Caroline Kennedy: The Dems Cover-Girl For Entitlement Over Experience

Back during the Presidential campaign, the Dems beat a very insincere drum about Gov. Sarah Palin's qualifications. They said that she didn't have any experience and therefore was not qualified for the position she would have been voted into had the GOP ticket won.

Do the Dems really believe this? No, they don't. The problem with their criticisms of Sarah Palin has been brought out into the light over the proposed appointment of Caroline Kennedy to fill the vacated New York Senate seat should Hillary Clinton become the next U.S. Secretary of State. It is the problem of a double-standard.

Let's compare the self-made woman Gov. Sarah Palin to the Kennedy heiress Caroline Kennedy.

Gov. Palin has actually done her own work, stood on her own and has actually been voted into office starting with the local politics of Wasilla, Alaska before moving on to the State Politics of Alaska and then was introduced to the nation this past year. She has a resume of independence, hard work and accomplishment.

Caroline Kennedy was born into a rich family with a very recognizable name. That's it. Nothing more. She has never been voted into office nor has she ever stood on her own. The only thing she brings to the table is a recognizable name.

Steve Chapman, writing for Town Hall, notes some interesting points that we need to be aware of about Ms. Kennedy and why any Democrat supporting her would be two-faced:

Kennedy is a well-spoken, pleasant woman who is indistinguishable from many other rich folks who would never be considered for a seat in the nation's highest elected body. Indistinguishable, that is, except for her name, which in some minds confers magical powers denied to ordinary mortals. If she had been born Caroline Kelly, no one would indulge her expressed desire to become a United States senator. But because of her pedigree, Paterson appears to think she's doing him a favor instead of the other way around. Kennedy is the latest example of the rise of "branding" in American politics -- in which merely coming from a particular family is taken as a qualification for office.

Anyone who is willing to say that Kennedy is fit for office must also be willing to recant any criticism they had of Gov. Palin's apptitude and fitness. Sarah Palin is light-years ahead of Kennedy in qualifications and experience, yet the Dems, like well-trained parrots, kept repeating over and over that she wasn't suited to national public office.

But somehow, they think that an unqualified woman whose only asset in life is that her name is "Kennedy" is a good thing. However, the name "Kennedy" isn't always remembered as being a profile in courage.

More:

In the Kennedy case, of course, not everyone would agree that Caroline's Uncle Ted has been a boon to the nation during his years in the Senate -- quite the contrary, since he has long been one of the most liberal lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That's without even taking into consideration the minor matter of Mary Jo Kopechne, the young woman he killed in a mysterious car wreck in 1969. Other Kennedys have fallen short in office. Joe Kennedy, son of Robert, was known as a telegenic lightweight during his time in the House of Representatives. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), son of Ted, has made news mostly with his drug use and traffic accidents. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert, was elected lieutenant governor of Maryland, but in 2002 managed the feat of becoming the first Democrat in more than three decades to lose a governor's race in that state.

And let's not forget William Kennedy Smith's sexual improprieties.

This all comes down to Caroline Kennedy's (and many Dems') belief that somehow, bearing the name Kennedy entitles one to office regardless of how inexperienced the Kennedy is.

If the Dems want to be taken seriously as the party of "change," they need to shout down any possible appointment of Caroline Kennedy and demand that all proposed appointments for the vacated Senate seat must abide by the same standard that they held Sarah Palin to during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Should we be serious about this? You betcha!

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Caroline And The Lure Of Royalty
Steve Chapman
TownHall.com
December 18, 2008

A Look At What Joe Biden Meant Last Sunday And Democrats Resorting To Violence

Joe Biden let slip some very important information last Sunday when he spoke about how Obama would be tested in his first six months of his presidency and that his decisions would be unpopular with the American people.

Well, what would those situations be? And what decisions would be made?

Herb Denenberg of The Bulletin looks at that in his most recent column:

Why would they test his mettle? This was unsaid, but you test someone's mettle when you don't know what he's made of or when you suspect he's weak and you want to start testing for weakness. But here's why Sen. Biden is wrong on the world testing Sen. Obama's mettle. No one has to test his mettle. They know he is weak on foreign policy, and has a heavy tinge of appeasement, retreat, defeat, and surrender - as does the Democratic Party, which nominated him. Our enemies already knows Sen. Obama is weak and soft, as is his party, so our enemies will just proceed with their plans for terrorism and aggression. Why would the Russians want to test his mettle? They saw what he is made of by his reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia. First, Sen. Obama called for restraint on both sides. So the Russians know, that in the face of aggression, instead of taking a firm stand with an ally and innocent victim, Sen. Obama calls for restraint on the part of the victim being invaded. Why test someone who has so clearly flunked his exam? Then the Russians heard Sen. Obama suggest the matter be sent to the Security Council. The Russians now know he is so wet behind the ears on foreign policy that he doesn't even know the Russians have a veto in the Security Council and could make sure nothing happened there. Then the Russians heard Sen. Obama observe that we'd be in a better position to complain about this aggression if we set a good example ourselves. So the Russians know he equates their illegal, unprovoked aggression against Georgia with America's legal, U.N.-sanctioned liberation of Iraq from the murderous Saddam Hussein, the butcher of Baghdad. This tells the Russians he doesn't approve of America using armed force to defend its national interests and he doesn't have the sense to refrain from criticizing his own country in a time of international crisis.

And on Iran, Obama is known for this:

The Iranians would lose no time in attacking one of their neighbors, most likely Israel. Perhaps by then armed with nuclear weapons, they would use them on a neighbor, or threaten to blackmail a neighbor or perhaps even a continent such as Europe, if certain concessions were not forthcoming. Obama would call for restraint, and assure the American people again, as he has already done, that Iran is a tiny country and not a real threat to the U.S. The Iranians know he said this while they were killing American troops in Iraq, sending terrorists and weapons into Iraq and serving as the headquarters of international terrorism. The Iranians know what others have already said - Sen. Obama is a Jimmy-Carter type, only worse. They know how President Carter locked himself in the White House and did not face down international lawlessness after the Iranian took American hostages at our embassy in Teheran. Why test his mettle, when his record suggests an enemy of America can invade, attack, and terrorize with impunity. Remember his reaction to 9/11 - the typical liberal, leftist response. We've got to understand why they did such a terrible thing. Anyone with good judgment would say we've got to kill and defeat all those responsible for this mass murder. When Pastor Rick Warren asked him what he would do about evil, he danced around like a confused college professor. When Sen. McCain was asked the same question, he said, without hesitation, you defeat it. Terrorists would be aware of Sen. Obama's reaction to the first bombing of the World Trade Center. He said you handle it with the legal system and prosecute wrongdoers. I'm sure al-Qaeda is trembling waiting for a grand jury and indictments from Obama? Will that really deter terrorists or just give them a fat laugh? Like Obama, President Clinton believed in the law enforcement approach to terrorism, and that mistake led directly to 9/11.

And Biden should know what it means to be wrong on foreign policy issues. He has made more than his share of mistakes along the way:

Our enemies know how naïve Sen. Obama is on foreign policy, as they know he announced to the world that if he knew where Osama bin Laden was and if he were in Pakistan, he would strike him without permission of that country. Sen. Kit Bond, an intelligence expert whose comments will be discussed in more detail later, says Sen. Obama "doesn't understand how dangerous it would be to destabilize Pakistan and allow their radical fringes to take over." His outburst on this subject betrays a lack of understanding on how to deal with a present ally in a most precarious position. And all the axis of evil would be emboldened knowing that Sen. Obama's key adviser on foreign policy would likely be Sen. Biden, who has a record of being wrong and often weak on almost all questions of foreign policy. Consider a few of his hare-brained judgments: * After Iraq invaded Kuwait, Sen. Biden opposed the first war against Iraq. He apparently was willing to cede the entire Middle East and all of its oil to Saddam Hussein. * Before Sen. McCain succeeded in turning the tide toward American victory in Iraq, Sen. Biden wanted to break Iraq into a group of separate nations that would include a Sunni state, a Shia state and a Kurdish state.

And finally this:

Sen. Bond summarized the whole Obama approach: "He [Obama] dismisses the threat, rewards enemies with summit meetings, abandons allies and then refuses to support trade agreements with vital allies like Colombia, who are fighting off the narco-terrorists."

It will not look good for the United States if Barack Obama gets into the White House. He will invite attacks against innocent Americans and then refuse to effectively respond to those attacks which will, in turn, invite more attacks.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

Obama Would Weaken, Destroy American Defenses And Bring Challenges
Herb Denenberg
The Bulletin
October 22, 2008

---

And here is a news story you will never see in the MSM unless the politcal affiliations were reversed. from Pajames Media:

While the Democrat-leaning media continues to scare undecided voters with bedtime stories about some mythical angry McCain supporter whom nobody has seen, here is a real district attorney’s complaint documenting an unprovoked assault by an enraged Democrat against a McCain volunteer in midtown Manhattan: “Defendant grabbed the sign [informant] was holding, broke the wood stick that was attached to it, and then struck informant in informant’s face thereby causing informant to sustain redness, swelling, and bruising to informant’s face and further causing informant to sustain substantial pain.”

The overly formal document doesn’t mention this important detail: the victim was a small, quiet, middle-aged woman wearing glasses, and the attacker was a loud, angry man who went into orbit at the mere sight of McCain campaign signs. On a Monday afternoon, September 15, 2008, three McCain volunteers were holding campaign signs and distributing leaflets on a busy corner of 51st Street and Lexington Avenue. As they were peacefully talking to each other, they were approached by a man who, in the words of the victim, provided the impression of “a rather benign, doughy-looking guy — not a person I would have expected to assault me.”

Here is a picture of the attacker:



You can access the complete blog entry on-line here:

Obama Supporter Assaults Female McCain Volunteer in New York
Pajamamedia.com
October 17, 2008

Illegal Alien Sues, Saying NYPD Called In Feds

One thing that the Muslims have learned from the left-wing libs here in the West is how to be a victim. Victimology 101; that is the big lesson libs teach everyone. There is no more requirement to stand on your own. Now you simply rely on the Government to provide you with everything that you are too lazy to get for yourself.

Well, that's one end result. Another end result is that it allows criminals and lawbreakers to claim victimhood when they engage in crimes and actively break the law. We have a story from the New York Sun to vividly illustrate this.

But this post is not just about the victimhood angle. It is also about the law, New York City's Executive Order 41 and the idiocy of the judge who allowed this case to move forward when it should have been quashed from the outset.

First, the case:

The case of the cab driver, Waheed Saleh of Jenin in the West Bank, indicates that a New York City police lieutenant casually tipped off a federal immigration officer about Mr. Saleh's immigration status, court documents in the case show. Mr. Saleh's civil trial against the lieutenant and another police officer is expected to begin tomorrow. It may be the first time that the city has been called to account in connection with Mr. Bloomberg's Executive Order 41. Issued in 2003, that order was intended to encourage illegal immigrants to seek out help from the police department and other agencies and allay fears that the city would turn their names over to federal immigration officials.

It turns out that Saleh illegally over-stayed his Visa, the same way the 19 9/11 hijackers did. Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg has forgotten the devestation those 19 caused his own city back in 2001. Executive Order 41 essentially makes New York City a "sanctuary city" in which illegal aliens can come in and get all sorts of hand-outs and goodies for free, at tax-payer expense.

But what kind of person is Mr. Saleh?

Court records show that police officers considered Mr. Saleh to be a troublemaker who could turn violent when confronted by the minor annoyances of big-city life, such as a dispute over a parking spot or the high price of cigarettes. In one instance, officers responded to a 911 call from a bodega employee who claimed Mr. Saleh threw a pack of cigarettes at him after a dispute over its price, according to court documents. In another instance, police officers broke up a fistfight between Mr. Saleh and another man over a parking spot, according to depositions. Police believed that Mr. Saleh, earlier in the fight, had tried to use his vehicle to ram a person standing in the street, the documents say.

So, what is wrong with having this guy deported? Nothing really. The law was very clear on that subject:

The city's policy for not sharing information with the federal government about illegal immigrants contains an exception for immigrants suspected of crimes. Given Mr. Saleh's trouble with the law, he appears to fall under that exception. Police policy in effect at the time, but no longer, required communications between the NYPD and federal immigration officials to begin with a written report that went through the NYPD's Intelligence Division. A police Internal Affairs Bureau report concluded that Captain Nicholson did violate the procedures on alerting the federal immigration officials in Mr. Saleh's case. But the report, which was filed in federal court, found that Mr. Saleh's claim that Captain Nicholson was acting in response to the complaints against Officer Hickman was unsubstantiated.

Right there, this whole thing should have been dropped and Mr. Saleh sent back to the West Bank for good. But here is what happened:

"It may be sound practice for NYPD officers to alert ICE when they encounter unlawful aliens under normal circumstances, but when they do so for retaliatory purposes, they run afoul of the Constitution," the judge handling the case, Sidney Stein of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, wrote in a ruling allowing the case to go forward last year. ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Judge Stein is one of the leftist types who believes in spreading the idea of victimhood, even if it means jeopardizing the safety and security of an entire city.

Sanctuary cities should be completely cut-off from Federal funding and told to provide for illegal aliens out of their own pockets rather than forcing the rest of us honest tax-payers to cough-up the money that gets wasted on illegals each year. Further, the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers LLP should be investigated to see exactly where the money for representing Saleh is originating from.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

Illegal Alien Sues, Saying NYPD Called In Feds
Joseph GoldStein
New York Sun
March 31, 2008