The Patriot Post Chronicle 10-31-2012

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The Patriot Post Chronicle 10-31-2012
From The Federalist Patriot
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Does a Big Storm Require Big Government?

October 31, 2012

The Foundation

"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy." --Thomas Jefferson

Editorial Exegesis

"We know liberals are worried that President Obama might lose next week, but are they so panicky that they want to suggest even before [Hurricane Sandy] has passed that Mitt Romney and Republicans are against disaster relief? Apparently so. ... The liberals are excavating remarks from one of the early GOP debates. CNN's John King asked if 'the states should take on more' of a role in disaster relief as FEMA was running out of money. Mr. Romney: 'Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut -- we should ask ourselves the opposite question. What should we keep? We should take all of what we're doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we're doing that we don't have to do? And those things we've got to stop doing, because we're borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we're taking in.' This isn't an argument for abolishing FEMA so much as it is for the traditional federalist view that the feds shouldn't supplant state action. ... Citizens in the Northeast aren't turning on their TVs, if they have electricity, to hear Mr. Obama opine about subway flooding. They're tuning in to hear Governor Chris Christie talk about the damage to the Jersey shore, Mayor Mike Bloomberg tell them when bus service might resume in New York City, and Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy say when the state's highways might reopen. Energetic governors and mayors are best equipped to handle disaster relief because they know their cities and neighborhoods far better than the feds ever will, and they know their citizens will hold them accountable. ... The rush to use Hurricane Sandy to justify a bigger federal government makes us wonder if there's an excuse liberals won't use to grow Leviathan? The reality of the federal fisc is that whoever wins next Tuesday is going to have to choose between functions best done by the federal government and those that can be done better by others. A government that can't distinguish between a big storm and Big Bird is simply too big." --The Wall Street Journal1

Insight

"Government has become so vast and impersonal that its interests diverge more and more from the interests of ordinary citizens. For a generation and more, the government has sought to meet our needs by multiplying its bureaucracy. Washington has taken too much in taxes from Main Street, and Main Street has received too little in return. It is not necessary to centralize power in order to solve our problems." --Sen. George McGovern (1922-2012)

"One of the things that bothers me most is the growing belief in the country that security is more important than freedom. It ain't." --author and Reagan political consultant Lyn Nofziger (1924-2006)

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." --theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Upright

"The Obama administration created a wholly fictional storyline [on Benghazi], and devoted its full resources to maintaining it. I understand why Mitt Romney chose not to pursue this line of argument in the final debate. The voters who will determine this election are those who voted for Obama four years ago and this time round either switch to the other fellow or sit on their hands. In electoral terms, it's probably prudent of Mitt not to rub their faces in their 2008 votes. Nevertheless, when the president and other prominent officials stand by as four Americans die and then abuse their sacrifice as contemptuously as this administration did, decency requires that they be voted out of office as an act of urgent political hygiene." --columnist Mark Steyn

"The four Americans killed in Benghazi lived and died by the same code as thousands of Americans in Afghanistan. And that code overrode loyalty to one's own people in favor of appeasing Muslims. The two former SEALS broke that code, violating orders by going to protect the consulate and were abandoned in the field by an administration that prioritized Muslim opinions over American lives. From the post-American diplomatic perspective, the lives of a few Americans, who knew what they were getting into, was a small sacrifice to make when weighed against the potential of turning the entire Muslim world around." --columnist Daniel Greenfield

"America's mainstream media has shown little interest in the atrocities in Libya as it focuses on silly distractions like what Mitt Romney really, secretly, truly, in his little capitalist heart made of coal, may have meant when he used the incomplete phrase 'binders full of women' in the heat of an intense presidential debate. Not much media attention has focused on the fact that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handpicked chairman of the Department of State's investigation of the Benghazi atrocities is an apologist for Islamic terrorism who has a cozy relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism." --columnist Matthew Vadum

"Rude, insulting language about Romney ('bullsh----r') from the president. Vulgar sexual innuendo, aimed at seducing young women to vote for him. The vice president asking a bereaved parent about the size of his murdered son's testicles. It's quite a spectacle. ... I think [Obama's] cracking, and the inner nastiness and vulgarity are on display. He's losing, and he's angry, and he can no longer sustain the pretense of elegance and coolness. ... He thinks he is so charismatic, and so wonderful, that if we see him in all his splendor, we will love him as he so loves himself." --columnist Michael Ledeen

Demo-gogues

Marching orders: "The conversations that I've had with all the governors indicate that at this point there are no unmet needs. I think everybody is taking this very seriously. We've got pre-positioned all the resources that we need. But right now the key is to make sure that the public is following instructions." --Barack Obama

Exactly why voters should send you packing: "We're going to have a full agenda in the second four years, but people shouldn't underestimate how much we can get done." --Barack Obama

Government knows best: "We should have one Secretary of Business, instead of nine different departments that are dealing with things like giving loans to SBA or helping companies with exports. There should be a one-stop shop." --Barack Obama

Cover up: "Any time a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans who were serving our country get killed, we have to figure out what happened and fix it. But I do take offense with some suggestion that, in any way, we haven't tried to make sure that the American people knew as the information was coming in what we believed." --Barack Obama

Tough job when you're not doing it: "It's hard to negotiate additional treaties when I'm off campaigning and doing all kinds of stuff." --Obama explaining why he told Russia's Dimitri Medvedev he'd have "more flexibility" following the election

Illiterate: "I'm drawing a blank on the Second Amendment, but I think it's the weapons, isn't it? The NRA? ... Why in the hell do we have to have machine guns? And don't touch that, because NRA will come and put you on the black list." --Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX)

Math is hard: "You can't erase what you've already done. [Republicans] voted to extend tax cuts for the very wealthy, giving a $500 trillion [sic] tax cut to 120,000 families." --Joe Biden

Concerned Harry is concerned: "My concern is that Karl Rove and 17 angry old white men are trying to buy the election. And that's the truth." --Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the consummate angry old white man