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| Chronicle · May 18, 2011 The Foundation"There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration of virtue." --John Adams Editorial Exegesis"The Republican Presidential campaign is off to a slow start, but judging by the last week not slow enough. First Mitt Romney defends his ObamaCare prototype in Massachusetts, and now Newt Gingrich has decided to run against House Republicans on Medicare. They must be loving this at the White House. Asked on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday about Paul Ryan's reform plan, Mr. Gingrich chose to throw his former allies in the GOP House not so much under the bus as off the Grand Canyon rim. The Ryan program 'is too big a jump,' he said. 'I think what you want to have is a system where people voluntarily migrate to better outcomes, better solutions, better options. Not one where you suddenly impose upon you -- I don't want to -- I -- I'm against ObamaCare, which is imposing radical change. And I would be against a conservative imposing radical change.' ... Our guess is that a politician as experienced as Mr. Gingrich knew exactly what he was doing and that as he runs for President, he wants to appear to be more moderate than he has sounded over the last, oh, 20 years, by suddenly triangulating against the GOP House he once led. ... The irony is that Mr. Gingrich's own history of political failure on health care has made Mr. Ryan's proposals all the more necessary. ... Yet now he is trashing Mr. Ryan for thinking far more deeply about health care, and in a far more principled fashion, than Mr. Gingrich ever has. The episode reveals the Georgian's weakness as a candidate, and especially as a potential President-to wit, his odd combination of partisan, divisive rhetoric and poll-driven policy timidity. ... Mr. Ryan speaks softly but proposes policies commensurate with America's problems. Mr. Gingrich speaks loudly but shrinks from hard choices. Who's the 'radical' and who's the real leader?" --The Wall Street Journal Editor's Note: It's worth mentioning that Gingrich did call Ryan to apologize for his ill-advised remarks, and has done his best to recast the discussion. Will it work? Upright"Gingrich is very wedded to the idea that he should be on the majority side of every major public policy issue. That's why he believes in framing policy questions so they become '70-30 issues' ... i.e. issues where he's on the side of 70 percent of Americans against the 30 percent 'elite.' As a political formula, there's much to recommend this. But there are a couple problems as well. First, simply rephrasing the issues so that 70 percent of those polled agree with you is not the same thing as actually finding a policy that a super-majority of the public will rally behind (or get through Congress). Polarizing rhetoric does not automatically yield support for polarized policy. So that's why -- or at least partly why -- Gingrich 'frames' things in such stark terms while adhering to fairly timid policies." --columnist Jonah Goldberg "So here's the question for 2012: If we the people don't want the higher taxes that are needed to support not only ObamaCare but a growing federal government, are we willing to support the real cuts that go along with that choice? And if we decide we don't want these programs touched, will we accept the higher taxes that go along with keeping them, including for people making a lot less than $250,000?" --columnist William McGurn "In the real world, debt ceilings are determined by the lenders, not the borrowers. In March, Pimco (which manages the world's largest mutual fund) calculated that 70 percent of U.S. Treasury debt is being bought by the Federal Reserve. So under the 2011 budget, every hour of every day, the United States government spends $188 million it doesn't have, $130 million of which is 'borrowed' from itself. There's nobody else out there. In other words, however Congress votes, we're rubbing up against the real debt ceiling -- the willingness of the world to continue bankrolling American debauchery." --columnist Mark Steyn "The sane among us recognize that in a free society, income is neither taken nor distributed; for the most part, it is earned. Income is earned by pleasing one's fellow man. The greater one's ability to please his fellow man, the greater is his claim on what his fellow man produces. Those claims are represented by the number of dollars received from his fellow man. ... What's the case for being forced to give anything back? If one wishes to be charitable, that's an entirely different matter. ... If anyone is obliged to give something back, they are the thieves and recipients of legalized theft, namely people who've used Congress, including America's corporate welfare queens, to live at the expense of others. When a nation vilifies the productive and makes mascots of the unproductive, it doesn't bode well for its future." --economist Walter E. Williams Insight"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious." --Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) "Now those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth, and let me remind you they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyranny." --Sen. Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) The Demo-goguesThe "step up" solution: "We've got a lot more work to do to get businesses to invest and to hire. It's going to take us several years for us to get back where we need to be. It is time for companies to step up. American taxpayers contributed to that process of stabilizing the economy. Companies have benefited from that, and they're making a lot of money, and now's the time for them to start betting on American workers and American products." --Barack Obama, who's never held a real job Bring back that lovin' feeling: "When you think back to these last two and a half years, I want you to do so not with complacency, not with full satisfaction, but I want it to motivate you. Don't let people tell you that we can't bring about change. We have already brought about change. ... We're just a quarter of the way through. We've got to finish our task." --Barack Obama Redefining terms: "When we're talking about Medicare, let me be very clear because we are open to many, we're listening to every suggestion, but one suggestion we are not open to is the abolishment of Medicare and that's what the Republicans have put forth in their budget.... Every initiative that we have where federal dollars are spent must be subjected to scrutiny to make sure we're getting our money's worth and the public is well served. But abolishing Medicare, that is not on the table." --House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Deal with the devil: "Now that the U.S. has reached the debt limit [Monday], it is past time for Republicans to get serious and work with Democrats to ensure our nation pays its bills while laying out a path to reduce the deficit. The longer we wait to take responsible action, the more damaging it is to our economy. ... By choosing to hold the economy hostage by risking a default on our nation's debt, Republicans are endangering our economic recovery." --House Demo Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) DezinformatsiaAn argument on its head: "If the president and his allies operate on the principle that failure to raise the debt ceiling is an unthinkable outcome, to be avoided at all cost, then they have ceded all power to those willing to bring that outcome about. In effect, they will have ripped up the Constitution and given control over America's government to a party that only controls one house of Congress, but claims to be willing to bring down the economy unless it gets what it wants." --New York Times columnist Paul Krugman Class warfare: "In essence, Republicans would break up the population between an I've Got Mine segment and The Left Behinds. ... Give the Republicans credit for honesty and showing their true colors. And their plan is at least a starting point compared with those Tea Party political illiterates who waved signs urging government to keep its hands off their government health care. ... There is a very simple way to make Medicare whole through the end of this century, far less complicated, and more of a bargain in the long run than the bizarre Ryan plan. Raise taxes." --New York Times correspondent Timothy Egan Border insecurity: "[Barack Obama] got two-thirds of the Hispanic vote in 2008. He may get it up to four-fifths because he's the most prominent official on the Democratic side talking pro-comprehensive immigration. And you have Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona, the most prominent Republican official on the other side, sending out very negative attitudes when it comes to Hispanics. So I think, sure, there's a political benefit here for the president." --Newsweek's Eleanor Clift Hate speech: "Why on earth would anyone marry someone, hitch up with them because of hatred? Well, this is the exact problem of the Republican Party today. It got married, hitched up politically with the Tea Party. But, not because the Tea Party loves the Republican Party. Don't even think about that happening this week. No, the marriage between the Republicans and the Tea Party is based on hatred, hatred of government, hatred of the Democrats, hatred of Barack Obama." --MSNBC's Chris Matthews Newspulper Headlines:Easier Than Being a Messiah Like Obama: "Bush Says He Still Prefers to Be a Saint" --Associated Press 'I Want to Spike the Football!': "Obama to GOP: Stop Moving Goalposts on Immigration Reform" --TheHill.com Teresa Told Him She Needed Her Space: "Kerry to Visit Pakistan to Get Relationship on 'Right Track'" --TheHill.com Questions Nobody Is Asking: "Will Christ Return May 21?" --Atlanta Journal-Constitution Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking: "Why Zombie Ants Infected by Mind-Controlling Fungus Always Kill Themselves at High Noon" --Daily Mail (London) Bottom Story of the Day: "Health Care Costs Continue to Rise" --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)
Village IdiotsDemanding more debt: "Even a short-term default could cause irrevocable damage to the economy. ... A default on Treasury debt could lead to concerns about the solvency of the investment and financial institutions that hold Treasury securities in their portfolios, which could cause a run on money market mutual funds and the broader financial system. ... A default would call into question the status of Treasury securities as a cornerstone of the financial system, potentially squandering this unique role and the economic benefits that come with it." --Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Loving Obama: "I mean, what [Obama] inherited as a president -- [Republicans] can't blame him for anything because they created all of the trouble for him. I think he's fine. I think he's great. What's wrong with having an intelligent man as president?" --Grammy award-winning singer Tony Bennett Publicity stunt: "I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election. I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector." --Donald Trump announcing that he's firing himself from a run for president Short Cuts"The public relations campaign for President Obama's latest revival of 'immigration reform' makes one thing crystal clear: This is not, and never has been, about homeland security. This is not, and never has been, about economic security. It's about political security, plain and cynical." --columnist Michelle Malkin "Illegal immigration has dropped not because of better law enforcement efforts, but because the Obama economy is so poor that even people trying to escape drug-related beheadings aren't trying to jump the border anymore." --columnist Ben Shapiro "President Obama courted Hispanics Tuesday, offering citizenship to anyone who will register, pay their back taxes and learn English. The president and the crowd share an unbreakable bond. They all bought their birth certificates in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles." --comedian Argus Hamilton "There's talk in Hollywood about doing another 'Mad Max' movie, where gas is so expensive that people steal and kill to get it. It takes place sometime in the future -- like July." --comedian Jay Leno Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
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