† Dispatch From Bizzaroland: The Washington Post reports on the normally hagiographic MSM accidentally creating a damaging meme about President Barack Hussein Obama that is following him like stink from a skunk:

 

A single line in a New Yorker article has turned into an outsized political liability for the Obama administration.

 

Back in April, when the Arab Spring was in full bloom and the administration was trying to cope with the implications, journalist Ryan Lizza came out with a story about President Obama’s foreign policy. The headline was “The Consequentialist,” and the gist, or at least part of the gist, was that the president was dealing with the issues as they came up, instead of seeking to establish some kind of doctrine.

 

But in a piece that ran 9,200 words, there was one sentence that stuck like no other, and that continues to live on: “One of [Obama’s] advisers described the President’s actions in Libya as ‘leading from behind,’ ” Lizza wrote.

 

It was an anonymous quote from an official who may or may not have been in the White House, but conservatives seized on it, citing the remark as evidence that Obama’s foreign policy would undermine American strength and diminish its presence on the world stage.

 

Weeks later, rather than fading away, “leading from behind” has become the rallying cry of Republican presidential candidates intent on attacking the president’s leadership style and his approach to foreign policy.

 

Another way to interpret the bit The Stiletto boldfaced, is that this administration is making it up as it goes along.

 

† Early Republican Field Is Like “The Hunger Games”: There can only be one winner to emerge from the arena, and the contestants are already honing in on targets to pick off. Two Mormon moneymen is one too many, and two charismatic conservative chicks is one too many.

 

So, in SC the other day, former UT Gov. Jon Huntsman attacked former MA Gov. Mitt Romney’s job creation record in the state as being meh at best:

 

When you look at the absolute increases in job creation, Utah led the way in the United States in terms of job creation … That, compared and contrasted with certain other states like Massachusetts, which I will just pull out randomly, not first, but 47^th.

 
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in Huntsman's first two years as governor, UT created 107,843 jobs, whereas after four years in office Romney had created only 51,362 jobs in MA.

 

And while Sarah Palin hasn’t formally declared her intention to run for president, as her “rivalry and jealousy deepen, look for her to try to discredit a Bachmann candidacy, Politico predicts, adding, “It’s the reigning queen against the upstart princess. It had to happen eventually.” But the upstart is much tougher than she looks, according to The Washington Post:

 

The big news Monday in the political world was that Rep. Michele Bachmann has surged to the lead in a new Republican poll in Iowa.

 

The even bigger news is that Bachmann’s lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney may be significantly wider than the four percent margin reflected in the poll, and we may in fact be under-selling her surge in the Hawkeye State

 

A closer look at the Voter/Consumer Research poll shows that among voters who are described as the “most attentive,” Bachmann leads by a much-wider 14-point margin, 32 percent to 18 percent.

 

Those numbers matter for several reasons.

 

One, of course, is that attentive voters are more likely to turn out to vote. And that’s especially true in Iowa, which uses a caucus system dominated by - you guessed it - more attentive voters. These kinds of voters are much more likely to be willing to trudge through the snow on a Thursday night in the dead of winter to cast their votes.

 

But the more important reason is the enthusiasm gap in the GOP presidential field. Put plainly, Bachmann is the candidate that evokes passion in Republican voters at the moment. Her opponents, by and large, don’t. And that gap means her lead could very well grow.

 

If Palin jumps in, she will undoubtedly peel off votes from former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and businessman Herman Cain and former MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty, but the real question is whether she will do enough damage to Bachmann to knock her off her game.

 

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: Companies that found a way to monetize schadenfreude are doing quite well, The Associated Press reports:

 

As the jobless rate inches up and the economic recovery sputters, investors looking for a few good stocks may want to follow the money - or rather the TV, the beloved Fender guitar, the baubles from grandma, the wedding ring.

 

Profits at pawn shop operator Ezcorp Inc. have jumped by an average 46 percent annually for five years. The stock has doubled from a year ago, to about $38. …

 

Stock in payday lender Advance America Cash Advance Centers (AEA) has doubled from a year ago, to just under $8. Rival Cash America International Inc. (CSH) is up 64 percent, to $58. …

 

Profits at Encore Capital Group, a debt collector that targets people with unpaid credit cards bills and other debts, rose nearly 50 percent last year. … The stock (ECPG) is up 59 percent from a year ago, to more than $30.

 

Stock in Rent-A-Center (RCII), which leases televisions, couches, computers and more, is up 57 percent from a year ago to nearly $32.

 

Stock analysts told AP that people making $45K to $70K are starting to rent furniture and shop at dollar stores. Despite President Barack Hussein Obama’s paternal posturing, based in its reporting even AP - one of the president’s most ardent cheerleaders - admits that father does not know best (“One good bet: The jobless aren't likely to find work anytime soon. And companies profiting from their bad fortune will continue to do so.”)

 

† Obama Is Just About Every U.S. President All Rolled Into One!: With the controversy surrounding the “Fast and Furious” operation and White House stonewalling a Congressional investigation, Barack Hussein Obama has now morphed into Richard Milhous Nixon, according to FOX News Sunday panelist Brit Hume, reports Mediaite:

 

“What did the Attorney General, for example, know and when did he know it? And this Obama Justice Department reminds me of nothing so much as the Nixon Justice Department. You have the scent of high level knowledge of serious wrongdoing and you have the smell of cover-up. And I think the stench of cover-up on this gun-running operation is very strong indeed.” 
 

† Me, Myself And I-I-I: On the campaign trail, Barack Obama (he wasn’t using his middle name back then, only “racists” were) had a peculiar verbal tic: he stuttered on the letter “I.” Since taking office, he’s developed another, this time more common, verbal tic. David Letterman counts the number of "uhs" uttered by President Barack Hussein Obama (AKA "The Great Communicator"):  

For his part, New York Post political pundit Michael Goodwin has had it, and decided to tune Obama out – not so much because of the incessant “uhs” or “I-I-Is,” but because of the blah-blah-blah: 

When President Obama started talking at his news conference Monday, I listened intently for 15 minutes or so. Then I got fidgety as his half-truths about the debt grew into full-blown whoppers. As he droned on, I did something I never did before during an Obama appearance: I turned off the TV.

 

Enough. He is the Man Who Won't Listen to Anybody, so why should anybody listen to him? …

 

I am tired of Barack Obama. There's nothing new there. His speeches are like "Groundhog Day."

 

His presidency is a spectacular failure, his historic mandate squandered by adherence to leftist ideology and relentless partisanship. His policies are crushing the prospects for growth and dooming the hopes of 24 million Americans who are unemployed or working part-time.

 

Yet he is not going to change. He listens only to his own voice, which is why he has lost virtually his entire economic team. …

 

He can never be wrong. You always are, unless you agree with him.

 

That's the story of his presidency. That's who he is.

 

And because Obama can never be wrong – he obviously believes his own sycophantic media coverage – he can never know just how wrong he is. About everything.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (Every Bubble Bursts Eventually): More proof that President Barack Hussein Obama just isn't "cool" anymore (that is, aside from his having adopted the persona of “dad-in-chief,” as Washington Post pundit Chris Cillizza puts it) is last week's lame-o Twitter Town Hall. Boston Globe columnist Joanna Weiss noted that the event “was either a sign that the president is down with the times, or the latest in a line of gimmicks meant to prove that politicians are down with the times” and gave smart-alecks a chance to sass “dad”:

 

Some of the tweets were snide comments from Obama opponents or their impersonators, such as the guy who asked, “Is it hard to govern a nation you don’t much like?’’

 

Plenty more were just obnoxious, in a nonpartisan way: “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?’’ “Which do you find is the best type of drone for doing killing?’’ “So there is this girl that is kinda into me, but Im not really sure its complicated. What should i do?’’ …

 

[W]hen it came to Obama’s Twitter Town Hall Meeting, the flame-throwers knew precisely what they were doing. The people who posted absurd, non-sequitur comments understood the purpose of this forum, and how remote it was from the actual levers of Washington power. Their jokes sent a similar message: Sure, it’s nice that you’re asking us regular folks what we’re thinking. But we recognize what is productive debate and what is merely theater.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, TSA: We Have Lost Our Stinking Badges): Apparently subjecting the disabled, the elderly and the teething to invasive pat-downs wasn’t effective in completely eliminating airport security breaches, which occurred at a rate of seven per day nationwide over the last 10 years, according to a report by the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security, homeland defense and foreign operations. CNN reports:

 

The 25,000 breaches include:

 

‡ 14,322 breaches into secure entries, passages or other means of access to the secure side of the airport.

 

‡ Approximately 6,000 breaches involving a TSA screener failing to screen a passenger or a passenger's carry-on property, or doing either improperly.

 

‡ 2,616 instances involving an individual getting past the checkpoint or exit lane without submitting to all screening and inspections. Some 1,388 of these have occurred at the perimeter areas of airports. …

 

TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said the figures represent a "tiny fraction of 1% percent of the more than 5.5 billion travelers at the more than 450 airports nationwide that we have screened effectively since 9/11."

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (penultimate item, Prediction: Christians Will Be “Extinct” In The Holy Land Within 60 Years): Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens offers an idealistic argument for not abandoning the nascent democratic movement in the Middle East:

 

On Jan. 4, Salmaan Taseer, the liberal-minded governor of the Pakistani province Punjab, was shot 27 times at point-blank range by his bodyguard, an Islamic fanatic named Mumtaz Qadri. …

 

He freely confesses to the murder, saying he killed the governor on account of the latter's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy laws. The governor had opposed the invidious ways in which those laws are used against religious minorities, and he had championed the case of a Christian woman named Asia Bibi who sits on death row for allegedly violating them. …

 

Qadri, he was showered with rose petals on his way to court, and the head of the Rawalpindi bar association has offered his legal services pro bono. Tens of thousands of Islamists took to the streets of Karachi just days after the murder to oppose any changes to the blasphemy law. …

 

Nearly a decade after 9/11, the West's exhaustion with the war on terror - at least in its more grandly conceived, nation-building and culture-shifting versions - can be traced to episodes like the Taseer killing and the underlying, politically incorrect question they prompt: What is it with these people? It's not an entirely unfair question. The U.S. has given Islamabad billions in military and civilian aid (some of which, as of this week, is suspended) and rescued thousands of desperate Pakistanis after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. It does not seem to have produced a better or less fanatical country.

 

Then again, it's worth bearing in mind that "these people" also include the late Taseer and his no-less-remarkable daughter, who works as a reporter for Newsweek Pakistan.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (penultimate item, Obama’s Family Values: Part V): Remember President Barack Hussein Obama’s auntie Zeituni Onyango, an illegal alien living in public housing in Boston who was granted asylum in the U.S. by a judge who bought into her claim that “serious interethnic conflict’’ in Kenya endangered her life? Well, what if she had, um, stretched the truth a tad? Asylum fraud is both routine and rampant, as The New York Times found out after checking into the matter when it turned out the alleged rape victim in the DSK case lied through her teeth to stay in the U.S.:

 

The embellished stories go in and out of fashion along with the news of the day, reflecting turmoil in nations around the globe, lawyers say.

 

West Africans claim genital mutilation or harm from the latest political violence. Albanians and immigrants from other Balkan countries claim they fear ethnic cleansing. Chinese invoke the one-child policy or persecution of Christians, Venezuelans cite their opposition to the ruling party, and Russians describe attacks against gay people. Iraqis and Afghans can cite fear of retaliation by Islamic extremists.

 

Of course, thousands of those claims are legitimate. But each cataclysm provides convenient cover stories for immigrants desperate to settle here for other reasons, forcing authorities to make high-stakes decisions based on the “demeanor, candor or responsiveness” of the applicant. “When there’s a problem anywhere, a horrible slaughter in Somalia, wherever, the first couple of years of those cases are very real,” said Andrew Johnson, an immigration lawyer in Manhattan. “Then the next four or five years, they just mimic those stories.”

 

There is no reliable data on the pervasiveness of asylum schemes, but law enforcement officials say they are among the most common immigration frauds, and the hardest to detect and investigate.

 

So is auntie Zeituni on the up-and-up? Consider this: Obama’s own father repeatedly misled immigration officials who were considering deportation because they suspected him of bigamy after he married Ann Dunham. The Boston Globe reports:

 

“Subject got his USC wife ‘Hapai’ [Hawaiian for pregnant] and although they were married they do not live together and Miss Dunham is making arrangements with the Salvation Army to give the baby away,’’ according to a memo describing the conversation with Obama written by Lyle H. Dahling, an administrator in the Honolulu office of what was then called the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. …

 

At the time that he made his statement about adoption in spring 1961, Obama was in the midst of applying to the INS for an extension of his stay in the United States. Although it was a routine process that was required of foreign students periodically, the application entailed an examination of the student’s academic record and general behavior. …

 

Now that he was married to a US citizen and was soon to become the father of an American child, immigration officials would not have been reassured by his official records. On some of the forms in his alien file, Obama reported that he had a Kenyan wife. After he married Dunham, he sometimes reported her as his wife. More often than not, he left the section blank. …

 

Noting that Obama appeared to have a wife in Kenya and another in Hawaii, Dahling raised the possibility in his memo of charging Obama with polygamy or bigamy in order to get a deportation order against him. In the end, he suggested they keep an eye on him.

 

And another matter involving Obama’s mother suggests that the apple does not fall far from the lying family tree. That tear-jerker story Obama told during the 2008 presidential campaign about his mother fighting her insurance company to pay for her cancer treatment while she was lying in a hospital bed was a complete fabrication, according to a newly published biography of Ann Dunham by New York Times reporter Janny Scott. The Washington Examiner reports:

 

"I remember in the last month of her life, she wasn't thinking about how to get well, she wasn't thinking about coming to terms with her own mortality, she was thinking about whether or not insurance was going to cover the medical bills and whether our family would be bankrupt as a consequence," Obama said in September 2007. …

 

Scott, who had access to Dunham's correspondence from the time, reveals that Dunham unquestionably had health coverage. "Ann's compensation for her job in Jakarta had included health insurance, which covered most of the costs of her medical treatment," Scott writes. "Once she was back in Hawaii, the hospital billed her insurance company directly, leaving Ann to pay only the deductible and any uncovered expenses, which, she said, came to several hundred dollars a month."

 

Scott writes that Dunham, who wanted to be compensated for those costs as well as for her living expenses, "filed a separate claim under her employer's disability insurance policy." It was that claim, with the insurance company CIGNA, that was denied in August 1995 because, CIGNA investigators said, Dunham's condition was known before she was covered by the policy. …

 

[T]he story Obama told, Scott writes, was "abbreviated" - the abbreviation was to leave out the fact that Ann Dunham had health insurance that paid for her treatment. "Though he often suggested that she was denied health coverage because of a pre-existing condition," Scott writes, "it appears from her correspondence that she was only denied disability coverage."

 

That's a different story altogether. One the president never told.

 

In other words, Obama lied by omission. Repeatedly throughout the campaign. Which makes him a serial liar. Something Republicans negotiating with him on the national debt know all too well.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, 10 Reasons Michelle Obama Should Be Proud – Really Proud – Of America): With the stroke of Derek Jeter’s bat Christian Lopez, the 23-year-old fan who got hold of the Yankee captain’s 3,000^th hit and gave it to his hero, became one of President Barack Hussein Obama’s rich folks who need to “pay their fair share.” Though Lopez asked for nothing in return for his good deed, the Yankees rewarded his selflessness with free season tickets and signed merchandise, all of which count as “income” to the IRS, The New York Times reports:

 

[T]he Yankees gave Mr. Lopez four Champions Suite tickets for their remaining home games and any postseason games, along with three bats, three balls and two jerseys, all signed by Jeter. For Sunday’s game the team gave him four front-row Legends seats, which sell for up to $1,358.90 each.

 

In such gratitude begins tax liability, said Paul Caron, a tax professor at the University of Cincinnati law school and author of Tax Prof Blog. …

 

On SportsMemorabilia.com, an auction site, baseballs signed by Jeter were being sold for up to $600, jerseys for close to $1,000 and bats for $900.

 

The tickets to the 32 remaining home games (after Sunday) have a combined face value of $44,800 to $73,600, according to the team’s Web site. The tickets could be worth a lot more if the Yankees play deep into October. Steven Bandini, a tax partner at the accounting firm Zapken & Loeb, said that if the items were valued modestly at $50,000, they would probably carry a tax burden of about $14,000. …

 

Alice McGillion, a spokeswoman for the Yankees, declined to say whether the team would give Mr. Lopez money to meet any tax liability, saying only, “Yankee partners and partnership always comply with the tax laws.”

 

Lopez, who has more than $100,000 in student loan debt and is trying to figure out how to pay for grad school says he hopes his parents would lend him the money to pay his taxes so he wouldn’t have to sell the memorabilia to do so.