The Hollywood Liberal

Pare Down the Senate Filibuster

Global Fuel Prices Will Spark Next Revolutions
Vivienne Walt, Time
While the demonstrators that have mobbed the streets of Amman for two weeks now are demanding the overthrown of King Abdullah — a criminal offense in Jordan — it’s not the demand for democracy that sparked their protests. Instead, thousands of Jordanians have been spurred to act by a more basic issue: the rising price of gas after the government withdrew its subsidies.

Regarding Saxby Chambliss
Erick Erickson, Red State
Saxby Chambliss is waffling around like a dog off its leash for the first time.He says he does not care about a “twenty year old pledge” he signed. He’s talking about the Americans for Tax Reform pledge that says he pledges not to raise taxes. He has clarified his remarks to mean he wants tax reform that increases revenue through job growth.Everyone knows that Saxby meant he was happy to raise taxes. Now, under pressure back home, he is waffling. He covets his seat in Washington and is fearful of being primaries. Georgia has primary run-offs, whichs means he can…

Republican Hypocrisy on Susan Rice
Michael Williams, The Guardian
The Republican crusade against Susan Rice, US ambassador to the United Nations, continues unabated. Dr Rice, a favourite to succeed outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is charged by some Republicans with “lying” about the nature of the attacks against the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya on 11 September 2012.While Rice should be thoroughly vetted by the Senate, the logic of current witch hunt is laughable; and it sets a precedent the GOP should want to avoid. Following the logic of Senator John McCain, the Obama administration should launch an investigation into the George W…

The Odd Case Against Susan Rice
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
Erika Johnsen over at Hot Air is not buying Susan Rice's explanation:She relied “solely and squarely” on info from the intelligence community? That seems a bit odd, considering that the intelligence community suspected terrorism from the very beginning, which means that something doesn't fit here — and the most obvious possibility for that missing link is that somebody high up in the food chain tweaked the talking points on a very inconvenient situation with only weeks to go before a close presidential election, although the White House has denied having done so.

Prosperity, Not Austerity
David Moberg, In These Times
After playing a key role in President Obama's re-election, the labor movement must pivot immediately to a new task: moving the president away from a potentially disastrous policy of "austerity economics" and toward a second-term adoption of more worker-friendly "prosperity economics." In the weeks after the election, Obama will negotiate with the hard-right House Republicans about the looming threat of automatic across-the-board cuts. 

Another Step Toward an Islamist Egypt
Barry Rubin, PJ Media
The French press agency headline says it all: “Egypt’s [President] Morsi assumes sweeping powers, branded new pharaoh.” Mursi has issued a decree giving himself virtually dictatorial powers and contradicting the assumption that he—and his Muslim Brotherhood organization—intend to rule democratically. Opposition forces said this constituted a coup.Mursi’s spokesman explained the decree in these terms: the president can issue any decree he wishes to protect the revolution. “The constitutional declarations, decisions and laws…

Stop Playing Games With ObamaCare

GOP Drags Country Down Conspiracy Path
Andrew Rosenthal, NY Times
There are still unanswered questions about the Benghazi mission killings"“remaining fine details about what happened that day, what the intelligence community knew (or didn't know) before the attack, whether better security around American diplomats could have prevented the tragedy. It's not surprising that, directly after the incident, there was some confusion as to what, exactly, had taken place. Just as it's not surprising that questions remain two months later. At least it's not surprising to serious people with a background in military and…

Oklahoma Doctors vs. ObamaCare
Jim Epstein, Reason
Three years ago, Dr. Keith Smith, co-founder and managing partner of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, took an initiative that would only be considered radical in the health care industry: He posted online a list of prices for 112 common surgical procedures. The 51-year-old Smith, a self-described libertarian, and his business partner, Dr. Steve Lantier, founded the Surgery Center 15 years ago, after they became disillusioned with the way patients were treated at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, where the two men worked as anesthesiologists. In 1997, Smith and Lantier bought the shell…

Campaign 2012: The End of Political Truth?
David Corn, Mother Jones
The most significant public statement from a presidential campaign this year did not pass through the lips of a candidate. It came during the Republican convention in Tampa when Mitt Romney's pollster, Neil Newhouse, declared at a breakfast panel organized by ABC News, “We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.” With these words, Romney's chief numbers guy was issuing a manifesto: This campaign is about saying whatever needs to be said to win, reality and facts be damned. It was an appropriate slogan, for the 2012 campaign has been profoundly…

Obama: From Hope to Bitterness
Kyle Smith, New York Post
Watch the campaign news segment with the sound turned down. You can see what’s happening in their faces: Mitt Romney is earnest, optimistic and forward-looking. Barack Obama is sour with sarcasm, peevish, defensive and even downright angry. Nineteen-sixty John Kennedy has turned into 1974 Richard Nixon.Whatever could be bothering this former apostle of light?By downgrading its adulation, the country has let President Obama down, and the president, whose bizarre dislike for people was compared by one of his own aides to Bill Gates somehow achieving supremacy in the world of software…

Independent Voters Give Romney Chance to Win Big
Josh Jordan, NRO
Get FREE NRO NewslettersLog In  |  RegisterFollow UsNovember 12 Issue Subscribe to NR Renew November 12 Issue  |  Subscribe  |  RenewThe CornerThe one and only.Return of the IndependentsThe days after Hurricane Sandy brought a small bump in President Obama’s numbers against Governor Romney and in job approval. This was easily explained by the positive television coverage Obama received about his initial statements on relief efforts and with his…

Wave Goodbye to the Obama Media
Carlson & Patel, The Daily Caller
By tomorrow night we’ll likely know the name of the next president. But we already know the loser in this election cycle: political reporters. They've disgraced themselves. Conservatives have long complained about liberal bias in the media, and with some justification. But it has finally reached the tipping point. Not in our lifetimes have so many in the press dropped the pretense of objectivity in order to help a political candidate. The media are rooting for Barack Obama. They’re not hiding it.

Romney for Ike-Like Peace & Prosperity
Kevin Ferris, Philadelphia Inquirer
Though it's not fashionable to look favorably on the 1950s, voters today might want to consider the choices people faced 60 years ago, the leader they elected, and the stability and prosperity that resulted.In 1952, Americans wanted change.The previous 12 years had been exhausting, marked by wars and recessions and scandals. As the Democrats were in charge, and had been for two decades, it seemed likely that the GOP would benefit from the hopes for new leadership.

Romney Closes Big: ‘Love of Country’ vs. ‘Revenge’
Byron York, Examiner

Obama’s Record of Failure on Jobs

American Determination and Climate Change
Robert Redford, Huff Post
I'm so struck with America's human spirit as Hurricane Sandy has left a trail of destruction in its wake, destroying homes and businesses and turning the lives of so many upside down. And yet people remain unbowed — New Yorkers and New Jerseyans, first responders, hospital workers, National Guard and countless others — are pulling together, as they always do, in the face of tragedy. And this would be the case whether or not a Presidential election were running in the background.But elections are, indeed, running in the background of this human consequence and the inspiration we…

Mitt Romney’s Campaign Insults Voters

Time Is Running Out for Mitt Romney
Charles Blow, New York Times
Time is running out for Mitt Romney.According to the latest polls, the most likely outcome of Tuesday's election is that Romney will lose. If he does, it will likely be a bitter pill to swallow. He would have come so close only to have fate and circumstances step in at the final hour and give President Obama a boost.

The Romney Turnaround

Obama Set to Scrape Out a Victory
John Cassidy, The New Yorker
 After all the drama of the past few days, it may seem anticlimactic to suggest that not much has changed in the election. That’s what the latest polls are telling us, though. Going into the final weekend of the campaign, it’s still a tight race, but President Obama retains a distinct advantage in the electoral college. Unless the pollsters are wrong, or there is a last-minute swing to Mitt Romney, the Democratic incumbent looks set to scrape out a victory.Obviously, there is a lot of interest in how Obama’s adroit response to Hurricane Sandy, and the…

A Tight Election & Its Uncertain Aftermath
Lou Cannon, RealClearPolitics
The presidential election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is so close that pollsters and political analysts can't predict the outcome. But an equivalent mystery is how the winner will confront the nation's on-rushing potential fiscal calamity.After three presidential debates we still have few clues about how either Obama or Romney would prevent a plunge off what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls "the fiscal cliff" at year's end. That's when across-the-board income tax cuts enacted during the George W. Bush presidency will expire, as will a…