Category: Politics

A commenter on my recent piece regarding Hillary Clinton’s calling the Benghazi families liars raised a very valid point when he asked whether or not the mothers of the fallen warriors at Benghazi had the same absolute moral authority the media bestowed on Cindy Sheehan.

Remember that woman’s fifteen minutes of fame a decade ago? Shrieking Cindy Sheehan, the Gold Star mother, whom I accused at the time of using her fallen soldier son’s coffin as a podium from which she attacked George W. Bush and his administration, was the darling of the mainstream media. Cindy was a California housewife whose son, Casey, was killed in combat in Iraq in 2004. His death drove his distraught mother into such a state that she left behind and eventually divorced her husband of almost three decades to take to the barricades of peace activism. The leftist antiwar movement quickly elevated her to celebrity spokesperson status because her son’s death, conferring on her a special cachet to speak with moral authority to the government conducting the war in which her son died.

It was Maureen Dowd, writing about Sheehan’s campaign against Bush in the New York Times on August 10th, 2005, who enhanced Sheehan’s already elevated moral authority (emphasis mine):

Selectively humane, Mr. Bush justified his Iraq war by stressing the 9/11 losses. He emphasized the humanity of the Iraqis who desire freedom when his W.M.D. rationale vaporized.

But his humanitarianism will remain inhumane as long as he fails to understand that the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute.

The rest of the Bush-bashing media immediately seized upon Dowd’s framing of this unquestioned right to speak and be believed without challenge bestowed upon parents of fallen sons. The antiwar movement quickly molded this moral authority into a club with which they and a compliant mainstream media beat down any Bush supporters who dared question Sheehan’s ear-piercing screeches. Bush himself was to dutifully accept Sheehan’s shrieking protests without objection, giving total deference to her absolute moral authority.

That was then…this is now. Can we rightfully expect the media to accord this same absolute moral authority to the Benghazi families who claim that Hillary Clinton lied to them at the ceremony where their son’s coffins were being unloaded from the military aircraft that brought their bodies home? Now that the boot of moral authority is on the right foot rather than the left, will the media be professionally consistent and march in lockstep with the Benghazi parents, as they did a decade ago with Sheehan and her movement? And, most importantly, will the mainstream media insist that their much-favored choice for president in 2016, Hillary Clinton, conduct herself in the same manner as they expected of the Bush administration, and allow the assertions of these Benghazi parents to go unchallenged? Will they ask her to renounce her charge that these aggrieved parents are liars?

I believe we all know the answers to those questions.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Hillary Clinton and her allies furiously and famously defended her husband’s sexual predations by targeting the women Bill victimized with media campaigns designed to portray Bill’s victims as lying, conniving bimbos. The best example of such targeting was the memorable television interview with James Carville, a longtime Clinton hatchet man, where he made this statement in regard to the sexual harassment from Bill reported by Paula Jones, an Arkansas state employee: “Drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find.”

That dismissive, condescending statement epitomized the theme of the Hillary-directed media response to the Bimbo Eruption, as it came to be known. Quite simply, these working-class, ordinary American women had no credibility due to their station in life. They were nothing more than low-class hustlers, looking for their fifteen minutes of fame by making accusations against a charismatic Democrat politician.

The operative term there is “Democrat.” Had these women come forth with their charges against a Republican presidential candidate, he would have been immediate toast in the mainstream media. But Bill and Hillary were Democrats, so the media went along with the bimbo portrayals even though Bill ultimately paid Paula Jones $850,000 to settle her lawsuit, in the process perjuring himself and losing his law license. And of course there was then the spectacle of Monica Lewinsky.

So why rehash all that? Well, it appears that Hillary is embarked on a new campaign to portray some ordinary Americans as deliberate liars regarding conversations she held with them on the tarmac at Andrews AFB, as the military was returning the bodies of the men killed in the Benghazi assault to their families.

At least three of those families have publicly stated that Hillary told them, “We are going to have the filmmaker arrested who was responsible for the death of your son.”

That was in reference to the bogus story the Obama administration had floated following the Benghazi massacre that the Islamic attackers were merely ordinary citizens incited by an anti-Islamic video produced by some Muslim character in California – in spite of the fact that Obama, Hillary, and the other top players all knew that the attack was a planned, deliberate military operation conducted by fully armed jihadist forces. Because such an attack would refute Obama’s claims that his administration had the Middle East terror situation under control in the critical run-up to his second-term election, the bogus video scenario was adopted, dutifully promoted, and vigorously defended by all key players. Sadly, that included Hillary at the casket arrival service at Andrews AFB, where she took the deception to a truly evil level by cold-bloodedly repeating the lie multiple times to the attending families of the fallen warriors.

Now that the video lie has been long debunked and Hillary is running for president, she knows that there is only one way to counter the families’ truthful revelations: by branding them liars, a modern resurrection of the tactics employed to counter her predatory husband’s accusers. We’ll see how that plays out this time around.

It was fairly simple to label a group of politically unsophisticated women, primarily from the South, as trailer-trash bimbos and get the media elites to go along. But this time it is families that have lost their sons in their nation’s service, families that have no reason to tell anything other than truth, that Hillary is attempting to paint as conniving liars. Somehow, I think she’s going to find it much more difficult to sell that garbage now, even to her lapdog media pals. Even those Democrat butt-kissers can see that the only lying bimbo associated with Benghazi is this woman, a hardened political operative lacking the common decency to refrain from such reptilian cruelty as lying to crying mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers even when she had no compelling reason to do so other than preserving a political lie.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Country music is the music for much of working-class America, and for many of those who make up that great mass of humanity, 83-year-old Loretta Lynn is the reigning Queen of Country Music now that the great Kitty Wells is no longer with us. Last week, Lynn publicly announced that she was supporting Donald Trump for the presidency in 2016. In fact, she says she has been passing on that message of support to her audiences at the closing of her concerts for some time now, and it is being very well-received. What’s more, the Coal Miner’s Daughter, so named for her huge 1970 hit of the same name, has publicly invited Donald to give her a call if he wants her support for his campaign.

Now if Donald is smart – like a fox comes to mind – he ought to jump on that offer like the proverbial chicken on a June bug. A very large segment of working-class Americans, including many of those affiliated with politically corrupt, Democrat-controlled unions, are Reagan Democrats, especially in blue or purple states. Those are folks for whom a folksy message from a coal miner’s daughter might have a populist attraction that a New York City billionaire’s overtures might lack. Some political analysts are already hinting at possible defections from this blue-collar Democrat cohort, so quite possibly Ms. Lynn can seal the deal with her country appeal.

Donald, if you read American Thinker, as surely you do, take out your phone this very minute and call Loretta to take her up on that offer. Then pay some lyricist in Nashville to rewrite some lyrics so that throughout your 2016 campaign against Hillary, we can hear Ms. Loretta singing your campaign anthem:

You ain’t woman enough to beat my man.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Here we are. Christmas decorations are back in the box, but along with the decorations let us not put away the meaning and spirit of Christmas. That Chinese guy is undoubtedly laughing at me – again. He saw my gold glitter covered coveralls and imagined me trying to stuff his reindeer and sleigh back into the box from whence they came. They are in there, maybe slightly bent, folded, spindled and mutilated, but in there all the same.

I am trying to sort out which emotion to attach to what is before us. It could easily be anger or hopelessness. It could be fear. No matter, unless you are a survivalist living totally unconnected and off the grid, there is at least some anxiety.

I am not certain of which presidential contender will ultimately win my favor, but there is one thing I am dead certain about. If my choices are named Clinton or Sanders on one side and road kill on the other, I will vote for the road kill. It would leave us no worse off, maybe better, if the road kill just laid there like pavement pizza and did nothing. If nothing else, Americans are resilient. If left alone by government, it is common everyday Americans who will return our country to greatness.

I am not a political prognosticator and polls really irritate me. I cannot predict which contender will get the nomination. What I can see is that nothing is going to jive with the norm. If it did, there would be great big GOP group hug for either Jeb or little Marco. Just keep it in mind that the communists-liberals-progressives or whatever their accepted political label is these days, never easily concede power. Just recall hanging chads and 100 percent of a voting district choosing one candidate.

It is interesting to observe. Trump, if he contributes nothing else has demonstrated that Americans want to hear about the issues that establishment types double talk their way around out of fear they might offend one identity group or another. What he has brought out is that there are still many people who believe this is great country and who identify as Americans first. What he has shown with the Cruz birther angle is that at his core he is not much different from other politicians. Willing to stoop to whatever depth necessary to bring down an opponent. Something in which Cruz has elected to not participate.

I heard there was somewhat of a cabal in Iowa of Huckabee and other single digit candidates wanting to take Cruz out. It just reminded me of an episode here in Wild and Wonderful when Huckabee allied with McCain to take out Romney in the first go around and we all know how that turned out. McCain, the man who had a conniption fit when the future president’s full name was used at one of his campaign events. The same McCain that is now, amazingly enough, concerned about Cruz’s citizenship and eligibility. Disappointingly even Rand Paul joined the birther fray. It is insightful how these establishment politicians and some we thought for certain were not ally, even with the commies, to take out a candidate they fear. And Trump is right in there with them. I find that telling.

The polls and the word showed Cruz was wrapping up the evangelical vote. So Rubio practically turned into a preacher overnight. Even more of a preacher than Huckabee who allegedly is one. To me, Rubio’s monotone memorized speeches are wearing thin. Especially when his gang of 8 walk does not quite jive with the talk.

I will not discount anyone at this point although I have my druthers. When it becomes obvious to most of the pretenders that they have no chance, I expect Rubio to get the establishment nod and their collective endorsement.

Nothing much changes does it? Hillary or road kill? I am voting for the squashed possum.

© 2016 J. D. Pendry All Rights Reserved

This week, I told the world about some of the folks who are occupying the building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon. Actually, I told the world about them months ago, but no one noticed until this week. My email this week would make you laugh – apparently, I voted for Obama and I’m working for the new communist world order.

Looking at the sources of our traffic this week would support that contention. The Washington Post and the Daily Koz, for example. Even our old adversary, LTC Bob Bateman at Esquire has expressed his admiration of our work in private emails to me. He even told me that after he takes away everyone’s guns, I can keep mine. (neener-neener, ha-ha)

The thing is; we are well-known through out the internet for naming Stolen Valor phonies. Not just the phonies who agree with us. As, I said the other day, where were all of these media people when they were duped by Jay Polk, the Wall Street Occupier who faked his own death after he had faked his military service?

I’ll admit right now that I sympathize with the Hammonds. I think it was chickenshit of the prosecutor to get them sent back to jail after they had already served their sentences. I’m sure the same prosecutor wouldn’t have done that to a jihadist or an inner-city criminal, but a rancher, well, that’s different, somehow.

I can understand how people would think that I’m a dick for pointing out how some of the folks of Oathkeepers, the Bundy Ranch Gang and III%ers aren’t the big military veterans that they want to be, since, politically, I’m more in line with their politics than with the prosecutors or the Federal government and essentially, I’m undermining their credibility. Yeah, well, if you have to make up stories about your life for some credibility, you weren’t very credible to begin with. If I’m “all in” against Stolen Valor, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I let some slip through for political reasons and that would damage my credibility in the community.

Once I had to ride to the rescue to one of my friends from the old days. He was a Democrat anti-gun nut in the Connecticut legislature after Sandy Hook and he made the comment on the nightly news that he was a Ranger. Folks started calling him a liar, but I knew him when he was in the Rangers, so my allegiance was to the truth and not to my politics.

My problem with the Oathkeepers stems from their early days when they were cozy with members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War when IVAW was encouraging people to ignore their deployment orders – that seemed incongruous to me.

Contrary to what people are saying about me and this blog, it appears to me that we’re the only ones being consistent in this discussion.