It’s Monday, March 18th, 2013…and while you’re recovering from St. Patrick’s Day, enjoy the latest edition of The Gouge!

First up, long-time Dimocratic operative Ted Van Dyke describes…

My Unrecognizable Democratic Party

The stakes are too high, please get serious about governing before it’s too late.

 

As a lifelong Democrat, I have a mental picture these days of my president, smiling broadly, at the wheel of a speeding convertible. His passengers are Democratic elected officials and candidates. Ahead of them, concealed by a bend in the road, is a concrete barrier.

They didn’t have to take that route. Other Democratic presidents have won bipartisan support for proposals as liberal in their time as some of Mr. Obama’s are now. Why does this administration seem so determined to head toward a potential crash and burn? (Not to mention taking the country with them.)

Even after the embarrassing playout of the Obama-invented Great Sequester Game, after the fiasco of the president’s Fiscal Cliff Game, conventional wisdom among Democrats holds that disunited Republicans will be routed in the 2014 midterm elections, leaving an open field for the president’s agenda in the final two years of his term. Yet modern political history indicates that big midterm Democratic gains are unlikely, and presidential second terms are notably unproductive, most of all in their waning months. Since 2012 there has been nothing about the Obama presidency to justify the confidence that Democrats now exhibit.

Mr. Obama was elected in 2008 on the basis of his persona and his pledge to end political and ideological polarization. His apparent everyone-in-it-together idealism was exactly what the country wanted and needed. On taking office, however, the president adopted a my-way-or-the-highway style of governance. He pursued his stimulus and health-care proposals on a congressional-Democrats-only basis. He rejected proposals of his own bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, which would have provided long-term deficit reduction and stabilized rapidly growing entitlement programs. He opted instead to demonize Republicans for their supposed hostility to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

No serious attempt—for instance, by offering tort reform or allowing the sale of health-insurance products across state lines—was made to enlist GOP congressional support for the health bill. It passed, but the constituents of moderate Democrats punished them: 63 lost their seats in 2010 and Republicans took control of the House.

Faced with a similar situation in 1995, following another GOP House takeover, President Bill Clinton shifted to bipartisan governance. Mr. Obama did not, then blamed Republicans for their “obstructionism” in not yielding to him.

Defying the odds, Mr. Obama did become the first president since Franklin Roosevelt to be re-elected with an election-year unemployment rate above 7.8%. Yet his victory wasn’t based on public affirmation of his agenda. Instead, it was based on a four-year mobilization—executed with unprecedented skill—of core Democratic constituencies, and on fear campaigns in which Mitt Romney and the Republicans were painted as waging a “war on women,” being servants of the wealthy, and of being hostile toward Latinos, African Americans, gays and the middle class. I couldn’t have imagined any one of the Democratic presidents or presidential candidates I served from 1960-92 using such down-on-all-fours tactics.

The unifier of 2008 became the calculated divider of 2012. Yes, it worked, but only narrowly, as the president’s vote total fell off sharply from 2008.

Other modern Democratic presidents have had much more success with very different governing strategies. In 1961-62, John Kennedy won Republican congressional and public support with the proposals of his Keynesian Council of Economic Advisers chairman, Walter Heller, to cut personal and business taxes “to get America moving again,” and for the global free movement of goods, services, capital and people.

In 1965, Lyndon Johnson had Democratic congressional majorities sufficient to pass any legislation he wanted. But he sought and received GOP congressional support for Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights, education and other Great Society legislation. He knew that in order to last, these initiatives needed consensus support. He did not want them re-debated later, as ObamaCare is being re-debated now.

Johnson got bipartisan backing for deficit reduction in 1967, when he learned that the deficit had reached an unthinkable $28 billion. Faced with today’s annual deficits of $1 trillion and federal debt between $16.7 and $31 trillion, depending on whether you count off-budget obligations, LBJ no doubt would appoint a bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission and use it to get a tax, spending and entitlements fix so that he could move on to the rest of his agenda. Bill Clinton took the same practical approach and got to a balanced federal budget as soon as he could, at the beginning of his second term.

These former Democratic presidents would also know today that no Democratic or liberal agenda can go forward if debt service is eating available resources. Nor can successful governance take place if presidential and Democratic Party rhetoric consistently portrays loyal-opposition leaders as having devious or extremist motives. We really are, as Mr. Obama pointed out in 2008, in it together. (Though, like every other pedestrian platitude he’s ever uttered, he didn’t mean it.)

It’s not too late for the president to take a cue from his predecessors and enter good-faith budget negotiations with congressional Republicans. A few posturing meetings with GOP congressional leaders will not suffice. President Obama’s hype about the horrors of fiscal-cliff and sequestration cuts, and his placing of blame on Republicans, have been correctly viewed as low politics. His approval ratings have plunged since the end of the sequestration exercise.

But time is running out for Democrats to get serious about governance. That concrete barrier—in the form of the 2014 midterm—lies just ahead on the highway, and they’re joy riding straight toward it.

We can only hope B. Hussein stays behind the wheel…and isn’t buckled up!

Our next item features someone who knows as little about the subject on which they’re pontificating as The Dear Misleader:

Parris Island leader says women can handle combat

 

Two thoughts occur to us; first, just as with The Obamao, being in command doesn’t make one a leader.  Second, and again, exactly like Obama, never having been there…

…how exactly would she know?!?  Why not ask Bo?  After all…

…at least he knows!

Since we’re on the subject of the absolutely unknowing and wholly-inexperienced, you tell us: were you still among our nation’s rapidly-dwindling number of allies, after reading the following two headlines…

U.S. beefs up West Coast missile defenses in face of N. Korea threat

Chuck Hagel Friday he would strengthen the country’s defenses against a possible attack by nuclear-equipped North Korea, fielding additional missile systems to protect the West Coast at a time of growing concern about the Stalinist regime.

 

 

US Scraps Final Phase of European Missile Shield

Chuck Hagel promised that NATO allies in Europe would see no difference to their level of protection as a result. Upgraded interceptors were to have been deployed in Poland to counter medium- and intermediate-range missiles, and potential threats from the Middle East.

 

…would you have the least bit of confidence you could still depend on America for protection, let alone believe…

…Chuck has any chance of getting up to speed?!?

Speaking of the unalterably ignorant…

Colleges say federal cuts could cause brain drain

 

For more on the subject of drained brains, we go back to the ranch with the leader-by-default of The Gang That Still Can’t Shoot Straight, who lately was heard to brilliantly observe…

Boehner says he ‘absolutely’ trusts Obama

 

Yeah…and…

Boehner: No US debt crisis right now, but it’s on the horizon

 

John Boehner: yet another reason we only contribute money to specific Conservative candidates, and never the RNC.

Meanwhile, whatever’s in Ohio’s water must be catching, as evidenced by today’s installment of the “Like Beauty, My Religion Only Goes Skin-Deep” segment, courtesy of a man whose situational morals and ethics were once but a a hairbreadth away from the GOP VP nomination:

Ohio Sen. Portman announces support for gay marriage

 

Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said Thursday that he now supports gay marriage because one of his sons is gay…“It’s a change of heart from the position of a father,” he told three reporters during the 45-minute session in his office. “I think we should be allowing gay couples the joy and stability of marriage.”

As a member of the House in 1996, Portman voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Portman said Thursday his evolution on the subject of gay marriage began in 2011 when his son, Will, then a freshman at Yale University, told his parents he was gay. Portman said he and his wife, Jane, were very surprised but also supportive.

The Enquirer said Portman talked to his pastor and to people on both sides of the gay marriage issue, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is opposed to gay marriage, and former Vice President Dick Cheney, who supports it. Cheney’s daughter is a lesbian.

Portman told reporters his previous views on marriage were rooted in his Methodist faith.

Roots which obviously didn’t run terribly deep.

For more on the subjects of “gay” and “Republican”, we turn to the latest attention-getting gambit from Lindsey Grahamnesty:

Sen. Graham claims Benghazi survivors ‘told to be quiet’ by administration

 

Spoken like a seriously wounded RINO sensing the Tea Party circling to feed on his worthless carcass in 2014.

And in the Environmental Moment, courtesy of Breitbart.com via Drudge, further proof RINO’s are the gift that keeps on giving…provided you’re a Liberal Dimocrat:

Obama Will Use Nixon-Era Law to Fight Climate Change

 

President Barack Obama is preparing to tell all federal agencies for the first time that they should consider the impact on global warming before approving major projects, from pipelines to highways. The result could be significant delays for natural gas- export facilities, ports for coal sales to Asia, and even new forest roads, industry lobbyists warn.

“It’s got us very freaked out,” said Ross Eisenberg, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, a Washington-based group that represents 11,000 companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Southern Co. (SO) The standards, which constitute guidance for agencies and not new regulations, are set to be issued in the coming weeks, according to lawyers briefed by administration officials.

In taking the step, Obama would be fulfilling a vow to act alone in the face of a Republican-run House of Representatives unwilling to pass measures limiting greenhouse gases. He’d expand the scope of a Nixon-era law that was first intended to force agencies to assess the effect of projects on air, water and soil pollution.

Tricky Dick; like Bushes I & II, John McCain and the Jelly-of-the-Month Club…

Turning to the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” segment, we learn the Department of Injustice is hot on the trail of another crime of epic proportions:

Bribery Allegations Surfaced Against WSJ in China

The Justice Department last year opened an investigation into allegations that employees at The Wall Street Journal’s China news bureau bribed Chinese officials for information for news articles.

 

Yeah…

On the Lighter Side…

Finally, in another sordid story ripped from the pages of the Crime Blotter…

Man accused of killing woman, raping child in New York mall carjacking

 

Police have accused a man of fatally stabbing a school librarian and raping her child after carjacking them at a central New York mall. They say the woman was leaving a gymnastics class with her 10-year-old daughter when the attacker stopped them at the mall in Clay at about 9 p.m. Thursday.

 Troopers say 29-year-old David Renz raped the girl and killed the woman in the Syracuse suburb. The girl managed to escape. Trooper Jack Keller said Friday that the woman died Thursday night and the child is hospitalized. Renz, of Cicero, has been charged with murder, rape and kidnapping. It wasn’t initially known if he has a lawyer.

Now, more importantly, as the late, great Paul Harvey would have said, the rest of the story:

Accused killer David Renz outsmarted electronic monitoring system before police say he raped child, killed librarian

 

A picture purportedly from Renz’s high school yearbook.

David J. Renz, the 29-year-old Cicero man charged with stabbing a school librarian to death and raping a 10-year-old girl, knew his way around technology. He outsmarted the ankle bracelet that was supposed to keep the community safe while he was waiting to be tried on child pornography charges.

And when federal agents took his computer because they suspected there was child pornography on it in June, they had to go back to Renz in November and ask him for a key because information was encrypted.

Before Renz attacked 47-year-old Lori A. Bresnahan and a 10-year-old girl in the Great Northern Mall parking lot Thursday night, he deactivated the ankle bracelet he was fitted with when federal authorities released him from custody in January on child pornography charges. The monitoring company didn’t detect anything until Renz had already committed the crimes and was in police custody.

Renz, who has a computer science degree from SUNY Oswego, deactivated his ankle bracelet at 7 p.m., according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Fletcher. His curfew required him to stay at his mother’s house on Lakeshore Road.

Having had Mr. Renz released to once more wreak havoc upon them, New Yorkers must be thanking their Liberal lucky stars the Cuomo family has ensured this perverted predator, rather than meeting his maker, will be their guest for the next 50 or 60 years.

Magoo