Time for Thorns

The C.I.A. has screwed up  big time in Lebanon and Iran.   You can pink a large chunk of this failure on progressives   —   people like Sen. Chuck Schumer who decreed that we shouldn’t deal with bad people in order to spy on other bad people.   Please read the entire piece,  because you need to know that the same people in the C.I.A. who tried to destroy Pres. George Bush, and who did succeed in driving out Porter Goss,  the man he appointed to clean it up,  are still there,  still slick, and still running their own fiefdom.

Do you remember that Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld ramped up U.S. Army Intelligence the instant he was appointed?   Don’t you imagine such a smart,  savvy man had a damned good reason for doing so beyond the Clinton Administration having built firewalls among all the intelligence agencies to blind them?

The only thing which strikes me as odd is that the alleged spies haven’t already been publicly executed.   Perhaps Hezbollah thinks it can use the weakness of His Oneness to gain some advantage.   Meanwhile,  add spycraft to the list of things the federal government doesn’t do well.

And tells us why in  blistering terms.

Joseph Lawler responds to a New York Times piece blaming George Bush for every bit of the deficit by pointing out  where it started.

If  this poll  is correct,  voters are indeed stupid and His Oneness is making very good use of his bully pulpit.

John Miller has a  sharp post  up at The Corner on His Oneness using a football analogy regarding Osama bin Laden.   I agree with Miller,  but additionally I find Obama’s statement just another example of  his refusal to use “win” and “victory” when speaking of war and terrorism.

I saw Debra Burlingame  on TV a  few hours ago,  and she was among the 9/11 families who met with His Oneness at Ground Zero. She pointed  out to the President that AG Holder has still not ended the investigation of  the C.I.A. case officers  —   you know,  the guys who got the information which ultimately led to bin Laden’s demise.    After acknowledging he couldn’t tell Holder what to do,  she asked Obama if he would give Holder his opinion that  the matter should be dropped.   He said “No,” and walked away.    There is no logic in preening that you have killed bin Laden while refusing to end the persecution against those who put you in a position to get Osama.   George W. Bush  was correct  to decline the invitation.

I think that sums up nicely Obama’s weakness   –   he always wants to be close enough to the front to claim credit for a success,  yet far enough behind to avoid blame for failure.    Obama is not cautious,  cool and cerebral,  but calculating in the extreme.    Right and wrong are plebeian moral norms which he believes do not apply to him,  which is why he lies so easily and so often.

UPDATE:   More on the  visit  of His Oneness to Ground Zero.

The Bush White House did not release its visitor logs.   The Obama White House trots that out as a defense whenever someone finds out that an awful  lot of people  apparently don’t sign the visitor log.

His Oneness is absolutely committed to openness and transparency  — except when he’s not  Having his mouthpiece try to pin the blame   for the glaring omissions is starting to wear a trifle thin even with the adoring D.C. press corps.

Andrew Klavan has made  a video which mercilessly bashes His Oneness and the MSM.   It’s worth a few minutes of your time.

h/t Jonah Goldberg at The Corner.

From the ever-alert NewsBusters we learn that as of July 1,  getting within 65 feet of what the Coast Guard determines are essential recovery efforts will be a Class D felony,   punishable by a fine of up to $40,000.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper was  already furious about his team being blocked last week,  comparing such treatment to the Bush Administration’s similar actions during Katrina.   Except there were no such restrictions for Katrina…

Congressional Democrats  have blocked an amendment which would guarantee the press access to the Gulf spill.

George W. Bush tried for years to get Congress to agree to the Colombian trade deal,  but Democrats would have none of it.  Canada has now signed a very favorable agreement,  and we still haven’t.

Given that Colombia’s new president,   Juan Carlos Santos,  was elected in a  69%/27% landslide,   and is conservative and pro-American,   I’m betting there will be no USA trade agreement until a Republican president takes office.   His Oneness has a penchant for treating  our allies badly.

Some  small business owners in Minnesota have found a deliciously creative means of expressing their displeasure with the Democratically controlled government in Washington.