Bill Clinton's legacy dies a little more...

William J. Clinton did a lot of things while he was president. Like every president, some were positive; others...not so much.

Today, we learned that two of his "legacies" have died.

The first: Marc Rich, the former fugitive oil trader and founder of the commodities trading giant Glencore International, died on Wednesday in Lucerne, Switzerland. He was 78. Rich, who often operated his "businesses" in the shadows (including "buy[ing] oil from Iran after the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution despite American sanctions against the country") was pardoned by Clinton "on his last day in office in early 2001. The pardon brought the oil trader back into the headlines after it was revealed that Mr. Rich’s former wife, Denise Eisenberg, had given [significant] donations to the Democratic Party in 2000, according to official records."

The second: the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Clinton had signed into law, was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court (5-4 decision). In a statement issued jointly with his wife, Hillary, there was no mention of the role Mr. Clinton played in making DOMA the law of the land. "By overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, the Court recognized that discrimination towards any group holds us all back in our efforts to form a more perfect union," the couple said in the statement. "

Bill Clinton signing the Defense of Marriage Act into law.  

Two big hits like that in one day? Ya gotta feel for Bill...

Hooray (who works for) Hollywood...?

Elizabeth Warren (Socialist), who will face U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) in a campaign for the old "Teddy Kennedy seat" in the Bay State, has been touting her socialist credentials, far and wide.

The truth is, like most socialist politicians, she says one thing and lives another. The latest anti-Warren video (below) is a hilarious send-up of the Oscar-winning "The Artist" (and a spot-on representation of who she is and who she represents...hint, it ain't the "1 percent").

"Those are horrible words!...except when our friends use them."

Without wading too far into the mess that Rush Limbaugh made for himself, let's look at the amazing (but not surprising) double standard that exists for those on the Left.

The video clip at the bottom of this post - produced by SHE PAC - pays particular attention to "comedian" Bill Maher - a loathsome fellow, really - who has practically made a career out of being a Republican-hating misogynist. (He also made news, recently, by donating $1 million to the president's Super PAC.)

President Obama's Super PAC, as well as current and former aides, have rejected giving Maher's money back. Who said you can't buy loyalty?

Funny (not), how the president feels compelled to call a political/legal activist after she's called inappropriate names, yet he doesn't even think twice about ignoring "victims" when his own buddies say much, much worse.

As George Orwell wrote in "Animal Farm" - "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

Bonus: Apparently, the "get Rush" strategy is starting to have some blowback for the White House...

Meet the old boss, same as the new boss

"Rediscovered 2004 Senate ad shows Obama pitching similar rhetorical themes"

A great find by Neil Munro over at The Daily Caller (see video below):

A rediscovered video from Barack Obama’s 2004 Senate race shows him road-testing his current rhetorical techniques, pitching far-left policies, and depicting business and the marketplace as negative forces.

“We all have a set of mutual obligations towards each other — we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper — and that those mutual obligations have to express themselves through government policies,” he said at the tail end of a soft-focus, five-minute autobiographical video entitled “Introducing Barack Obama” that he released during his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate.

They’re “the kind of values that I’ve been trying to promote through my career,” he says.

Obama won the primary in a landslide. He easily won the 2004 election against a weak GOP opponent, after his main GOP rival quit the race when a Democratic-appointed judge unsealed damaging divorce testimony.

The 2004 video also showcases several recurring features of Obama’s speeches — his use of the passive tense to glide past controversial issues, his passive-aggressive portrayal of himself as the reasonable moderate among extremists, and his promises of benefits without costs.

The video features several segments of Obama pitching himself in an African-American church, complete with a minister’s Sunday cadence. “I believe we can provide homes to the homeless, food to hungry, clothes to the naked,” he preaches while an organist backs him up.

He cites his work as a “political organizer” working with several churches to ameliorate the impact of steel-industry shutdowns. But doesn’t offer any examples where his work, or entrepreneurs’ work, helped attract or create new jobs. However, he does say that his organizing work registered more people to vote for the Democratic Party.

He cites his attendance at Trinity United Church of Christ without mentioning the controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

He mentions his work in the state assembly to further regulate police forces, and he brings up his career as a “civil rights” lawyer.

He uses the passive tense to mention his 1996 race for a state Senate seat. That passive-voice phrase — “seven years ago, this opportunity came up to serve in the General Assembly in Illinois” — avoids any mention of the sharp-elbowed tactics that he used to snatch the seat from a veteran, female African-American Democratic incumbent.

He also displayed a personal interest in what he saw as Arab discrimination in post-9/11 America.

“If there is an Arab American somewhere getting rounded up by [Attorney General] John Ashcroft, without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties even if I am not an immigrant,” he declares, three years after the 9/11 attacks. Ashcroft was not “rounding up” Arab immigrants in 2004, but was actually resisting efforts by police agencies to expand surveillance.

You can hope all you want, but some things never change...

Big Brother's Friends Are Watching!

Have you heard the one about the politician who asked his followers to turn-in fellow citizens who are maligning his and the party's good names?

Wait...wasn't that something that happened in Germany during the 1930s and '40s? Or maybe in the Soviet Union and its puppet nations during the attempted reign of communism?

You know who else had people snitch on fellow citizens?

Apparently some folks don't learn the lessons taught by history.

The latest to try the "spy on your neighbor" trick? The current administration.

Alexandra Petri details the Obama campaign's, "Attack Watch," in her Washington Post piece:

The Obama campaign has outdone itself again. First the creepy tapping e-mails. Now this — Attack Watch, a site designed to “Get the facts. Fight the smears . . . and help stop the attacks on the President before they start.”

This, like most features of the Obama reelection campaign, is a less appealing version of Something That Worked in 2008. In 2008, it was called Fight the Smears. The interface was friendly and hope-colored.

This time, it’s dark and angry and Web 1.0. It looks like the guy who designs 9/11 conspiracy Web sites finally got his big break.

Nothing says, "Wow, we're feeling really good going into the election season” like “HERE IS AN ANGRY PREEMPTIVE WEBSITE WITH ATTACK IN ITS NAME.”

Who designed your page interface? George Orwell?

But seriously, 1998 sent an AOL Instant Message; it wants its page design back.

“Join Attack Wire – and help stop the attacks on the President before they start."

Before they start?

I'm fine with stopping them after they start.

Terror threats and fires and M. Night Shyamalan films, for instance, should be stopped before they start.

But this is like telling your audience not to think about elephants. “Especially do not think of voting for elephants,” Attack Watch adds.

Who thought this was a good idea?

I would just like to see the committee meeting where this happened.

“Hey,” someone said. “Remember how awkward it was when people claimed the President wasn’t born in the United States, and we had to go door to door with copies of his birth certificate patiently explaining things?”

“Yeah!” Everyone nods. “Donald Trump was especially obdurate.”

“People will probably make more scurrilous attacks! And sometimes those attacks sway people! But if people know that attacks are going to be made, we can cut them off at the pass!”

Or something.

This is patently silly. The group of people most likely to sign up for Attack Wire is by far the group of people least likely to be swayed by scurrilous attacks on Barack Obama. Nothing says, “I am unlikely to believe negative things said about the president” like “I just signed up for a list where he can explain to me why any attack made on him is wrong.”

The 100,000 people who have already signed up are essentially saying that they are definitely planning on voting for Barack Obama, no matter what anyone says.

Attack Wire doesn't even need to send them any e-mails. In fact, it might be better if they didn’t.

Consider: How will this work?

Peek-a-boo: We see (and hear) you!

Stop attacks before they start? This is like that old trick where you ask political candidates, “And how many times did you murder your wife?” We all know how this turns out. We’ve seen “Inception.”

And this time the e-mail will come from the Obama campaign.

Are Attack Watchmen really going to get a message every few weeks that says something like, “You may have heard that Barack Obama has a half-bat lovechild in a cave many miles to the south. Rest assured that this is false”? “If anyone has told you that Barack Obama is actually a homicidal robot from the future, do not believe him!” “Barack Obama is definitely not behind the nabbing of those Scarlett Johansson pictures, no matter what you’ve heard.”

Nothing spreads a rumor faster than vehemently denying it.

But I'm sure they thought it through more thoroughly than that.

Or did they?

If they put as much effort into the concept as into the site design, then we can only hope.

As in, "Hope and Change?"

(h/t: Alexandra Petri/Washington Post)

The world according to Nancy...

At a recent Democratic Party get-together, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), shared her views about members of the opposing party, the Republicans.

In what some have called another example of her party's "class warfare" tactics, Rep. Pelosi discusses her "theories" regarding wealthy folks' aversion to taxes saying one of the reasons is that they want to be "immortal."

Okaaaaaaaaay...

Watch/listen to the video below...

John Edwards...

Mugged.

Earlier this week, former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards' mug shot was released. A two-time presidential hopeful, Edwards pleaded not guilty earlier this month to federal charges that he solicited and used campaign contributions to hide his mistress and their baby. Among the charges for which he has been indicted include four counts of illegal campaign contributions, conspiracy and making false statements in connection with a cover-up of his extramarital affair.

The shots above, however, are nowhere near as interesting as the "John Edwards Mug Shot Outtakes" (below).

John Edwards Mug Shot Outtakes from Jerry O'Connell (this clip, btw, is a parody)

Do as she says...

...not as she does.

'Debbie Does Bailouts" - Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz...

Remember when the Administration and the Democrats in Congress were pushing for the Federal bailout of the U.S. auto industry?

One of those championing a bailout was then-Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), the new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, who practically led the charge against Republicans opposing President Barack Obama's pro-union efforts.

"If it were up to the candidates for president on the Republican side," she declared, "we would be driving foreign cars. They would have let the auto industry in America go down the tubes!"

Want to guess what country Little Debbie's car comes from?

It starts with a "J" and ends with "apan." That's right, the Debster drives a 2010 Infiniti FX35 that is built by Nissan in Tochigi, Japan.

Way to put your money where your mouth is, Debbie!

Don't hold your breath...

Will "Joey Plugs" make a run at the White House in 2016?

If the GOP doesn't have a reason to get off its backside, it does now.

According to POLITICO, "Vice President Joe Biden surprised a gathering of donors in Cincinnati last week when he floated the prospect of his succeeding President Barack Obama in the White House [in 2016]. Biden, who started in the Senate young and would be just 70 in 2012, raised the possibility unprompted during a wide-ranging conversation at the May 19 dinner with major Democratic Party donors, a source in the room said. But the spontaneous suggestion caught the attention of at least some in the audience, said the guest, 'given he volunteered that without prompting...and given the audience.' A spokeswoman for Biden declined to comment on the exchange."

Biden for president?

On the other hand, a Biden candidacy might just be the driving force behind putting a Republican back in the White House...

How many more years?

Touchy, touchy...

Before he made his way west to California (aka: the Democratic Party's ATM), President Barack Obama gave a few interviews.

In this particular sit-down, he did with a Texas station (below), the president not only got some key historical facts wrong, but he also had a few choice (read: cranky) remarks for the interviewer.

After watching it, you've got to wonder, "Does the president actually know any American history? How could he think that 'Texas has always been a pretty Republican state, for, you know, historic reasons.' Does he have any idea that it was the Democratic Party that dominated the South from the 1830s up until the 1970s and 80s? Does he know which party dominated the Confederacy and the Jim Crow South?"

You decide...

(h/t: Betsy's Page)

He "will not rest!"

"President main attraction at fourth party event this month"

That's the headline from CNN: "President Barack Obama headlines a Democratic party event Wednesday night, the second time this week and fourth time this month he's been the main attraction at a party gathering."

It's a good thing there aren't any crises right now for him to focus on. No big disasters, no wars, no economic problems...

It's a good thing he promised not to rest until all those things were fixed...

Who gives and how much?

Have you ever wanted to know who writes the checks to/for your elected officials?

Well, here's your chance to see who the big funders are. This particular set of charts, created by the Center for Responsive Politics and presented by NPR, were intended to show how much "power" labor unions really have against the influence of finance folks.

(Click on the graphic to enlarge.)

Notes

"Other" includes a variety of industries that don't fall under any business, labor or ideological groupings

Source: Center for Responsive Politics

Credit: Janey Adams and Alyson Hurt / NPR

"Flee-baggers"

How can you not smile/laugh at the new name for the Wisconsin Democrat legislators who ran away to Indiana to avoid a vote?

"Flee-baggers."

Farewell, Joe Cerrell...

Joseph R. Cerrell, 1935-2010

The sun shines a little less bright on the American political landscape right now, especially in Los Angeles. Public policy, publicity, politics and punditry lost a pioneer and a real pro on Friday.

Joseph R. Cerrell, "a legendary political consultant and consummate schmoozer whose unrelenting but principled style won respect from allies and opponents, died of complications related to pneumonia at St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, Calif. He was 75."

Cerrell’s roster of clients and friends read like an almanac of U.S., California and Los Angeles politics: "from the 1950s forward — [including] John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Al Gore, Dianne Feinstein, Willie Brown, Jesse Unruh and both Pat Brown and his son, Gov.-elect Jerry Brown."

I was fortunate to have interacted a number of occasions with Joe and his colleagues at Cerrell Associates - the vaunted political consulting and public relations firm he founded in 1967. During the times I worked with Cerrell, I was lucky enough to not only hear his stories of great historical/political figures and events, but I also had numerous opportunities to learn from one of the best.

While he was a lifelong Democrat, the man they called "the Dean of LA political consultants," also counted well-known and powerful Republicans among his many friends. He and his firm had a solid reputation for integrity, diligence and smarts. He did politics the way it should be done.

In a LA Daily News obituary for Cerrell, remarks from two prominent California politicians said it all:

• Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, called him a "true California legend. He was the indefatigable wise man of California politics. You could always count on Joe to give it to you straight."
• County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Cerrell was "a legend and giant in the world of politics and public affairs...Joe gave politics a good name. He loved the game and we has a master of it."

Amen.

Cerrell, with his hands on the car's windshield, was a force behind many major politicians' campaigns. Cerrell served as the youngest-ever chairman of the California Democratic Party. That experience caught the eye of John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1960, and he became Kennedy’s California campaign manager.

(Photos: Cerrell Associates)

For information regarding the memorial service for Joseph R. Cerrell, go here...