Concessions.

To be scrupulously fair, the tone of the clip isn’t true to the tone of the entire speech. The Standard has the transcript. Most of what preceded this was as florid a valentine to Israel and Zionism as a U.S. president has ever delivered. It had to be in order to prepare his audience for [...]

Read this post »

"It is up to us to make sure that we learn from my mistakes, and from our mistakes."

Let’s be honest. The only way he could have made this speech truly interesting and newsworthy was by flagellating himself over what went wrong last year. True to form, he passed on that option for something safe, well-meaning, but ultimately pointless instead. BuzzFeed had a post this morning headlined “Mitt Romney wants to apologize to [...]

Read this post »

Uh oh.

I have my issues with him just like you do, but c’mon. Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush are conservative enough to speak at CPAC but not Christie? He’s the current vice chair of the RGA and will be chairman next year for the midterms. He’s headed for a landslide reelection victory in a deep blue [...]

Read this post »

“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.”

This doesn’t mean it won’t be overlong, enervating, and instantly disposable like the last four were, just more peevish than usual. It’ll also be an occasion for O to “pivot to jobs” for the seventh or eighth time in his presidency, which I take it means 15-20 minutes about the middle class and the latest [...]

Read this post »

Responsibility.

We’re a day late to it but here it is, by popular demand, for your evening enjoyment. The Blaze says the response they’ve gotten to the vid is among the most enthusiastic for any clip in the history of the site. The Wall Street Journal, upon viewing it, declared “Ben Carson for president.” He’ll be [...]

View the video »

Farewell?

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is leaving office with a slap at critics of the Obama administration’s handling of the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. She told The Associated Press that critics of the administration’s handling of the attack don’t live in an “evidence-based world,” and their refusal to “accept [...]

Read this post »

Sabotage?

I use the term “border enforcement requirements” loosely, of course. I’m sticking with what I wrote yesterday, that Obama’s insistence on giving a big left-wing speech about immigration is really just a way to make the Senate bill look “moderate” by comparison. He has to walk a fine line in praising the bill to keep [...]

Read this post »

Hedging.

Actually, this is a reminder to me too. I meant to congratulate The One yesterday on having the sheer balls to lecture America on equality for gay couples after he lied and lied and lied for years, pretending that he opposed gay marriage for no grander reason than that doing so might help him in [...]

Read this post »

Back burner.

Not entirely missing, of course, but close to it.  Barack Obama only mentioned the word “job” three times in a speech of over 2100 words, and in none of these cases talked specifically about growing jobs for the 8 million more Americans without one since he became President. Here are the three references to jobs [...]

Read this post »

Unleashed.

President Barack Obama’s second inaugural address was the most liberal speech he has delivered as president — a blunt summons to wage war on poverty, defend entitlements for the middle class, end “perpetual war” overseas and move past the calibrated progressive agenda of his first term. Gone were the pleas for bipartisanship of his first [...]

Read this post »

What could go wrong?

I thought the centerpiece of today’s speech would be amnesty, just because it’s the only liberal wishlist item on which he’s likely to achieve big things in his second term. Push immigration front and center today and then he could point back to it later for “legacy” enhancement, as proof that he kept his key [...]

View the video »

Just words ...

In February 2008, as Barack Obama tried to wrest the nomination from previously-favored Hillary Clinton, his critics said that Hope and Change was nothing but words, with no plan for effective action.  In a speech in Wisconsin, Obama gave his “just words?” response: More than four years later, American Crossroads says yes — those were [...]

View the video »

Change.

The Obama era in American politics began almost exactly eight years ago in Boston, when a youthful Senate candidate’s soaring speech to the Democratic National Convention stole the show from the actual Democratic nominee. It ended, to all intents and purposes, last Thursday night in Charlotte, when a weary-seeming incumbent delivered perhaps the fourth-best major [...]

Read this post »

Hopeless.

Barack Obama is deeply overexposed and often boring. He never seems to be saying what he’s thinking. His speech Thursday was weirdly anticlimactic. There’s too much buildup, the crowd was tired, it all felt flat. He was somber, and his message was essentially banal: We’ve done better than you think. Who are you going to [...]

Read this post »

Spin.

Such is the genius of The One that even his biggest failures are actually huge successes that most people simply haven’t appreciated yet. Someday, we’ll all see ObamaCare for the masterpiece that it is. While the pundits are generally calling the president’s Thursday night address mediocre, Obama and his advisers had taken great pains to [...]

Read this post »

Awakening.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— A couple hours before President Obama took the stage Thursday night, The Foo Fighters’ lead singer seemed to presage his speech with a rendition of “My Hero.” “There goes my hero. Watch him as he goes,” Dave Grohl wailed. “There goes my hero. He’s ordinary.” The moody pop anthem could have been the [...]

Read this post »

Truth deficits.

During Barack Obama’s speech last night, my good friend Kevin McCullough made this observation on Twitter: Factcheckers are gonna have a field day with this speech… #fb — Kevin McCullough (@KMCRadio) September 7, 2012 I responded: Aren’t you the optimist! RT @bmxradio: Factcheckers are gonna have a field day with this speech… #fb — EdMorrissey [...]

Read this post »

Mulligan.

Here’s the schedule. Tonight’s show began at 4:30 p.m. ET, but things don’t really start rolling until “Barack’s Angels” formally bestow Hollywood’s benediction sometime between 7:30 and 8. Then comes Caroline Kennedy to remind America that what you think is the sun is really just Teddy’s angelic smile, shining down from heaven upon The One’s [...]

Read this post »

Lies.

If the WaPo’s Glenn Kessler could fact-check a speech before Mitt Romney gave it, why not a little prebuttal of tonight’s featured DNC speaker? Although many viewers will opt for the opening of the NFL season, a likely female-skewing demo will tune in to hear former Pres. Bill Clinton, a man impeached for lying to [...]

Read this post »

Prime time, baby.

This is it, folks — the main event. Here are the available excerpts from Romney’s prepared remarks for the evening, and I’ll embed the livestream again below in case you want to watch the whole thing go down here. I’ll update with my immediate thoughts and the crowd’s reaction here from Tampa when it’s all [...]

Read this post »

It's time.

The most anticipated speaker on deck at the GOP convention tonight is almost certainly Paul Ryan, as his speech will mark his official acceptance of the nomination for Mitt Romney’s running mate and afford him the opportunity to America that he can be a more competent vice president than President Obama’s current counterpart. Lookin’ pretty [...]

View the video »

Bounce.

Alternate headline: “So far, so good.” I assume most of this is due to Ann, whose speech dwelled entirely on Mitt, versus Christie, who didn’t mention him until 16 minutes in. But even so, this is interesting: Romney had a 43-percent favorable and 44-percent unfavorable rating in nine battleground states heading into the convention, according [...]

Read this post »

Respect.

Gov. Nikki Haley notes she’s a woman and a minority with a nonchalant smile that says “moving on from the obvious” before she dives into economic successes in her home state of South Carolina. When she delivers her speech to the Republican National Convention tonight, it won’t be for a specific demographic. “My audience is [...]

Read this post »

"I think if he had to do it over again, he wouldn't make the joke."

That was my hunch too. Which, between the two of us, means this is now the official RINO position on Romney’s Birther goof. Henceforth let no man show misgivings lest he be formally dubbed a candy ass, my friends. If you believe John Avlon, Christie’s speech tonight will be more upbeat than people are expecting: [...]

Read this post »

"She will burn the place down, in a positive way."

Via the Daily Caller, I couldn’t agree more. What possible reason is there to exclude her? She’s the reining vice presidential nominee; she gives a hell of a speech; she’s on a major roll in helping tea-party candidates win their Senate primaries; and she has a passionate base that’s lukewarm at best about Romney. If [...]

Read this post »