Happily, CNN's strategy was not entirely effective, as many candidates eventually got a chance (or created one) to actually advance policy ideas and demonstrate their knowledge about a variety of important issues. Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie were particular standouts, with most of the other candidates holding their own.
But of course, Donald Trump was the center of attention - and frankly, Hope n' Change doesn't think he scored any better in this debate than he did the last one (of which we opined "he basically stunk up the stage"). Not that the after-debate polls didn't score him favorably - people are still going crazy (perhaps literally) over his bombastic dog and pony show.
To be sure, Trump has provided a hugely valuable service by throwing political correctness out the window to identify real problems, talking back to the press, and giving a voice to voters who feel betrayed by both political parties.
But...
It continues to be clear that Trump is running on personality rather than substance; exhibiting a contagiously appealing vagueness mirroring that used by Barack Obama back in 2008. A phenomenon which we call "Yes We Can-sis." But, Toto, America is not in "Yes We Can-sis" anymore...or at least, it shouldn't be. Platitudes make for frighteningly flimsy platforms.
Make no mistake: Hope n' Change would enthusiastically vote for any of the GOP candidates, including Trump, rather than any of the nightmare choices being offered up by the Left. But we're frankly concerned by the idea that Americans increasingly seem to be unable to tell the difference between "reality TV" and reality itself.
BONUS: TICK TOCK TECH TALK
Following a misunderstanding in which a Muslim high school student was briefly arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school which looked (to concerned authorities) like a bomb, Barack Obama has invited the lad to the White House in order to highlight the stupidity and racism of people who think that Muslims and/or bombs could ever present a threat to anyone.
The boy, Ahmed Mohamed, did nothing wrong bringing his invention to school. Hope n' Change believes that authorities also did nothing wrong in being suspicious of a device which looks nothing like a clock (and perhaps wasn't meant to), and is in fact a circuit board, power source and tangle of wires which would function quite nicely as a timed detonator if that had been the intent.
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| Sure! It's a clock! Yeah - that's the ticket! |
After all, one doesn't have to think very far back to remember another seemingly harmless Muslim kid who didn't get arrested for carrying a backpack containing an innocent-looking pressure cooker to the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Until, of course, it was too late.
26 comments:
As always, sharp and to the point.
I'm not sorry for Achmed at all, the more that comes out, the more this smells. If it wasn't a dry run, it most certainly was done to show just how "racist" we all are.
Nice how Obama invited him within HOURS of the issue erupting. I wonder how he knew? It wasn't on ESPN Sports Center or in the papers -- and isn't that how he gets his news?
And where was President "I stand with Muslims" with the Pop-Tart gun student? The kindergarten student who kissed another student on the playground and was put on the sexual offender list? The student wearing an NRA t-shirt?
No, this is another of Prez'nit Historic First's scratching his cheek with his middle finger -- pointed right at the American public.
Terribly sorry, but the fact that Leftist-created zero-tolerance has caught one of their protected class members in the net doesn't bother me at all. Live by the sword, die by the sword. When I see Lefty outrage for all the OTHER kids snatched up by these deeply stupid apologies, I might listen to "poor" Achmed's (likely self-inflicted) plight.
Not only is Bammy the first (half) Black President, he's also the first Mean Girls tween President, too!
And who's to say that the 'science project' wasn't a litmus test to see if anyone had the awareness to spot a potential threat. In a way, if it was a litmus test, now the bad guys know that anything can be brought anywhere by anyone and not raise suspicion ... lest they become subject to ridicule ... until it's too late.
Even though Trump is saying some things that need to be said, I thought he made a complete fool of himself Wed. night on the so-called "debate". How the media can say he was a winner is beyond me. Fiorina and even Bush cleaned his clock big time. He got a lot of time because of the moderators trying to promote a cat fight between him and just about everyone else How that mess can even be called a debate is a joke. Why don't the moderators throw out specific issues important to most Americans and let each candidate have a turn to present their stance? Then we might have an idea who to support. I too would vote for any of them over whatever the Dems. run, but I'd prefer someone with a little gravitas.
When, oh when is the RNC going to stop letting the lefties host Republican debates?! They have little choice when it comes to the Presidential debates, but they should have total control over the primary versions. "We're sure it will turn out differently THIS time, and they'll ask questions with substance THIS time. No 'gotcha' questions THIS time." Reince Priebus claims to listen to Conservatives, but his actions are way too RINO.
But yes, Trump was a buffoon again, but dang... isn't that what got him to first place in the polls? He is apparently paying attention to the success rate of the Democrats, and is borrowing their strategy. Reid, Pelosi, O'Liar and many more use the same tactics to further their agendas, and (sadly) it friggin, works.
I thought Rubio did great, and I even gained some respect for Christie. Like Stilt said, I'll gladly vote for any of this bunch, and if it has to be a bombastic narcissist, so be it. We have suffered through 6-1/2 years of a Socialist bombastic narcissist, so it might be sweet revenge to make the moonbats suffer through some years of a Republican version. For all the the Donald is, I do believe he at least understands economics.
As a Libertarian, I find it disheartening that many here say they would vote for whoever the Republican candidate is over whoever the Democrat candidate is, even if that turns out to be a loud-mouthed narcissist of no substance or yet another member of the Bush Dynasty. The lesser of two evils is still evil, people. Both parties are now obviously two sides of the same coin and the complete destruction of our country is inevitable regardless who occupies the Oval Office unless that person has the huevos to actually uphold their Constitutional Oath. The only candidate I see that could possibly attempt to resurrect that archaic document is Rand Paul, so naturally BOTH parties will do everything in their power to discredit him. May the USA rest in peace.
People may vote however they choose but this country can not survive another 8 years of liberal socialism, so I believe we must do whatever it takes to stop that from happening.
@pdwalker- Thank you!
@Earl Allison- I'd really like to know a lot more about this story and the players involved. My best guess is that Ahmed is probably a tech nerd who didn't do anything wrong (and, as I said, the authorities who showed caution also didn't do anything wrong). But I am curious about how and why Obama jumped in so quickly and so confidently.
In the "see something, say something" era, most reports will turn out to be innocent and some feelings will get ruffled. But that's the only way to assure that actual threats will also be reported and treated seriously.
@Fred Ciampi- I don't think that this was a deliberate dry run to make things easier for a real attack. But that being said, the scorn being shown by the White House and media will make it easier for a real attack.
@Judi King- I like a lot of what Trump says, but don't like the fact that he's not giving credible answers about how he'll accomplish things. Promising the moon is what Obama did and what Trump is doing. I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now.
@Colby Muenster- Overall, Jake Tapper actually wasn't too bad as a moderator, and some of the candidates did get to shine (when the spotlight wasn't on Trump). And I have to agree that, despite my better judgement, I would enjoy seeing the pain on the Left if a president Trump did to them what Obama has done to us.
@Geoff King- If I had to label myself politically, it would definitely be as a Libertarian. I've never considered myself a Republican, and I have no love for what they've done to our country in coordination with the Dems. The two parties are almost indistinguishable when it comes to actual governance.
So please understand that when I say I'd vote for any Republican over any Democrat, it's not an endorsement of the party. I'm looking at this specific group of Republicans and comparing them to the specific group of Dems most likely to be presidential candidates. And there's no question that I'd take the worst of the GOP team over the (ahem) "best" of the DEM team.
Does that mean I'd be equally happy or enthusiastic about any of them? Nope. I haven't been doing Hope n' Change for seven years to just see anyone finally take the reins from Obama. If there's not an actual sea change in the direction of our leadership, then all I've been doing here is chronicling our nation's downfall. And frankly, there are plenty of other things I would have rather been doing.
@Judi King- I agree. The Dems can't have another 4 to 8 years at the top. That being said, if all we accomplish is keeping a Dem out of office, it will be a largely pyrrhic victory.
Well, as far as looks go, I've ALWAYS thought lamont looked like a "CLOCK". Oh, wait... maybe without the "L".
The "clock", was so obviously a dry run that any with a discerning mind can see right through it. Lil' Muhammad should be drummed out of school, access to the Internet restricted and banned from Radio Shack. Better yet, toss him and his parents back into the third world sh!thole they came from.
While I know that no one here needs more examples of duplicity from the Øbama administration, this report from MEMRI seems too important to pass up IMO.
From various sources within the media in Iran, several officials confirm that our administration's "negotiations" with Iran began much earlier than has been claimed in the Western media. They also mention that the Øbama administration (by way of John Kerry) agreed to recognize Iran's place as a "nuclear power" (by allowing them to continue to enrich uranium) as a pre-condition to said negotiations.
While I totally agree with Geoff King above, I might even be able to hold my nose and vote for the evil of a Jeb Bush or someone of that ilk (we have a handful still technically in the race) as opposed to allowing the "other half of the coin" to continue to try to destroy our country at such a rapid pace.
@Bruce Bleu- Well, Barry does have a face and hands...
@Anonymous- I don't think this was a dry run for future terror; my only suspicion is that it might have been a calculated ploy to generate publicity about "Islamaphobia." But even if it wasn't, the idea of ridiculing those who take suspicious devices seriously hurts us all in the long run.
@txGreg- It seems clear that Obama has basically wanted to gift wrap control of the Middle East and give it to Iran for a long time. If "peace" is the absence of war, I think Obama believes the best way to achieve it is by helping Iran subjugate everyone else.
Per voting for "any Republican," I liken our country to someone who had been badly wounded. Ideally, the next step is to get the best doctor possible to start repairing the damage. Failing that, at least get someone who will stop the bleeding rather than continuing to attack the patient.
I remember when CNN was a serious news network. Today, they look at FOX eating their lunch, and come to the erroneous conclusion that it must be because of FOX's lofo short-attention span format instead of their blatant partisanship.
So who did CNN have as analysts immediately after the debate? Obama advisers and confidants David Axelrod and Van Jones. Seriously. Axelrod is part of Daily's Chicago political machine and was the chief strategist for both of Barack Obama's presidential campaigns. Jones is an avowed America-hating communist and 9/11 "truther". (9/11 was staged by Bush) He was also Obama's "Green Jobs Czar", who couldn't define exactly what a "green job" really was. (Hint: It's political patronage) Boy, that's gonna be some relevant, objective commentary.
Another aspect that CNN doesn't get is that the voter anger that is fueling Trump & Sanders is also directed against the the MSM like CNN. CNN and the other alphabets are considered just as much of "the establishment" and the problem as establishment Washington politicians are.
Trump: True, Trump is "running on personality rather than substance". No question about it. But that's not the core of Trump's appeal to voters. It's that Trump is not the product of a high-paid consultancy establishment like all of the other candidates are. Trump says what he thinks and believes at any given moment, whereas the establishment candidates have programmed themselves to only regurgitate what they've absorbed from their focus group tested briefing binders prepared by their consultants. This is why they struggle to answer any question that wasn't covered in the binder. This is why they can't explain and stand behind conservative principles. They are so focused on not offending anybody that they can't say anything that hasn't passed the consultancy test. They've allowed themselves to become robots. People sense this. I see it. When most of these guys give an answer, I genuinely wonder if they actually believe it, or if the consultant who wrote that page of the binder honestly believes it.
So yes, Trump lacks substance. But then again, so do the rest of these so-called "conservatives". The only difference is that in the afternoon before the debate, these guys are cramming 500 pages of prepared answers and Trump is out playing a round of golf.
@Geoff King, I agree with you. If anything, I'm closest to being a libertarian, and haven't formally been a Republican since the mid-'80s, when I could no longer stand watching the squishy weasels work to undermine Reagan. The only difference between today's GOP and the Democrats is that the GOP is willing to work with the Democrats in the name of "getting along" while we continue the slow, painful slide towards socialist mediocrity and irrelevancy. The Democrats never give up ground like the GOP does. Why else is it that we've have GOP administrations for roughly 2/3rds of the last 45 years, and yet today we're more closer to being a mediocre socialist nation than ever?
And quite frankly, if the election were to be held today and my choice was Jeb Bush or Bernie Sanders, I'd definitely vote for whoever the Libertarian is. Yeah, that's probably really a vote for Sanders. But at least Sanders isn't transparently a crook and honestly believes his shtick, as extreme as it is. Either way, a Bush or Sanders presidency is still a walk towards bigger government and less freedom. The only question is the speed.
Great minds! My latest P'shop features Trump as the giant, bloated floating head of Oz, too.
As to our clockmaker, had he merely brought the device in to show his engineering teacher, as he claimed, there would not have been any problem. But, when he plugged it in to a wall outlet in his English class, where it started making noise ( a prerequisite for electric clocks), it demonstrated disruptive behavior at best.
@Geoff King, While the lesser of two evils is still evil, the corollary is that the lesser of two evils is still the lesser evil.
The chances of shredding the Iran nuclear deal with any Republican as president is more than 90%; with 'The Bern', @2%; with Cankles, 0%. The same chances for the repeal of Obama(don't)care, getting the border sealed, and any number of things that Dear Leader has foisted upon us.
So if you can't support the Rep nominee, the ultimate result of voting for the 'pure of heart' candidate will result in giving the greater evil one more vote. We can see how that worked out in 2012. Can anyone honestly say that we would be worse off with a President Romney? Thanks to those who stayed at home in Nov 2012, we will never know (although my guess is 'probably not').
Speaking from years of experience as an electronic technician, if the above photo is actually the clock in question, the kid did nothing more than take the guts out of a $10 Walmart digital clock and mount them in a case of some kind. He definitely did not construct the factory assembled printed circuit board. The fact that it has a connector for a 9 volt battery (for memory backup) as well as a 120 volt a.c. cord, suggests that it is nothing more than the cheapest of alarm clocks. Bomb detonators are generally battery operated and self-contained, with no need to plug into house current. Also, if the device is what I suspect, it would be very difficult to turn it into an ignition timer. He'd be better off sticking a fuse connected to explosives into the butt end of a lit cigarette.
Dittos to NVRick. The lesser of 2 evils IS lesser. I believe 2012 was lost because of non-voters, 3rd party voters, dead voters, double voters, lofos, and biased media. This country can't afford a repeat of that to happen this time. Also, I watched all 3 painful hours of the "debate" and heard a lot of strong answers some of which seemed honest and original.
@ NVRick and my sis: So, your justification for voting for the lesser of two evils is that it will postpone the inevitable because Republicans don't appear to be destroying this once great nation at the alarming rate of the Democrats? I hope you can rationalize that position with our children and grand children who will inheirit the mess we allowed to happen by hoping the guy who spent the most money to buy our votes will actually live up to his campaign promises.
On the other hand, the position could be made that at this point in history - with a general awakening of citizens to how much they have been lied to and abused by the government - the worst evil, whoever SHE may be, could be the catalyst to start a revolution to restore our republic in our lifetimes, thereby leaving a much better world for our progeny.
Pam Geller, writing at Breitbart, has made a good case the whole "clock" incident was a set up (http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/17/ahmed-mohamed-and-the-islamophobia-clock/). Apparently, this kid's father has a history to faking "islamophobia" incidents.
@ Geoff...apparently you didn't watch the "debate" and hear some of the answers. There were some real solutions there. And not all of the candidates are politicians. Three were not, 3 are senators, and 5 were or are Governors who have some experience running a state. They're all intelligent and know we're in trouble. Some may continue the status quo, but until the lofos standing in line for their free bread and circuses find out that someone has to pay for their free stuff, the status quo will continue. We're in such bad shape now that you may be right about a revolution but that's not something I want to live through. Letting a liberal/socialist/Marxist run things for another 8 years isn't going to help anything. Going against your country is not an easy thing to do. BTW some of the worst answers came from Rand Paul.
Just another opportunity for Øbama to vilify the police and bolster is islamic allies. Nothing (new) to see here. Move along...
@Judi: No, I did not watch the debate (but have read many analyses on it), as it consisted mainly of CNN orchestrated questions about favorite colors and other nonsense. That said, the candidates which actually tried to raise valid points were given limited time or simply ignored. The entite debacle was meaningless, as the elite class who own the media will decide who the front runner was and who will be running. We the people have no more say in who the candidates will be than a sheep has a say in when it will next be sheared.
@ Geoff....Yes, it was an orchestrated debacle and the candidates who had valid points were ignored. And yes, the elites will decide who the front runner is but they all are better than the things the dems. are running.
The clock looks like the guts of some electronic alarm clock partially mounted in a attache case. clearly not a bomb, there is no explosives, but it is weird that he (or someone) took the trouble to mount the display and not mount the rest of the guts. I am disappointed that the young man didn't make a clock out of a raspberry pi, or an Arduino. What he did is not impressive, even for a young boy.
However, I think your cartoon was in really bad taste and displayed out of context (such as it is on rense.com) it will not help your cause.
@Anonymous- A couple of points. It seems increasingly likely that this was a deliberate act of provocation. The kid didn't "invent" doodly-squat...he simply rearranged existing components in a suspicious looking way. And when authorities questioned him, CAIR was almost immediately involved, and the "attaboy" came from the White House with blinding speed.
As far as the cartoon being in bad taste, either I don't follow you or you don't get the cartoon. Per the accompanying editorial, the cartoon shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon killers. For Obama (and the left-leaning media) to mock people who question an "innocent-looking" Muslim kid with a suspicious-looking device means that the future Tsarnaevs are going to find their jobs a lot easier.
The cartoon makes no statement at all about Ahmed Mohammed; it DOES make a statement about Obama.
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