Obama to return his Nobel Prize

In a shocking development, President Barack Hussein Obama has decided to return his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, following follow the lead of New Orleans Saints’ and former USC running back Reggie Bush, who surrendered his 2005 Heisman Trophy earlier this week.

Obama reached the decision after contacting his spiritual adviser via his Blackberry, discussing it with Reverend Jeremiah Wright and political adviser David Axelrod.

The White House issued the following statement:

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"One of the greatest honors of my life was winning the Nobel Peace in 2009. For me, it was a dream come true.

But I know that the Nobel is not mine alone. Far from it. Let me be clear. I know that my victory was made possible by the discipline and hard work of my college professors, the steady guidance of Bill Ayers, the inspiration of Saul Alinsky, and the unconditional love of my family and friends. And I know that any man fortunate enough to win the Nobel Peace Prize enters into a family of sorts. Each individual carries the legacy of the award and each one is entrusted with its good name.

It is for these reasons that I have made the difficult decision to forfeit my 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The persistent media speculation regarding allegations dating back to my years at a Muslim school in Indonesia has been both painful and distracting. In no way should the storm around these allegations reflect in any way on the dignity of this award, nor on any other institutions or individuals. Nor should it distract from outstanding performances and hard-earned achievements either in the past, present or future.

For the rest of my days, I will continue to strive to demonstrate through my Muslim faith the true meaning of the words that someone else wrote for me in my two bestselling books. I would like to begin in this effort by turning a negative situation into a positive one by working with the Committee to establish an educational program which will assist prospective radical anti-colonialists and their families avoid some of the mistakes that I made. I am determined to view this event as an opportunity to help others and to advance the values and mission of the Muslim Brotherhood.

I will forever appreciate the honor bestowed upon me as a winner of the Nobel Prize. While this decision is heart-breaking, I find solace in knowing that the award was made possible by the support,  love and leg-tingling enabling of so many of my friends at MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times and the Washington Post. Their adulation is a gift that can never be taken away."

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Questions I would ask President Obama at today’s White House presser

1. Mr. President, what do you have to say to the half-million people who lost their jobs while you vacationed at Martha’s Vineyard?
2. Mr. President, have you spoken with Imam Rauf about the controversy surrounding the Ground Zero mosque?
3. Followup: Will you ask Imam Rauf to move the facility to a different location?
4. Mr. President, Pastor Terry Jones has said he would cancel his planned Quran burning if he got a call from you.  Have you called him, yet?
5. Mr. President, please explain why you think extending tax cuts for all Americans is a bad idea.
6. Mr. President, if a couple owns a small business and makes more than $250,000, isn’t it true that they will see enough of a tax increase to start laying off employees?
7. Mr. President, why have you added more to the national debt than any of your 43 predecessors?
8. Mr. President, why did you neglect to even mention the Gulf Oil Spill in seven straight weekend radio addresses?
9. Mr. President, how many jobs will be lost if you continue to enforce the deepwater drilling moratorium?
10. Mr. President, exactly what did you know about the job offer to Mr. Sestak of Pennslyvania, and when did you know it?

Those are just the 10 off the top of my head, and I didn’t even get to the hidden economic daggers now being discovered in Obamacare and the financial regulation reform legislation.  Feel free to add more, if you wish.  The President’s first news conference since May 28 starts today at 11:00 EDT.

President says: “I’m having a great time!” on vacation

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Last night President Obama and First Lady Obama dined at State Road Restaurant in West Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard.

Their dinner companions were family friends Dr. Eric and Cheryl Whitaker, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, and lawyer and business executive Vernon Jordan and wife Ann Dibble Jordan.

As they departed the restaurant at 9:55 pm ET, reporters asked the president if he was enjoying his vacation even with the rain.

"I'm having a great time,” the president said.

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How wonderful that Dear Leader is enjoying himself.

Meanwhile:

• New Home Sales decline to Record Low in July
• Yields on U.S. Treasuries continue to drop
• CBO Releases Grim Budget Update
• Durables Goods Orders Fail To Meet Expectations  
• Wave of bombings kills 48 in Iraq
• 72 bodies found on a ranch in Mexico
• New Medicare rule means more than 3M seniors may have to switch drug plans next year

America needs a vacation.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Caption This – Socialist “Community Organizers” at Ground Zero Mosque Protest

State run media issues gag order on “Ground Zero Mosque” usage

“These aren't the radicals you're looking for. You can go about your business. Move along... move along.”

Nothing to see here, right?

Incredible. 

The Associated Press, aka the “State Run Media,” has instructed its correspondents to henceforth cease using the term “Ground Zero Mosque” in stories covering the red hot controversy surrounding plans to construct a Muslim mosque and community center at the site of the Twin Towers:

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Aug. 19, 2010

Colleagues,

Here is some guidance on covering the NYC mosque story, with assists from Chad Roedemeier in the NYC bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington:

1. We should continue to avoid the phrase "ground zero mosque" or "mosque at ground zero" on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at ground zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s “near” ground zero, or two blocks away.

WE WILL CHANGE OUR SLUG ON THIS STORY LATER TODAY from “BC-Ground Zero Mosque” to “BC-NYC Mosque.”

In short headlines, some ways to refer to the project include:

_ mosque 2 blocks from WTC site
_ Muslim (or Islamic) center near WTC site
_ mosque near ground zero
_ mosque near WTC site

We can refer to the project as a mosque, or as a proposed Islamic center that includes a mosque.

It may be useful in some stories to note that Muslim prayer services have been held since 2009 in the building that the new project will replace. The proposal is to create a new, larger Islamic community center that would include a mosque, a swimming pool, gym, auditorium and other facilities.

2. Here is a succinct summary of President Obama’s position:

Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center in New York as a matter of religious freedom, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it.

For additional background, you’ll find below a Fact Check on the project that moved yesterday.

Tom

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If you want to manage the message,  control the debate by controlling the terms people use to describe the controversy.  It’s not really a mosque at Ground Zero.  It’s a community center somewhere in lower Manhattan; a commercial area that also has strip clubs and Subway Sandwich shops nearby, or something.

In fact, let’s help defend the embattled President by “succinctly” defining his position as non-controversial, non-inflammatory, a non-issue.

“These are not the radicals you are looking for. You can go about your business.  Move along.”

Do yourself and your fellow Americans a huge favor.  Use these three words in almost every email, blog post, tweet or facebook update:

"Ground Zero Mosque.”

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Featured in the News: Democrats getting NUKED among independents

• Democrats Are Getting Nuked Among Independents – It’s across all the polling data, and the trends are absolutely atrocious for Pelosi-Reid.
• U.S. jobless claims touch nine-month high – “Unexpectedly” sliding away into the Dog Days
•  Obamacare’s stealth ambush of senior citizens – We tried, and we tried, and we tried to warn folks about this.  Didn’t we?
• Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: The Tea Party Rescues America – The gentle right takes the streets back from the violent left.
• $200M In Stimulus Construction Signs Were Encouraged by White House as 'Symbols of President Obama's Commitment to American People' – The Dear Leader is to be thanked, or something?
• Martha's Vineyard ♥’s Barack – No wonder he only spent 26 hours of his eighty-seventh two-week vacation in the Gulf, "healing" it through his mere presence.
• Still no timeline for final, permanent seal of Gulf oil well – Now officially behind schedule, even though Admiral Allen said it was ahead of schedule…  a month ago.
• Bessemer mayoral candidate Dorothy Davidson claims Nick Saban endorsement, circulates really BAD photoshopped image – No.  Really.
• NY governor eyes 'noble gesture' on mosque – For all of his other flaws, at least he’s showing the leadership absent from the White House.
• White House Memo: In Defining Obama, Misperceptions Stick – Going with the same old birther-Muslim meme.  Yawn…
• Andrea Mitchell: I Though Al Gore Settled Global Warming Debate? – Um…  No, he hasn’t, and the threat higher energy taxes pose to a nascent recovery is as deadly efficient as a wolf in the nursery.
• Howard Dean: Mosque is an affront – I dunno about you, but I sense the scent of a primary challenge on the air…
• 90th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage and Dems Work to Repeal the 19th Amendment -- “How dare women step off the gender-baiting, Democrat plantation and vote based on their own beliefs and convictions?”
• Rivals 120 Countdown – Finally getting to #1.  Roll Tide.

 

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama’s mosque position nationalizes the mid-term elections

With his ill-advised and blindingly stupid statement in support of the Cordoba Project last Friday night, President Obama did something that the leadership of the Republican party has been struggling to do since the passage of the healthcare colossus. 

He nationalized a midterm election.

What’s interesting is that the issue presents no options for government to intervene and resolve.  The First Amendment’s establishment and expression clauses are quite clear—there is nothing the government or an agency could do to halt the project, except on minor non-federal regulatory grounds (you can’t build a structurally unsafe mosque or fail to conform to local zoning regulations just because you want to build a religious structure).  So there was no reason for Obama to say a word.  He can’t do anything to stop it, and he can’t do anything to promote or sort it.  He should have never uttered a word.  He did, anyway.

It’s worth noting that on every major current affairs issue we’ve had cross our recent news feeds, TV screens and local paper, the President has chosen to side against sizable majorities of the American people.

Healthcare reform was opposed by at least a plurality in some polls and outright majorities in others.  Yet, it was Obama’s “signature policy” issue, and he ignored public opinion to ram it through.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill led Obama to institute a draconian moratorium against all deepwater drilling in US waters, despite absolute majorities of Americans being against it.

When Arizona passed legislation enabling the state’s police agencies to enforce Federal immigration law, Obama ignored a two-thirds majority favoring the law and sued Arizona to stop the law from going into effect.

But none of these issues by themselves had the ability to transform a traditionally locally-oriented midterm election into a galvanizing national election like 1994.

Until, for the fourth time, Obama ignored the will of absolute majorities of American voters and voiced his complete support for the Cordoba Project.  It appears to have become the proverbial straw on the proverbial camel. 

Americans are a patient, trusting and optimistic bunch.  But even the most naive voter sees a President who just doesn’t seem to give a flying damn what Americans think.  You can stick your thumb in the eye of a patient electorate so many times.  This was one time too many.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

What about the Ground Zero Church?

St. Nicholas was a small, four-story masonry building, housing a Greek Orthodox Christian Church that was destroyed on September 11, 2001 when one of the Twin Towers collapsed on it during the worst terrorist attack in this history of this country. 

While the Cordoba House Project—the Ground Zero mosque—raced through regulatory approval last month, the rebuilding of St. Nicholas was put on hold by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  Government officials say the matter is closed and will not be reopened.

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The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America accused New York officials on Tuesday of turning  their backs on the reconstruction of the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, while the controversial mosque near Ground Zero moves forward.

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An archdiocese official said Tuesday that the situation has created "consternation" for those still struggling to jump-start talks over the church.

"We have people that are saying, why isn't our church being rebuilt and why is there ... such concern for people of the mosque?" Father Alex Karloutsos, assistant to the archbishop, told FoxNews.com. He said "religious freedom" would allow a place of worship for any denomination to be built, but accused officials with the Port Authority of making no effort to help move the congregation's project along.

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Someone please explain how government officials can fast track the construction of a brand new shrine to a Islam at Ground Zero and stand in the way of the rebuilding of a church that already existed there?  The mosque is a new project.  It will replace a facility that was damaged by the landing gear of one of the planes, and damaged so badly that engineers recommended its demolition.  The church was already there.

Michael Berry, a radio talk show host at KTRH in Houston, penned an editorial yesterday, which ran today in World Net Daily. In that piece, Michael writes the following:

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On May 7, 2009, the first National Day of Prayer of his administration, President Obama broke with tradition by failing to hold a White House ceremony to honor the day.  Earlier this year he marked the second National Day of Prayer of his administration with the same inaction.  The president did, though, hold an Iftar dinner for Muslims, the feast breaking the daily fast during Ramadan, the holy month of Islam on August 13.  He invited ambassadors from Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia to celebrate the Muslim event.

It was at this event that he expressed his support for the mosque near the site of where the Twin Towers were taken down by Muslim terrorists.  While his press secretary declined to state the president's position on the issue earlier last week, calling it a question for "local decision-making," for some reason the president broke his silence during Ramadan observance and spoke out.  Such off-teleprompter bombs have caused his press team headaches in the past, but they suggest Obama's unscripted, core beliefs and expose a rare – if ugly – honesty in his calculated public positions.

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Perhaps the liberals running New York are getting inspiration from Obama, who doesn’t hold the traditional, church going American in very high regard.  We are the “bitter clingers” he referred to when speaking to supporters in a part of the country that the left refers to as “fly over country.” Obama supports the construction of the mosque at ground zero because he knows how much of an insult it would be to ordinary Americans who simply want to worship in peace and have sacred ground remain sacred ground.

The plight of St. Nicholas is a microcosm of how the leftist ruling class views the other 75% of the country.  Thwarting the reconstruction of an existing Christian church while fast-tracking the construction of a new Islamic mosque—at Ground Zero—is spitting in the eye of America.

Update:  Doug Ross @ Journal has a different possibility for why the Obama mosque might get a little special nudge.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Featured in the News: Reid opposes Mosque and shows he’s a smarter politician than the President

• Reid against plan to build mosque near ground zero—As repugnant as he is, at least Harry Reid can count votes and knows when to steer clear of a powder keg.
• Robert Gates plans to retire next year—Good sense leadership will be hard to replace, especially from the motley crew Obama will likely choose from.
• GOP's DeLay relieved and defiant after Justice ends six-year investigation—Tom “The Hammer” DeLay emerges victorious after “racist!” DOJ drops probe.
• Facts Obama Doesn’t Want You to Connect – Anita Moncrief lays it all out.
• Holy Frickin' Reagan: Best Advertorial You'll See—Video from the Republican Study Committee.  Must see TV.
• It Begins... Dem Congresswoman Brings In Street Thug at Town Hall—Gotta keep those violent little middle-aged dudes and little old ladies from getting too…  violent.
• Newsweek Calls For All-Out Assault on Tea Party Movement—These people… When will they ever learn that the Tea Party is motivated by fiscal issues, not racial or social issues?
• A Stubborn Man Without Conviction—Obama votes “present” again.
• Teen sex doesn't always lead to bad grades—WTF is the point of conducting studies like this?  Is this the kind of research that science thinks we’re really interested in paying for?
• Ambassador John Bolton: Israel Has 8 Day Deadline to Attack Iran (Video)—Once the rods are loaded into the reactor, any kind of damage would cause a release of radiation.
• Georgia scientists say 80 percent of spilled BP oil remains in Gulf of Mexico—And that teaspoon of baking soda I put in my garden pond last month? I bet 80% of that is still there, too.  The poison is in the dosage…
• Drilling in the Great Lakes: Background and Issues—Why not?
• Universities Teach Degrees in 'Unemployment Studies'—Just for LOLZ
• Ackerman, Yglesias, and Krugman: A particularly Machiavellian moment for the Left—For one side of the political spectrum, the means justify the ends.
• White House Reaffirms Afghan Strategy, Despite Petraeus Remarks—And Gates announces his retirement.  Hmm…

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama’s Ground Zero Mosque gaffe is the gift that will keep on giving

 

Holy Toledo, Batman.  When CNN is lamenting the fact that Teh One has stuck his foot in his mouth, and the Democrat Senate Majority Leader is putting distance between himself and the President who just campaigned for him, you know this is truly, truly a golden gift.

I honestly can’t think of anything Obama could have done at this particular time that could have done more damage to the Democrats’ ability to control the message.  Don’t get me wrong—I don’t think people are going to change their votes in November because of what they heard about Obama supporting a mosque at Ground Zero.  I do think they might change their votes because of what they did not hear their Democrat candidate say about jobs and the economy.  It’s hard to talk about issues like these when the bandwidth is full of stuff the Democrats would rather not talk about.

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Washington (CNN) -- By wading into the ground zero mosque issue, President Barack Obama provided Republicans with an emotion-ridden attack vehicle while diverting attention from campaign themes of fellow Democrats.

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Despite the concerns of Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on Monday came out against building the Islamic center and mosque two blocks from where the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks killed more than 2,700 people

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Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose the plan, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll released Wednesday.

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The Harvard-educated law professor, author of two books and post-partisan President doesn’t seem to have a very good grasp of American politics.  Friday evenings are traditionally the slowest news period of the week.  It’s “doc dump” time—reserved by the powers that be for pulling nominations, announcing the deaths of legislative policy pushes, the firing/retiring/resigning of someone in trouble, etc. There’s no political news on Friday night, unless you make political news on Friday night. 

Obama made it.  He waded into an intense, emotional debate at a time when no one had anything else to do except cover it.  The intensity and the emotional level of the debate are important to understanding the gravity of this.  The 70% opposition to the project means America’s mind is made up—that mosque needs to go someplace else.  Harry Reid gets it.  Obama doesn’t, and in his comments at a private, catered affair trimmed with the trappings of power, he sides with the 20% or so who support it going right there at Ground Zero.

But worse, barely 12 hours later, he told CNN’s Ed McHenry that his off-the-cuff remarks weren’t about the wisdom of building the project, but of the right of the developers to pursue it.  Huh?

At first he looks aloof, detached and uncaring about the sensitivities of his countrymen.  And before lunch the next day, he says that what he really cares about is the right of the developers to be as uncaring about the sensitivities of his countrymen as they want.  

For his soon-to-be former friends and allies on Capitol Hill, this is the worst damage he could have done, and he’s done it at the worst possible time.  Democrats on the campaign trail need to be talking about jobs, the economy, environment, saving Social Security from evil GOP plans for privatization, etc.  Instead, Obama knocked them off of their message and now all of their precious bandwidth is being devoured by a controversy Obama need not have even gotten involved in. 

What a gift!

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Featured in the news: Taliban using Facebook to target victims?

• Pak-trained killers 'used Facebook' to track aid group. – Only their driver, who fell to his knees and recited from the Koran, was spared.  "God was good to me," Safiullah told the AP in his first interview since being released.
• Poll: Independent Support for Democrats Dips Sharply – Independents strongly concerned about the economy, with 9 in 10 calling it a top problem and no other issue coming close.
• Memo to Obama: Hensarling already has Fannie/Freddie reform bill in Congress – H.R. 4889, Mr. President.  But I bet the Honorable Mr. Hensarling gets treated like the Honorable Paul Ryan did during the “Healthcare Summit.”
• Latest Harvard Filing Shows Total Divestment Of Israeli Stocks – This isn’t just bad politics, but for what’s supposed to be the world’s most prestigious business school, it’s bad business too.
• Demagoguing Social Security – Democrats usually wait until Labor Day to start this tired old meme, but this is an unusual cycle.
• Boomers Threaten Economy – Or, the lessons learned from crapping in you mess kit.
• Tolerance Road, Exit 1 Mile – One way, with no exits.  Doug Ross @ Journal at its best.
• Dems may use food stamp money to pay for Michelle Obama's nutrition initiative – Why, it makes perfect sense.  You won’t gain weight if you’re eating all those rice and beans.  Let them eat cake…
• BP oil claims: 'Takes too long to get anything done' – Not to be obtuse, but this is what happens when you put an oil company in charge of what amounts to an insurance claims processing job.
• Jess Nicholas: A look into the crystal ball – A look ahead at the 2010 Alabama Crimson Tide.
• The left is unpopular, undisciplined and ill-tempered – Cataclysmic collapse.
•  Kendrick Meek Builds Lead Over Jeff Greene in Fla.'s Democratic Senate Contest – Bad news for the wind taster. Yes, taster.
• The great Joe Sestak whodunnit – White House suggests Clinton did it.  Clinton denies he did it.  The Butler in the kitchen with the candlestick?
• Is there a conservative case for National Popular Vote? – No, but even if there was what’s the point of fixing something that, even in the only two crises of the last two and a half centuries, was never really broken?
• How Much Does It Cost to Buy Al Sharpton's Silence? Ask Michael Bloomberg – Rotten in the Big Apple.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama’s Mosque firestorm has “political legs”

Of course this controversy has political legs.  As Ed Driscoll pointed out late Friday night, this was an “unforced error.” There was no good political reason for him to wade into the controversy that the White House had previously (and smartly) regarded as a “local issue.”

But wade in he did, and he didn’t make things any better by backtracking yesterday.  On ABC’s This Week program (via The Hill), the panel lamented the political implications of the mess Obama has created:

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President Obama’s handling of the controversy over building a mosque in lower Manhattan has thrust the issue onto the political stage and will linger long after the debate ends on where to erect the structure, ABC contributor Cokie Roberts said on Sunday.

“The political issue will continue because even though the president’s remarks Friday night started a firestorm, I think the backtracking is even worse,” she told "This Week," adding, “What tomorrow is he going to say?”

Roberts and other participants at the program’s roundtable agreed that the president helped to make the issue “white hot.”

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The mosque at Ground Zero is opposed by 70% of Americans, including a solid majority of 54% of Democrats and a supermajority of 70% of independents. A left-of-center politician with any instincts would take a 100-mile detour around this subject, but on one of the slowest news nights of the week, Obama wades in and drops a bombshell.  All he had to do was repeat the “local issue” meme, eat his Halal iftar meal, smile for the cameras, and STFU. But, no…

In a mid-term election cycle that was already promising much political bloodshed for the left, Congressional Democrats have to be wondering—incredulously--why is he providing so much political ammunition for our opponents?!?.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama was for the mosque before he was against it

Friday night, during an Iftar dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, President Obama caused a stir by wading into the controversy surrounding the Cordoba Ground Zero Mosque Project:

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But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of our Founders must endure.

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The reaction from the right blogosphere was swift and nearly unanimous, and GOP leadership pounced.

On Saturday, right after Air Force One touched down at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Obama made the following remarks at Naval Support Center – Panama City:

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“I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there,” Obama said yesterday in Panama City, Florida, during a trip with his family to the Gulf of Mexico. “I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. That is what our country is about.”

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Give the President some credit.  It took 2004 Presidential Candidate John Kerry many months to declare that he was for the war in Iraq before he was against it.  This Obama dude, though...  He’s panther quick.  He walked it back in less that 24 hours.

Featured in the news, Weekend Edition: Controlling the message is hard, and stuff

• Obama tries to wrest control of message from opponents.  In [all but one of 13 categories], including Iraq, the environment, energy, foreign affairs, the economy and immigration, Obama's approval score was under 50 percent.
•  Juan Williams: Media Always Make Blacks the Victims and Whites the Perpetrators.  Juan Williams said that?  Yes, he really did.
• The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown. Insightful observations from a British newspaper that you will not see in the New York Times, Washington Post or Chicago Tribune.
• George F. Will: Netanyahu’s Warning to the World. Obama’s “wasted year” of engaging Iran has gotten Israel one year closer to a decision of incredibly gravity.  Is anyone listening to Bibi?
• Bomb Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Reactor? Patience is the coin of the realm, and it’s in short supply in both Washington and Tel Aviv.
• NCAA interrogates Michigan, Rich Rodriguez for seven hours.  Seven hours?  I think this case will take a little bit longer than the typical six to eight weeks to decide.
• Mosque controversy swirls around Obama. Walking it back, and Democrats are not happy campers.  Told you so.
• Stealth Energy Tax Hike on Senate Agenda for September.  Origination clause issues may derail it, but trusting Democrats to follow Constitutional principles is like asking DC criminals to observe the city’s gun control laws.
• Happy V-J Day… and Obama Said in 2008 His Father Served in World War II (video).  Problem is, Obama’s father was born in 1936 and his stepfather was born in 1935.
• Feds order more pressure tests before relief well drilling can restart. Relief well drilling is now officially behind schedule, and its completion may not even matter.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama’s Mosque Revealed!

In a speech today, President Barack Hussein Obama unveiled a breathtaking new plan to renovate the White House, part of his effort to "reach out” to the muslim community, bow down and show how we’ve become such good little dhimmis:

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“And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world,” Mr. Obama said. “And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.”

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The renovation project will be funded in part by unspent stimulus funds, but the majority of financing will be provided by gracious and generous unnamed contributors from the Middle East. 
Obama also unveiled the architect’s rendering of the splendid new look of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave:
The news was hailed: "We are so excited. What a magnificent project.  We will review any requests for pilgrimage from the Muslim world, and as long as they have their papers in order, they will be welcome.  This could be a great opportunity to promote dialogue and tourism to help the economy. Twenty, thirty million Muslims per year coming, Allah be praised," said Khalid al-Sadr, a consultant on the project, in an interview with CNN.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

‘shop credit to Daily Squib.

Featured in the news: Bloggers react to Obama’s backing of Ground Zero Mosque

• Atlas Shrugs – “If you had any doubt who Obama stood with on 911, there can be no doubt in our minds now. .. Once again, Obama puts himself directly at odds with the majority of the American people, as is his way and the hallmark of his presidency.”
• Ace of Spaces HQ – “You know who else my enemy is? My enemy is someone who think it's a good idea to advertise the virtues of Islam next door to Islam's Greatest Hit.”
• Doug Ross @Journal – “President Obama doesn't care what you or I think. Facts, logic, reason and history play no part in his "decision-making". Only ideology matters with this particular breed of hard-left Democrats.”
• Weasel Zippers – “Obama spits in America’s eye…”
• Gateway Pundit – “Well, this is real stunner.  Since most voters in America are against building a mosque at Ground Zero, it only figures then that our radical far left president would join the 20% who believe it’s a good idea.”
• Hot Air – “Besides, the left has invested so much energy over the past month patting itself on the back for its moral superiority that they’d have wigged out if he had sided against them here. He can deny them a public option, but god help him if he denies them a Teachable Moment at the wingnuts’ expense.”
• Riehl World View – “I don't think anyone is questioning their right to worship. This is about where. You don't have a right to say a Christian prayer in a public school.”
• Ed Driscoll – The White House was much better off declaring the Cordoba House a local issue. By wading into this, if conservatives weren’t already fired up, ready to go (to coin a phrase) this November, they will be now after reading this.
• Protein Wisdom — “The people of New York who don’t want it? They’re just going to have to learn how to be good Americans.”
• Jennifer Rubin – “He is entirely – and to many Americans, horridly — a creature of the left, with little ability to make moral distinctions. His sympathies for the Muslim World take precedence over those, such as they are, for his fellow citizens. This is nothing short of an abomination.”

Riddle:  What do you get when you cross a radical Muslim with a radical Communist?
Answer: Barack Hussein Obama!  mmm hmm hmm