Fausta's Blog

From the Vice-President and Court Jester in One, the inappropriate comment fest,

“You are so pretty. God love you, holy mackerel.”
This aside was to a brunette in a red dress, apparently there with bachelor Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

“Spread your legs — you’re gonna be frisked!”

Enrique Peña Nieto likes Obama’s immigration plan, but O’s sending Biden to the inauguration,
Mexico’s President-Elect Praises Obama on Immigration: ‘We Fully Support Your Proposal’.

It’s probably a good idea that Obama’s not going; you wouldn’t want to appear to be favoring the PRI.

Who’s going?

Obama congratulated Peña Nieto on his electoral win, noting that Biden will be leading the U.S. delegation to his inauguration ceremony early next month.

“We only send the vice president to inaugurations if your county is at the very top of the list,” Obama said, eliciting a chuckle from Biden.

Let’s hope Joe doesn’t add a new gaffe to the list.

After Crazy Uncle Joe Biden promised to “give you the whole load today,”

the chief strategist to President Barack Obama descended into Looney Tunes territory:
AXELROD ON OBAMA: PASSION ‘COMING FROM HIS LOINS’

“I’ve never seen him more exhilarated than he is right now. He believes in what he’s doing. He believes in what he’s fighting for,” Axelrod said. “You can see in the speech that he’s delivering that this is coming from his loins.”

Bugs Bunny himself knighted Axelrod

Carlos Eire develops the Medieval theme,

This unexpected Bakhtinian turn in Axelrod’s rhetoric most definitely sinks the Obama campaign into the realm of the Carnivalesque and of the lower bodily functions. This means, of course, that Axelrod has revealed a slippage on the part of the Great One into the medieval and primitive, which can only mean an abandonment of the rational and modern.

Which brings us to some rational and modern Lessons from Experience in Sex and Politics

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Compare and contrast,

The post-partisan president the American people were hoping for in 2008:

The alternative:
“Instead, I ask the American people to vote for love of country.”

UPDATE,
OBAMA’S NOVEMBER BLUNDER

One of Barack Obama’s problems is that he is not a very accomplished public speaker. When he veers away from his teleprompter, which you pretty much have to do on the stump, his instincts are poor and he tends to get into trouble. That happened yesterday when Obama said to a crowd that had just booed Mitt Romney, “No, no, no — don’t boo, vote. Vote. Voting is the best revenge.” That was a dumb thing to say on several levels, and it exposed an ugly aspect of Obama’s personality. He really does think that opposing him is somehow dirty pool, and that “revenge” is the appropriate treatment for those who fail to bow to the mighty Barack.

Linked by Pirate’s Cove. Thank you!

Harry Reid does!

Remember, Joe always says what he means,

We’re in the best of hands…

85 interruptions (h/t MOTUS)

Top 10 worst lies:

“The congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for.” Biden’s lie about Ryan’s budget was an attempt to dodge responsibility for lax embassy security–and to cover up that the Obama administration called for new cuts to embassy security just days after the 9/11 attacks. Ryan’s proposal, which called for a 19% overall decrease in non-defense discretionary spending, does not even mention embassy security–the Obama campaign merely made up that number by applying 19% across the board.

4 whoppers.

4 dead in Benghazi: Denying the Libya Scandal
The vice president was dishonest during the debate.

2 countries.

2 Clintons:
Author Ed Klein: As Benghazi blame nears Hillary, Clintons grow furious, assembling a legal team.

1 US Council of Catholic Bishops: USCCB Responds To Inaccurate Statement Of Fact On HHS Mandate Made During Vice Presidential Debate

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And remember, Joe always means what he says, even when it’s Biden vs Biden,

h/t Power Line.

Suzette blames the Botox,

while Roger Kimball says it was “an extra dose of Geritol.”

Whatever it was, it was creepy,

Who won?

And I think women in particular will be sympathetic toward Ryan. They’ve all had to deal with boorish men who don’t respect them. That’s how Biden came off. Oh yeah.

And, an afterthought,
If you watched the debate with the sound turned off, who looks like POTUS material? Who looks deranged? No wonder Biden “created this disturbing atmosphere of anxiety.”

UPDATE,
“At church dinners, I’ve sat a table away from that guy a hundred times. He’s the guy everyone wants to get away from.”

As of the writing of this post, tropical storm Isaac is a couple of hundred miles south of Puerto Rico. Politico has updates,

The RNC has contingency plans in case Isaac becomes a hurricane and strikes near Tampa next week,

“We do have contingency plans to deal with weather-related and other circumstances that may occur to ensure that … the business can go on at the RNC and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will become our nominees and that the safety of the folks here attending it and in the Tampa Bay community are taken care of,” RNC communications director Sean Spicer said on CNN’s “Starting Point.”

The Dems may be turning their convention into an anti-Aiken affair, even when Aiken has managed to unite the entire Republican establishment, the Tea Party, and the radio hosts against himself. That’s what happens when
a. a president can’t run on his record, and
b. women’s health is politicized entirely in reproductive terms.

What the Republicans must do is

They should talk the economy non-stop, with occasional digressions into foreign policy. If they are asked about abortion, they should chide the reporter for asking about a topic that is of little interest to voters and that, by the way, the president, vice president, senators and congressmen have no ability to do anything about, and give an answer about the economy.

But the Democratic convention’s not until September 4, so who knows what may turn up.

Meanwhile, Team Obama breaks precedent to try to spoil Romney’s convention

The most aggressive attack was left for Biden, who is heading behind enemy lines for campaign events in Tampa on Monday and Tuesday. Leading congressional Democrats, including Reps. James Clyburn (S.C.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), will be joining the vice president to help crash the party.

Of course the media will be by his side.

Joe, who has known three presidents intimately will surely follow the RNC to its new location, wherever it may be, perhaps in the hope of meeting the boss.

it’s a day in Hollywood, a night in the Ukraine*

*borrowed from here.

As you all know, Hugo Chávez is in Cuba recovering from his latest cancer surgery or something. Investigating journalist Nelson Bocaranda is in trouble for covering Chavez’s illness. You can follow Bocaranda on Twitter @runrunesweb and @NelsonBocaranda.

Chávez is making a show of pretending to run things from Cuba as news on the disastrous state of Venezuela are pouring out:
WikiLeaks report cites corruption in Venezuela production
Corruption is stifling local production in favor of imports, according to a leaked report WikiLeaks.

The destruction of Venezuelan production in favor of imports is worsening the scarcity problem and creating corruption by those who want to obtain bigger contracts, says a report by the private intelligence firm Stratfor released by WikiLeaks.

The report, which covers part of the more than 5 million emails revealed by the online organization, indicates that officials of President Hugo Chávez’s administration involved in importing food stockpile products to justify new transactions.

According to the report, the loss of thousands of tons of food in ports can be attributed in part to corrupt officials’ practice of not releasing products acquired abroad.

After securing $2billion in Russian loans for armaments, now Chávez outlawed gun shops

Chavez isn’t long for this world. His apparatchiks know it and they appear to be clearing the decks to make it easier to handle any general unrest that could develop when the news finally comes that Pugsley’s assumed room temperature. It’s a lot easier mowing down a crowd of protestors when they’re not shooting back at you.

Tehran intends to build military drones in Washington’s backyard for the Venezuelan military led by Hugo Chavez.

While Joe Biden says that Iran will not be able to use alliances with Latin America to wield significant influence on security in the West, US Congressman Jeff Duncan is introducing legislation with 73 co-sponsors, seeking to

· Establish a strong U.S. posture, policy, and relationship with Latin American countries

· Protect U.S. interests and assets in the Western Hemisphere such as embassies, consulates, businesses, energy pipelines, and cultural organizations, including threats to U.S. allies

· Address the vital national security interests of the United States by ensuring that energy supplies from the Western Hemisphere are free from the influence of any foreign government that would attempt to manipulate or disrupt global energy markets

· Require a secure U.S. border with the U.S. working in coordination with the Governments of Mexico and Canada to prevent Iranian operatives from entering the U.S.

· Counter efforts by foreign persons, entities, and governments in the region to assist Iran in evading U.S. and international sanctions

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, pointed out that

This legislation requires the Secretary of State to use existing funds to create a tailored strategy to fight the aggressive activities of Iran and its proxies in the Western Hemisphere, thereby establishing a strong U.S. policy stance and protecting U.S. security interests.

A Panamanian site posted on FRAV – Venezuelan Communist Group – Making Inroads in Panama. The post’s author is skeptical of both the information and the timing of the report,

this “leaked” report is really nothing more than a “we’ve got our eyes on you” trial balloon, to let the Venezuelan recruiters who are operating here know that they are being watched and followed closely.

Another report, by journalist Lázaro González, states that Cuba is mobilizing armed forces go to to Venezuela in the event of Chávez’s death, or Chávez is defeated in the upcoming election. González ends his report by stating that “this information must be verified by US intelligence sources.” In that case, I take it with a grain of salt but will not dismiss it. Cuba is economically dependent on Chavez – not on Venezuela itself, on Chávez himself.

And, at least according to Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, who was in Cuba visiting Hugo, Fidel and Raul, Hugo’s going back to Venezuela next week.