CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Obama takes the oath, begins second term

In accordance with the requirements of the United States Constitution, President Barack Hussein Obama was officially sworn-in and began his second term on Sunday, January 20, 2013.

Under the Constitution, a president's term ends at noon Jan. 20. So the official swearing -in occurred on Sunday. Following historical precedent, the inaugural ceremony did not take place on Sunday.

The official swearing-in was a nearly private affair in the White House's oval shaped blue room. You can watch video of the official swearing in below:

This time, unlike Obama's first swearing-in,  Chief Justice John Roberts administered the 35-word oath correctly. The Constitution, in Article Two, Section One, Clause Eight,   requires that the President take the oath of office:

"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: -- I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

After the oath was taken, President Obama was heard to say, "I did it." His daughter Sasha replied, "Good job, Dad, you didn't mess up."

For those of us who remain in the loyal opposition, the good news is that only 1,460 days remain in the Obama presidency.

GOP fights for a fair election in Pennsylvania

As we reported earlier this morning,  Obama supporters muscled Republican Election Inspectors in Philadelphia, But the GOP fought and won this initial battle to keep the election fair.

In a written statement, Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason announced that the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas issued an order to seat Republican Minority Inspectors in Philadelphia Polling places:

“This was a shameless attempt from the Obama campaign to suppress our legally appointed Republican poll watchers in Philadelphia and they got caught.

We’ve seen these shenanigans before and it’s clear that Democratic operatives and the Obama campaign are desperate; trying to shield Republican Minority Inspectors who are employees of the City of Philadelphia today from monitoring election activities.  It certainly raises the question, what are Democrats doing in the polls that they are working so hard to shield folks from monitoring this election?”

Democratic operatives prohibited 75 legally credentialed Republican election workers from accessing polling places in heavily Democratic areas in Philadelphia. Incidents ranged from judges of elections refusing to seat Republican Minority Inspectors and Clerks, to reports of Democratic election operatives announcing that “No Republicans will be allowed in the polling place.”

As a result, the Pennsylvania Republican Party petitioned the Court to issue formal orders to force Democratic judges of elections to seat Republican minority inspectors and clerks. The Court said that they will issue around 6-12 Orders with approximately 6 - 10 names per Order.

It looks like the Romney campaign, with teams of lawyers in every state, is ready for the full range of shenanigans the Democrats might try as they dust off their old 2004 playbook and try everything to keep Obama President. Team Romney just demonstrated they are well prepared and have left nothing to chance.

There they go again, New Black Panthers at Philadelphia poll

Remember when  Obama's Attorney General decided not to go after the New Black Panther Party members who were intimidating voters in 2008?

Well, the New Black Panthers learned the logical lesson from Holder's dereliction of his duty. They are back. Watch the video:

Notice how much more polite and nonthreatening these guys have become. They are not at all  intimidating, right?

More Dem playbook in action, stealing Pennsylvania

As we reported here, here and here, the Democrats have dusted off their 2004 playbook and are trying to steal the election.

It is happening in Philadelphia now.

The Philadelphia GOP reports that court appointed Minority (read Republican) Inspectors are being thrown out of polling locations in several Wards.

These Inspectors are election officials – again, court appointed — and are reportedly being thrown out by the Head Judges of Elections (these Judges are elected Democrats).

According to the Philadelphia GOP, this has occurred at the following locations:

• Ward 32, Div 13
• Ward 43, Div 14
• Ward 56, Div 1
• Ward 56, Div 22
• Ward 32, Div 28
• Ward 32, Div 28
• Ward 12, Div 17
• Ward 39, Div 1
• Ward 24, Div 9
• Ward 18, Div 25
• Ward 43, Div 14
• Ward 29, Div 18
• Ward 65, Div 19
• Ward 20, Div 1
• Ward 6, Div 11

It looks like the Philadelphia Inquirer is on it. At least the paper's political writer, Tom Fitzgerald, Tweeted about it.

 

More Dem playbook in action, shredding GOP registrations

Sunday we warned that the Democrats would dust off their 2004 Election Playbook and engage in all kinds of shenanigans in an all out effort to do whatever it takes to ensure President Obama is reelected.

No sooner had the warning been published, than did the Des Moines Register and ABC News report about absentee ballot irregularities in Iowa.

Somehow a Democrat campaign worker gave his 75-year-old mother the impression that it was OK for her to sign his name on an absentee ballot request form when he wasn’t home. In addition, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was looking into unauthorized absentee ballot paperwork in which someone allegedly requested paperwork for an absentee ballot without the voter’s consent or knowledge:

"The DCI has approached paid Democratic Party staff to ask questions about allegations of unauthorized requests for absentee ballots in Floyd County, a party official confirmed.  Norm Sterzenbach, the party’s executive director, said a DCI agent spoke briefly to three workers at the Organizing for America office in Charles City. The party’s attorneys then contacted the agent “and said if you need to talk to ... any of our employees, have those conversations with our attorneys,” Sterzenbach said..."

Now, Monday evening, we learn that a so-called non-partisan organization was caught shredding Republican voter registrations:

"The Community Voters Project is a "non-partisan" lefty organization whose mission is to register people to vote, with a particular emphasis on minorities. In the 2008 election, they had offices in 10 states and registered around 300,000 minority voters. So far, so good. This year, however, it seems they aren't registering everyone who wants to vote. Outside a CVP office in Philadelphia, for example, they shredded and threw away numerous registration forms. A number of these were for people trying to register as a Republican."

Like the shenanigans of the DC-based Voter Participation Center, which mailed voter-registration forms to deceased relatives, children, and even pets, the Community Voters Project sounds like ACORN's voter fraud. That shouldn't surprise anyone, According to Breitbart, the Community Voters Project used to work along side ACORN, and several of the Community Voters Project employees were indicted in 2008 for voter registration fraud.

Based on what we have already seen, it looks like the Democrats have indeed dusted off the DNC's 2004 playbook to try and get Obama reelected anyway they can. You can expect to hear about other irregularities as soon as the polls open Tuesday. Hopefully, if we can report about such nefarious activities, we can keep the election fair.

Dem playbook in action, voting machines stealing Colorado

Some of you may remember how much fun the vote count was in Florida back in 2000. It seemed destined to go on forever until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in. More of you may remember 2004 the last time we had a brutal get out the vote fight down to the wire. The DNC's 2004 Colorado Election Manual is a helpful reminder of what Democrats can be expected to do to try win President Obama's reelection. Page 54 of the manual instructs:

"If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a pre-emptive strike..." 

With the presidential contest too close to call, Obama's Justice Department dispatching hundreds of lawyers to 23 states and Democrats having 2,500 lawyers stationed across Ohio, 600 in Cuyahoga County alone, to "monitor" elections there are bound to be more shenanigans than we can imagine. Don't forget Obama's Attorney General decided not to go after the New Black Panther Party members who were intimidating voters in 2008.

So it is troubling that we are hearing numerous reports of voting machines recording votes intended for Romney as votes for Obama.

Colorado's KRDO NewsChannel 13 reports that the Colorado Secretary of State's Office is investigating after more than a dozen Pueblo voters say voting machines switched their pick from Mitt Romney to Barack Obama.

One Romney voter, told KRDO that when she hit the touchscreen for Romney, a check mark appeared next to Obama's name. She said she asked for help to fix the problem, but still feels unsure about her vote:

"I wonder where my vote really counted," she said.

Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert Ortiz says that voters have several chances to change their ballot before casting it, and said everyone who's experienced a problem has gotten help and voted how they intended to.

According to KDRO, some are worried that some voters may not notice the machine error, and this problem could persist on election day.

Chuck Schneider, a poll watcher who said he learned of the problem from a Democratic election judge said:

"How many more times has this occurred? None of us know. This could have a significant effect on the election in this county."

Pueblo Republican Chair Becky Mizel said this highlights the importance of voters double checking their print out ballot before casting their vote. She also expects the clerk's office to notify voters of the problem:

"At the very minimum, we would expect the county clerk's office to post a note on the door (of polling places) and have judges tell our voters there could be a problem with the DRE machine."

Similar "machine voting error" is also being investigated in Mesa and Arapahoe counties and, Fox News reports, in six other states -- Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. You can watch Eric Shawn report on the Ohio voting machine machinations here.

The Republican National Committee has sent a letter to election officials in the seven states where voters have reported machines switching votes from Romney to Obama demanding tighter controls on touch-screen machines. In the letter the RNC asked for the following:

1. All voting machines be re-calibrated before Election Day.
2. Additional technicians in the event of further issues.
3. Sign notification reminding voters to double-check the correctness of their ballot in the machine before final submission.
4. Verbal guidance to remind voters to make sure that the ballot they cast is correct. 

You can read the entire letter here.

When I first first heard the claims of voting machines stealing Romney votes I didn't put much stock in it. But now that there are so many such reports spread across seven states, the complaints must be taken seriously. It also makes one wonder whether the false allegations that Romney was rigging voting machines was actually a cover story for some nefarious scheme to steal Romney votes.

It's going to be an interesting week.

Obama failed to heal the planet

Remember back on the last night of voting in the primary campaign for the 2008 presidential nomination, when then Senator Barack Obama had the audacity to promise to heal the world?:

"But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it … then I am absolutely certain that generations from now … this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…"

Obama's promise to heal the world is from his June 3, 2008 remarks he gave in Minneapolis, Minnesota. If you are one of those context folks or nuancing so-called fact checkers, you can find a transcript of Obama's heal the world speech here.

Today, the Romney campaigned released a new web video, "Healed?" The video takes President Obama to task for his failure to deliver on his promise to "heal" the planet.

You can watch "healed?" below:

The video offers several examples of evidence demonstrating that Obama failed to heal the planet.

On April 22, 2011, Barry Peterson of CBS news reported that "tens of thousands demonstrators took to the streets in Syria to only to face bullets. Barry Petersen reports on what witnesses called the bloodiest day in the five week uprising against a regime that seems ever more desperate."

On August 3, 2012 the United Nations General Assembly, by a vote of 133 for, 12 against and 31 abstaining,  overwhelmingly denounced Syria’s deadly crackdown on "rebels" and demanded the lockdown of Syria's chemical and biological weapons.

During the September 16, 2012-edition of "Meet the Press," NBC's David Gregory noted there were "new tensions between the Obama administration and Israel." During his interview during that broadcast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "I always say the danger of not acting in time is much greater because Iran with nuclear weapons would mean that the kind of fanaticism that you see storming your embassies would have a nuclear weapon."

During the September 24, 2012-edition of MSNBC’s "Morning Joe," Chuck Todd reported about Obama's failure to get Russia to help resolve the civil war in Syria:

"And let’s be realistic here. Russia’s standing in the way of doing anything in Syria. Okay? That’s a foreign policy failure on the President’s part."

The new "healed?" video also reminds us about Obama's assurance to the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he can be more flexible concerning America's missile defenses after he is reelected. Surely four more years of a more flexible Obama won't heal the world any more than the last four years have.

The new video has it right, "The world can’t afford four more years."

'Shell-shocked' team Obama whines and plays a blame game over debate loss

Shell-shocked by Governor Romney's terrific debate performance, especially juxtaposed to President Obama's lackadaisical performance in front of a television audience of  about 67.5 million, team Obama is flailing around whining and pointing fingers of blame at each other.

Failing to convince any fair-minded person that Obama lost the debate because, as the Obama campaign continues to falsely claim, Romney lied; that the mile high altitude, which didn't bother Obama during his TelePrompted infamous Greek Column speech, was the reason for Obama's drubbing; or that it was because of something the moderator, Jim Lehrer, did or didn't do -- the Obama team has moved to blaming each other.

At Breitbart, Alexander Marlow reports that Obama's team is so distraught over Obama's debate shellacking they are throwing Senator John Kerry under the bus. They blame Secretary of State wannabe Kerry for being too diplomatic while playing Romney during Obama's debate practice.

Marlow quotes Norah O'Donnell and Bill Plante from CBS's "This Morning":

Norah O'Donnell: "Some Democrats say [Obama's] campaign needs a wake-up call.  Bill Plante is here with that part of the story.  Bill, you've been talking to your sources; what are they saying?

Correspondent Bill Plante: "Well Norah, they're simply upset and really outraged. They blame the President's team, first of all, for not preparing him to meet the challenge of an aggressive Mitt Romney. They say that nobody in the room challenged him, including the guy that he was debating with, John Kerry, because, as they say, he wants to be Secretary of State so he's not going to get in the President's face. And Presidents are used to deference; they're not used to people challenging them like that. So they think that the debate prep was terrible, but they also fault the President himself for not understanding that Romney was going to be more aggressive."

It is peculiar to see the Obama campaign blaming John Kerry for Romney cleaning Obama's debate clock, especially in light of the fact the President's deputy campaign manager and sometimes spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter, was communications director for  Kerry’s failed presidential campaign when it melted down in 2004. I remember article after article blaming Cutter for the Kerry's loss. Is team Obama pointing the finger at the wrong person to be the next victim under the Obama bus.?

 At The Daily Beast, James Warren quotes William Daley as admitting that Romney's "extremely good night" is a "big advantage." Warren also credits Obama campaign aides with using the term 'shell-shocked'  to describe the Obama campaign's reaction to the debate:

At least two current Obama campaign aides were more blunt than Daley and used the term “shell-shocked” over the Obama performance. There were various analyses of what went wrong, including finger-pointing at debate preparations. Those included claims that Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who played the role of Romney in mock debates, probably wasn’t tough and aggressive enough. (“He does, after all, want to be Secretary of State,” claimed one aide.)

So much for the formerly much ballyhooed nonchalant and diffident "No Drama Obama." I guess that was too much of what was obviously incorrectly perceived to be a good thing.

Meanwhile, in an effort to recover ground lost by Romney's debate take down of Obama, Senior Strategist for Obama's re-election campaign, David Axelrod, is taking over the debate preparation for Vice President Biden for the debate this Thursday with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan. Axelrod's takeover is already raising expectations for a great debate performance from Biden who wasn't able to win the 2008 vice presidential debate Sarah Palin.

Debate Newsfeed

Romney vs. Obama still too close to call

Rasmussen Reports' daily presidential tracking poll for Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, finds the presidential race tied at 46 percent for both Governor Romney and President Obama. If you count "leaners," it’s tied at 48 percent. 

The Rasmussen tracker has had Romney and Obama tied or within a point of each other for each of the seven days since we reported  that Obama's seven point lead went up in the smoke of burning U.S. flags and diplomatic missions.

Rasmussen's Electoral College projections also show a close race -- Obama: 237, Romney: 196, and nine states representing 105 electoral votes still toss-ups. Obama has a small lead in Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Romney is similarly ahead in Colorado, Iowa, Missouri and New Hampshire.

This race is far from over.

Before you criticize my reliance on Rasmussen, consider the organization's record. In 2004, Rasmussen was the only firm to project totals for both President George W. Bush and  Senator John Kerry within half a percentage point. In 2008, Rasmussen was again right on the money. If you don't want to take Rasmussen's word for it you can go to Wikipedia. 

And while we are discussing polls, get over the skewed poll issue. I have also been guilty of complaining about the over sampling of Democrats in most of the major polls. I have now gone back and looked at the 2004 campaign and discovered that in September 2004, the lefties were complaining bitterly about major polls over sampling Republicans.

Forget the polls and the main stream media's effort to convince everyone Obama has already won.