The layers of stupidity and incompetence run pretty deep here, so stay with me for a moment (and maybe grab an adult beverage first, you're gonna need it).

Earlier today Denis Blair, Director of National Intelligence testified at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing into the Christmas Day Bomb plot that the bomber should have been placed in the administration's interrogation program for high-value suspects but wasn't.

"That unit was created exactly for this purpose," Blair told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have. Frankly, we were thinking more of overseas people. And, duh ... the decision was made on the scene."

Tonight via Keep America Safe we find out that the DNI Blair has changed his story.

My remarks today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs have been misconstrued. The FBI interrogated Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab when they took him into custody. They received important intelligence at that time, drawing on the FBI's expertise in interrogation that will be available in the HIG once it is fully operational.

Excuse me? We don't currently have an operational program to interrogate individuals deemed to be of high value? Did Blair not know that this morning? Did he lie? Is he the most incompetent man on the face of the Earth?

Well, it can't be the last one so long as Barack Obama has a job but what about the rest?

How in the world did we go from, "yeah, we should have used that program" to "Program? What program? We don't have a program." in less than 12 hours?

This is the one year anniversary of Obama's inauguration and he and his administration still hasn't replaced the Bush era program they dismantled? Oh but they are so very tough on 'lone extremists'.

Aside from failing to connect the dots to prevent attacks and get as much intelligence from terrorists they capture, the Obama administration is doing a bang up job on national security.

Posted by: DrewM at 03:34 PM | Comments (189)
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"You're whistling past the graveyard here."

Dean pushes the arch-leftist line that Coakley lost because she wasn't far enough to the left, and even Chris Matthews now bails on the project.

Recommended by ford and JeffB. At least I think this is the interview they were saying we all had to watch.

Took Down the Axelrod Clip. I can't recommend it, now having watched it. It's boring and Axelrod just yaps and yaps. No contentiousness as in the Dean clip.

Posted by: Ace at 02:44 PM | Comments (218)
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On Steny Hoyer's YouTube channel, he has a John Stossel report slamming the stimulus and bailouts.

But this particular clip features Nancy Pelosi looking more stupid than usual. Go to 1:40.

Obviously, allies forge informal, unexpressed mutual non-aggression pacts. You rarely see me taking a shot at any of my online allies (and they rarely take a shot at me).

Nor do we usually link posts trashing each other.

So what's up with "LeaderHoyer" showing his "ally" as bubbleheaded botoxed babushka?

In case you're wondering: No, it wasn't added recently. It's from March 17, 2009.

No reason I can't make trouble with it now, though.

Posted by: Ace at 02:26 PM | Comments (76)
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Megadittos, Mary Katharine.

Now that voter discontent has appeared in the bluest of blue states, and it's focused on the president's handling of terror, taxes, and health care, it's become much harder to marginalize Tea Party activists and other critics of the administration as:

"extremist mobs" by the Democratic National Committee, pawns of the insurance industry by Senator Dick Durbin, "un-American" by Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, "brownshirts" by Representative Brian Baird of Washington, "manufactured" and "Astroturf" by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, "evilmongers" by Senator Harry Reid, accused of "fear-mongering" by the president, and been deemed "political terrorists" by Representative Baron Hill of Indiana.

It was always wishful thinking to believe that town hall protesters were a tiny segment of the country— all sound and fury signifying nothing. Even when it was a smaller group, their concerns were legitimate. It was disrespectful and dumb of Democrats to smear people giving voice to their worries, evincing the exact arrogance that turned voters in Massachusetts away from Martha Coakley.

As Brown's win showed, it signified something, indeed. Perhaps Coakley's loss would not have snuck up on national Democrats and Coakley herself if they hadn't spent the last year minimizing and denigrating administration critics. It's easy to think you've got an election in the bag when you assume your only opposition is a tiny clan of noisy, redneck racists (and, how many of those could there by in Massachusetts, anyway?).

It's easy to do a mediocre job selling one's sweeping health-care overhaul when you assume anyone against it just lives to hate poor people and/or do violence to President Obama.

Democrats fooled themselves into believing the town-hall/Tea Party caricature and ignored the feelings of real Americans.

And, to their electoral detriment, the media (particularly the MSNBC crew) abetted them in this fantasy. As of last night, the media have finally started to change their tune on the Tea Party movement. I was shocked to hear Chris Matthews concede that Democrats had not learned to talk to those critical of the administration, to assuage their worries. Perhaps that was partly because their picture of those critics was painted by...Chris Matthews, who called 60-something veterans "terrorists," and compared peaceful protesters to aspiring Timothy McVeighs. Maybe that had something to do with the lack of engagement.

Read the post for the first tentative signs of the media, aka the DNC's outsourced PR arm, reconsidering the Tea Party. And some more kinda-angry snark, too.

Also check out Keith Olbermann, doubling down on stupid and tripling down on crazy.

Via the great Treacher.

Oh: And I don't know if MKH caught this one, but last night this was said:

“I look at the numbers and I am worried. I am worried about this government committing itself to so many entitlement programs and committing itself to such a level of taxation to support those entitlement programs…”

You know who said that?

Dick Morris?

Karl Rove?

Mitt Romney?

Nope.

Chris Matthews.

Yup, Chris "Leg Tingle" Matthews, that's who said that.

This just in: Chris Matthews is a racist and should be investigated by the Secret Service.

Posted by: Ace at 11:52 AM | Comments (406)
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From a Tweet by jonkarl.

When asked if he's confident he'll pass a bill, Reid answered:

"I am confident that health care is an issue in this country."

And I am confident that pudding is soft and yielding, but yet that is nonresponsive.

Posted by: Ace at 11:33 AM | Comments (97)
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I guess Drew just sort of posted on this, but I wanted to underscore how insane it is that now, supposedly, Obama is warning Congress to not do what they've been doing only because he keeps telling them his presidency is on the line if they don't.

So, like, now he's protecting the people against the arrogance of Congress or something. See, he's the one urging caution, telling these leftwing crazies in Congress to chill out.

You think that weak shit's gonna work? Really?

Okay, man. You're the one with the Harvard degree and the impeccably-creased trousers. I guess you know what you're talking about.

But I do sort of wonder how Congressmen up for reelection in 2010 are going to take the news that you are now seeking to increase your own standing at their expense.

President Obama warned Democrats in Congress today not to "jam" a health care reform bill through now that they've lost their commanding majority in the Senate, and said they must wait for newly elected Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to be sworn into office.

Yeah, I know, it's a double-post.

It's just so funny.

As with last night, I want to dip my balls in it twice.

For one last time (until the next time)...

Oh, as regards "Waterloo," Jim DeMint says "You're welcome."

Posted by: Ace at 10:59 AM | Comments (191)
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Major Garrett from FNC interviewed David Axelrod and it sounds like they are coming to grips with reality.

Axelrod said the White House doesn't want any Senate action on health care until Brown is seated.

"I think it would be inappropriate," Axelrod said. "I think the people of Massachusetts would consider it inappropriate, and that's something we won't do."

Late Tuesday, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., called on the Senate to stop all health care legislation until Brown is seated. Axelrod's was the first signal that the White House agreed.

So no back door deal to jam this through in the next week or two and definitely nothing for Obama to sign at the State of the Union (which was talked about as a bit of theater at one point).

I don't want to say it but what the hell...it's dead. They will have to reconstruct the whole thing now and no one is going to have the stomach to deal with it. There's too many moving parts that were essentially irreconcilable before and in this political climate, it's now impossible.

Nearly every House Democrat and a bunch in the Senate are going to be going into survival mode for the next 10 months. Shoving this pile of shit across the finish line is not part of their new plan.

Not sure what the official signal for Waterloo is going to be but it's time to get the band warmed up.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:50 AM | Comments (69)
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Here's NY Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, a partisan urban liberal Democrat (but not wild-eyedly so), getting it, and, one senses, finally writing about the anger he's been feeling for six months.

This is a sloppily-written piece that reeks of first-draft anger. Basically it's a hate-you letter to Barack Obama.

He's Done Everything Wrong

Obama punted on the economy and reversed the fortunes of the Democrats in 365 days.

He’s misjudged the character of the country in his whole approach. There’s the saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” He didn’t get it. He was determined somehow or other to adopt a whole new agenda. He didn’t address the main issue.

This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country. Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage. This is going to raise costs dramatically.

In the campaign, he said he would change politics as usual. He did change them. ItÂ’s now worse than it was. IÂ’ve now seen the kind of buying off of politicians that IÂ’ve never seen before. ItÂ’s politically corrupt and itÂ’s starting at the top. ItÂ’s revolting.

Five states got deals on health care—one of them was Harry Reid’s. It is disgusting, just disgusting. I’ve never seen anything like it. The unions just got them to drop the tax on Cadillac plans in the health-care bill. It was pure union politics. They just went along with it. It’s a bizarre form of political corruption. It’s bribery. I suppose they could say, that’s the system. He was supposed to change it or try to change it.

....

HeÂ’s lost his audience. He has not rallied public opinion. He has plunged in the polls more than any other political figure since weÂ’ve been using polls. HeÂ’s done everything wrong. Well, not everything, but the major things.

I donÂ’t consider it a triumph. I consider it a disaster.

One business leader said to me, “In the Clinton administration, the policy people were at the center, and the political people were on the sideline. In the Obama administration, the political people are at the center, and the policy people are on the sidelines.”

IÂ’m very disappointed. We endorsed him. I voted for him. I supported him publicly and privately.

...

ItÂ’s very sad. ItÂ’s really sad.

He’s improved America’s image in the world. He absolutely did. But you have to translate that into something. Let me tell you what a major leader said to me recently. “We are convinced,” he said, “that he is not strong enough to confront his enemy. We are concerned,” he said “that he is not strong to support his friends.”

The political leadership of the world is very, very dismayed. He better turn it around. The Democrats are going to get killed in this election. Jesus, looks whatÂ’s happening in Massachusetts.

Oh, this just in:

BREAKING NEWS

EXCLUSIVE

MUST CREDIT ACE OF SPADES

Mort Zuckerman is a racist.

That is all.

Thanks to someone.

Posted by: Ace at 10:30 AM | Comments (150)
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Gee, you think?

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told senators today that it was a mistake for authorities to give the accused bomber in the attempted Christmas Day attack on a U.S.-bound airliner a reading of his Miranda right to an attorney without consulting Blair's office, the Homeland Security secretary and other officials.

Blair noted that the administration has created a special team for interrogating high-value terrorism suspects and that it wasnÂ’t used -- but should have been -- after the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of attempting to take down the Northwest Airlines flight traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit.

"That unit was created exactly for this purpose," Blair told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have. Frankly, we were thinking more of overseas people. And, duh ... the decision was made on the scene."

Unbelievable, except you know, it's not.

"Thinking more of overseas people? Hello! You may have heard of this incident on 9/11/01 that involved planes, 'overseas people' and happened here in the US. Jebus they are incompetent.

Who on the scene made this call and why aren't they being held responsible for causing us to lose valuable intelligence that might save lives?

In fairness, unless it's someone high up the food chain like a political appointee at DoJ (and 'on the scene' likely rules that out) it's hard to blame the person. The Obama administration to the cheers of their supporters on the left have made it perfectly clear that they view these kinds of attacks as nothing more than another law enforcement issues, you know kind of like a 911 call for some drunken college kids pissing behind a bar...they both get the same rights and protections.

Exactly how many people are going to have to die to satisfy the moral posturing of this administration and its supporters?

Bonus: Hillary! lets terror supporters into this country that the Bush administration had kept out. Change!

Posted by: DrewM at 09:51 AM | Comments (53)
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I opened up my mail to find an entire post written by the other guys.

Slublog links MSDNC:

Obama met briefly at the White House early Tuesday night with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Pelosi said Wednesday that Democrats have gotten the message from Massachusetts voters — and it isn't to drop health care. "We heard, we will heed, we will move forward with their considerations in mind, but we will move forward" on health care, she said.

She and others contend that because Massachusetts already has near-universal health coverage under a state law, the upset victory by GOP state Sen. Scott Brown to take the late Edward M. Kennedy's seat could not be seen as a referendum on the issue.

"Massachusetts has health care. ... The rest of the country would like to have that too," said Pelosi. "So we don't say a state that already has health care should determine whether the rest of the country should."

Gabe:

Sure, Axelrod's going around saying that it wasn't about healthcare and that Brown never even cut an ad about healthcare.

One: That's bullshit.

Two: I seem to remember the President cutting an internet ad where he said that healtcare reform (and cap and trade; and financial regulation) were on the line in this election.

They're busy re-writing history.

I'm pretty sure Obama actually said this election was a "referendum on health care" and that if Coakley lost it was dead.

But now, apparently, not so much, not so friggin' much.

DrewM:

BTW- Not even Chuck Shumer (who built the 60 seat majority by recruiting better candidates than Martha Coakley and winning in tougher states) doesn't buy that reading...

New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer: “The country is speaking to us, and we will show we hear them in the agenda we pursue over the next year. Our focus must be on jobs, the economy and delivering for the middle class.”

Schumer is many things, stupid isn't one of them.

In fact before the election he said the D's wouldn't tackle health care because it would be too tough to do. At the time I figured he was just lying. Maybe he knew better by Reid, Pelosi and Obama didn't.

For a year, the Democrats and their Spirit Squad in the liberal media have been insisting despite all available evidence to the contrary that ObamaPelosiReidNelsonCare was wildly popular. No amount of town hall outrage or Tea Party revolt or cratering poll numbers could dissuade them from that belief.

Only the stupidest and most partisan leftists -- like Granny Rictus McBotoxImplants -- can maintain this jackass stance any longer.

Oh, yeah, and Team Obama, too, of course, because his entire campaign/presidency is nothing more that spun-sugar and fairy-cakes. It's all just one big bandwagon/fad/marketing campaign, and his strategy thusfar has been to simply ignore well-founded criticism and in fact demonize his critics as irresponsible and possibly lunatic.

They, I think, understand preference cascades. And they're scared as hell at what happens when people catch on to the fact that it's okay to call this failure of a president a failure, just as it was okay to call other failures failures.

What happens when people realize that thought is not, in fact, racist or anti-American or all the other crap they've been pushing?

They're scared of what happens when the bubble breaks.

Well, it broke. Now they'll have to finally begin taking their critics seriously instead of simply riding roughshod over them.

And this Tea Bagger wants to know how it tastes.

Yeah, I'm a Tea Bagger.

Was it good for you too, Captain Wonderful?

Cause on my end, it was everything I ever hoped it would be and so much more.

Oh, By the Way: Was up till 3:30 watching Rachel Maddown and Chris Matthews. And hearing Norah O'Donnell say, six thousand times, that this was a victory for Independent voters who turned out against the Incumbent, and that this indicates a populist fire in favor of Independent candidates and a red light for Incumbent politicians.

Did you know that? That Scott Brown ran as an Independent, and that Martha Coakley is a member of the Incumbent Party?

It was amazing watching this idiot give the same talking points on five different shows. It was unbelievable that in each report she successfully avoided using the words "Republican" and "Democrat."

Accept the pudding, Norah O'Donnell.

You will accept the pudding. You must accept the pudding.

Anyway, just got up at 11:30 and got on the train back to NYC.

Posted by: Ace at 09:40 AM | Comments (166)
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