Riehl World View

Obama Lied Repeatedly Of Mother's Death Bed Experience During Campaign

Saw this via Byron York the other day.

...It was a simple and powerful story, one Obama would tell many more times as president during the national health care debate. But now we're learning the real story of Ann Dunham's health coverage is not quite what her son made it out to be.

Today, the New York Times is reporting that the WH won't dispute the book's account.

So, Obama lied to the entire country about his Mother's experience on her death bed to help himself get elected and pave the way for ObamaCare. What else do you need to know to realize the dirt bag will lie about anything for political gain?

On Wednesday, in response to repeated requests for comment that The Times first made in mid-June, shortly after the book’s release, a White House spokesman chose not to dispute either Ms. Scott’s account or Mr. Obama’s memory, while arguing that Mr. Obama’s broader point remained salient.

His broader point remains salient? That's pathetic. It's okay if he lies, provided we say we're doing it for a good reason? Sell that BS somewhere else.

But in “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother,” author Janny Scott quotes from correspondence from the president’s mother to assert that the 1995 dispute concerned a Cigna disability insurance policy and that her actual health insurer had apparently reimbursed most of her medical expenses without argument.

Ms. Scott took a leave from her job as a reporter for The New York Times to write the book and has not returned to the staff.

“We have not reviewed the letters or other material on which the author bases her account,” said Nicholas Papas, the spokesman. “The president has told this story based on his recollection of events that took place more than 15 years ago.”

"Outnumbered" by Jedediah Bila

Friend and Conservative compatriot, Jedediah Bila has authored and released her first book: "Outnumbered." Check it out. I've included the back cover below so you can see what some prominent conservatives have had to say about "Outnumbered." Click to enlarge.

"I've had enough of the hypocrisy, political correctness, and cry-baby syndrome of some on the left as they call you whatever, whenever, however without blinking an eye. That includes any and all who feel persecuted by my right to an opinion." -From Jedediah Bila's OUTNUMBERED

I would encourage New York liberals to read it, too; unfortunately, they'd likely then lobby Bloomberg to raise the terror level upon finding out there's a conservative in their midst. It's an interesting stroll through liberal New York with a fresh, unique and energetic voice, one young enough to capture the genuine spirit of city life but mature and reasoned enough to speak of it with a solid conservative voice.

 

 

 

Palin Goes Rogue: Who's The Rube, Now, Murkowski?

The second of two planned reports on Alaska's unresolved Senate race

In a surprising, and for some, hilarious bit of irony concerning the Alaska GOP primary, it seems as though if Senator Lisa Murkowski had read and paid attention to Sarah Palin's Going Rogue, she may not have found herself now fighting for her political life.

Roll Call looks back to try to pinpoint why Murkowski is in this mess, but they use an awful lot of anonymous sources to do so. The theories advanced by various unnamed "Alaska insiders" include John Bitney, Murkowski's campaign manager, being "in over his head" and an underwhelming performance by two general consultants Murkowski hired.

News reports, as well as my own sources, suggest it was Bitney's incompetence that may have been the single most significant factor in Murkowski potentially blowing the race. While Palin didn't use his name in the book, only his title, out of courtesy, as I understand it, Bitney was furious at Palin's portrayal of him as an incompetent, often unkempt video game addicted aide who often dropped the ball, leading to many of Palin's early problems as Alaska Governor. Oh, and he seemed to have a real problem keeping his clothing out of his food.

Bitney joins a list of people slammed in the book who are calling it fiction, including McCain's former campaign manager, Steve Schmidt.

Hey, Murkowski, who you gonna believe, now - Palin's book, or your own eyes? Or, you know, maybe she tried to warn you, but you opted for GOP establishment cronyism over competence? That doesn't sound like the kind of Senator Alaska needs to me. Some gems regarding Bitney from Going Rogue below, interspersed with more of the story line that hints of a battle royale to come in Alaskan politics, perhaps complicated by the NRSC.

During my 2007 budget powwow, the legislative director should have been at the table with us so that there would be no surprises in the state house come veto time. Occasionally, he would wander in and out, plop down in the chair at the end of the table, nibble cookies, and absently thumb his BlackBerry. Every now and then a tired staffer on a bathroom break would pass behind him, glance down, then mouth over his head, “It’s Brick- Breaker.”

A bigger problem may be Alaskan Republican Party (ARP) Chair, Randy Ruedrich. That would be the guy who most likely ordered the phone banking for Murkowski out of the ARP HQ. He's a political enemy of both Joe Miller and Sarah Palin. That started when he resigned and later was hit with the biggest ethics fine in Alaskan history for his role on the state gas and oil commission.

Critics, including some prominent Republicans, said it was a blatant conflict of interest. On Friday, AOGCC Chair Sarah Palin had said the conflict of interest questions were hurting the agency's credibility. She said then that she might resign unless Ruedrich resolved his conflict. "The right thing has been done here," Palin said Saturday. "Randy was a qualified engineer for the commission but there was a conflict with him being a party chairman." 

But Ruedrich threw in with the anti-Palin old guard and the ARP became no friend to Sarah Palin - Governor, or not. And it was Joe Miller who then tried to unseat him as state party chair. See what I'm getting at here? Intra-state, intra-party civil war, with the potential to spill over into the national scene, in part, thanks to any possible NRSC meddling.

By then, Miller had been bitten by the political bug and he and his wife of 18 years, Kathleen Tompkins-Miller -- who was appointed last year to the non-attorney seat on Alaska's Judicial Council, a seven-member panel that nominates state judges -- had befriended the Palin family. Miller worked with Palin two years ago when she unsuccessfully tried to unseat Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich.

But, instead of reading Palin's book and going rogue, or for reform, Murkowski went the usual GOP establishment route - incompetent cronyism. And now she's fighting for her political life, while showing no signs of giving up.

More below on Murkowski campaign director and former Palin legislative director, John Bitney, who may have once again bitten off more than he can chew. Thank God he has his tie with which to wipe his mouth. Heh! But, make no mistake, this is now a battle between two opposing camps who don't like one another very much. The NRSC is the wild card. And we already know their reputation for screwing things up. So, stay tuned.

The battle for the GOP may not wait until after November. There's a real possibility we start having that fight right here and right now. You can help support Joe Miller here. If the establishment is lined up against him as much as it appears, he's going to need all the help he can get.

My first legislative director was one of these. He turned out to be a BlackBerry games addict who couldn’t seem to keep his lunch off his tie. He relished the perception that he was a “player” in Juneau politics, but we were never sure which team he was on.

The fact that his shirt was buttoned one button off, lunch had landed on his tie, his fly was unzipped, and his shirttail was poking through it, didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

He had worked in the capitol and used to be a lobbyist. He was an “insider,” so we thought we should hire at least one of them to show us where the light switches were. “These guys need to be reminded that you were elected on your promise of ‘no more politics-as-usual,’ ” he said. “You gotta go in there and tell lawmakers up front, ‘All of you here are in need of some adult supervision.’ Trust me, I know this stuff, they want to hear it.” So I followed his advice. I had my come-to-Jesus meeting with legislators. They didn’t quite want to hear it. When the fallout began after that meeting, I looked at the legislative director. He looked at the ground and shrugged as if to say, “Wasn’t me.”

Early Warning By Michael Walsh

Big Journalism Editor-in-Chief Michael Walsh has a new book out, Early Warning. Oooo, a video.

Thanks to all of you, my new novel, Early Warning, is in stores today, as well as on Kindle. It’s the sequel to last year’s thriller, Hostile Intent, which went to No. 1 on Kindle upon its debut, sat high on the the Barnes & Noble mass-market list for months and even managed to sneak onto the New York Times extended bestseller list.

David Horowitz: Reforming Our Universities

In some ways, there is no more important topic than this, when it comes to reclaiming America from the far Left. David Horowitz has a new book coming out, Reforming Our Universities. You can order it direct from his site here.

VA: Levin Hannity Book Signing Saturday, May 8th

One of these days I'm going to have to figure out how to go somewhere and sign a blog! I have a copy of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated Mark was kind enough to send along previously.

MARK & SEAN WILL BE DOING A JOINT BOOK SIGNING ON SATURDAY, MAY 8th AT BARNES & NOBLE, TYSON'S CORNER, VIENNA, VIRGINIA AT 9 AM.

Mark will be signing copies of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated and Sean will be signing Conservative Victory. Get there early!

I drove up through Virginia and Pennsylvania to Gettysburg a while back for a visit. The book by Mark's Father Jack is a worthy tribute to that hallowed ground. And his fans may find Mark's preface interesting, as well. Mark wrote briefly of his family. I'll just leave it with what I wrote to him at the time. So, if you're looking for something unique and patriotic, Father's Day is June 20th, I believe.

Reading the preface was like reading a wonderful little slice of American History, as much as the rest. Lincoln and Gettysburg are large stories, but America has remained a large nation of small stories much like your family's. Let's hope that continues.

Ross Douthat's Pseudo-Conservative Echo Chamber

Via Jonah Goldberg at NRO:

Ross Douthat, arguably the most famous of the Young Turks, is the film critic for NR and co-author of the young Turk manifesto, Grand New Party. The other co-author, Reihan Salam, is an NRO blogger concentrating on policy ideas. That book received massive support from the conservative establishment.It stemmed from an article in Bill Kristol’s Weekly Standard and was feted by the American Enterprise Institute.

Call this closure, or call it an echo chamber - I don't much care. What it obviously isn't is much of a future for the conservative movement. What it amounts to is a twisted form of vanity publishing by liberal media and Republican elites that says very little to relatively few. I guess capitalism really is out of vogue, or no one would pay to publish such rot, given that there's no audience for it.

Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream
Hardcover 2008 Bookscan: 5,581
Trade Paper 2009 Bookscan: 1,040

Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class
Hardcover 2005 Bookscan: 4,633
Trade Paper 2006 Bookscan: 3,058

Dear Chairman Steele

Steve Benen is upset over an RNC email, well, he's pretending to be, anyway. I did see the email come in this morning with an Amazon link to Sean's new book. Also to Sean's credit, I did see his folks did a blogad buy for his book. It should be up here on the 30th. So, I'm down with being part of the whole Right Wing Conspiracy deal. The Left has falsely railed about it long enough, no point in not fulfilling their wish and making it come true.

Now, if, you know, Chairman Steele wanted to shoot out another email pimping, oh, a conservative blog or 12 (hint, hint) - I wouldn't object to that, either! heh!

Dear XXXX,

I wanted to let you know that I just finished reading Sean Hannity's new book, Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda. As they so often do, Sean's words left me energized for November and even more committed to making the gains necessary to bring the Obama agenda to a halt.

In the book, Sean does more than just tell us why we need to defeat the Obama Agenda. He also gives us a blueprint for getting it done. I cannot recommend it enough -- and I'm confident that, like me, you will be ready for the upcoming elections with a renewed commitment.

Sincerely,

Michael Steele
Chairman, Republican National Committee

Karl Rove Owes Right-side Bloggers An Apology

Gee, Karl, thanks for finally fessin' up, now that you're selling your book. Now how about apologizing to the Right-side of the blogosphere you left hanging out for several years as, day after day, we were forced to make the case you never would time, and time, again.

That was, uh, pardon the expression: Hard work! And, yes, a totally dumb-azzed move on your part. As if we didn't already know that, Mr. Smarty Pants!! lol

NEW YORK (AP) -- Republican strategist Karl Rove says in a new memoir that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq badly damaged the Bush administration's credibility and led to dwindling public support for the war.

The former White House political adviser blames himself for not pushing back against claims that President George W. Bush had taken the country to war under false pretenses, calling it one of the worst mistakes he made during the Bush presidency. The president, he adds, did not knowingly mislead the American public about the existence of such weapons.

What Would Kate Zernike Say To Andre Harper?

Given New York Times journalist Kate Zernike's smearing of Jason Mattera for his alleged racist rhetoric, I've opted to post my interview with Andre Harper today. Audio below. When Andre approached me at CPAC about his book, Political Emancipation, available here - I told him I wanted to be certain he was authentic. At least, that's the word we both settled upon to mean what I had in mind.

“Andre’s riveting experience boldly illustrates how the liberal indoctrination among black people and culture has done nothing but abandon them. Yet, he has been able to claim empowerment by breaking free of this indoctrination and embracing a more empowering one, one that will change the fate of his children’s children.”

Armstrong Williams Nationally Syndicated TV, Radio Host

I wanted to know if his was a voice of an Ivy educated black man whose parents had already climbed up from perhaps something less than what most Americans aspire to, or was he the real deal. Andre insisted he was.

Born in West Palm Beach, Florida and raised in the projects for a year then on Section 8 vouchers, Andre and his family were heavily dependent upon welfare benefits. He remembers standing in line for food stamps and while those recollections are not fond, this was the life he knew. It wasn’t until an encounter with Jesse Jackson that he began to question the Democratic party platform and what it sought to achieve. Later, when he began working on Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign as a volunteer Andre took notice of what would be the final straw – a variety of speaking tactics used by Democratic candidates to address particular ethnicities. Blacks were addressed to differently than latinos who were approached in a manner that was entirely separate from asians. Harper then compared his own values and beliefs to those held by the left and concluded he identified more with the right, an affiliation that comes with all the trappings of treason in the black community. Risking character assassination, he decided to stand for what he believed in an joined the Young Republicans at Florida A&M University, a group of 5 students out of an enrollment of 13,000.

Given that Zernike's malicious attack on Mattera seems part and parcel of the very same destructive tactics Harper, a black man, accuses liberals of always using when it comes to matters of race, what is it she might say to Harper, I wonder? And did she ever get around to interviewing him at CPAC? Or, is his a voice she might not care to hear and relay to the readers of the New York Times? The audio: