9-15-12 Hodgepodge

Hope for Romney?

Richard Salsman (linked below) is pessimistic about Romney's chances of winning in November despite Romney-Ryan being what he considers the best Republican ticket "in decades". Dick Morris thinks otherwise, for a variety of reasons, including widespread use of outdated polling models and a further failure by pollsters to account for an "enthusiasm gap" between Democrat and GOP supporters.

But perhaps the most interesting numbers Morris marshals are the following:

Finally, both parties seemed happily to embrace the same formulation of the difference between them. Both agreed that the Republican Party is based on a philosophy of individual responsibility. Obama articulated it as, "You're on your own." Republicans put it differently: "We'll get government off your back." Democrats said theirs was a party that would lend you a hand.

Gallup measured these two options, and voters chose "leave me alone" over "lend me a hand" by 54-35.

I feel very cautiously optimistic for Romney-Ryan based on Morris's line of reasoning, but being trapped in the bowels of a blue state, I have no idea what kind of "get-out-the-vote" shennanigans might be going on in closer states. Perhaps, if we make our Missouri move sooner, rather than later, I'll get some idea.

Weekend Reading

"That is the price of entitlements. Anything you achieve, you owe to whomever or whatever President Obama decrees." -- Richard Ralston, in "Don't Attribute Success to 'Somebody'" at The Orange County Register

"You don't pour gasoline on a fire or use poison to cure a disease; other options are available." -- Michael Hurd, in "Lying's a Full-Time Job" at DrHurd.com

"Sad to say, but Americans today seem far less secular and individualistic than they were in 1980. " -- Richard Salsman, in "Party Conventions Pit The Vision Of Reagan Versus The Whining Of Carter" at Forbes

"Today's poor little rich families are 'struggling' while watching television, texting on their cell phones, and living in air-conditioned homes." -- Harry Binswanger, in "Obama Hears Your Whining, And He's Here to Help You Out" at Forbes

"In health care, leading Obamacare supporters are now proposing unprecedented new government controls over all medical spending -- private as well as public -- to 'solve' problems caused by prior controls" -- Paul Hsieh, in "In Top Journal, Obamacare Boosters Push 'Global Spending Target'" at PJMedia

"Free" is a Horrible Deal

Richard Ralston does an outstanding job of making any reader aware of the real price of government "largesse".

Never Forget

The eleventh anniversary of the Islamist atrocities of September 11, 2001 occurred this year. I refer the reader to a post by Don Watkins at Laissez-Faire, where he observes that:

[T]oo many supposed free-market champions are criticizing Americans for not forgetting enough. They say the threat of Islamic Totalitarianism is overblown and that if only we would stop being so "aggressive," foreigners would no longer want to kill us.

I think that view is fundamentally wrong. I think that far from being "aggressive" in fighting this enemy, we have been incredibly, pathetically, unforgivably weak. Our path has been defined by appeasement and pulled punches.

As witness, note the following wages of appeasement, which appear as headlines from Matt Drudge this morning:

JITS: CAMPUSES EVACUATED, CLASSES CANCELED BY 'AL QAEDA THREAT'...
Terror scare in Kansas City...
North Dakota State University bomb threat...
'Unspecified' threat at Valparaiso University...
Nuke Reactor Evacuated In Austin...

This is all on top of a recent wave of barbarity overseas during the past few days, including attacks on American embassies.

We must not only never forget these religiously-inspired atrocities, we must eventually remember how to fight a real war.

--CAV