Flattering Parade Magazine Spread on Hillary Clinton Let’s a Few Tidbits Drop About Her Situation

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Yesterday morning (Sunday, October 25) I opened the paper to find Parade magazine’s cover graced with a photo of a smiling Hillary Clinton. Reason? A 2-plus page spread entitled “A Day with Madam Secretary.”

Hillary Clinton on the cover of Parade magazine 10/25/09

The timing piqued my interest because just on Friday I had caught a discussion of Clinton on The McLaughlin Group.  Host John McLaughlin had outlined several successful Clinton initiatives that had been completed during the past week and wanted to discuss how important it all was…with a twist.  There have been rumors flying around about how Hillary is planning a 2012 run and how both Clintons are seething over what happened in 2008. While Pat Buchanan, Mort Zuckerman, and Eleanor Clift poo-pooed the idea, Monica Crowley held firm.

Zuckerman and Buchanan basically said that Hillary’s work wasn’t really “big” enough to get all that excited over and Clift brought up how, no matter how popular Teddy Kennedy was, he couldn’t derail the renomination of Jimmy Carter.  But Crowley, was sticking to chatter that she’s been hearing for awhile…that Hillary will resign over a foreign policy issue and launch another Presidential bid.  She won’t wait for 2016, either, when Crowley says she would be too old. No, the bid will come in 2012.

Take a look at the Parade piece. The piece is the work of Les Gelb, described this way:

Leslie H. Gelb is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and has served in senior positions in the Departments of State and Defense. He is the author of the book “Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy.”

What’s omitted from this bio is the fact was a long-time foreign policy writer for the New York Times. Just for the record…

The article is positively glowing, but there a few tidbits which raise one’s “suspicions”…

September 16
8:30 a.m. Daily Small Staff Meeting

The Secretary and six of her closest aides, including Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and Deputy Chief Huma Abedin, both of whom worked on her Presidential campaign, review the day’s schedule, looking for trouble and opportunities. They meet in Clinton’s small, personal office just behind her larger, formal quarters. Practically every day begins this way. They touch on various explosive international hot spots: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, North Korea. Though they don’t talk about it, they seem ever aware of President Barack Obama’s iron-handed control of decisions. One worry today: the President’s decision to cancel the U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe—a move bound to displease Poles, Czechs, and Republicans.

8:45 a.m. Daily Senior Staff Meeting

snip

Whatever subject comes up, Clinton calls on her practical instinct: “ We’ve got to do a better job explaining to people around the world what we’re doing.”

She manages to get to the White House to meet with Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada at 11:05; no report on the meeting which is off-limits to Gelb, then is back at State by 12:10 PM for ceremony for Senegalese diplomats.

During their lunch break, Gelb brings up the topic of a resignation directly:

1 p.m. Lunch With Leslie Gelb
We eat in the courtyard adjoining the State Department’s first-floor employee cafeteria. Diners gape as Clinton goes through the line, although she does this—most unusually for the nation’s top diplomat—nearly once a month. Many burst into applause.

We sit at a table away from the crowd. Clinton has a hard edge to her foreign-policy views and generally positions herself to the right of her colleagues in national security. Yet she staunchly defends President Obama and his prerogatives. While she’s “not satisfied that we’re executing as we should” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere, she nonetheless argues for continuing “present directions” in most areas. When I question whether the U.S. really has vital interests in Afghanistan, she shoots back that if we simply leave and allow the Taliban to return, al-Qaeda “would come right back, and we’d be worse off in Pakistan.” She continues: “Despite how hard Afghanistan is, we have to make progress. And what we do and what happens in Afghanistan will affect Pakistan.” Regarding Iran, she says, “We can’t choose negotiating partners in countries like Iran. So we’ve got to look for ways to change the perceptions of those we have to negotiate with.”

And what of the rumors, I venture, that she’s unhappy and may step down to run for governor of New York or her old Senate seat? She guffaws. “What nonsense! I love this job and working for President Obama and trying to do something about the critical problems we face in the world—and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Odd though, that Gelb should ostensibly limit the discussion to being governor of NY or running for the Senate again.  Why even bring these rumors up if they’re just rumors that most people don’t even care about?

Right after lunch, there’s this brief report:

2:15 p.m. U.S.-India Strategy Dialogue
Some 60 Executive Branch officials assemble to discuss strategy toward India—one of the new major powers in the world. Clinton stays briefly to bless the effort.

Seems like there’s really no need for Clinton to “bless” any effort when there are 60 EXECUTIVE BRANCH officials all gathered together, right?  Doesn’t Hillary have a role in this at all?

Winding up the day with a 7:30 PM policy dinner on Iran with some 30 experts from inside and outside the government, Gelb makes these final comments:

I scurry to catch the last flight back to New York. The Secretary, with her unfailing smile, repairs to her office for more calls and reading. It’s hard to read the mind of someone frozen in the public spotlight like Hillary Clinton. She has to be perpetually onstage. But what I think I glimpse beneath the unflagging smile and constant concentration is a very tired person—tense, frustrated, but absolutely determined to make her tenure as Secretary of State a success and to accomplish important things.

While this spread in Parade is flattering, one gets the sense of  how tightly Hillary is controlled by the White House and how she may be getting squelched on larger issues.

Frankly, I view Hillary Clinton as being the “finger in the dike” for U.S. foreign policy at this point.  Obama’s bowed to the Saudi leader. He’s squandered our prestige over a failed Olympic bid for Chicago, and he’s dithering on Afghanistan. (Note: France announced on October 15, 2009 it won’t be sending any more troops to Afghanistan). China may be drilling for oil in U.S. waters.  And let’s not forget to mention Obama’s prior rebuffed peace offerings toward Iran.   Hillary talks tougher than Obama does, but, unfortunately, she’s not the one in charge.

Meanwhile, some of our allies are less than pleased about Obama. France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, for example, thinks Obama is “incredibly naive and grossly egotistical.”  After Obama’s speech to the U.N. Security Council in late September (spun nicely here by the New York Times), Jack Kelly appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s show, but here’s link to the full piece he wrote on the subject entitled “Sarkozy’s Contempt for Obama”  (anonymous sources, unfortunately).

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Sarkozy thinks “Obama is incredibly n…“, posted with vodpod

While most world leaders dutifully praised the Nobel Prize awarded to Obama, the many were unimpressed. And there is some fraying around the edges lately, from both the right and the left. See and Obama the Impotent in the Guardian and Analysis: Why Everyone Is Saying No to Obama in the Jerusalem Post.  Obama is viewed as weak, no doubt about it.

I can’t imagine how Hillary Clinton keeps chugging along in this Administration and can fully understand her “frustration.” As for her desire to accomplish important things, she’s pushing against some forces that really don’t want her to get credit for anything “important.”  Heck, when you are up against 60 Executive Branch officials at a meeting on India and you don’t stay very long, what does that say about your position??

Whether Hillary Clinton is planning to take on Obama in the primaries for 2012 or not, there may just come a point where she really DOES decide to resign rather than to have her reputation ruined if Obama does something really stupid.  We’ll have to see, won’t we?

***

Earlier Related Posts:

The Complicated Diplomatic Life of Hillary Clinton (UPDATE 1X: Clinton on the Defensive in Congo over Bill’s “Presence”; UPDATE 2X: Bill Off the Leash?; UPDATE 3X: Video of Clinton Congo Outburst, Glenn Beck Comments) (August 10, 2009)

Hillary Clinton At It Again in Africa…This Time, Talking about Elections…(August 13, 2009)

China, the Treasury, and Real Estate (As in the New World Trade Center); Cross-Pollination:The New America Foundation/Council of Foreign Relations

Editor’s Note: Last week’s post, Russia-China Proposals; “Rebalancing” Global Currency Reserves: Why the U.S. Can’t Take Anything for Granted Re: the Dollar, inspired American Lassie to develop a few observations/opinions:

~~By American Lassie

China won’t be buying any more Treasury Bonds, for a while at least, because the yield is too low. Not enough bang for the buck. The Federal Reserve has been buying Treasury Bonds like a drunken sailor for a reason. To keep the yield low. They don’t want China to buy any more bonds, IMO. China has too great a strangle hold on America as it is. Bernanke and Geithner don’t want the people of America to buy bonds right now, another reason for keeping the yield low.

It is my opinion, and many people will differ with me on this, that Geithner and Bernanke want Americans to invest in stocks to help bolster Wall Street and the banks, and to buy, buy, buy durable goods to help move the economy along.

The plan being that if the banks are strengthened and do what they have been given all this bail-out money to do, they will lend more freely to make it possible for the people to buy these durable goods– cars, washing machines, refrigerators, household furniture, etc.  If they free up the money needed by business to continue producing these goods, there might be a slim chance that this thing could turn around. But if the banks continue to put the bail-out money where they have been putting it, it will be the same old same old.

It stands to reason that Americans won’t buy Treasury Bonds with such a low yield, especially when they have so little faith in their government.

***

China may not be in the market for any more Treasury Bonds because of the low yield, or the fear that the large investment they already have in the notes is losing their vallue. But this hasn’t prevented their continued buying and leasing of U.S. real estate.

The Vantone Industrial Co., Ltd, a Chinese real estate group has just become the first commercial tenant of the still under construction skyscraper to replace the Twin Towers destroyed on 9/11.

They have taken a 20-year lease on the top floors of the 70 floor building to begin when the building is completed. It is projected to be completed in 2013.

The floors 64 through 69 will be known as the China Center. Wonder what the 70th floor penthouse will be used for? Any guesses?

Vantone Industrial provided the Port Authority with a $10 million dollar letter of credit. What goes on here?

No more Treasury notes, but a real estate coompany establishing itself in the new trade center. This is indeed food for thought. Know thine enemy. Our intelligence people had better be on hand constantly while that 70th floor is under construction, and after, IMO.

Our government notes aren’t so valuable right now, but the soil of the United States is still coveted by many. What better way to keep your ears peeled than to set up shop on the top floors of the tallest building in the city.

http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?…&ref=1&src=rss

***

Regarding the 1st Bernard Schwartz Economic Policy Symposium sponsored by the New America Foundation (See this post for more details: A Reminder: Live Streaming of the First “Bernard L. Schwartz Economic Policy Symposium” Today (3/26) With a Rather Interesting Group & Agenda [To End “Fumbling” on Economic Policy]):

It’s important to note: “The Honorable Laura Tyson holds the Chair in Global Management and Public Policy, at the Haass School of Business at the U of C at Berkley.” (Haas being Richard Haass, the President of  The Council on Foreign Relations [CFR].)

I will point you to an article, (that I was saving with other research for a possible post), that I think you will want to read. It’s a short article but it is very informative.

http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/globalism/2008/trends.htm

Let’s take a closer look at THE NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION…

On the matter of the “New America Foundation,” don’t get your hopes up people because this is nothing new.  It’s like the message we used to get continuously during the commercials in the old time soap operas.  “Duz does everything”- “New and Improved” – “Better than Ever”, the blurbs go on and on, but we still got the same old soap only in a different box.  The primary drivers in this group are the same re-cycled Democrats who brought you Hopey Changey politics this past election cycle.

LAURA TYSON, the Chair of Global Management and Public Policy, Haass School of Business, Univ. of Calif. at Berkeley, has an impressive resume and there is no doubt that she is an extremely intelligent economist who need not take a back seat to anyone in her field. She was top economic advisor to former President Bill Clinton.  She was head of the National Economic Council and Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. In fact, her skill and expertise, in my opinion, played a major part in the financial surplus that Bill Clinton left to the American people when he left office.

I admire Laura Tyson greatly as an economist, but the fact that she is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as are the people with whom she associates, disturbs me more than a little. Her association with Richard Haas, President of the CFR bothers me a lot.

The following was written on April 2, 1997 by Fernando Quintero, a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado. Mr. Quintero spent a number of years working in higher education. He was a writer and editor for the University of California at Berkeley Office of Public Affairs.

“Over the past four years nearly a quarter of the University’s (U of Calif. at Berkeley) economics faculty at the Business School and the College of Letters and Sciences has taken leave to go to Washington.  No other university outside the Ivy League  has provided the White House with so much economic brain power.”

-snip-

The fact is, a Berkeley Mafia does exist and Tyson is the Godmother.”
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1997/0402/tyson.html

BERNARD SCHWARTZ, along with Tyson, is also a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. He is chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC. His concern over our deteriorating infrastructure is legitimate.  This has been his baby for a long time, but as in the case of Tyson his connections are to be questioned.  Mr Schwartz is a very benevolent donor to the Democratic Party.

GEORGE SOROS is another member of the “New America Foundation”.  Mr Soros is a leading figure in the CFR and close with Henry Kissinger (who once made the statement that Jimmy Carter isn’t the President of the United States, the Trilateralist Commission is, and I am the Trilateralist Commission). Soros is also a confidante of Zbigniew Brzezinski and George Soros is also a partner in the Carlyle Group.  He is truly a busy and involved individual.

“The Carlyle Group specializes in seizing control of aerospace and defense contractors and then strong-arming contracts out of the Department of Defense.”

-snip-

“Shortly after September 11, George Soros developed a strategy how to manipulate messages within the media.”…
http://911review.org/Sept11Wiki/CarlyleGroup.shtml
http://911review.org/Sept11Wiki/Soros,George.shtml

It is my personal opinion that George Soros is a very evil man, and anything he touches smells of fire and brimstone.  This nefarious creature has caused untold damage not only to the United States of America, but to other countries.  He is evil personified and he does not wish well for our country and any group that he is connected with, in my opinion, is just as dirty as he is.

I love my country very much, my ancestors fought and died for this country, and to see this foreign-born billionaire, who was able to come to this country and make a fabulous fortune and then turn around and try to ruin us, makes my blood boil.  He is  one of the main players in the quest to level this country to third world status enabling himself and his cohorts to pronounce a New World Order.  He recently said something to the effect that this crisis has satisfied his life’s ambition.  What kind of devil makes it his life’s ambition to see people out of work, losing their homes, going hungry etc.?  Old Beelzebub must be down there dancing a jig.

“COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, a U.S. think tank.  Some CFR critics say the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement were all arranged and approved by the CFR and the insiders.  And that each one has played on a kind of reverse psychology:
The more societal unrest there is , the more people will turn (sic) its govenment for control, eventually becoming so desperate for order that they grant their government more and more power over every citizen’s private life.”

-snip-

“Some of their directors hold important positions in many other worldwide connected companies or government related institutions:  John Deutch, Richard Holbrooke, Theodore Sorenson, George Soros, or David Rockefeller.”
http://911review.org/Sept11Wiki/Cfr.shtml

So you can readily see why I think the New America Foundation is nothing more than the CFR.  New and improved?  Not at all.  This is the same old bunch with the same old ambitions.  Just using a new package to try to fool us old dumb citizens who they think will swallow anything.  Not anymore, Buster.  The cataracts are off our eyes and the wax is out of our ears and we have a steel rod up our spines and we say to you – fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me.

No sale,  Mr. Soros and Ms. Tyson. Money is so tight right now that I’m mighty particular what I spend it on and your lying, treacherous words don’t fit into my budget.  Take your global philosophy and eat it– I’m not buying and I’ll bet no other thinking and reading American will either.

“Project Foreign Policy—Style!” Introducing This Season’s Newest Look–Obama’s Magic Foreign Policy Shoes!

Welcome to the new show on Bravo, “Project Foreign Policy-Style“!  Stay tuned as our resident style guru, Fahreed Zakaria, guides us through the trials of putting together a brand new foreign policy!!  Or is it really new, or just an expert tweaking to create a fresh new look for the season?

First, we’ll rewind to the day before the election to the preview show. Scat’s Blog picked up American Lassie’s pre-election post on the Trilateral Commission ties to the Obama crowd (see below) and provided a link to a CNN transcript of CNN’s Global Public Square with host Fareed Zakaria. Guest judges included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; former chief of staff under Ronald Reagan, Ken Duberstein; and former national security adviser under Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Maddy went into her closet stuffed with classic foreign policy attire and came up with this ’80’s vintage look from her PERSONAL collection!  Dated? Well, the panel thinks they can “MAKE IT WORK!” by personalizing and updating the look for Barack Obama!!

Obama’s Magic Foreign Policy Shoes!

The gist of this entire “Cliff Notes” review of foreign policy, held entirely to enhance Obama’s appearance,  was the assumption that Obama had already won and John McCain was irrelevant; that “style” was a huge issue; that while Bush was WAY too arrogant in dealing with other nations, even Bill Clinton’s foreign policy approach was a bit too “arrogant” ; and that Colin Powell got the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.”

Of course, there was no mention of how the Bush Administration, as arrogant as they’ve been, did finally begin paying attention to foreign policy fashion and began talking with North Korea (finally following Clinton’s lead) and enlisting the aid of China in the process; how there have been contacts with Iran, and how the plans to deploy defense shield missiles in Poland (with Polish approval) has kept Russia off-guard (until now).

So, what did the foreign policy style gurus opine the day before the election?

First, note the glaring, implied assumption that Obama and his style leadership would win as Zakaria questions Brzezinski who echoes the Biden “gaffe” about the “testing” awaiting Obama:

ZAKARIA: All right. Let me ask you on the issue of policy, though. Does the president-elect start thinking about sending signals to foreign governments? Does he start actually sending those signals?

BRZEZINSKI: I think it depends on two things — one, on the nature of the president himself, and, two, on the circumstances.

I think what is going on right now — which is nothing less than a global crisis of American leadership, nothing less than that — I think the president-elect, whoever he is — and I have my own preference — will have to start sending signals right away, and will have to get ready to deal with some imminent problems.

Then, catch the comment by Brzezinski on who could become the new, fashion trend-setter as Secretary of State…and it isn’t Kerry or Richardson:

But then there is a second task he has to address, and that is to choose his Cabinet, to choose his foreign policy leadership, with which he will then make decisions.

And here, I think, a very important possibility that’s open to him — for the first time in a long time — is to create genuine bipartisanship in the decision-making process. And he can do that either by appointing a very distinguished leading Republican to the post of secretary of state. And there are some. And he has mentioned some of them by name. He’s traveled with some of them.

ZAKARIA: Who would you suggest they be?

BRZEZINSKI: Well, I would think, of course, such names come to mind, Senators Hagel and Lugar. But there may be others, but particularly those two.

I think that would be extremely reassuring and encouraging, both domestically and internationally, and would send the right signal.

Oops, where’s Olbermann on this? What does HIS fashion sense make of all this?

We then take a short detour for a rather smug exchange about McCain’s chance of winning the elite fashion world’s approval:

ZAKARIA: I should point out, there is, of course, a chance that Senator McCain will be elected president.

ALBRIGHT: Yes, we know …

(LAUGHTER)

The conversation continues with Albright discussing how the Obama crowd will change how things are done with a Republican Secretary of State, because, apparently with William Cohen, a Republican as Secretary of State under Clinton, things weren’t “bipartisan” enough. Frankly, it seems like just a bit too much “sensitivity” and only a chance to make a subtle dig at Clinton:

ZAKARIA: But let me ask you, Madeleine. You worked alongside a Republican secretary of defense, Bill Cohen. Does it work?

ALBRIGHT: I think it does. Though it was very funny, because when Bill first joined us, he used to say, “Well, you all have to do this.”

And we’d say, “What do you mean, ‘you all’? You are part of us.”

And I don’t know whether he thought of himself more as a senator dealing with the executive branch, or a Republican dealing with Democrats.

(LAUGHTER)

Ken and I have talked about this a lot.

DUBERSTEIN: Right.

ALBRIGHT: And we, in our own way, are going to do something about that, because I think, generally, there has to be a bipartisan approach. And people find it hard to believe that I was able to work with Jesse Helms. And because I was, I think we managed to get much further on NATO expansion, for instance, or a variety of issues.

You have to be able to work with the opposing party. That’s our system.

So, you’ve got a Republican in as Secretary of State, following the policies of Bill Clinton, but because his “style,” at first, isn’t quite up to par, the whole deal isn’t “bipartisan”?  But, oh, working with Jesse Helms..HEAVENLY!! HUH??

Zakaria then turns to the subject of Iran. Again, note how McCain’s fashion acumen is totally ignored in the set-up:

Madam Secretary, you spent some time trying to deal with Iran in your term in office, and you actually made some overtures — I thought very innovative ones. You apologized, in some sense, for America’s role in a coup that had brought the shah of Iran into power. You expressed regret about it. Some of those moves were reciprocated, many were not.

Obama faces, in a way, a similar challenge with regard to Iran.

Should he do something? Should he try and do something ambitious? Should he try and somehow restart a process you began?

Albright begins:

ALBRIGHT: The question is what’s going on in Iran, and whether — what the changes — Ahmadinejad is apparently not feeling well. He is facing elections.

I think we think of Iran as very monolithic, and it may not be. And that’s even more reason to actually begin talks with them. And talking is not necessarily making nice. It is delivering tough messages and listening.

(SNIP)

ZAKARIA: Ken, Reagan faced the same challenge in a way, because the issue was negotiating with the Soviets. He had seemed to suggest in his campaign that where they begin to — as he famously put it — they began to die on him, one after the other.

DUBERSTEIN: And then he finally got one he could work with, which was Mikhail Gorbachev.

But Reagan always thought that the power of ideas could triumph. And so, the answer was, of course you’re going to talk to your adversaries. And you’re going to listen to your adversaries, as well.

Duberstein then says that the U.S. hasn’t been talking enough (and certainly Clinton NEVER talked about the “power of ideas”), but then Brzezinski appears to say the opposite before giving away the store and Duberstein seems to agree:

ZAKARIA: Zbig, what about this point that both Madeleine and Ken are making about talking?

So, you start negotiations, perhaps with the Iranians. It seems to me Iran is not yet ready to rejoin the modern world. The regime rests on a certain oppositional element of defiance and opposition to the United States.

So, maybe we start talking and the talks don’t go very well. What do you then do?

BRZEZINSKI: Well, don’t forget that we have been negotiating with North Korea for quite a while, and we finally have made some progress. It hasn’t been consummated yet, but the progress has taken place. And China has played a very constructive role here.

It seems to me that, if we engage Iran in conversations, in negotiations — without preconditions, without demanding that, in advance of the negotiations, the Iranians concede on the critical issue of the negotiations — then we might be able to make some progress, and other countries are more likely to join us.

DUBERSTEIN: Precisely.

BRZEZINSKI: They’re also more likely to join us, if we don’t conduct these negotiations in an atmosphere of mutual abuse or of military threats, because that doesn’t help the atmosphere in the negotiations, and it also helps the Iranian extremists to mobilize public opinion behind them.

So, the style involved in the process is almost as important as the substance.

Then it’s back to how Clinton wore his foreign policy outfits. Not very well, it seems, so we get another dig at Clinton who apparently, displayed “arrogance” toward Europe…according to Zakaria.  (Are you buying this? It’s a new line on my radar…)

ZAKARIA: Madeleine, people in Europe tell me that they found that even dealing with the Clinton administration was tough in this regard, that there was — both on the economic side and the foreign policy side — there was a degree of American arrogance.

Oh, dear.

Then we come to the topic of Colin Powell, which reveals how Republican insider Duberstein has decided that the Colin Powell endorsement is the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for Republicans. Yes, Colin Powell takes home raves for his stylish appearance and performance at the U.N.!  And his accessories–those fake photos–to DIE FOR! (literally)

ZAKARIA: Let me ask you about your friend, Colin Powell.

DUBERSTEIN: Right.

ZAKARIA: Powell endorsed Obama — very public and very successful, I think, a moving endorsement.

You’re a Republican. You were Reagan’s chief of staff. Will you tell us who you’re going to vote for on Tuesday?

DUBERSTEIN: Well, let’s put it this way. I think Colin Powell’s decision is, in fact, the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on Barack Obama.

ZAKARIA: And you’re going to take it?

DUBERSTEIN: I think so.

ZAKARIA: And we have to close. Thank you all.

So, the poster boy for the entire Bush Iraq-U.N.-Congress fake-out gets a free pass these days, I guess. If you’re an Obama supporter, history be damned! But, at least Powell LOOKS good, in either a uniform or a snazzy suit!

Remember, this little fashion preview/Obama infomercial happened the day before the election.  The judges simply swooned politely and in full agreement, over Obama’s haberdashery without one iota of concern about the man’ substance.  A waste of airtime if you wanted to find out anything about policy. But, SIGH, what a package they described!!! Perfect in every way, from his tasteful ties down to his classy footwear!

Now, let’s go back to that mention of Gorbachev.  Post-election, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the PLO, Gorby is on the list of Obama admirers, perhaps hoping to get some sartorial tips from the man himself. (But what’s this I hear? Iran firing some sort of  new surface-to-surface missile?)  But Gorby is even MORE smitten.  From RIA Novosti, the Russian News Agency:

Gorbachev calls on Obama to carry out ‘perestroika’ in the U.S.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said that the Obama administration in the United States needs far-reaching ‘perestroika’ reforms to overcome the financial crisis and restore balance in the world.

The term perestroika, meaning restructuring, was used by Gorbachev in the late 1980s to describe a series of reforms that abolished state planning in the Soviet Union.

(SNIP)

Gorbachev said that after transforming his country in the late 1980s, he had told the Americans that it was their turn to act, but that Washington, celebrating its Cold War victory, was not interested in “a new model of a society, where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand.”

(SNIP)

He told the paper that the world is waiting for Obama to act, and that the White House needs to restore trust in cooperation with the United States among the Russians.

“This is a man of our times, he is capable of restarting dialogue, all the more since the circumstances will allow him to get out of a dead-end situation. Barack Obama has not had a very long career, but it is hard to find faults, and he has led an election campaign winning over the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton herself. We can judge from this that this person is capable of engaging in dialogue and understanding current realities.”(MORE)

Oh, I get chills every time I hear someone talk about “politics, economics and MORALS” in the same breath, don’t you?  Makes me want to go out and buy a new outfit!

I guess Gorby is blinded by the glitz, perhaps…after all, he cites the Obama campaign as an indicator of being able to “engage in dialogue.”  “Hard to find faults?” What? Well, Gorby hasn’t been in power for about 20 years and is hopelessly stuck with those big shoulder pads from the era, which is unfortunate for Obama, judging from what the current Russian leadership thinks of the new fashionistas in D.C..

Seems Vladamir Putin’s hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev has just moved a few new missiles to Poland’s borders.  Now, it looks like Vlad himself maybe ready to strut his stuff on the runway again.

Constitutional Changes Go to Duma

…National media reports have suggested that Medvedev might step down as early as next year, perhaps on the pretext of the need for a new election under a new Constitution, clearing the way for Putin to return.

The Cabinet official said he also doubted that Medvedev would use the constitutional amendments as a pretext to leave before the end of his term. But he added that he had heard rumors since Putin’s first day as prime minister that he was already tired of being the prime minister.

Back during July’s European vacation,  Obama came out of a meeting with Gordon Brown “shaken” (British Commentators: The Chosen One Looked “Shattered” After Meeting Brown….and Did Cameron/Obama Discuss “Conservative Means” to Achieve “Progressive Goals”? and it looked like a repeat performance after his security briefing just after the election.

Can you image how the new Obama style will fare if he has to meet up with Putin? Obama will probably suggest a friendly round of shooting hoops and won’t those Magic Foreign Policy Shoes make it special! Putin himself showed great “anti-style style” when he took off his shirt and displayed some great beefcake photos out there before he left the top office, so I don’t know how Obama’s lightweight style will compare.

Maybe Obama will have to be carried out on a stretcher, with his Magic Shoe-bedecked feet dangling limply a la the Elton John’s big shoes as the he’s carried off in “Tommy,” after “The Champ” is defeated in spite of his rhinestone glasses and shimmering outfit!

The Big Boots

Oh, but you can bet that the little lights on Obama’s Magic Foreign Policy Shoes will still be flashing for the folks back home.  After all, even if you get creamed, you’ve gotta keep up your STYLE no matter what…and “MAKE IT WORK”!

*****

NOTES:

See Minute 4:25 of Elton’s Pinball Wizard video to recall how those big shoes were carried out with “The Champ” and disappeared in disgrace …

The Story Unfolds 2: Obama, Biden, Brzezinski, Carter…and the Trilateral Commission?

You can buy vintage LA Gear Lights here for about $400…

Post Election Thoughts…The Last Salvo or REALITY BITES

~~By Grail Guardian

There will never be a female President of the United States. There. I said it. Ladies, go home and grab your burkas and start cooking dinner for your man and popping out babies. You will never have equal pay for equal work, you will never be considered competent or capable at anything you ever do, and you stand no chance of ever getting anywhere unless it’s to a soccer or hockey game to cheer your (male) children on. Of course the laws will be wide open to allow you to abort female children so you don’t have to sully the landscape with them at all anymore.

How do I know? Because before even half the nation’s votes were tallied tonight, not only were all the major networks calling the race for Barack Obama, but the pundits are already discussing how Sarah Palin was John McCain’s downfall. Pundits attempting to defend her popularity with statistics were shot down on Fox News. That’s it – it’s over. You will not see another female Presidential candidate taken seriously in this country in our lifetimes. We’ll be lucky if we continue to see women continue to hold seats in the Senate and House after tonight. Female Governors? Forget about it. Palin won’t be re-elected there, because in spite of the fact that Alaska loved her (90% approval rating) just 4 months ago, she has been trashed and is now persona non grata in her own state courtesy of the Chosen One.

Hillary Clinton will lose her Senate seat in 2012. Barack Obama had determined that before she surrendered her fight for the Democratic nomination, and all the pundits are hammering how he “beat the Clinton machine”. She is toast. But frankly, that’s OK with me tonight. As far as I am concerned, Hillary is one of the top reasons that Barack Obama was able to destroy the United States Constitution and insinuate himself into the Presidency. She has lost my respect and she has lost my vote. She bears a huge responsibility for Obama’s victory. She gave up on America to save her career. She sold out her constituents and supporters for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver, and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life.

So here are my top reasons for the desecration and destruction of the Constitution of the United States of America:

Karl Rove: The Republican strategist was neck deep in foisting Obama on an unaware America. After his manipulations to get and keep George W. Bush in the White House, he pulled off the ultimate hoodwink by clandestinely switching sides and getting the most unelectable man in politics elected on literally no platform. His uncontrollable glee while watching the returns confirmed for me that he had more than just a casual involvement in the victory. I’m sure he is now convinced that he is the most powerful man in the world.

Hillary Clinton: She spent the primary convincing us how unqualified Obama was to be POTUS and how she would never quit fighting for the American people. After all is said and done, I believe history will prove her correct on the former point. After “suspending” her campaign and humiliating herself and her 18 million supporters at the Democratic convention, she fulfilled her promise to “work my heart out” and campaigned at full tilt for Obama till the very end and convinced a painful number of her supporters that Obama was a suitable replacement for her. Rather than stand on principle and speak out against Obama’s Constitutional ineligibility to serve as POTUS, she knowingly and willingly aided and abetted the criminal activities of Obama and the DNC.

Main Stream Media: Of course one of the biggest reasons for the destruction of the United States of America and life as we know it is the Main Stream Obamedia. I cannot adequately convey my disgust with them, but let’s face it; they created a President. We have allowed them to decide a Presidential election for the third time in a row, and there is no stopping them now. Plan on spending the rest of your lives (and money) on whatever crap they decide to sell you, whether it be political candidates, lousy programming, toothpaste, or male enhancement products. They bought the soul of America with infomercials and “reality” shows that don’t vaguely resemble reality. It was the Bargain of the Century.

Fox News: “Fair and Balanced” reporting was next to impossible to find this election season as MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC immediately suited up for Team Obama during the primaries. Before the GE race started in earnest, Fox appeared to be the only source of coverage that wasn’t totally biased in favor of Obama. It turned out that was a sham. The first to start fawning over Obama was the shameless Bill O’Reilly. His disgust with John McCain overruled his whatever journalistic instincts he had, and he threw the race in order to feebly protest the people having chosen McCain as the Republican nominee. The rest of the network quickly followed suit with only a few exceptions (Megan Kelly stands out), and by election night they were quicker to call the race for Obama than nearly anyone and spent all their post-coital analysis slamming McCain for having has the cajones to even consider running in the first place, nonetheless with a woman on the ticket. In the end, it’s tough to decide if they were influenced by owner Rupert Murdoch’s endorsement of Obama or were just trying desperately to keep a luke-warm candidate from embarrassing the party. Either way, they garnered millions of cable viewers based on their supposed impartiality, then proceeded to join in the mass brainwashing, with unparalleled gusto by the last week of the campaign.

The Republican Party: In a year when the Republicans had virtually no chance in hell of taking the White House, true conservatives “allowed” the public to nominate John McCain in what they though was a throwaway election. Imagine their surprise when McCain actually started to show some signs of life (and without them)! After the base was reinvigorated by the brilliant announcement of Sarah Palin as McCain’s Vice Presidential nominee, the party had 2 choices: support the centrist McCain and try with gusto to steal the White House from the Democrats in a year that it was all but guaranteed to be theirs, or sit back and do nothing in quiet protest of the likelihood of a McCain victory. The party decided as an entity to do the latter, and the sheeple of the right within the party followed suit, complaining that he wasn’t really their man and they’d rather give the White House to the Dems than suffer losing their control of the party from the radical right. The party that a few short weeks before had looked like heroes for putting a woman on the ticket after the brutal ravaging of Hillary Clinton wound up looking like misogynists; campaign leaks called Palin a “rogue” and “out of control” in efforts to prevent her from seeking further national office in the future. In the end, it was not the leadership of the party or McCain, but the spineless conservative members who tanked an election and gave up control of Congress rather than let a woman near the White House.

The Democratic Party: Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Donna Brazile, Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brezinski and other Democratic leaders colluded, long before the start of the 2008 Presidential campaign, to use radical tactics to steer the party to the far left and overthrow the legitimate government of the United States. They selected a young, unknown freshman Senator from Illinois with literally no history and molded him into their dream candidate. Their plan to use race as a means to energize the African American voter base and intimidate whites into voting out of guilt and fear dripped of cynicism and hatred for America. The one obstacle that stood in their way was popular front-runner Hillary Clinton. With unprecedented viciousness, the DNC and Obama campaign launched an all out misogynistic attack on Clinton, accompanied by charges of racism against her, husband Bill Clinton, and literally all of her 18 million supporters. Suddenly empowered by the report-nothing media, they started to publicly break their own rules, change rules midstream, change and assign votes cast to their chosen candidate, and lie about virtually everything. Once their ravaging of Clinton brought her to her knees, they thought they were golden, until John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Unequipped to handle the public’s adoration of the Alaska Governor, they trashed Palin with lies, innuendo, and false charges which were all lustily covered by the media. Their destruction of everything female in this country now stands complete, and sadly I know many women that voted Democratic yesterday, probably a straight party ticket. When all is said and done, it will be shown that the Democratic brand is nothing more than the flip side of the people that brought us the corrupt Republican brand of George W. Bush.

The Socialists: I won’t spend time right now going into repeated detail about the likes of William Ayers, Bernadette Dohrn, Khalid al Mansour, et al. Let it be enough to say that an organized Socialist movement that started smoldering in the 1960s burst into full flames this year and will soon sweep this nation like wildfire. Their efforts were deliberate, domestic terrorism and I’m quite sure that Timothy McVeigh is smiling like mad from his platform in hell.

Mob Rule: You can include the illegal activities of ACORN in this category or the one above – take your pick. Angry blacks, agitated to the brink of race war by the Obama machine, and young white college types determined to put a black man (any black man – with man being the operative word) in the highest office in the land to assuage their white guilt, threatened to riot, bullied opponents mercilessly online, and even intimidated other voters while standing in line to vote by discussing the riots that would ensue if Obama lost. Never underestimate the bullying of thugs both physical and psychological. I also include trolls in this category, because without their relentless assault on literally every website that ever posted even 1 word in opposition to Obama, this victorious annihilation of all common sense and decency would not have been possible. Pat yourselves on the backs, Psy Ops Warriors! Job well done. There will be posts for all of you in the new Civilian Police Force, dragging PUMAs off to re-education camps, so the fun isn’t nearly over yet.

“4th Wave” Feminists: Never underestimate the power of women defiling other women in this coup d’etat. Names like Nancy Pelosi, Donna Brazile, Claire McCaskill, Arianna Huffington, Erica Jong, Alice Germond, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Oprah Winfrey, and literally every woman in Hollywood leap to mind in this category at first blush, but let’s not take the credit away from the invisible everyday “feminist”. I’m talking the ones that cried “It’s not that I don’t want a woman President, I do. Just not that woman!” and “I just can’t believe they picked Sarah Palin. That woman isn’t qualified to be President!” They did more to demoralize and frustrate the efforts of every woman in this nation than we have seen in decades. As I stated at the outset, these women (the type who live merely to find men and have no sense of self outside their relationships) have ensured that I shall not live to see a female President of the United States of America. Perhaps it makes them feel more powerful in their own meaningless lives, but they are traitors to us, to themselves, and to this Republic. They have played a vital role in pushing back the clock to roughly the 1920s as far as Women’s Rights are concerned. And I will not be able to laugh or say I told you so when they realize the aftereffects of what they have done.

The American People: Ultimately, the blame must lie with those who did nothing or not enough to stop this decline during this and the previous 5 administrations. I count myself in the latter category. I apparently awoke too late to stop the juggernaut of the New World Order. I fought like mad at the end (during the last year), but like most of America I was asleep at the wheel when people like both George Bush 41 & 43, Reagan, Carter, and even Bill Clinton steered this nation towards the slippery slope that it is on today. I watched and either complained or ignored as our liberties were slowly eroded. I bristled at the overt actions, but was easily assuaged back to my complacency when adjustments were made to allow my comfort level to return. I sold my country out for the ability to buy PCs, cell phones, SUVs, bigger houses, designer clothing, “organic” foods, and other such frivolities. I got angry and excited at an unseen enemy when my handlers in the media told me it was time to do so. I ranted about Global Warming and going Green, signed up for an HMO that had nothing whatsoever to do with Health Maintenance or even getting better when I was sick or injured, and dug deep into my pockets to help others less fortunate than I around the world when disasters struck and even remained silent when I had to do it for my own countrymen in the Hurricane ravaged south after Katrina and other storms showed that our government was unwilling and incapable of helping our own in time of need, regardless of how many tax dollars they had paid into the system. I kept silent. I averted my eyes. I deafened myself to the sure sounds of corruption and moral decay. And I turned off my feelings for my fellow Americans long enough for them to become so very angry that they would lash out at me in fury to destroy America as payment for my complacency. And for that, I am truly sorry America. I have failed you.

REGROUPING: The Morning After the Day Before (A Joint Post with kenosha Marge & American Lassie (GG Will Be Posting Separately) (UPDATED 2X)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

As I  write this it’s 6 pm Mountain Time.  I was out this afternoon for an appointment at the heart doctor with my mother. Miraculously, we didn’t have to wait 6 hours; we were out in about 2!  Wouldn’t you know it, I got  home and put on RETRO and “The Manchurian Candidate” was just ending.  Rudy Giuliani had left a very late phone message on my answering machine.  I had gotten a call in the early afternoon from John McCain himself and yesterday I had received two call from the McCain campaign and one from the NM GOP. The Obamacrats had left a doorknob hanger on my gate while we were gone. That Black Panthers business in Philly has ticked me off.

I noticed when I took my dogs out at 5:30 for their walk that sometime during the day, someone ate the dog food I had left by the wall.  We don’t have many dogwalkers around here, so I’m hoping it’s the little stray. Perhaps we’re going to get another “November miracle” again this year!  (See yesterday’s post, Today, A Stress-Free Post! What Could Be Better Than a TRUE Story About a November MIRACLE DOG!! (With Pics) .

Now, as I write this, I don’t know a thing about the election. I’ve been avoiding all contact all day, except for brief interludes of Rush and Sean. My new friends?  Amazing, isn’t it??

And frankly, I may not know until tomorrow. I’m exhausted. I need to go to bed!  The stress has really gotten to me! I’ve been eating TUMS like candy and I NEVER need to take TUMS!

That being said, I have already composed my thoughts on the future.  It’s going to be a time of regrouping. However, there are certain truisms that apply, no matter what the outcome. They are:

1) No matter who wins, we all have to go into “hawk mode,” as in WATCHING LIKE A HAWK.

2) Not being a Republican, that means watching McCain like a hawk on “our issues.”

3) Not being an Obama supporter, that means the same thing.  He doesn’t get off the hook because of the “D” after his name.  We’ve been on him this long, we can’t let him get off easy if he takes control.

4) Not being a Democrat anymore…well, I want to be able to support SOME party! Which means we have to not only WATCH the Democratic officeholders and Party, we have to start making noise to try to get them back to being a party we all can recognize. That means keeping up a strong PUMA movement!  I heard callers on the Rush and Sean shows that sounded like PUMAs to me…and it was good to hear them!

5) And finally, the subject of Hillary Clinton. Lady Lynn Rothschild was on Greta last night (Monday) and she was quite blunt about Hillary Clinton. Friend or no, she said Hillary should be thinking about how she is going to explain why she decided to work so hard for Obama. Those are not my words, those are Rothschild’s.  She even brought up how Ted Kennedy didn’t support Carter  in 1980 on principle. (Maybe it wasn’t just principle, but that’s not the issue now.)  Rothschild clearly felt that Kennedy’s refusal showed a lot more guts, for whatever reason he did it, than what Hillary Clinton displayed.  I’m on the same page with Lynn Rothschild on this one.

Now I can’t speak at the moment for anyone else who blogs here. However, kenosha Marge sent me her thoughts on both possible outcomes of the election.  I’m just going to post both of her little essays regardless of whether I actually find out who won tonight.  She writes so well and I just enjoy reading her!!

Grail Guardian and American Lassie may have something cooking and if they send along their thoughts, they will be posted.  But for now, this “PUMA Dame” is going to the kitchen to make dinner and then I may sit through the Western on TMC.  I never watch Westerns, but I’m in the mood for a simple morality play tonight without any modern-day contraptions making noise.  I’m into horses, dust, and ladies in fancy hats tonight. Ironically, the movie is called “Decisoin at Sundown.”   I guess I can’t TOTALLY escape what’s going on even while watching a 1957 movie!

Now, onto kenosha Marge…

The Morning After the Day Before

~~By kenosha Marge

McCain/Palin wins:

I knew that no matter how the election ended I would still be angry. I knew I would be angry because I don’t like being lied to, bullied or treated in a condescending manner.

I watched this election cycle in dismay. I ended up voting Republican for the first time in my life. I believe with all my heart that the Democratic Party is corrupt and they will never have my loyalty or my support again . I will vote for and support certain Democratic candidates but not the Democratic Party. Ever!

There is one villain that has emerged that should be hated by all people that care about democracy. That villain is the media.

If you think a biased media is fine as long as they are biased in favor of your beliefs, your candidate and your party, congratulations you are a partisan and not a patriot.

If you think misogyny is wrong when it is used against a liberal woman but fine when it is used against a conservative woman, congratulations you’re a partisan not a feminist. Misogyny is wrong. Period.

If you believe that a biased, misogynistic media is what we should have in this country, congratulations you are a part of the problem that women who fight for equality must face. You are not liberal and you are not a feminist. You are one of those Fauxgressives or one of those Liberal Women that believe only liberal women can be called feminists.

I find satisfaction in knowing that in spite of the shenanigans from the Democratic Party and the corrupt bias of the media that John McCain will be our next president. I find satisfaction in that because I respect John McCain and like and respect Sarah Palin. I believe him to be a man of honor who will do the best he can for the country he loves and I believe that she will be a fresh breeze in Washington D.C.

I also believe that the media will continue to savage her. But since they have no longer have any credibility the only people who will pay any attention to them will be women-hating men and the self-hating women who all ready hate her. No surprise in any of that.

I believe that John McCain loves his country and will be an honorable president. I believe that Sarah Palin’s incredible energy will be put to good use. I wish them luck and I wish them well.

The Morning After the Day Before

Obama wins:

I knew that no matter how the election ended I would still be angry. I knew I would be angry because I don’t like being lied to, bullied or treated in a condescending manner.

I watched this election cycle in dismay. I ended up voting Republican for the first time in my life. I believe with all my heart that the Democratic Party is corrupt and they will never have my loyalty or my support again. I will vote for and support certain Democratic candidates but not the Democratic Party.

There is one villain that has emerged that should be hated by all people that care about democracy. That villain is the media.

If you think a biased media is fine as long as they are biased in favor of your beliefs, your candidate and your party, congratulations you are a partisan and not a patriot.

If you think misogyny is wrong when it is used against a liberal woman but fine when it is used against a conservative woman, congratulations you’re a partisan not a feminist. Misogyny is wrong. Period.

If you believe that a biased, misogynistic media is what we should have in this country, congratulations you are a part of the problem that women who fight for equality must face. You are not liberal and you are not a feminist. You are one of those Fauxgressives or one of those Liberal Women that believe only liberal women can be called feminists.

For 8 long years I have often said, “don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for that clown. Now I have at least 4 years to look forward to saying the same.

I can also look forward once again to not believing one word that comes out of the President’s mouth. I can look forward to changing channels the minute the President or the Vice-President appear. I will not listen to nor believe the State of the Union speeches.

I will not wish him/them well. I don’t like cheats and crooks. I don’t support cheats and crooks. I don’t want my country represented by cheats and crooks.

I will how ever look forward to saying, “I told you so”, every time some Obamacrat voices disappointment. I did tell them so, over and over again. That will be about the only satisfaction I will get out of seeing Obama in the White House. Otherwise just one more presidential term where some putz in the Oval Office doesn’t speak for me and doesn’t represent me. You would think I would be used to it by now. You would think we all would be used to it by now.

UPDATE

Well, nothing is going to change for me…it’s like the continuation of Bush…I won’t listen to one word coming out of the FRAUD’s mouth in the future.  But we will open OURS…

~~

UPDATE 2

~~By American Lassie who rose off her sick-bed to email me this before the election was called….

Right now I’m brain dead.  I agree about “hawks”. No matter who gets elected tonight they need to be kept under close scrutiny.  If it’s Obama we will be worried about our liberty, our privacy and our safety.  The Farrakhan troops showing up at polling places in Philly scares me to death.  If they are this brazen now God help us if he wins.  I don’t agree with all of John McCain’s policies but he is our only salvation right now.  I fear for our country on so many levels tonight.  I feel the world is watching our election to see if we are going to be fair game for our enemies to move in while so many people are divided.  Call me “Cassandra” but I am frightened.  I don’t know what else to say at this point.  One of the main things we need to work on as soon as possible is to solidify our base.  If we can’t clean up the Democratic Party I don’t want any part of it.  Third parties don’t seem to be too viable.  I wonder how many people feel the way I do?  Like I’m lost in space without a tether.  This transition period is going to be difficult whether it is McCain or Obama.   There is all that bail-out money out there, and it doesn’t seem to be going where it should.  There is also the indecision as to whether to bail out the auto industry, and Pelosi wants another large booster, refund, or whatever she calls it.  We are already so in debt to China and the deficit just keeps growing.  This is one thing you could mention – our huge deficit and our foreign debt.  And while I think we are expected, as human beings, to be compassionate towards those less fortunate, Mr. “Spread The Wealth” is going to bankrupt us all with his tax policies.  I am just an average American getting by like so many others who find that there is less and less disposable income in my pocket each month that I wonder if there is any light at the end of this tunnel. The energy costs have risen so that by the time you heat your home and pay your taxes the average family is lucky to have anything left over to put food on the table.  And he wants to bankrupt the coal companies which would make our energy costs that much higher.  Forgive me for running on this way.  I think my medication has taken over what little brain I had left.  After the results are in tonight and we know which way we are going maybe I will be a little less anxious.  That is, if it is settled tonight.  If it is a close tally we are in for a fight. (Or a takeover).

***

We may slow down on our posting over the next couple of days as the dust settles and we catch our wind.  As of now, we have no plans to retire gracefully.