Long Continues Hitting Gillibrand on Her Support for Scandal Plagued Speaker
Democrat Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver’s unethical coverup of sexual harassment claims against prominent politicians and former staff, has been covered extensively here at the Mental Recession.
Despite what would seem like a tactic that should be universally denounced – using taxpayer money to pay off victims of sexual harassment – all of New York state’s top Democrats have stood by Silver.
One in particular, Kirsten Gillibrand, seems curious mostly because of her platform of being allegedly pro-Woman.
As the “Gropez” probe widens, U.S. Senate candidate Wendy Long once again called upon Senator Gillibrand to end her support for Speaker Silver and tell him to step aside from his leadership position pending the outcome of investigations.
“It’s time for New York’s cheerleader-in-chief to back up her rhetoric with real action. The fact is Kirsten Gillibrand is promoting Albany’s culture of corruption, and putting her political and personal interests ahead of young professional women,” said Long.
Long asked, “Why would Gillibrand call for Speaker Hastert to resign in similar circumstances, but call Speaker Silver the ‘perfect’ person to represent New York?“
She added, “How can Kirsten Gillibrand hold herself out as an advocate for women, but stand silently by as hush money is used to silence victims of sexual assault?”
Long today also released a new video, hammering Gillibrand’s support of Silver in which she called him “perfectly poised” to represent New York state.
Chilling Message From Diplomat Killed in Libya – "Assuming We Don’t Die Tonight"
Sean Smith, one of the American diplomats killed in the siege at the Libyan embassy last night, sent out a message that may have foreshadowed his death, and the death of three others during the attack.
Via Wired:
On Tuesday, Sean Smith, a Foreign Service Information Management Officer assigned to the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, typed a message to the director of his online gaming guild: ”Assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.” The consulate was under siege, and within hours, a mob would attack, killing Smith along with three others, including the U.S. ambassador.
In his professional and personal life, Smith was a husband and father of two, and a 10-year veteran of the Foreign Service who had served in Baghdad, Pretoria, Montreal and The Hague. But when gaming with EVE Online guild Goonswarm, he was a popular figure known as “Vile Rat,” and alternately as “Vilerat” while volunteering as a moderator at the internet community Something Awful. Smith’s death was confirmed on Wednesday morning by the State Department and reported widely in the news media. But the first people to report Smith’s death were his friends. Their reaction was shock and mourning.
Smith not only sensed something was wrong, but he points to a setup when discussing the suspicious actions of somebody charged with protecting the embassy.
Rick Moran also wonders about a possible setup:
US Ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens and three other embassy employees were assassinated as their car was ambushed by gunmen while fleeing the US consulate in Benghazi, which was under attack by armed Islamists.
…
The fact that the ambassador and the other three Americans were killed while fleeing the consulate raises the question of whether he was specifically targeted for death. The attack on the consulate may have been a ruse to flush the ambassador from the compound where the gunmen, armed with RPG’s, lay in wait. But this is speculation.
Indeed, this is all merely speculation. But the fact that one of the victims worried of an attack based on a suspicious ‘policeman’ taking pictures, does call into question the possiblity that these Americans were setup and marked for murder.
Romney: "Attack on American Individuals and Embassies is Outrageous, It’s Disgusting"
Mitt Romney delivered the following remarks on yesterday’s attacks on American diplomatic missions in Egypt and Libya:
“Americans woke up this morning with tragic news and felt heavy hearts as they considered that individuals who have served in our diplomatic corps were brutally murdered across the world. This attack on American individuals and embassies is outrageous, it’s disgusting. It breaks the hearts of all of us who think of these people who have served, during their lives, the cause of freedom, and justice and honor. We mourn their loss and join together in prayer that the spirit of the Almighty might comfort the families of those who have been so brutally slain.
“Four diplomats lost their life, including the U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, in the attack on our embassy at Benghazi, Libya. And, of course, with these words, I extend my condolences to the grieving loved ones, who have left behind, as a result of these who have lost their lives in the service of our nation, and I know that the people across America are grateful for their service and we mourn their sacrifice.
“America will not tolerate attacks against our citizens and against our embassies. We will defend also our constitutional rights of speech and assembly and religion. We have confidence in our cause in America. We respect our Constitution. We stand for the principles our Constitution protects. We encourage other nations to understand and respect the principles of our Constitution because we recognize that these principles are the ultimate source of freedom for individuals around the world.
“I also believe the Administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions. It’s never too early for the United States Government to condemn attacks on Americans, and to defend our values. The White House distanced itself last night from the statement, saying it wasn’t ‘cleared by Washington.’ That reflects the mixed signals they’re sending to the world.
“The attacks in Libya and Egypt underscore that the world remains a dangerous place and that American leadership is still sorely needed. In the face of this violence, America cannot shrink from the responsibility to lead. American leadership is necessary to ensure that events in the region don’t spin out of control. We cannot hesitate to use our influence in the region to support those who share our values and our interests. Over the last several years, we have stood witness to an Arab Spring that presents an opportunity for a more peaceful and prosperous region, but also poses the potential for peril, if the forces of extremism and violence are allowed to control the course of events.
“We must strive to ensure that the Arab Spring does not become an Arab Winter.”
Palin: Maybe It’s Time For Obama to Grow a Big Stick
Palin crushes it out of the park here…
Via Sarah Palin’s Facebook page:
Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks ever perpetrated on America, our embassy in Cairo and our consulate in Benghazi were attacked by violent Islamic mobs. In Cairo, they scaled the walls of our embassy, destroyed our flag, and replaced it with a black Islamic banner. In Benghazi, the armed gunmen set fire to our consulate and killed an American staff member. The Islamic radicals claim that these attacks are in protest to some film criticizing Islam. In response to this, the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a statement that was so outrageous many of us thought it must be a satire. The embassy actually apologized to the violent mob attacking us, and it even went so far as to chastise those who use free speech to “hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” (Funny, the current administration has no problem hurting the “religious feelings” of Catholics.)
But where is the president’s statement about this? These countries represent his much touted “Arab Spring.” How’s that Arab Spring working out for us now? Have we received an apology yet from our “friends” in the Muslim Brotherhood for the assault on our embassy?
It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. I realize there must be a lot on his mind these days – what with our economy’s abysmal jobless numbers and Moody’s new warning about yet another downgrade to our nation’s credit rating due to the current administration’s failure to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. And, of course, he has a busy schedule – with all those rounds of golf, softball interviews with the “Pimp with the Limp,” and fundraising dinners with his corporate cronies. But our nation’s security should be of utmost importance to our Commander-in-chief. America can’t afford any more “leading from behind” in such a dangerous world. We already know that President Obama likes to “speak softly” to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a “big stick” to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one.
– Sarah Palin
(h/t Weasel Zippers)
Flashback: Obama Wins Nobel Peace Price for "Extraordinary Efforts to Strengthen International Diplomacy and Cooperation Between Peoples"
How’s that ‘strengthened international diplomacy’ working for U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, whose body is being dragged through Libyan streets as we speak?
Here is the full press release from the Nobel announcement in 2009, which in retrospect looks even more preposterous than it did when he originally won.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”
Oslo, October 9, 2009
Obama – The man awarded a Nobel Peace Prize based not on tangible accomplishment, but simply upon expectations.
Now that he has failed to meet those expectations, does the prize need to be returned?
America Attacked Again on 9/11 … and We Apologize?
The same Egyptian protesters that President Obama was more than willing to support during the so-called Arab Spring, mounted an unprecedented attack on an American Embassy in Cairo yesterday.
CNN reported:
Angry protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday and hauled down its American flags, replacing them with black flags with Islamic emblems.
The incident prompted U.S. security guards to fire off a volley of warning shots as a large crowd gathered outside, apparently upset about the production of a Dutch film thought to insult the Prophet Mohammed, said CNN producer Mohammed Fahmy, who was on the scene.
An embassy operator told CNN that the facility had been cleared of diplomatic personnel earlier Tuesday, ahead of the apparent threat, while Egyptian riot police were called to help secure the embassy walls.
An embassy in Libya was also attacked.
Protesters angry over an amateurish American-made video denouncing Islam attacked the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday, killing a State Department officer, while Egyptian demonstrators stormed over the fortified walls of the United States Embassy here.
On the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the assaults were a violent reminder that the changes sweeping the region have hardly dispelled the rage against the United States that still smolders in pockets around the Arab world.
The results? Multiple Americans were shot, while others were the victims of a rocket attack that killed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.
The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff were killed in a rocket attack on their car, a Libyan official said, as they were rushed from a consular building stormed by militants denouncing a U.S.-made film insulting the Prophet Mohammad.
Gunmen had attacked and burned the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, a center of last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, late on Tuesday evening, killing one U.S. consular official. The building was evacuated.
The Libyan official said the ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was being driven from the consulate building to a safer location when gunmen opened fire.
Believe it or not, the response coming from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo included an apology to the extremists who had carried out the attack.
I’m going to say that again.
The Obama administration apologized to terrorists who had burned down sovereign American buildings and killed an American citizen.
The statement from the Embassy in Cairo actually apologized for “religious incitement” and for “hurting the religious feelings of Muslims”.
I wish I was making that up. Here is the statement:
Have you ever in your life thought, after two U.S. embassies were attacked and seized by radical Islamists, in which multiple Americans were shot – one fatally – and an embassy was nearly burned to the ground, exactly 11 years to the day after the worst terrorist attack in American history perpetrated by similar radical Islamists, that you would ever see an administration actually issue an apology for ‘hurting the religious feelings of Muslims’?
Oh I know they’re trying to walk it back now, but weakness has already been shown. This will go down as the single most cowardly and disgraceful response to an attack on the fundamental American right of free speech in modern history.
Worse, it crossed the bounds of a mere protest when an American was shot and killed. It is a terrorist attack. And we apologized.
President ‘Gutsy Call’ is now officially operating under a foreign policy platform in which we as a nation are subservient to terrorism and slaves to appeasement.
Indeed, the administration is working fervently to backpedal on the apology, 17 hours after the fact. But the damage is done.
Via Politico:
The Obama administration is disavowing a statement from its own Cairo embassy that seemed to apologize for anti-Muslim activity in the United States.
“The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government,” an administration official told POLITICO.
…
The embassy came under widespread criticism for failing to defend free speech in the face of threats of violence. Egyptian protesters rioted anyway, breaching the embassy walls and tearing down the American flag.
The criticism has been warranted. This may go down as one of the most embarrassing days in foreign policy history, and proves that having ‘we killed Osama bin laden’ as your biggest foreign policy platform isn’t enough. Amateur hour in the White House needs to end in November.
Disgrace: President on "Pimp With The Limp" Show to Campaign on 9/11
President Obama and Mitt Romney agreed to pull campaign ads on the 11-year anniversary of 9/11, in an attempt to quiet negative political conversations on a solemn day.
But that didn’t stop the President from making a complete ass of himself regardless, begging for volunteers and chatting it up on the airwaves with a hip hop DJ that goes by the name of “Pimp With the Limp”, a man previously charged with a felony weapons charges in 1993.
The President is a disgrace.
It started yesterday morning with Mitt Romney issuing this tweet (h/t Jammie Wearing Fools):
Today, the same day that his twitter feed failed to acknowledge 9-11 at all and the same day that Egyptian protesters assaulted the US embassy in Cairo, the same day that the White House refused a meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel at the end of the month, President Obama took time out of his very busy schedule to do an interview with Miami’s DZ Laz aka “the Pimp with the Limp.”
Here is the audio clip:
The Miami Herald reports that the supposedly muted political day included Medi-scare tactics, claiming that the repeal of Obamacare would cause Medicare to go bankrupt.
Laz even got false ones.
For instance, Obama said that repealing Obamacare, which cut Medicare and helped extend the life of the program by eight years, would cause the program to go “bankrupt by 2016.”
That’s not really true. If the cuts were repealed, a main hospital trust fund for Medicare would start to take in less than it pays out. But that’s not bankruptcy.
On the whole, Obama stayed on message, dropped a few pop culture references and reached an audience that seldom pays close attention to politics. He also
avoided talking about 9/11 on 9/11’s anniversary, but**made time to mock the Dolphins bad record.
Mental Recession 