For years I've read that the Egyptian military is the real power in Egypt. It looks like that might not be true anymore. President Mursi has just removed two commanding generals. Barry Rubin, from PJM:

Muslim Brotherhood President al-Mursi has just removed the two commanding generals of the Egyptian military. Does he have a right to do this? Who knows?ThereÂ’s no constitution. That means all we were told about not having to worry because the generals would restrain the Brotherhood was false. Moreover, the idea that the army, and hence the government, may fear to act lest they lose U.S. aid will also be false. There is no parliament at present He is now the democratically elected dictator of Egypt. True, he picked another career officer but he has now put forward the principle: he decides who runs the army. The generals can still advise Mursi. He can choose to listen to them or not. But there is no more dual power in Egypt but only one leader. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which has run Egypt since February 2011 is gone. Only Mursi remains and Egypt is now at his mercy.

Oh and to put the icing on the cake, Mursi will apparently decide who will be on the commission that writes the new Constitution.

Rubin goes on to call this a coup. I don't know about that, but it can't be good if the force that kept Egypt stable all these years is gone. The reaction in Egypt sounds mixed.

Thousands poured into CairoÂ’s Tahrir Square late yesterday to celebrate what they said was another step toward the completion of the January 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak. Others said they were concerned about the growing hold of the Muslim Brotherhood, which backed Mursi for the presidency, on Egyptian politics.

“There is no way that we can consider these surprise decisions to be in the interests of the reforms called for under the revolution,” el-Saeed Kamel, the head of the secular Democratic Front party, said by phone, adding that they represent a “contradiction to the promises Mursi made.”

Mursi also voided a constitutional addendum the military council had enacted before he took office that stripped the presidency of some its powers.

The fear is that he is a fundamentalist reformer and that Egypt will soon go the way of Iran. But if you think back to Iran's transformation, it didn't go like this. When Khomeini returned to Iran, he took over as a religious leader. Mursi is not a religious leader; he was a member of parliament, a politician supported by the Muslim Brotherhood. So far, it can't be said he is acting more like a fundamentalist reformer than he is a tin-plated dictator.

Time will tell.

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Posted by: rdbrewer at 10:10 AM | Comments (141)
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Sweet jeebus, that must've been one hell of a hobo hunt.

Posted by: andy at 09:52 AM | Comments (194)
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Happy Monday.

Here's an excellent explanation of the Ryan-Wyden Medicare plan; we'll be expected to know the details so we can counter the Left's incessant Mediscaring.

Last night, while introducing Rep. Ryan in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Gov. Romney utterly destroyed a heckler: "Mr. President, take your campaign out of the gutter."

There's a pre-Ryan national poll out this morning that shows the race statistically tied. The same poll found the race tied back in May, which means that a month and a half of expensive Obama attack ads got the President nowhere.

I don't buy the line that Romney picked Ryan because Romney was in trouble. There's simply no evidence that Romney's campaign was in trouble and the folks making that claim are exactly the people who opposed a Romney candidacy in the first place. In other words, they're folks just dying to tell us "I told you so."

Romney withstood the Obama onslaught that McCain couldn't. This is not a repeat of Election 2008.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:51 AM | Comments (1433)
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Tonight we're gonna kick-it Martian-style.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:35 PM | Comments (700)
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Earlier this evening, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan held a rally with a few friends in Wisconsin.

Ryan took the opportunity to brag on Wisconsin and throw out some red meat with a smile. Then Romney took the stage and...well...I can't believe I'm writing this about Mitt Freaking Romney but he went out there and was clearly out of bubble gum.

During his speech someone in the crowd heckled him.

The heckler made a poor choice. more...

Posted by: Slublog at 05:33 PM | Comments (208)
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Soon, on the east coast. The PGA Championship is just wrapping up (Rory sunk a birdie on the 18th hole to win) and then 60 Minutes will be on.

Via @jammiewf, via michael_haz. "Math" joke possibly originated by @iowahawkblog, who has taken to exclaiming "BURN THE MATH WITCH!" to parodize liberals' paroxysms over Ryan.

Posted by: Ace at 03:10 PM | Comments (826)
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Boom.

Compare and contrast with this

Crowds Swell at Romney Rallies After Ryan Pick

MOORESVILLE, N.C.—The crowds at Romney rallies swelled to the thousands and grew more raucous in the wake of his vice presidential pick—and the running mates' Midwestern roots became a major theme.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:33 PM | Comments (242)
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Rasmussen:

Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 46% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 44%.

Also, most people don't know who Paul Ryan is, but among those who do, he is viewed far more favorably than unfavorably. I guess we can expect that to change as the Democrats have raced to every morning news show to define him first.

And, from Gallup, Obama's job approval numbers are worse today than they were on the same date in 2010.

Obama's administration is making damn sure that all politicians are viewed skeptically by the public for a long, long time.

Those who mistakenly believe the Solyndra issue will help Mitt Romney's campaign should keep in mind a couple of very simple facts. First, by a three-to-one margin, voters believe elected politicians routinely provide help to favored companies. Second, seven out of 10 Americans believe government and big business work together against the rest of us.

In other words, Americans believe crony capitalism is a reality regardless of which party is in the White House. This is the root cause of much of the frustration sweeping the nation today.

Voters don't want to be selecting a venture capitalist in chief; they want to pick someone to run the government. And they want the government to stop picking winners and losers in the business world.

Emphasis mine.
Just to add an anecdote; a family member that I know to be a low-information kind of Republican told me cynically last week that he believes Romney would deliver the country to his business buddies. "I'm not sure about this guy, he's just in it for himself."

So, there's a prevailing zeitgeist that rule of law no longer applies to the highest offices in the land.
Ironically, such public cynicism can depress turnout and can actually cause the Democrats to hold on to power (since we're also assuming high turnout this time around will favor Mitt). This is a winning feedback loop for kleptocrats. It's unAmerican and must be smashed.

Mitt has to do something to get ahead of this impression and turn it around.

Thanks to Jammie Wearing Fool for the Gallup link.

Posted by: LauraW at 10:35 AM | Comments (331)
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By the way, it was $500 billion, but I guess another $200 billion came from the sequestration as part of the debt-ceiling deal? I guess that's how it became $700 billion.

Anyway, Republicans are not going to let Democrats MediScare without noting, over and over again, that Obama chopped $700 billion out of Medicare, but simultaneously wants to run as the guy who will fight for every dime.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:46 AM | Comments (301)
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PolitiFact rates her statement: "Oh come on Debbie. How the hell are we supposed to spin this crap? We're hacks, not miracle workers".

more...

Posted by: DrewM at 07:13 AM | Comments (291)
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