Non sequiturs are us (or are Obama)

Isn’t the first advice of being in a hole to stop digging?  Someone needs to remind Obama of that, because he’s still out there making enemies of police officers throughout America.  He’s also saying utterly ridiculous things to justify his position.  How’s this one?

The president said he understands the sergeant who arrested Gates is an “outstanding police officer.” But he added that with all that’s going on in the country with health care and the economy and the wars abroad, “it doesn’t make sense to arrest a guy in his own home if he’s not causing a serious disturbance.”

If police offers were responsible for health care, the economy and foreign wars, that might make sense. As it is, though, their job is to protect the public at home, and to ensure that citizens cooperate with them in keeping communities safe.  What Obama said isn’t even a straw man argument.  It’s just nonsense.

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15 Responses to “Non sequiturs are us (or are Obama)”

  1. on 24 Jul 2009 at 11:45 am Charles Martel

    Wow. I really am going to stock up on my favorite beer and chips, replump the pillows on my man chair and sit down to watch the next wheel fly off the track in what will one day be known as “The Great Obama Slo-Mo Train Wreck, Unraveling, Unmasking, Meltdown and Emperor-Has-No-Clothes Shivaree.”

  2. on 24 Jul 2009 at 12:44 pm Bill Smith

    I’ll bring the Doritos, Charles.

    Big Wheels:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWnff376PEI

  3. on 24 Jul 2009 at 12:54 pm Danny Lemieux

    The “real” Obama starts to come out: here’s another press conference Obama gave on the Gates affair. Understandably, It did not get quite as much coverage by the MSM. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz2MQRdsv6c

  4. on 24 Jul 2009 at 12:55 pm Ymarsakar

    The solution to having killed a couple of people, whether by accident or not, is to then kill off all the witnesses, then their families which might take offense and revenge upon that, and so keep on going until you have either killed off everybody in your way or you have simply run out of living bodies.

    That’s the Left’s automatic response to apostasy and heresy. Their religion is not particularly tolerant of opposing views, particularly of opposing views from converts that were formerly Communist or Leftist in ideology.

    It’s just nonsense.

    It’s just another way of blaming Bush, aka the White Man Keeping The Minorities Oppressed. You know, if it wasn’t for the White Man (meaning Bush) Obama wouldn’t have all these troubles. So so long as the White Man keeps causing these problems, Obama isn’t at fault. You see, Book. You see how it works.

  5. on 24 Jul 2009 at 12:57 pm Ymarsakar

    It’s no more different from Islamists blowing up a school and then blaming us or Israel for it, you know.

    It’s no more different than projecting their atrocities, weaknesses, and corrupt practices on us.

  6. on 24 Jul 2009 at 1:15 pm suek

    Sadie!

    Check this out! Someone else likes lists!!

    http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/07/early-contenders-for-barack-obamas-2012.html

  7. on 24 Jul 2009 at 2:08 pm Zhombre

    Back in the salons of Hyde Park, or the Ivy League faculty lounges, everything the O says makes perfect sense. It just doesn’t translate well outside the orchid-growing environment.

  8. on 24 Jul 2009 at 2:09 pm JKB

    and to ensure that citizens cooperate with them in keeping communities safe.

    Whoa, that sentiment is a little disturbing. It is not the police’s job to ensure citizens cooperate, nor is it a permissible right. While eroding, there are quite a few Constitutionally protected rights not to cooperate. You can say police’s job is to ensure that citizens do not interfere with the lawful performance of their duty. Or you could say citizens have a civic duty to cooperate with police in keeping communities safe. But that the police are to ensure the citizens cooperate is not within their job, excepting posse comitatus.

    The police’s job is to enforce laws, most of which, thankfully, are in place to ensure the public’s safety. But some laws, such as disorderly conduct, do not keep the public safe but rather are in place so the public is not disturbed. That the police protect the public is derived from the laws they enforce rather than any duty the police directly have to a citizen.

  9. on 24 Jul 2009 at 2:52 pm Bookworm

    You’re right, JKB — badly phrased. What I meant is that there are disorderly conduct laws to protect police (and others) from obstreperous citizens. Police cannot function in an anarchistic situation, and police therefore have the power to prevent that anarchy. People like me, who prefer a civil society, therefore opt to partner with police in keeping civility. Likewise, given that the police wield power, the smart money goes with civility until things get straightened out. That’s what I meant.

  10. on 24 Jul 2009 at 3:52 pm gpc31

    Obama’s poll numbers are down and he’s facing a little bit of criticism. He’s learning that talking isn’t doing and that he can’t control events. This might be the first time he’s faced some minor adversity — the training wheels are coming off his presidency. What’s he going to do — double down and hold two “town halls” per day? Let’s see how he reacts.

  11. on 24 Jul 2009 at 4:22 pm suek

    >>What’s he going to do — double down and hold two “town halls” per day?>>

    OH joy. I can hardly wait.

  12. on 24 Jul 2009 at 8:36 pm Mike Devx

    Hey y’all… apparently the American people have a modicum of sanity after all!
    Isn’t it wonderful!?!?!

    I know, the actual election of Obama does demonstrate that for short periods of time we can fly off into the most absurd kind of mass-insanity. Mob psychology of some sort, like of like a huge Friday night party where the celebrants go a little nuts all together.

    But then comes Saturday morning. Hung over, head-pounding, body aching… we drag ourselves out of bed and try to pull it all back together. Because the kids are hungry, and if we’ve been neglectful enough in our hangover malaise, they might even be crying. And the rest of the real world intrudes as well. The bills must be paid, the grass must get cut, those social commitments kept.

    Reality intrudes after the short-lived party insanity. Welcome back, Americans!!!!
    Welcome back!!!!

  13. on 25 Jul 2009 at 5:53 am Ymarsakar

    The citizens have already cooperated by providing the cops a tip on two men breaking into a house. Which is exactly what they were doing.

  14. on 25 Jul 2009 at 7:19 am JKB

    Book, Civility is always the best course. People don’t seem to realize that police are bureaucrats with badges. Disrespecting a bureaucrat can lead to all kinds of “problems” in their domain. Factor in police are trained to develop the elements of a crime, have arrest powers and are experienced in the practical application of the law, you get a bureaucrat who can disrupt your day (detention) and cost you money (bail). All this will have occurred whether the DA decides to prosecute or not. Not to mention, most non-criminals are unprepared for the embarrassment of being hauled off in handcuffs.

    Civility will keep you from missing the signs that the officer is providing you with an opportunity to commit an arrest-able offense. As with the Gates case, his disorderly conduct occurred after he followed the officer outside where his tumultuous behavior startled the public. The officer knew the elements that make up disorderly conduct, Professor Gates either didn’t or missed his crossing the threshold into public.

  15. on 26 Jul 2009 at 9:00 am Mike Devx

    I was looking for a good place to post some thoughts on Obama’s most recent approval ratings, and what to look for in the near future…

    From the latest Rasmussen poll information:
    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

    Obama’s personal approval ratings:
    Strongly Disapprove: 40%
    Somewhat Disapprove: 10%
    Somewhat Approve: 20%
    Strongly Approve: 29%

    This is the first time he’s been below 50% on personal approval.
    But it’s still close overall, and it indicates that the honeymoon period is over. The 48% that voted against him have all come back home. But only a very few, so far, of his supporters have moved negative. It seems clear he’s going to try simply to hold onto them. He’ll make no inroads into those who opposed him during the election; that’s over.

    Also interesting from that article:
    The President is now seen as politically liberal by 76%. That’s up six points from a month ago, 11 points since he was elected, and the highest total to date. Forty-eight percent (48%) now see him as Very Liberal, up 20 points since he was elected

    Considering how Obama ran as a centrist, with all the circumlocutions, dissemblings, out-and-out lies, and near-infinite number of contradictory statements made to different groups, this must be alarming. He’d better hang onto that 24% who still see him as centrist, as I’m sure they form most of the 20% who “somewhat approve” of him. Lose them, and he’s in free fall.

    What to expect:

    Which leads me to another article with an interesting viewpoint. I’ll quote the first paragraph of it.

    http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/07/06/get_ready_for_14_percent_unemployment_97295.html

    Get Ready for 14 Percent Unemployment

    The June “Jobs” report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on July 2 caused shock and dismay. Payrolls declined by 467,000 jobs, more than the 345,000 lost in May, and much more than the 363,000 that economists had predicted. The only reason that the reported unemployment rate rose by only 0.1 percentage points (to 9.5%) in June was that many jobless people became discouraged and stopped looking for work.

    At some point, the Obama administration will be held responsible for poor economic performance. Their efforts to demonize the Bush administration can only work for so long. The American people hold still for endless excuse-making only for awhile.

    Most Americans dislike higher taxes and high unemployment, and they’re learning, for the first time in a long while, to fear massive national debts, and also fear when the government turns on the printing presses and just cranks out the money. I’m not sure they understand the devastating effects of high inflation rates yet.

    But Americans do tend to understand that the way to produce jobs is by cutting taxes, decreasing regulation, and perhaps decreasing government spending (though I’m not too sure they really do fully grasp this last one, due to pervasive Keynesian thought).

    Obama is vastly increasing taxation. How in the world will that improve the economy and provide jobs? Americans understand at a gut level it won’t.

    Obama and the Dems have given us the massive crank-job of the Cap And Trade clean energy bill. It vastly addes overwhelming regulation onto our economy. How in the world will that improve our economy, and provide jobs? Of course it won’t. It can only have a hugely harmful effect. Americans at a gut level get this.

    Obama and the Dems are trying to give us overwhelming regulation of the health care industry. Again, Americans understand at a gut level this can only harm the economy and will harm jobs.

    And messing with people’s doctors is a third rail in American politics. Not quite as deadly as messing with Social Security, but close. Very, very dangerous. The Clintons found this out in the early 90s.

    GM sales are way down. It will become clear that the Obama takeover of most of the auto industry (GM/Chrysler) is a failure, again producing harm. Add the intrusions into the private sector by upsetting centuries of common bankruptcy law in the area of secured vs unsecured loans, the attempt to have government bureaucrats set corporate salaries, etc… these intrusions will provide malaise in the American people’s attitude towards Obama.

    The one other significant factor that could drive Obama downward is gasoline and natural gas prices. Obama is firmly on record, already, during the campaign, as desiring that the American people pay higher and higher prices for gasoline, natural gas, and all forms of energy; and he has already made it clear he is an enemy of the coal industry and it’s irrelevant to him whether those prices go up or unemployment within that industry goes up. (He’s on record on all of this from the campaign, and was consistently clear on each of *these* points at least.) He bemoaned the fact that gasoline prices shot up so quickly, but stated only that he’d expected and hoped that they would rise more slowly.

    Higher gasoline prices are probably the one economic factor for which the President really takes it on the chin with the American people. It always provokes a large, very nasty reaction. We’ll have to see what happens throughout the rest of this year and 2010 on energy prices. Given all of Obama’s other difficulties, if energy prices spike again approaching the 2010 elections, it will prove utterly disastrous to his administration.

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