the man has bigger things to worry about than cable news programming. Apparently not. It is extraordinarily demeaning for a president of the United States to be whining about this news organization or that one. It is vicious and frankly, anti-American of him to isolate one in particular for criticism because it airs dissenting points of view. It is unpresidential of him to attack a network that broadcasts the views held by most Americans. Last I checked, the president is supposed to represent ALL of the American people, even those who disagree with him.

His petty moaning puts a glaring spotlight on his character, and it ain't a pretty sight.

The president is a small, self-absorbed, vain, thin-skinned narcissist. He makes Bill Clinton look like a piker.

Is it November 2012 yet?

Well, Now I'm Really Worried

By every poll, the Democrats seem headed for---in the words of President Bush in 2006---"a thumpin'."

It would seem that now would be the moment for President Obama and top Democrats to seek the advice of true "wise men" about how to deal with their dire situation. But of course, there are no "wise men" in the Democrat party. So, they're stuck with losers, and incredibly, they're turning to them.

Walter Mondale commented on the Bama's situation recently, and now, we learn that Democrat superstar Michael Dukakis "popped in" at the White House to share his "winning strategy" for the midterms.

Color me worried. By God, if Mondale and Dukakis are on it, we're sunk.

The only Democrat worth listening to is Bill Clinton, and they don't seem to be doing that.

And...scene!

Buck Up!

So the new Democrat talking point is: Buck up!

Somebody---perhaps Rahm Emanuel in his last masterstroke as Chief of Staff before he leaves to wreak havoc on Chicago---said to himself, "Self! The party is in deep, deep doo-doo, so we've got to do two things. 1. Go negative on the Republicans and try to rip them to shreds, and 2. Fire up the liberal base by giving them a pep talk.

So word went out across Left-Wing Land to get the base moving.

Vice President Joe Biden got the ball rolling yesterday by telling them to "stop whining." However: calling the very people you need a bunch of whiners is not exactly a winning strategy. So Biden took another stab at it:

"And so those who don't get -- didn't get everything they wanted, it's time to just buck up here, understand that we can make things better, continue to move forward and -- but not yield the playing field to those folks who are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives we put forward," Biden said.

President Obama apparently got the "buck up" memo too. In a Rolling Stone article published today, he said, "People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up...if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."

Again, attacking your base as "lethargic" and not "serious" probably isn't the best Dale Carnegie way to motivate them.

But this is all they have. Their agenda has been disastrous for the country and hence, highly unpopular with the majority of Americans. The Left, to whom they are ostensibly appealing, thinks they haven't gone far enough. They can't win, so they've resorted to the old Carteresque "malaise" theme. Another winner.

I take particular and personal joy in reminding Obama, Biden, Rahm et al. that the last person to regularly use the phrase "buck up" to rally his troops was....

Richard Nixon.

The O'Reilly Factor---TONIGHT!

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

Working on Re-Elect

The White House is like a sinking ship these days, and a lot of rats are taking a dive. In the last month or so, top economic advisers Larry Summers, Christina Romer, and Peter Orszag have all either left or announced their departures. Next up is probably Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who'd like to put his knife-wielding skills to better use as Mayor of Chicago. There have been whispers that other high-level advisers are looking for a way out of the hellhole as well.

Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, told Fox News last week that he'd stay on into next year but that "at some point, I'll leave to work on re-elect."

As in: back to the campaign. As if they ever left it.

Re-elect Obama? Even the mere idea of it leaves most Americans exhausted and upset. He has been such an epic disaster on everything from the economy to unemployment to spending to taxes to our foreign policy that most Americans already want a change from the "change" guy.

A new Politico/George Washington University Battleground poll released today shows that only a mere 38% think he deserves re-election. Forty-four percent said they'd definitely vote for someone else, and 13% said they'd at least consider it. Not good for a guy who won just 2 years ago with 53% of the vote. Independents are fleeing from him like he's got bedbugs. Many Democrats just shrug in disappointment.

I'm not entirely convinced that he's going to run again. I don't think he digs the job. But if he does run, Axelrod is going to have his work cut out for him on "re-elect."

Hannity---TONIGHT!

I'll be a guest with Sean Hannity TONIGHT at 9pm ET on the Fox News Channel. Please tune in.

Have You Paid the Taxes On That Yacht Yet, John?

If there ever were a quote that sums up the far-left, elite, out-of-touch arrogance of the Democrats, it's this, from Massachusetts Senator, John Kerry:

"We have an electorate that doesn't always pay that much attention to what's going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what's happening," Kerry told reporters.

The Boston Herald summed it up in its front page headline:

"Kerry: Voters Don't Get it."

So we don't pay attention, we don't get it, we're a bunch of uninformed boobs. If only we were better educated about what Obama, Kerry, Pelosi, and Reid were trying to do, we'd "get it." If only we weren't such a rogue band of unwashed masses, we'd get it.

Earth to Kerry: the problem for you isn't that we don't "get it." It's that we do. And you, Captain Fantastic, had better thank your lucky stars that you're not up for re-election this year, or you'd be turning to your wife for a job at the ketchup factory.

The Republican Pledge

The Republican leadership just unveiled a "Pledge to America," a series of commitments it is making to the American people going forward. It includes promises to cut taxes and spending, repeal Obamacare, and reduce the regulatory burden on business.

The reason this all sounds so good is twofold:

1. The current administration has been so bad in terms of explosive spending, higher taxes, major new suffocating regulations, and quadrupling deficits. We are parched for any drop of common sense conservatism coming from anybody in Washington.

And 2. The GOP has been in the wilderness for so long that it's nice to see them get assertive and proactive, with a positive agenda heading into November and beyond.

The Pledge, however, is not great. It's just OK. It's better than nothing, and I'm glad they put something in writing. But there's not a lot new here. What they've said they stand for is what they should be standing for anyway: cutting taxes, reducing spending through freezes and cuts, rolling back regs, repealing the horror of Obamacare, and so on. Well, duh! This is supposed to be the GOP platform. So they simply repackaged it and are selling it as a new "pledge."

I know, I know: the Republicans have been in a tiny minority for a while, so they couldn't really press these things. True, but then how do you explain the Bush years when the GOP was in power and spent like madmen? The reason there is a Tea Party movement in the first place is because the GOP establishment went down the road of big government and big spending for years. In 1994, the Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, unveiled the "Contract with America," a very similar pledge to Americans. Of the major programs the Contract promised to cut, spending on them ROSE by 13%. They got their butts handed to them in 2006 and 2008 for it.

So pardon me for being skeptical. I hope the GOP gets it this time. I hope they heard what the Tea Party---what we, the people----are telling them. I hope this isn't just a cynical move to get power, and then they'll revert to form if they gain the majority.

I'm glad they put out something today, because something is better than nothing. But this pledge was the bare minimum. This is what we expect the GOP to be doing at the very least.

After November, they'd better get real and they'd better get creative, or 2012 might be unpleasant.

The Empire State Joins the Tea Party

As the revolution for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and individual freedom has swept the rest of the country, New York state looked immune to its reach and power. In states as deeply blue as Massachusetts and New Jersey, and as widely disparate as Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Alaska, the movement to bring our country back to its Constitutional roots has taken serious hold. Conservative candidates are winning in places once considered impossible for anybody other than a Democrat.

But New York seemed to buck the national trend. With both U.S. Senate seats up this year and a gubernatorial race, there were three major openings for conservatives to exploit. And yet, every political analyst wrote New York off: too blue, too entrenched, Democrat candidates (Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Andrew Cuomo) too well-known and popular.

Well now. Two new polls today show that the New York Dems had better not count their electoral chickens just yet. In two of the three major races, the relatively unknown Republican candidates are gaining serious ground. In the Senate race against Gillibrand, Joe DioGuardi was running 20 points behind last week. This week, he's down only 10. In the governor's race, Cuomo family scion Andrew was running about 20 points ahead of any named GOP contender as of about a week ago. A new poll today shows him now leading by only 6 points.

Lesson: this year, the rules go out the window. This year, what you thought you once knew about politics has been turned on its head. Any GOP establishment figure who disparages any Republican candidate ought to lose his or her party affiliation. If you have concerns about certain candidates, zip it. The public is with us on the agenda of smaller government, lower taxes, and cutting spending. Let's not choose this particular moment to do the circular firing squad.

This year, anything is possible.

More Lib Horrors

As if the Democrats didn't have enough headaches of their own making. Today, the American people hear a number of appalling new things. Just when you thought you had heard it all with these lunatic Democrats, something else comes flying at you.

Today we hear from leading economists that the government is "lying about the amount of (national) debt." The official number is horrifying enough: $13.4 trillion and growing every second. Now we're hearing that that number is woefully inaccurate. These economists say that because of the explosion in spending, our national debt is actually somewhere between $60 and $200 TRILLION. (Read it here: http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/us-government-hiding-true-amount-of-debt/story-e6frfkur-1225926567256#ixzz106MjZzOz ) Sleep well tonight!

Today we also hear from the latest Rasmussen Reports poll that a record 61% of the American people want a full and total repeal of Obamacare. Why? See above.

And today we also hear that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has officially gone bananas. We've always known he was a bit odd, but now we can confirm that he is literally certifiable. Last week, he called Delaware Democrat Senate candidate Chris Coons his "pet." This week, he called NY Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand "the hottest member" of the Senate. The man is off his rocker. Somebody call the attending and get him strapped down. Meanwhile, people of Nevada: please replace him with Sharron Angle. For the love of Mike.

That sound you hear in the distance is the hooves of the Tea Party and conservative cavalry, coming to the rescue. And not a moment too soon.