One lesson, I think, is that responsible citizens tend to behave like responsible citizens, even if — or perhaps especially if — they’re armed. Another lesson is that the national political dialogue can be totally irrelevant to what really happens in American life.
For the Democrat staffers, the best I can do for them is remind them that Intel is working on an 8nm fabrication process to produce a nano-violin small enough to play for them.
- The Vodkapundit, commenting on how Capitol Hill is having its own Obamacare sign-up troubles.
You demonstrate “empathy” by being a Democrat, especially a minority Democrat. As a Republican, you can only demonstrate “empathy” by agreeing with Democrats’ demands, preferably accompanying that agreement with an apology for your own existence.
- Instapundit, commenting on media double standards.
“Well, it’s not personal,” Llodra said. “But we truly are hoping we have provided enough opportunity with the print media and the TV media and particularly the local media to answer questions and give the media the story that I know that the world’s going to want to hear on the first anniversary. We’re hoping when you leave here today at 12:00 noon or whenever you leave our community, that you have what you need to satisfy your producers. So that when we say to you, ‘Please don’t come,’ I mean, please respect our need to be alone and to be quiet and have that personal time to continue on our journey of grief in a way that serves us.”
- Newtown, CT First Selectman Patricka Llodra regarding the Anniversary of the Massacre.
On the stage with all the regular heads of state was President-For-Life Robert Mugabe, a glowering reminder of what exactly the big deal is about the man they're planting today: Say whatever you will about the state of South Africa today, it could have been Much, Much Worse.
- Tam, commenting on Mandela's funeral.
Let’s hope this little boy is warned ahead of time to not present a Valentine card to a little girl lest it bear the image of Cupid’s heart with a dangerous ARROW though it.
- Commenter Joy, regarding this post on 6 year-old boys who are sexual harassers.
Can’t we be more modest? Can’t we acknowledge the accomplishments of the past without presuming either that we stand in the shoes of the greats as we fight over incredibly complex and difficult economic and cultural challenges? Can’t we hold to our own ideals while acknowledging at the very least the virtuous intentions of our opponents?Hands-down, this is the week's clear winner comes from the New York Post:
- David French on Obama's Speech at Mandela's Funeral
Maybe he went into sugar shock over a Danish pastry.
Hat tip to Weasel Zippers for this gem regarding our president's behavior at Mandela's funeral.
The president’s belief that little of what he does is ideologically driven suggests he is living with a pampered, unchallenged mind. He has been told he is so smart for so long that he sees only clarity in his actions and unchallengeable reason in his conclusions. The president’s belief in his own intellect makes him think that whatever he does is simply the only thing a thinking person would do. Nothing ideological about that. And as president, he is constantly flattered, and his confidence that his analysis and conclusions are superior to others is readily reinforced. Presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett tells us that Obama has been “bored to death his whole life.” Perhaps she is onto something. I guess there is something ho-hum and tiresome about being right all the time.
- Ed Rogers in his piece, The Insiders: Why would Obama say he is not ideological?
The necessity of "navigators" ought to be the first indicator that your law is unredeemably full of suck. Just sayin'.
- Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) December 2, 2013 ---
Despite the fact that I once voted for President Obama, personal admiration is no substitute for the constitutional principles at stake in this controversy. When a president claims the inherent power of both legislation and enforcement, he becomes a virtual government unto himself. He is not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system; he becomes the very danger that the Constitution was designed to avoid…
- Jonathan Turley in his written statement, "The President's Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws" Hat tip to Neoneocon
Central to the leftist's sense of vanity is his mistaken belief that he is an elevated person, in taste, intellect, and culture. In fact, he is none of these things. In almost all cases, he actually aspires to mediocrity -- or at least he would aspire to mediocrity, if he weren't already so convinced he had nothing else to prove to the world.
- Ace, commenting on Martin Bashir's ouster at MSNBC
We reduced Japan to a pile of radioactive smoking rubble in 1,346 days. It's now Day 1,355 and, despite promises to do likewise to the healthcare system, they're still working on it. The FDR administration built almost a hundred working aircraft carriers faster than the Obama administration has managed to build one working website.
- Tam
Fine, Demo-chicken-shits; do your end-around. It doesn’t matter because in 2014 you will face the full backlash of your vote against freedom and the natural right of self-preservation.And the Instapundit makes this observation over the California bullet train boondoggle:
Big government self-derails. Opponents of big government should take a cue from environmentalists, and seize every available opportunity — and there will be many — for legal monkey-wrenching.And, this weeks winner is:
“President Obama has offered no solutions to help the millions of American families who are losing the good health care plans that they liked,” Scalise said. “This hollow press conference was like a person who burned down your house, later showing up with an empty bucket and talking about how inadequate your house was before the fire."
- Republican Study Committee Chairman Steve Scalise. Hat tip to George Will, who goes on to state, "At least he [Obama] has banished boredom from millions of lives. Although probably not from his."
There will soon be 3 parties operating in D.C.(not in name). Republicans, Democrats, and Democrats who want to get reelected. The third group will ally itself with Republicans on this issue. The so called Republican civil war will soon look rather tame in comparison.We can certainly hope.
“I am not here as a serf or vassal. I am not begging my lords for mercy. I’m a born free American woman, wife, mother and citizen. And I’m telling my government that you’ve forgotten your place. It’s not your responsibility to look out for my well-being, and to monitor my speech. It’s not your right to assert an agenda. Your post, the post that you occupy, exists to preserve American liberty. You’ve sworn to perform that duty. And you have faltered.”Or, as the Instapundit calls it:
THE SPIRIT THAT WASHINGTON FEARS AND DESPISES
Executive Mansion, Washington, November 21, 1864.Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts:Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.Yours very sincerely and respectfully,Abraham Lincoln
"We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."
-- Benjamin Franklin
"Endeavor to persevere."Without following the link, anyone know the quote?
