Monica Crowley

The McLaughlin Group

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

The Silver Fox Strikes Again

I was going to wait until after Tuesday's elections to talk about my correct theory that Hillary Clinton is running for president NOW. Not in 2016. She is running NOW, for 2012. I was going to let the midterm elections pass and the dust settle before I remind you about how right I've been for the last year and a half in saying that Hillary is running, either against or over Barack Obama.

But her husband has forced my hand.

In an another astonishing Clintonian twist, Bill has intervened in an election. You'll recall that earlier this year, Bubba contacted Joe Sestak to try to get him to drop his Democrat primary bid in Pennsylvania against Senator Arlen Specter---in exchange for some high-level administration job. Sestak refused, went on to win the primary, and is now in a tight race against Pat Toomey for the U.S. Senate.

Now, we hear that Bubba has struck again: this time, in the Florida Senate race. Republican and conservative superstar Marco Rubio holds a commanding lead over Independent weasel Governor Charlie Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek, who is running a very distant third. Bill Clinton tried to pressure Meek to drop out of the race in order to secure the election of Crist. Meek seriously considered it, and Bubba began to arrange an elaborate endorsement press conference. Unfortunately for Clinton, Meek changed his mind, decided to stay in the race----and the story blew up.

Meek, who is black, has been a staunch Clinton ally, but he's also been close to Obama, who just campaigned for him last week. Clinton rode in and tried to detonate Meek's campaign, just as he tried to detonate Sestak's.

Why?

As the first person in America to say this out loud---over a year and a half ago---I will say it again: Hillary is running for president in 2012. Specter and Crist were guaranteed supporters for her next run. Sestak and Rubio certainly could not be counted on to do so. But Specter and Crist were Clinton loyalists whom Bill and Hill needed to install or keep in high office to serve as leading voices of support for her candidacy once she declares.

Bill is intervening in these races NOW to lock up support for her candidacy. He doesn't give a flying whit about Democrat Senate control or Obama's presidency or party loyalty. He only cares about getting back into the White House via a Hillary run.

Mark my prescient words: She's running, and so now, is Bill.

Up Next: Golf and a Smoke

Last night, Barack Obama---President of the United States, God help us---appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central. He spent a full hour with Stewart, yukking it up, because, you know, he's got nothing better to do.

It's not like he's got 10% official unemployment to worry about. Or 18% total unemployment to worry about. Or record home foreclosures or another housing mess to worry about. Or Iran getting a nuclear weapon. Or a $1.4 trillion deficit. Or a $13.5 trillion national debt. Or the implosion of his signature domestic "achievement," Obamacare. Or China manipulating its currency while owning more and more of our debt. Or homegrown terrorists, like the one arrested just this week for allegedly plotting to blow up the DC Metro. Or the falling dollar. Or the North Korean succession situation. Or the fact that our long-range nuclear missile arsenal was rendered useless this week by a power outage. Or the loss of the American dream.

It's not like he's got any of that stuff to worry about. His plate is empty! Nothing on it! It's as clean as a whistle, that presidential plate!

So, since he's got nothing to do, he went on with Jon Stewart, trying to salvage his presidency by cracking wise and getting the kids laughing all the way to the polls.

By the way, since he's been president, the Bama has had a lot of time on his hands, because he's been on ESPN---twice!---to discuss his Final Four picks. He's been on "The View" to yuk it up with the hens. He did a "Christmas at the White House" special with Oprah. He went on Jay Leno. He gave a long interview to Rolling Stone (yes, even AFTER they got the scalp of his top Afghanistan general). And in December, he'll appear on "MythBusters" on the Discovery Channel, just because he loves that show so much.

Up next: Dancing with the Stars. As a contestant. And if he gets voted off, he'll return as a judge.

No wonder he's got so much time to play golf and sneak those Virginia Slims. He's got nothing to do.

If he's got nothing to do now, as president, imagine how much time he'll have to shoot the breeze with Stewart and Oprah come January, 2013.

The Republican Final Message

We are less than a week away from the midterm elections. We are hearing about the typical Left-wing fraudulent hijinks: rigged voting machines, union thugs assigned to "monitor" the machines, free food and union "gift cards" given to folks who vote for the Democrat candidate. Democrats have been pulling these kinds of frauds since at least 1960, when the Kennedys stole the presidential election from Richard Nixon.

To overcome their criminal activity (which the Obama Justice Department will dismiss out of hand), we need to stay focused and vigilant. In addition to the fraud, they are trying to clutter the airwaves with all kinds of mangled and baseless accusations and weird, extraneous stuff.

This is why the final Republican message needs to be short and sweet and needs to cut through it all.
In ALL fifty states, the following message needs to be repeated incessantly:

When it counted, all Democrats were Obama Democrats.
When it counted, no Democrat stood up to the president and his agenda.
When it counted, the Democrats rallied enough votes for passage of the Obama agenda.
When it counted, no Democrat spoke out against the smearing and slandering of the citizens of this country. Their silence was deafening and telling.
When it counted, there were no "moderates" or "blue dogs." They were all progressives.

Actions and records speak louder than words and empty promises for the future.
Obama is not through with his progressive agenda. He has only just begun. This is why we need to stop this murderer of the Constitution in his tracks, before he can kill again.

Remember, WHEN IT COUNTS, DEMOCRATS CANNOT BE COUNTED ON. THEY CHOOSE OBAMA OVER AMERICA.

Remember in November.

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.

How's That Strategy Working For You?

Back in January, David Plouffe was brought back to the White House to set a "winning" strategy for Democrats for the midterm elections. Plouffe, the chief strategist of Barack Obama's 2008 winning campaign, was called upon to see if he could re-create a winning strategy this time around. He's had nearly a year to turn the Democrats' fortunes around. How's that working out?

Here is a transcription of a monologue I did on my national radio show two weeks ago. As we head into election day, it's critical reading----and good fun! Enjoy.

"We're so close to the election we can taste it. We're so "hepped" up to vote that we are already lining up outside the polling places. Aren't we? Since we're so close, I thought it would be a useful exercise to take a stroll down memory lane. I saved a couple of articles, written by top Democrats. They're articles they don't want you to see or hear or remember, because they wrote them months ago. But guess what? I've got 'em, because I kept them, and right now, we're going to splash them all over the national airwaves. These top Democrats wish they could eat their words right now, but we're gonna push them right back in their faces, just as they forced ObamaCare and so much more into our faces. We're gonna make them eat their words.

Let's begin with a fascinating look at political delusion. David Plouffe was a central guy in "The Bama's" 2008 campaign; he was right there with David Axelrod. He was one of the top guys in terms of messaging, getting the kids out to vote and all of that. He spearheaded the Facebook and the Twitter approaches to the campaign. He was right there getting everybody mobilized and out. Well, David Plouffe has now been brought back. He was brought back, I guess, at the beginning of the year into the White House to try to minimize Democratic loses in November by trying to recapture that magic of the 2008 campaign. Well, as we all know now, the magic was never real. It was a "magic mushrooms" moment for a lot of people, and now it's long gone. The trip, so to speak, is over, and the hangover is here. David Plouffe was brought back to give you more magic mushrooms.

In January, he wrote a piece in the Washington Post that was stunning in its arrogance and its delusion. It was called, "November Doesn't Need to be a Nightmare for Democrats." And here's what Plouffe wrote-I'm sure he would like to remove this from the Internet, Lexus, Nexus, and Google, but I printed it out back in January, kind of forgot about it, and then found it this week and I'm gonna bring it to you now. Here's what Obama's top campaign guy wrote back in January: "There are a few things that democrats can do to strengthen our hand for 2010," he wrote. Number one: pass some meaningful health insurance reform package without delay. Americans health," he wrote, "and our nation's long-term fiscal health depend on it. I know that the short-term politics are bad. It's a good plan that's become a demonized caricature. Politically speaking," he said, "if we do not pass it, the GOP will continue attacking the plan as if we did anyway and voters will have no ability to measure its upside." He continues, "We own the bill and the health care votes. We need to get some of the upside. P.S.," he adds, hopefully, "Health care is a jobs creator." Ha! All right, so his number one point in January is gosh, golly, you really gotta pass ObamaCare because it's so gonna help us.

David Plouffe's number two point, January, in the Washington Post: "We need to show that we not just are focused on jobs, but also create them. There are some terrific ideas that we can implement," he said, "from tax cuts for small businesses to more incentives for green jobs, but full recovery will happen only when the private sector begins hiring in earnest." Well that's true, but this administration has spent all of its time trying to kill and suffocate the private sector. In fact, just this week we heard that the private sector shed nearly 40,000 jobs just last month and the unemployment rate is going up, not down. Plouffe continues in January: "That's why Democrats must create a strong foundation for long-term growth by addressing health care, energy, and education. Voters are always smarter than they are given credit for." Well, if that's true, Mr. Plouffe, then why do you take us for dopes?

He continues, point number three for the Democrats: "Make sure voters understand what the stimulus did for the economy." Uh, I can't really add commentary to that because it's so absurd. They told us the stimulus was going to keep unemployment to eight percent. Well it sailed over ten percent and has basically stayed there for about a year and a half, this all after they passed the stimulus. He continues: "Democrats broke the back of the recession with not a single Republican vote in the House. In the long run, this will haunt Republicans, especially since they made the mess."

So back in January, they thought it would be a swell idea to go after the republicans for not backing the stimulus. Well, here we are a year and a half later. We've lost over three million jobs since that stimulus was signed into law. All of that money, nearly a trillion of it, almost all of it spent for nothing, flushed down the loo. And then they go on to say that this is going to "haunt the Republicans." Really? Actually, hmm, we're headed to a pretty historic win. I don't think that's called "haunting the Republicans." I think that's called wind at the Republicans backs.

Next point, Plouffe in January, Washington Post, advice for the Democrats: "Don't accept any lectures on spending. The GOP took us from a $236 billion surplus, when President Bush took office, to a $1.3 trillion deficit with unpaid-for tax cuts for the wealthy, two wars, and the Medicare Prescription Drug Program." Let's just take that apart for a second. First of all, he is absolutely incorrect about the $1.3 trillion deficit. That is incorrect. Bush left Obama with a $450 billion deficit, which is bad enough, but what they are adding in here to get over the trillion mark was TARP, which Obama wanted and voted for and supported! Also, the tax cuts for the wealthy, well, you know what? The Bush tax cuts across the board gave us 53 consecutive months of job creation and economic growth. He also talks about the two wars under President Bush. Well, last time I checked, President Obama was sort of wrapping one and upping the other one in Afghanistan.

I think Plouffe wishes that his Washington Post piece would go away, because, in retrospect, from where we sit today, it looks pretty stupid. This is not a dumb guy, but all the arguments that they put out there in January have blown up in their faces. I mentioned his point about plastering the Republicans on their spending, and he makes the point about how the Republicans blew up the deficit and the debt with Medicate prescription drug program, which President Bush signed into law. That was their beloved Ted Kennedy initiative, that Medicare Prescription Drug Program. All of the Democrats wanted that. So here they are trying to blame the GOP for that when it was THEIR deal. Yeah, Bush signed it into law, but that was a Democrat thing.

He goes on to say, "We must make the Republicans own their record of disastrous economic policies, exploding deficits and a failure to even attempt to solve our health care and energy challenges." So THEIR solutions have been government takeovers of those things, exploding the deficit in a quadruple way from the Republicans and inflicting on us even more disastrous economic policies. Plouffe concludes this way: "Change is not just about policies. We have to make sure that the freshman and sophomore members of the House, who won, in part, on transparency and reform issues, can show that they are delivering." Oh really? Oh, we're just rejecting what they've delivered. Finally, Plouffe concludes, "Run great campaigns, Democrats." That's kind of hard when all of your candidates are fleeing from your president and their own agenda.

And he ends this way: Hey Democrats, "no bedwetting. Instead of fearing what may happen, let's prove that we have more than just the brains to govern. We have the guts to govern." Well, it's how you've governed that's been precisely the problem, David Plouffe."

The McLaughlin Group

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

Read This, Reid

In yet another staggering example of his precarious mental state, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this on MSNBC: "But for me, we'd be in worldwide depression."

Seems he's attended the Barack Obama School of Humility.

He spoke those immortal words yesterday, a day before the Nevada state Department of Employment reported that Nevada's unemployment rate has now hit a record 15%. That is the highest rate in the nation.

Home foreclosures are also at record highs in Nevada, which leads in the nation in that category, too.

But for Reid, Nevada might be in much better shape.

But alas, not to worry. In about a week and a half, he'll be packed off to a political assisted living center, where old, washed-up failures go to reminisce about their glory days. And Reid doesn't even have many of those.

NPR, Your Tax Money, and the First Amendment

Juan Williams was fired by National Public Radio last night for comments he made on Fox News. Bill O'Reilly asked Juan about his own controversy involving a statement of fact on "The View," when O'Reilly had said, "Muslims killed us on 9/11." Duh. But of course, in this hyper-politically correct society, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar---leftist idiots both---stormed off the set. On O'Reilly's show, he asked Juan about it, and Juan replied: "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Again: duh. Most Americans have felt this way since 9/11. After all, it's not a homicidal band of Christians, Jews, Hindus, or Confucians trying to kill us. Juan spoke the truth. He gave voice to the very RATIONAL fear most of us have after being so brutally and ruthlessly attacked by Muslims acting in the name of Islam.

Last time I checked, we still had a First Amendment protecting free speech. And last time I checked, National Public Radio was a taxpayer-funded enterprise. Aren't you glad you work your tail off to fork over about 50% of your hard-earned money to the government so they can run a communist outfit like NPR?

Years ago, I did some commentary for NPR's "Morning Edition" program. I had to submit my commentaries for review ahead of time, and sometimes, they'd edit the content. Never in my life have I ever experienced such a thing---not before NPR, and not after. Even MSNBC let me say whatever I wanted.

Never mind that NPR spouts Far-Left propaganda all day. Never mind that you're paying for it. The fact that NPR routinely squelches free speech should chill every American. This is a government-run propaganda machine that would make the North Koreans proud.

One last note: Far-Left Dr. Evil George Soros recently announced that he was pouring a ton of money into NPR to "hire new people." With Soros' money coming in, NPR could afford to get rid of inconvenient truth-tellers like Juan Williams and hire Far-Left robots in his stead.

The First Amenment is under direct and immediate assault. Please go to NPR and let their Ombudsman know that you are outraged by their dismissal of Juan Williams and their disgusting silencing of the truth: http://help.npr.org/npr/includes/customer/npr/custforms/contactus.aspx?omb=t

Feet First

There is a big rumor floating around, and unlike the one I started over a year ago that Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2012, this one is false.

Most Democrats are running around terrified for their political lives. Even relatively "safe" incumbents like Barney Frank are panicking. He hasn't faced a serious challenge since 1982, but he does today: former Marine Sean Bielat is giving him a real run, coming within 8-10 points of Frank, forcing Frank to give $200,000 to his own campaign, and provoking Frank's boyfriend to heckle him after one of their debates. Worried? Yes, he is.

And if a liberal in a deep blue district like Frank is worried, then imagine the sheer terror coursing through Democrats in swing or conservative districts. Hence, we get a rumor like the one now being spread by Democrat Congressman Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, who's now telling anyone who will listen that he'd heard that Nancy Pelosi will not seek another term as Speaker in the unlikely event that the Dems hold the House. "From what we're hearing, she's probably not going to run for Speaker again," he said. "And if she does, I'm confident she's going to have opposition. And I look forward to supporting that opposition."

Democrats are throwing Pelosi over faster than a speeding bullet. Desperate to save their own skins, they're pretending they don't know her, yet they all voted for her for Speaker and most went along with her radical and vastly unpopular agenda: "stimulus," Obamacare, cap and tax. Now they're fleeing the scene of the accident.

But they also know it's too late. Throwing Pelosi under the bus now looks pathetically opportunistic, but then again, that's what the Democrats are.

Pelosi has no intention of stepping aside. Like Hillary Clinton before her, they'll have to carry her out of power feet first. She'll be clinging to the drapes as they try to pull her from the Speaker's office. If the Dems hold the House, of course she's running again as Speaker. She may have some competition, but she's an old school machine politician who wields power like a club. The Dems who are running for their lives now, talking trash about Pelosi, will be the same ones who will probably vote for her again for Speaker if the opportunity is there.

Mr. McIntyre is floating this rumor because he's facing a tough challenge from a very impressive Republican, my pal and former Marine Ilario Pantano. But make no mistake: Nancy Pelosi has no intention of voluntarily stepping aside. If Dems lose the House, she will have to. But if they retain control, she'll do whatever it takes---and I mean WHATEVER it takes---to keep her power.

San Fran Nan will not go gently into that good night.