One thing our political-media Establishment doesn’t want to acknowledge, is vote fraud. America is crawling with anecdotes of it. Some even made it to the GP archive on the subject. (Mostly posted by V the K; thanks V!)

A recent case was Andrew Spieles, a Democrat activist in Virginia, who was caught registering numerous dead people. Since he was caught, the judge sentenced him to 100-120 days in prison. But most are not caught.

Project Veritas has great coverage of different methods of vote fraud. For example,

• They showed how easy it is to vote someone else’s vote. Most spectacularly, when they had a young white male pose as Obama’s AG, Eric Holder, in his home precinct. (Think about that. If you’re registered, always vote your vote, even if you want to do a non-vote / blank ballot.)
• They showed how easy it is to be registered (and vote) in multiple states. (Which could also be done with fake identities, that is, your identity – without your knowledge.)
• They got a New York City election commissioner to talk about how people are bussed around to multiple-vote, in that city.

And more. Here is a summary of PV’s undercover videos on vote fraud in the last 5 years, and here is their archive of posts on the subject.

Once you’ve accepted the idea that America is largely run by corrupt political-media elites – who can protect their own from investigation, or at least from indictment (*cough* Hillary); arrange for punitive investigations on others; suppress media stories that they don’t like; push nonsense media stories that they do like – even to the point of hysteria; and so on: It’s easier to accept the idea of vote fraud machinery that is hidden from public view (never reported on). Especially in States that don’t clean up their voter rolls and don’t have voter ID laws. Which is, most States.

The good news is that, earlier this year, President Trump formed a Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, to look into this issue.

The bad news is, 29 States are refusing to comply with the Commission’s requests for information. Republican as well as Democrat (though NY Governor Andrew Cuomo – D showed extra hypocrisy).

What are they trying to hide?

As one angry election official put it, “This commission was formed to try to find basis for the lie that President Trump put forward that has no foundation.” Such bravado. As we’ve seen, it’s no lie; it’s a claim with plenty of foundation, even ignoring the potential role of illegal aliens.

Perhaps there are privacy concerns, as the information being requested sounds a bit intimate – names, the last four digits of social security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, felony convictions and voting histories – until you realize that the Commission only asked for information that was publicly available under each State’s laws.

If these State election officials have nothing to hide, they should be happy to prove it – by complying with the Commission’s legally-allowed requests. Election officials are supposed to be our servants, not our masters. We The People demand answers.

Scott Adams has dubbed the Trump Jr scandal #NothingGate – There’s nothing there, but it sure is terrible.

We all know the signs. A couple hours ago, MSNBC was quoting campaign finance law about how campaigns are not supposed to take foreign contributions.

FOR REAL. Yes, I Laughed Out Loud. Right in front of everybody at the gym.

The law clearly talks about money and OBJECTS (the ordinary meaning of “things”) of value. Here is what they were quoting:

A foreign national shall not, directly or indirectly, make a contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value, or expressly or impliedly promise to make a contribution or a donation, in connection with any Federal, State, or local election.

First, the words are written *on the foreign national*. Second: Only in a McCarthy-ite, Salem Witch Hunt world could the words be stretched to cover knowledge (which, in the context of a campaign, is called opposition research). AND…AND…AND…IF the words are indeed to be stretched so very far, then Hillary’s campaign was equally-or-even-more guilty.

Seriously…Are these people thinking at all? Well, we know they’re not. This is “what insanity looks like”. These people aren’t following any rational thought process.

Why would they not? The obvious reason: Deflection. Distraction.

• Let’s not talk about Hillary’s campaign violations.
• Let’s not talk about her campaign’s meetings with officials of a foreign government, in an effort to obtain valuable knowledge (or opposition research) on her opponent from those foreign officials.
• Let’s not talk about all the Saudi money (which would be illegal indeed) in her campaign.
• Let’s not talk about the Hillary campaign’s documented, illegal levels of collusion with the media.
• Let’s not talk about all the Fake News, “Hillary is ahead!” and “Hillary is a lock to win!”, that the media perpetrated to try to depress Republican/Trump voter turnout.
• Let’s not talk about the basic fact that she was a terrible candidate – and she lost.
• Let’s not talk about the massive Clinton Foundation corruption.
• Let’s not talk about Hillary’s collusion in giving Russia 20% of America’s uranium supply, apparently in exchange for hefty speaking fees and other yuge donations.
• Let’s not talk about her campaign chair, John Podesta, and his brother being on Russia’s payroll for years.
• Let’s not talk about Hillary and the Obama administration colluding to obstruct justice, in the Hillary e-mail investigation.
• Let’s not talk about the indictments coming, hopefully, for James “Leaker” Comey.
• Let’s not talk about the unbelievable scandal of the Obama administration spying on domestic political opponents. And the intelligence agencies going along with it.
• Let’s not talk about the fact that the entire “Russia hacking narrative” has been a lie from minute one and, accordingly, the leadership of U.S. intelligence agencies are seriously politicized and compromised, meaning President Trump had better clean house – for America’s good.
• Let’s not talk about the Trump administration’s progress and successes.
• No, no, no. Deflect, deny, distract, handwave, keep screaming “Trump!!!!1!”

Fortunately, none of this needs to matter. The Controlled Media, the Left, and the “political class” have lost a lot of power. What we’re seeing now are the throes of their cognitive dissonance; their refusal to believe it. Having done nothing whatsoever wrong in this matter, Trump – and Trump Jr. – need only stay strong and clear-headed, and they will survive; and survival is victory.

My one, little doubt about this situation would be: Whether they will stay strong? We shall see. I know, I know…their track record argues that they will.

The famous Social Justice Warrior drunkenly rants at the cops who had to arrest him for when he bothered them with his drunken ranting:

Cornered, he plays the “I’m an American” card and as well, he plays his Rich White Male Privilege cards several times. Or tries to. So enlightened!

• You’ll notice that Bruce is back (GayPatriot at twitter).
• Here’s Tarra the Elephant and Bella the Dog, BFFs.
• And unfortunately, Bella died – Tarra mourned her. Sad, but uplifting because it shows their friendship was real.

Some criminals’ names are worth remembering, as pathetic examples of futility. Such an individual is James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, IL.

As V noted Wednesday, he opened fire on Republican representatives from Congress who were practicing to play baseball for charity, and he critically wounded one of them, Rep. Steve Scalise (R – LA).

I don’t know if Hodgkinson was mentally ill? I do know the media reports that he was a Republican-hating and Trump-hating supporter of the Democrat-socialist, Bernie Sanders. (To the Controlled Media’s credit, they have been presenting this fact; not hiding it.)

I don’t know what Hodgkinson’s life was like; if he accomplished much or had kids or did charity or had overcome abuse or handicaps? I don’t know his life, but I do know that his death was malicious (on his part), pointless and stupid.

He gave his life to injure others, express his hatred and injure America. And he failed. He didn’t make a single kill. (He would still be futile and one of life’s losers, if he had; the point is that, even on his own evil terms, he still failed.) A likely proponent of gun control, he made himself into a cautionary tale in favor of guns; specifically, their ability to stop would-be mass-murderers like Hodgkinson quickly – when good people are around, who have them.

I only hope that, in his last moments of consciousness as he died from the bullets that rained back upon him, Hodgkinson realized his error and had a second or two of repentance. If he did, God in His mercy and power will still be able to make something good of Hodgkinson’s soul.

UPDATE: Hannity notes that Bernie is not to blame for this. He’s right. Except we have to put a qualifier on it.

While Bernie is NOT responsible for every act of his supporters – just as Trump isn’t – it can’t be denied that the Left has been fomenting a Climate of Hate. It has many elements, including falsehoods and smears that Bernie has helped to spread.

The Right-o-sphere is rife with personal stories of Facebook, Google/Youtube and Twitter either de-monetizing, restricting, throttling, censoring or banning conservative and libertarian voices.

Facebook seems happy to do it – while allowing Islamists the run of the place, to the point where PM Theresa May called for Internet censorship after the recent Islamist mass murders in Manchester.

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg said:

[Terrorist attacks are] carried out with a goal to spread fear and distrust, and turn members of a community against each other. I believe the only sustainable way to fight back against those who seek to divide us is to create a world where understanding and empathy can spread faster than hate, and where every single person in every country feels connected and cared for and loved. That’s the world we can and must build together.

This is so misguided that, coming from a nominally-intelligent man, one must almost wonder if some evil force possesses him? Because it happens to be what the wolf would say to the hounds if it could; or what Satan might say when cornered.

Newsflash, Mr. Zuckerberg: terrorist attacks are carried out with a goal of killing infidels and establishing the supremacy of Islam. Period. You have to admit a problem’s true nature, before you can solve it.

I don’t want to “fight back against those who seek to divide us.” Because that makes zero sense. Anyone who ever does anything good or new, or who takes a stand (be it true or false) on anything, “seeks to divide us.” It happens. It makes much more sense to fight back against those who seek to subjugate and/or kill us.

The terrorist losers use your own platform, Mr. Zuckerberg, and it’s not clear if you make much effort to stop them. Much less, an effort greater than what you put into stopping U.S. conservatives, or other critics of Hillary or the Big Government that you love so much.

Recently, a Pakistani man was sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy – on his Facebook page. Facebook claims innocence; “we do not provide any government with direct access to people’s data. We will continue to protect our community from unnecessary or overreaching government intervention.”

But I don’t know if I can believe that. Because:

• Pakistan asked Facebook’s help to fight blasphemy.
• Reports exist that Facebook assisted them.
• Which are credible because of Facebook’s track record. When Angela Merkel pressed Zuckerberg to crack down on posts critical of Germany’s Muslim refugee crisis, he told her yes, they’re working on it.

Is Facebook an accessory to Pakistan’s judicial murder of Taimoor Raza? We need to know. I couldn’t find any recent statement about it.

And of course, that Facebook would ever give a hoot about anti-Jewish or anti-Christian blasphemy is unimaginable. (As it should be; the point here is Facebook’s extreme double standard.)

Right now it appears that Facebook puts WAY more into stopping conservatives and libertarians – people who stand for life and liberty – than it puts into stopping various kinds of Islamic murderer. That’s evil.

Hat tip Steven Crowder. By the way, his Painting Muhammad video is must-see.

To follow up on that Shakespeare in the Park thing where President Trump is Julius Caesar and they assassinate him:

• Bank of America and Delta Airlines have stopped their sponsorship.
• But The New York Times and CNN are still sponsors.

Caesar Flickerman, speaking in his alter ego of Fareed Zakaria at CNN, said “If you’re in NYC, go see Julius Caesar, free in Central Park, brilliantly interpreted for Trump era. A masterpiece”. (Yes, Zakaria tweeted that.)

Whereas Delta said “No matter what your political stance may be, the graphic staging of Julius Caesar at this summer’s Free Shakespeare in the Park does not reflect Delta Air Lines’ values.” BofA said “The Public Theater chose to present Julius Caesar in a way that was intended to provoke and offend. Had this intention been made known to us, we would have decided not to sponsor it.”

The irony, of course, is that the staging only creates sympathy for Trump. Rightly or wrongly, history ranks Caesar as one of its Great Men. The pack of Senators stabbing him look like cowards. The general bloodiness of the staging reminds people how sick and tasteless America’s “progressives” are.

UPDATE – The Left’s revenge-shakedown begins: C-list celebrities want to boycott Delta, BofA. Because they stopped paying out for the Trump-assassinating Public Theater.

…for a very recent offense. I would expect a more arrests to come. But for now, and via Breitbart, this one leaker:

Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year old contractor with Pluribus International Corporation, was charged in federal court Monday for allegedly leaking a National Security Agency (NSA) report on Russian Election hacking to left-wing news site The Intercept…

She was caught only when [The Intercept] asked the [NSA] to comment on the document last Tuesday. Upon realizing the document was, in fact, classified material, the agency quickly enlisted the FBI for an internal investigation that pointed to Reality Winner…

Each count of 18 U.S.C. §793, the crime with which Ms. Winner is charged, carries a penalty of up to ten years in federal prison.

By the way, The Intercept is into Fake News, such as fake hate crimes:

Intercept writer Juan Thompson was fired last year for fabricating stories about the racially-charged tragedy at South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, apparently to play up stereotypes of racist white southerners and smear Donald Trump supporters. This March, Thompson was the first person arrested for calling in threats to Jewish community centers as part of a nationwide intimidation campaign that was also widely [ed: falsely] blamed by the media on Trump supporters.

Getting back to Reality Winner: Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. I have mixed feelings. I do think that leaks can be in the public interest. Example: the DNC and Podesta emails that came out in 2016, via WikiLeaks.

Another example: Edward Snowden, who has said that he would be willing to return to the U.S. and stand trial, provided that he will be allowed to mount a public-interest defense (which a jury could then accept or reject).

Should Reality Winner be tried on similar terms – that is, should she be allowed to mount a public-interest defense? Why? Or, lock her up and throw away the key? Again why?

UPDATE: I missed this last week, but it seems relevant. DOJ has gotten a FISA warrant to surveil journalists who have been receiving leaks.

The journalists are not the target…Instead, the Trump administration is looking for the leaker. Who could it be?

Some in the administration are focusing on a retired, high-ranking military officer who held important posts in the intelligence service, according to the source.

The possibly high-ranking leaker was getting some of his information from people inside the White House who were holdovers from the Obama administration, the source said.

Cernovich claims that the retired officer is former CIA Director Petraeus, passing along information from his alleged ally, current NSA McMaster. If true, that would be some messed-up stuff. Game of Thrones-level intrigue.

At least some people are noticing that the Controlled Media witch hunts against Trump are an attempted coup d’etat against a lawfully-elected president.

What’s the endgame? Does President Trump resign in disgrace? Or does he triumph, as the hysteria is exposed and burns itself out? Or does he allow himself to be neutered, governing from now on as a captive of the Democrats? I don’t know.

Nobody’s perfect, and the Controlled Media is great at keeping up drumbeats; so yes, they will find something real or semi-real against Trump eventually. Let’s face it.

I could dismiss the Controlled Media as an irrelevant province of old people, and to a large extent that would be true. But they have ongoing relevance to the extent that they can scare the Congressional Republicans into rejecting (or at least unsupporting) Trump.

To get his appointees in office (including judges), to build a wall, to pass his desired infrastructure spending or tax reform, etc., Trump needs Republican unity. The purpose of the manufactured hysteria is to destroy intra-Republican unity and so to derail Trump’s appointees, criminal investigations (of the Left) and legislative agenda.

I could see a scenario where Trump resigns in contemptuous frustration. He denounces the hysteria (rightly) as he does so, and his Tweets remain a force in American politics. What happens next?

Do the Deep State and Controlled Media play the same game on President Pence? Will it work again, so soon? If it does work again so soon, does America slide into civil war at some point?

Whom does President Pence choose, as his Vice President? Does he let the Deep State run wild, taking us into another war? Questions, questions. Please let us know your thoughts, in the comments.

V just nailed it, in another post:

“Those ignorant bitter-clinger hicks in flyover rust belt states hate women and are so stupid they fell for Russia’s tricks,” is the essence of [the Left’s explanation for the 2016 election].

In other words, saying “Russia hacked our election”…

1. …is an insult – to the American people. That’s one thing wrong with it. But, there’s more.
2. No one ever disputes that the DNC and Podesta e-mails that came out, were genuine. In other words: the hacking/leaking gave the voters true and relevant information about a major candidate’s wrong-doing and shady dealings.

   When I was a kid, we had the original “-gate” scandal. It was this thing called Watergate. One of Watergate’s lessons, supposedly, was that if a major politician is up to no good, it doesn’t matter how the information comes out. It’s only important that it comes out. So that the voters will know.

   Whoever leaked the DNC and Podesta emails didn’t “attack” or “harm” or “undermine” our democracy. They enhanced it. *Because* the information was 100% true and relevant in this case, the hackers/leakers did our democracy a big favor. Whoever they were.

3. And, if we are supposed to worry about interference in our elections/democracy, then…
   • What about Hillary’s dependence on Saudi Arabian money? Saudi Arabia is one of the most anti-gay and anti-woman countries on Earth. Can we talk about how Saudi Arabia has hacked our democracy?
   • Why don’t we talk about Bill and Hillary hacking our democracy, with their massive pay-for-play corruption and scandals? Or Hillary’s cheating in the debates? (part of what the e-mails exposed)
   • Why don’t we talk about the Controlled Media hacking our democracy, with their tyranny of Fake News?

     Remember the endless drumbeat about how Hillary is up in the polls, Hillary has it locked, Hillary is 95% sure to win. All that was Fake News intended to depress non-Hillary voters. That is: To suppress voter turnout!

     Hey, why don’t we talk about the known, active collusion in 2016 between the Controlled Media and Hillary campaign operatives?

   • Why don’t we talk about George Soros and the Left hacking our democracy, with all their paid/staged protests, violence, trolls and astro-turfing?
   • Why don’t we talk about U.S. interference in other countries’ elections? The CIA has interfered in German media and every German election since the end of World War II. Is Angela Merkel, then, illegitimate?
4. Last but not least, let’s cover the reasons why Russia could easily NOT have had any part in the DNC or Podesta e-mail hacking/leaking.
• The evidence that it was Russia was always shaky, and still is.
• Wikileaks says flat-out that their source wasn’t anyone connected to the Russian government.

  In 10 years, they’ve always published real stuff and been fairly truthful. So, I’m not going to ignore their story.

• Julian Assange has implied that his source was Seth Rich, a murdered DNC insider.

  Of course I’d feel better if Assange would say it outright; but I can understand his reluctance. (Don’t mess with an ongoing police investigation, don’t burden Rich’s family with publicity, etc.) Assange went pretty far, in implying it.

• Wikileaks VAULT 7. We now know that the CIA often hacks into things – whether for spying, or mischief, or setting up a long-range manipulation – and leaves Russian fingerprints deliberately to mislead people.

  That means something. Sadly and from now on, it means we can never automatically believe the U.S. intelligence agencies when they say “Russia did it”, about any hacking episode, ever.

  Anytime someone says to me “The intelligence agencies all say it was Russia”, I say “Whoa. Have you heard of Vault 7? the Umbrage group? the Marble program? Look it up. And know that all bets are off.”

If I missed another good reason, please add it in the comments.

Let’s remember, it wasn’t ‘America’ that decided that this sewer trout deserved to be famous; it’s a small group of media elites who think “This is what those dumb idiots in flyover country want too watch on their ‘movin’ picture boxes’ in between rounds of humping their cousins and cleanin’ their guns.”

Her fame isn’t a reflection on us, it’s a reflection of their contempt for us.

Much like a bad science fiction where it turns out the monsters can be destroyed using simple table salt (or a simple Apple computer virus), it turns out that the Special Snowflake Socialist Juicebox Wankers have an unforeseen vulnerability to a common substance that is harmless to humans: ordinary chalk.

We just showed up at the meeting room and this was on the floor. Intentionally obv. Lots of pretty shaken up folk. pic.twitter.com/ozVd2Pck6t

— Stop Trump at Emory (@NoTrumpAtEmory) April 2, 2016

Turns out that leftist Millennials are even more terrified of chalk than they are of gluten.

Sensing that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker may be a threat to Hillary’s Ascendancy (and Jeb’s… six of one…), the left has been trying to dig up some dirt on him; desperately hoping to find an unverifiable claim that he gave his dog a gay haircut, or something… anything… they can smear him with.

In the last two weeks, leftist media establishments have done more digging into Scott Walker’s college records than they have done into Obama’s in the last eight years.  Many on the left are squawking that having left college his senior year to take a job with the American Red Cross, Walker is unfit to be president.

“The issue is, how well educated is this guy?” said Dean, a former Vermont governor who ran for the Democratic nomination in 2004, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Feb. 12, amid a surge in polls for Walker. “I worry about people being president of the United States not knowing much about the world and not knowing much about science.”

Here’s a question, does college degree automatically equal smart? Consider the following:

• Sheila Jackson Lee — the dumbest woman in Congress — has a degree from Yale, and a law degree.
• Marie Harf, the bubbleheaded spokesbunny of the Obama State Department has a Master’s Degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.
• The people who masterminded the policies that brought on the Economic Crash of 2008 (like the harebrained scheme of forcing banks to give out mortgages to deadbeats) were all graduates of Harvard and Yale.

All things considered, a president who ditched college in favor of a job in the real world may not be such a bad choice after all.

Atheist blowhard/CableTV talking head Bill Maher attacked American troops as cowards and praised the 9/11 hijackers for their courage. The American Left supported him.

Bill Maher makes a career of attacking Christians especially Roman Catholics; the American Left supports him.

Bill Maher attacks Sarah Palin as a “c-nt” and refers to her son Trig as a “Retard.” The American Left really, really, really supports him.

Bill Maher criticizes Islam … suddenly, the American Left doesn’t like him any more and his comments are considered “Hate Speech.”

What lesson can we take from this?

In New Jersey, you apparently get a gentle slap on the wrist for beating your wife, but they’ll send you to prison for five years for accidentally transporting a legal firearm through their state.

Does that seem right to you?

From one of your journalistic betters and the Huffinpaint Post.

I believe these are rubber bullets, can anyone confirm? #Fergurson pic.twitter.com/iCsFi6qoIa

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 17, 2014

No, he wasn’t kidding.

But no doubt Mr. Reilly holds the proper opinions on gay marriage (supports), Global Warming (is happening), and the Tea Party (American Taliban). And on the left, holding the correct opinions = “smart.”
(more…)

Thomas Sowell asks, “Is thinking obsolete?”

Some have said that we are living in a post-industrial era, while others have said that we are living in a post-racial era. But growing evidence suggests that we are living in a post-thinking era.

And this Democrat Politician answers with an emphatic (if implied) “F–k yeah!”

(more…)

I don’t really know how to express how puerile and silly the whole thing with the First Lady and that hashtag thing was, so I’ve put it down in a few thousand words instead (and included a thousand empty ones for you to play along and do your own as well).

(By the way, a whole bunch more here. I haven’t read through all of them, so if I accidentally ripped someone off with one of mine, it was totally unintentional.)

Have fun

Nick (ColoradoPatriot, from The Ranch)

(more…)

Mark Steyn is, as usual, brilliant, insightful, and sharp as eagle’s talon. (KCRob tipped this, though I had seen it already. But his tip made me decide it was postworthy.)

Some pajama boy at the White House evidently felt getting the First Lady to pose with this week’s Hashtag of Western Impotence would reflect well upon the Administration. The horrible thing is they may be right: Michelle showed she cared – on social media! – and that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

Just as the last floppo hashtag, #WeStandWithUkraine, didn’t actually involve standing with Ukraine, so #BringBackOurGirls doesn’t require bringing back our girls. There are only a half-dozen special forces around the planet capable of doing that without getting most or all of the hostages killed: the British, the French, the Americans, Israelis, Germans, Aussies, maybe a couple of others. So, unless something of that nature is being lined up, those schoolgirls are headed into slavery, and the wretched pleading passivity of Mrs Obama’s hashtag is just a form of moral preening.

An epic disaster would actually be an improvement on this administration’s performance.

PajamaBoy – a.k.a. Ethan Krupp, a.k.a the result of drunken, unprotected fling between Rachel Maddow and Saturday Night Live’s Pat … Metrosexual, 1%er, archetypal Democrat male … claims that he only ever lost one argument… to a gay conservative.

“I sat in a pizza joint, chomping on meat-heavy pizza and slamming whisky sours with gay guys on Pride Parade day in Columbus, Ohio; My gay roommate and friends loved to ironically ‘bro-out.’ I love gays because they are all liberal fucks too,” Krupp wrote.

“Someone mentions politics and everyone perks up, distracted from the whisky. Equal rights get first dibs, followed by education and then sassy comments about closeted Republicans. Feeding off the energy, I introduce abortion: ‘Old men controlling women’s bodies.’ The guy who’s stayed silent, Chip, joins the conversation,” Krupp wrote.

Krupp claimed that he at first told Chip, a conservative on the abortion issue, that his “ignorant views come from his biological disregard toward pregnancy,” prompting Chip to explain a procedure by which fetuses can be removed from the womb, grown elsewhere, then given up for adoption.

“The whisky yelled at Chip for being a terrible gay man. Chip smirked, knowing full well he won the argument,” Krupp wrote.

Everything I read about PajamaBoy adds to the picture of a smug, leftist, phenomenal d-bag; the heart and soul of the modern Democrat party. I can believe he’s never lost an argument, the same way Keith Olbermann, Al Gore, and Rachel Maddow “never lose” arguments, by simply not debating conservatives.

On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin published his op-ed piece in The New York Times urging “caution from Russia” with respect to U.S. policy in Syria.  The piece is worth reading if you haven’t already, and it is an impressive piece of political theatre.  Although the left is up-in-arms over what they are calling Putin’s hypocrisy, that is completely beside the point.  Few with any wits about them should consider Putin to be anything but a power-hungry Machiavellian, though that is also what makes this performance so noteworthy.  The Op-ed piece is a complete and utter smackdown of Obama and Obama’s failed foreign policy in a very public sphere, and that is what has the political establishment in Washington, DC so hopping mad about it.   Bob Menendez (D-NJ), John McCain and John Boehner were all quoted expressing their displeasure in an article that appeared on Yahoo yesterday.  One wonders which heavy weights will express their dismay next: Harry Reid, perhaps, or Nancy Pelosi, or maybe even Lindsay Graham.  I’m sure Putin is feeling very afraid.

If you haven’t yet read the Putin piece, I urge you to do so, simply to observe the way Putin cleverly throws Obama’s and the left’s rhetoric back at them and calls them dangerous hypocrites and warmongers.  I’d quote the whole thing, but for the purpose of illustrating my point, the last paragraph will more than suffice.  Putin writes:

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Some conservatives I know are angry with thuggish Putin for saying that America is not exceptional.  But that is beside the point.  In fact, that completely misses the point.

Putin is simply echoing a point Obama made at a NATO meeting back in April 2009:

I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.

Now, the fact that I am very proud of my country and I think that we’ve got a whole lot to offer the world does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries, or recognizing that we’re not always going to be right, or that other people may have good ideas, or that in order for us to work collectively, all parties have to compromise and that includes us.

And so I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that that leadership is incumbent, depends on, our ability to create partnerships because we create partnerships because we can’t solve these problems alone.

As Jim Yardley observes in the article from which I have culled the Obama passage above: “These words of the President are fairly typical of what has passed as thoughtful analysis from the current occupant of the White House.  They are words that would be right at home in the faculty lounge in Chicago or Cambridge, Massachusetts.”  So to return to our present context: Putin has cleverly turned Obama’s words against him for all to see, and in the context of the situation with Syria, he has revealed Obama to be an arrogant, narcissistic, posturing fraud.

Yesterday when I was in the car, I heard a very insightful interview about the Putin op-ed on the Tom Sullivan radio show.  I didn’t recognize the speaker’s voice, but I was impressed with all he had to say about how Putin’s strategy in Syria was all about making Russia and not the United States the dominant power in the Middle East.  He talked about the Reagan years and the fact that, aside from the arms buildup, one way Reagan was able to win the cold war was by keeping oil prices low.   He pointed out that to keep the Russian economy afloat, Putin has an interest in keeping oil prices high.  Likewise, for the sake of energy, Putin has an interesting in forming strong allegiances with as many Middle-Eastern oil producing states as it can.

It turned out the speaker being interviewed was none other than Col. Oliver North.  He called the Putin op-ed piece “brilliant” and said that with that clever op-ed piece, Putin had effectively changed the dynamics in the Middle East by very publicly embarrassing Obama in a way that let the nations of the Middle East see that Obama is weak, vain, and unreliable as a potential ally.  I haven’t been able to embed either the video or the audio here, but if you care to know more about what the future of the Middle East may look like as a result of Obama’s failed policies and posturing, you really owe it to yourself to listen to the whole interview.