Annals of the One Percent

Obama flies special barber from Chicago to White House every ten to fourteen days.

I imagine that makes quite the carbon footprint.

Punching Back Twice as Hard

The Romney Campaign continues to impress:

Loud and rowdy supporters of Mitt Romney in Boston drowned out an attempt by President Obama campaign’s top strategist to attack the former Republican governor on his home turf.

In a morning news conference on the steps of the Massachusetts Statehouse,David Axelrod, one of Mr. Obama’s senior strategists, tried mostly in vain on Thursday to level Mr. Obama’s latest broadside on Mr. Romney’s record as governor of the state.

Instead, he was booed, heckled and chanted down by supporters of Mr. Romney who refused to let up even for a moment as Mr. Axelrod and Democratic state lawmakers sought to make their case.

With cameras rolling, the Republican hecklers yelled “We Want Mitt!” and “Broken Record!” and held signs that said “Go Back to Chicago!”

Better still:

Romney launched a sneak attack of his own, holding a news conference at the headquarters of Solyndra, the bankrupt solar energy company that received $535 million in loan guarantees from the Obama administration. According to reporters traveling with Romney, the campaign did not tell the press about the event until the bus was actually on its way to Solyndra.

"The reason for keeping it quiet is because we knew if word got out that Solyndra would do everything in their power and the Obama administration would do everything in their power to stop us from having this news conference," a Romney aide told reporters, according to an ABC News account. "But taxpayers made a substantial investment in Solyndra, there are serious questions about what happened at Solyndra, why that investment was selected, what happened to that money."

 It's definitely not 2008 anymore.

Update:  In sending supporters to Axelrod rally, Romney fulfilled his promise.

America's First Black, Gay . . . Jewish? President

Yesterday, Obama told a group of Jewish community leaders that "he probably knows about Judaism more than any other president."  I imagine this shouldn't come as much of a surprise from a man who knows more about managing a campaign than his campaign managers and more about writing speeches than his speech writers.  Still, James Madison and John Quincy Adams were unavailable for comment.    

Smart Diplomacy

Yesterday, Obama offended a close American ally, Poland, by referring to a Nazi Holocaust site as a "Polish death camp."

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Obama's words had hurt all Poles and he expected more from Washington than just regret.

"I am convinced that our American friends can today allow themselves a stronger reaction than a simple expression of regret from the White House spokesman -- a reaction more inclined to eliminate once and for all these kinds of errors," Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.

"Today, this is a problem for the reputation of the United States," the prime minister said.

Members of Poland's Jewish community -- including the country's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich -- said in a statement that: "We expect President Barack Obama to personally correct his words."

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski said meanwhile he had sent a letter to Obama "counting on (...) cooperation in correcting this unfortunate error" which "I am certain in no way reflects the thoughts or views of our American friend."

While this verbal miscue probably reflects incompetence and amateurism more than anything else (though imagine the left's reaction if Bush were the guilty party), it is but the latest incident to strain relations between America and Poland.  For example, it was back in September 2009, on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of Poland, that Obama announced he would capitulate Russia and abandon the missile defense shield program Poland had previously agreed to host.

New Campaign Ad

The Romney Campaign's latest ad highlights the billions in taxpayer dollars Obama wasted on Solyndra and other companies that subsequently failed. Companies that also happened to be backed by big Democratic donors.

In related news, Obama's Bain attacks continue to backfire, as the Administration struggles to explain the difference between private equity and Obama's public equity model.

Obama Delays War on Pools Until After Election

The Obama DOJ recently issued new regulatory rules requiring all public swimming pools to provide a lift capable of moving disabled patrons from their wheelchairs into the water.

Compliance with the rule requires pool owners to have a lift for each “water element” in their facility. So if your local community pool also has a spa, both the spa and the pool must be “accessible.” But if you have two spas, don’t worry, only one lift is required.

In fact, most people in the swimming pool industry thought that one portable lift would be enough. Pool owners claim they were led to believe that, as long as they had one device that could be wheeled out whenever someone needed help getting into or out of a pool or spa, there would be no need intrusive permanent fixtures.

But then industry leaders began hearing rumors last year that Obama’s DOJ would require permanently fixed lifts for each pool and spa. They began to write letters to DOJ asking for clarification on the issue.

On Jan. 31 of this year, DOJ granted the industry’s call for a clarification: But it was not the answer they wanted. All 300,000 public pools in the United States must install a permanent fixed lift.

Simply put, this means more litigation, higher costs, and fewer public pools as operators are forced to close when they are otherwise unable to comploy.  Conveniently, however, Obama has decided not to enforce the new rules until next year . . .  giving us one more reason to vote him out this year. 

The Church Against Obamacare

FNS host Chris Wallace interviews Cardinal David Wuerl, the Archbiship of Washington on the 12 lawasuits brought by 43 Catholic institutions against contraceptive mandate.  Among other things, they discuss the First Amendment issues involved and the lack of news coverage from other media outlets.

Romney Tops Obama By 28 Points Among Male Veterans

So finds a new Gallup poll released today.

Happy Memorial Day!

God Bless America and its fallen heroes.

A User's Guide To Smoking Pot With Barack Obama

No really.  Among the highlights:

When you were with Barry and his pals, if you exhaled precious pakalolo (Hawaiian slang for marijuana, meaning "numbing tobacco") instead of absorbing it fully into your lungs, you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around.  "Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated."

Of course, Obama now punishes people (and much more severely, I might add) for inhaling, which brings us back to . . .