The Super Majority

Gingrich: Obama ‘Underestimating’ Difficulty of War Against Terrorism

Few dispute that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 represents a major breach of U.S. security and intelligence systems. But assigning blame for the thwarted Christmas Day attack depends on whom you ask in the highly polarized political climate.
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Former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich laid blame for the Dec. 25 incident at the feet of Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on “Good Morning America” today, saying “there’s a fundamental mismatch between the dangers we face and this administration’s inability … to confront how difficult this war is.”

Gingrich, who insists the United States is “in a war situation,” criticized the Obama administration’s plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, repatriate some detainees to Yemen and try others in U.S. criminal courts. “This is just not competent,” he said.

Read the Full Article at ABC News

Climate Folly

Has there ever been a more pitiful example of misguided nonsense, aggressive idiocy and functional stupidity than last week’s climate change conference in Copenhagen?

The weeklong orgy of excess — to which most participants arrived in plush, carbon-emitting private jets and were shuttled around in limos — was nothing more than another leftist shakedown of wealthy nations on behalf of “developing” countries. This time in the name of saving the planet.

Promoting panic in the name of global warming is the Trojan horse for those who seek to overhaul the world economy by subverting capitalism and advancing collectivism. There is absolutely no evidence that mandating strict carbon emission standards will do anything at all to solve the perceived problem. Instead, we were treated to another U.N. gathering at which Third World hacks such as Hugo Chavez are applauded while Western ideals are dismissed and derided.

Read the Full Article at Las Vegas Review-Journal

Obama Employs Fear Tactics of Bankrupt US without Obamacare

President Obama told ABC News’ Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government “will go bankrupt.”

The president laid out a dire scenario of what will happen if his health care reform effort fails.

Obama “If we don’t pass it, here’s the guarantee….your premiums will go up, your employers are going to load up more costs on you,” he said. “Potentially they’re going to drop your coverage, because they just can’t afford an increase of 25 percent, 30 percent in terms of the costs of providing health care to employees each and every year.”

Read the Full Article at ABC News

Progressives Take on Rahm

Progressives have put the pressure on Democratic lawmakers boldly, at times, during the health care debate, but this goes a shade further, taking aim at the White House: the Progressive Campaign Change Committee has released a TV ad attacking White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, to air in his hometown of Chicago.

Emanuel is seen as a driving force behind the White House’s push to compromise with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and remove the provision in the Senate health reform bill to let 55-64 year-olds buy into Medicare–the bone that was thrown to progressives when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s public-option provision was stripped from the bill.

Read the Full Article with Video at The Atlantic

Gitmo Prisoners Moving to Illinois

WASHINGTON — Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, the White House plans to announce Tuesday that the government will acquire an underutilized state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo.

Administration officials as well as Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will make an official announcement at the White House.

Officials from both the White House and Durbin’s office confirmed that President Barack Obama had directed the government to acquire Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a sleepy town near the Mississippi River about 150 miles from Chicago.

Read the Full Article at Fox News

NFL Piles Mountains of Greenbacks Behind GOP

NFL owners, team officials, players and coaches have overwhelmingly favored Republicans with their political contributions, according to a study released Thursday by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The report, which reviewed contributions dating back to 1989, found that combined contributions from players, owners and officials on 22 of the 32 National Football League teams have given more cash to Republicans than Democrats, and that several teams have given more than 90 percent of their contributions to the GOP.

The San Diego Chargers blew away the rest of the field with $2,455,200 in total money contributed, with most of that coming from team owner Alex Spanos, who has given more than $2 million, almost all of it to Republicans.

Read the full article at POLITICO

Obama’s European Energy Vacation

President Barack Obama hopscotched through Europe last month, partly to cement partnerships on energy cooperation and climate change. At nearly every stop on his Grand Tour, the president noted that the United States could learn a lot from Europe in terms of clean energy production and fighting global warming. He kept it up on his return, lamenting to an Earth Day crowd in Iowa that the United States gets less than 3 percent of our electricity from renewable energy, while Denmark generates almost 20 percent of its electricity from wind power.

Obama is absolutely right that we can learn a lot from the European approach to energy. But he is dead wrong on what those lessons are. We should study what the Europeans are doing with regard to energy and the environment, and then generally do the opposite. Sadly, indications are that the Obama administration will ignore the accumulated evidence of Europe’s energy failings and instead emulate some of the worst aspects of policies across the pond.

Read the Full Article at Real Clear Politics

Obama Gets Schooled in Duel with Cheney

It was a tale of two speeches. One was clear, direct and powerful. Barack Obama gave the other speech.

It would have been heresy to write those words any other time, so commanding has President Obama been with the spoken word. But the real Mission Impossible was to imagine that wheezy old Dick Cheney would be the speaker to best Obama.

Yet that happened last week, and I predict it won’t be a fluke. From here on out, results will increasingly trump the sensation of Obama’s high-toned lectures every time.

Read the Full Article at NY Daily News

Will Media Notice Powell Defended Bush and Agreed with Cheney?

It seems a metaphysical certitude that in the wake of Colin Powell’s appearance on “Face the Nation” Sunday, most media outlets will pay great attention to the former Secretary of State’s response to what Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh have said about his questionable Party allegiance.

Here are some of the early headlines:

* Powell Still a Republican, Despite Party Differences — New York Times
* Powell to Republicans: Listen to moderates, too — Associated Press
* Powell Takes on Cheney, Limbaugh in Battle for Republican Party — Bloomberg

Unfortunately, in their fascination with conflict, the press could miss the most interesting part of this interview when Powell defended what George W. Bush did after the 9/11 attacks (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, relevant section at 12:20):

Read the Full Article at NewsBusters

Reid Joins Biden, Pelosi in Misstatements

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid became the latest Democrat to stray into rhetorical trouble Tuesday, botching statements on three subjects in one news conference—including the fragile health of the chamber’s most senior members.

The Nevada Democrat reported that one of them, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was absent because he was receiving a new round of treatment for his brain cancer. Asked if the cancer was in remission, Reid replied, “As far as I know, it is, yes.”

Kennedy’s office refused to confirm Reid’s comments or make any statement in response, the public silence a classic Washington disavowal.

Read the Full Article at BreitBart