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Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Samizdata quote of the day “The Obama administration came into office promising to press the “reset” button with the rest of the world after eight years of the so-called arrogant, swaggering Texan cowboy blundering his way around the planet, offending peoples from many lands. Instead, Obama pressed the ejector-seat button: Brits, Czechs, Israelis, Indians found themselves given the brush. I gather the Queen was “amused” by the president’s thoughtful gift of an iPod preloaded with Obama speeches – and, fortunately for Her Majesty, the 160GB model only has storage capacity for two of them, or three if you include one of his shorter perorations.”
Mark Steyn.
It is amazing how a foreign leader can get away with being brusque to allies so long as he or she does not speak with a Texan accent. After all, Mr Obama got the Nobel Prize for Peace!
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We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Sorry for being out of the loop, but did he really give her an iPod with his speeches???
Toby Harnden thinks so, but his linked page doesn’t seem to mention them.
Sorry, ignore me; they are mentioned.
Oh well, pot and kettle I guess…
I don’t recall any politician falling from the status of new messiah to that of the anti-christ so quickly. He may have won some of the battles (healthcare, disarmament etc.), but this doesn’t seem to have helped at all.
I never thought the US electorate was particularly bright, but they have certainly sussed this guy out as yet another seedy Chicago paid-for politician surrounded by gangsters.
I wonder if his prodigy for change, Cameron, can learn from Obama’s first year?
He may have “won” the healthcare battle but it may turn out to be a Phyrric victory. After this November, he’ll be a lame duck, if he isn’t already.
Brother J: not so fast.
Alisa, it was only 15 years ago that welfare, the untouchable or so-called “third rail” of American politics was reformed. I’m not saying that reform or even a flat out repeal of O-care will happen, but it can. There is precedent.
Tax reform in the 80s. Civil rights in the 60s. It can happen. Perhaps not – no, never as Mr Beck would like, but nonetheless…
Hi Alisa, Don’t worry. I’m well aware of what the game is and whatever happens in November, and based on present conditions I expect that to be an electoral blowout, I know it will bea temporary victory. The statists never, ever go away. They’ll just regroup and come at it from another direction.
Alisa, to your first comment in the thread, yup, the iPod story is true. It was about this time last year. Not only that but he gave Gordon Brown a boxed set of DVDs of American classic movies, in a regional format that won’t play on UK DVD players. What can I say? The man is a class act.
Well, first of all we all know that any opposition to Obama is due to … (wait for it) … racism!!!!
Yeah, Europe hates American Presidents strictly based upon what party they are from. If you put an “R” after Obama’s name, Europe would hate him just as much as they did Bush.
Why? Because Europeans are bigots. And Americans are the new “Der Juden” Everything is our fault. We control everything. Take most antisemitic comments and you can substitute “American” for “Jew” and the comment would be as valid to a European.
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As for Obama being a “lame duck”. Maybe.
First the GOP still has its head firmly up its ass. The Tea Party (if it had a hierarchical vs. ad hoc structure) would be a more viable party that the GOP. Don’t underestimate their ability to screw this up.
Second: Census, ACRON, and voter fraud. The Dems after 2000 made it a priority to get entrenched in the Secretary of State positions. That means, especially in swing states, Dems will be counting the votes. And as Stalin said, “It is not the voters that matter. It is who counts the votes that matters.” Also, we have a DoJ that willfully ignores voter fraud and intimidation cases. Plus voter fraud is a very hard thing to prove in court. Take the Washington State 2004 (IIRC) governor election, a Federal judge ruled that while it was liekly that voter fraud had occurred, it was not possible to tell how the fraud influenced the election. Therefore, the results had to stand. (That was a Rep nominated judge ruling for a Dem gov, BTW).
Third, at least 40% of the country truly believes in what Obama is doing. Here in Oregon support is still unwavering.
As I recall, the oh so intelligent Europeans were falling all over themselves to suck up to Obama before the election…….
Brother J @ 1650 hrs>
He may have “won” the healthcare battle but it may turn out to be a Phyrric victory. After this November, he’ll be a lame duck, if he isn’t already.
That makes the increasingly dubious assumption that there will be honest elections of any sort in November,
EvilDave @ 2046 hrs. is dead on, and in addition our Democrat members of Congress are acting both defiant and arrogant as if they believe that they never have to fear coming before the voters again. Coupled with a compliant, and functionally regime-controlled, news media that demonizes or buries any mention of opposition to Obama; and just as Brad said in Perry de Haviland’s thread on the coming Brit elections:
We are at the end of the State’s ability to manipulate with smoke and mirrors. Either we force their hands off the levers of power or they will be in place to use much less subtle forms of control. And there is just a matter of a few months to do it in.
A point can come, when electoral and parliamentary methods can no longer safeguard liberty. At that point, there is no surety of results, other than that words and votes will not longer suffice when faced with the force of the STATE.
Although he may be little known to the Brit readers, Sam Adams is one of my heroes from our Revolution. I offer one of his quotes, and the circumstances that it was made in:
This meeting can do no more to save the Country
Subotai Bahadur
It is amazing how a foreign leader can get away with being brusque to allies so long as he or she does not speak with a Texan accent.
By now they’ve taken his measure. Could you have imagined Hamid Karzai talking about joining the Taliban on Bush’s watch?
The current legislative majority, on which Obama’s “transformative” agenda must rely is essentially a coalition.
That coalition has been overtaken by the conceit to rule, rather than serve their diverse constituencies.
One almost certain result will be the fragmentation of the coalition, regardless of the potential for a “new voting bloc” (added constituency) from any changes in immigrant status.
Reconstitution of a “ruling” coalition is not likely in view of the demographic shifts that will be established by the ongoing census to impact electoral districts.
Among the first to go will be those districts created to provide “minority” representation, an essential element of the current coalition.
We shall soon see in the coming redistricting and reapportionments of representation.
RRS, could you please expand on that?
“Could you have imagined Hamid Karzai talking about joining the Taliban on Bush’s watch?”
Joe Biden told us that Obama would be “tested”. Looks like he was right (for once!). Unfortunately, Obama is failing.
Americans are starting to understand that Obama is not a good thing at all (that the media and the education system lied to them – and are still lying).
Yet people in Europe still believe in him.
So who are the stupid ones?