Here’s the White House S.P.I.N….. 

WASHINGTON DC – Secretary of State John Kerry told a closed meeting of House lawmakers that the Russian government is only seeking to help Syria because they believe the U.S. is serious about taking military action, according to multiple sources present.
The comment, which came in a classified briefing of the full House on Monday, mirrors public comments by other Obama administration officials: the threat of a military attack is working to bring the Russians to the negotiating table.
After enduring days of brutal skepticism from lawmakers of both parties, Kerry and other administration officials wasted no time in attempting to link Russia’s proposal to the pressure coming from the White House. Democratic lawmakers agreed.
“This suggestion today by [the Russians] about bring the chemical weapons Assad has under control, I think it’s a direct result of the president saying he’s ready to do whatever is necessary to back up what he’s already said,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said. (link)

The folks who write Saturday Night Live scripts could not have put a finer point on the political hilarity of Monday Sept. 9th any better than what bore out in real life.
First you have Secretary of State, John Kerry, speaking in London ( <- luckily) early in the day, answering a question, and say mockingly: “if Assad gave up his chemical weapons then we would not strike Syria“.

“Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week – turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting (of it). “But he isn’t about to do it and it can’t be done.”

This gaffe was jumped on by the Ruskies who said “OK, we’ll take the WMD, Syria will not be able to use it” therefore problem solved.
What happens next is the stuff of SNL legend (watch video)

Obama used to say jobs were the first thing he thought about after waking up,  and the last thing he thought about before tucking in.
If he’s truly worried about jobs, he has a funny way of showing it.

All day long the pundits and talking heads on all the major networks have been talking about this unprecedented media push by President Obama. Almost all of them proclaiming amazement about President Obama talking to “Six” count them, S.I.X, TV broadcasters.
Well, it’s not quite what the White House would have you believe…..

I think the media got out foxed by the White House — each gets 7 minutes? That is really nuts. You can’t get information about an important issue like war in 7 minutes. If the President gives a long answer to the first question, you are cooked…time is up!
What the media should have done is asked to have the time combined – 42 minutes – and then pick out of a hat who did the interview from this group of 6 and let ALL NETWORKS use the interview like a pool interview. (Via Gretawire)

UPDATE(s) – As predicted earlier today: Harry Reid has cancelled Senate vote authorizing President Obama to take military action.   AND President Obama backs off Red Line and says he’s open to “diplomatic tack”.
The reasons WHY are evidenced as they were previously outlined below:

After 10 straight days of pressure from President Obama’s team, the request for congressional authorization is failing miserably.    All intellectually honest DC operatives, pundits et al, are all in agreement any vote in House of Representatives would fail horridly, and passage in the Senate is doubtful at best.
President Obama will not allow a vote call upon either chamber that he knows would fail.  [Unless, of course, the vote failure was to his benefit – that’s not the case on this Syrian authorization].  Harry Reid will not call a vote in the Senate which would embarrass or humiliate President Obama.
That said, now the issue becomes how to get President Obama out from his self inflicted plunge under his own bus.   This phrase, which will eventually come from the mouth of Obama, is what all political efforts are working toward:

“I was never for militarily attacking Syria, I always wanted a peaceful solution”.

Obama needs to position himself as being reluctantly dragged toward conflict now.  He needs to make the case that *HE* did not want to attack Syria, the global demands of humanity were forcing him to threaten Assad.
President Obama needs a soft landing to save face – to find a soft landing you need to receive a ‘soft message’ from your adversary.   Russia knows this.
Russia and Syria know there is no popular support for Obama.  Russia knows from decades of experience inside the U.S. exactly what the internal public opinion does to any administration;  and most importantly Russia knows what is described above as to what POTUS protectors are doing to safety net President Obama.   Hence….   (more…)

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters gained control of a Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists said Sunday. Government media provided a dramatically different account of the battle suggesting regime forces were winning.

It was impossible to independently verify the reports from Maaloula, a scenic mountain community known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic. The village is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites.
The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious minorities about the role played by Islamic extremists within the rebel ranks. (more…)

Next week (on Monday) CNN is set to rework the old Crossfire Show with a new cast.     Unfortunately, because of pundit selection, it is set-up to fail before it even starts.   The problem is best defined as “intellectual dishonesty”.

The cast is being sold as two progressives, Van Jones / Stephanie Cutter, versus two conservatives Newt Gingrich / S.E. Cupp.
Both Jones and Gingrich are good choices as each can present strong intellectual arguments around modern/current political aspects of current events.  However,  both Stephanie Cutter and S.E. Cupp are dishonest to a fault in almost all of their professional pontifications.
(more…)

This is so typical of a limo-liberal.   People like Bloomberg are the biggest racists in the Democrat universe.   Hypocritical jackass, that’s what he is.
(Via Politico)  Outgoing New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg laced into surging Democratic mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio in an interview published Saturday, saying he’s run a “racist” campaign with just three days left in the primary race.

The remarks from Bloomberg about de Blasio, the city’s Public Advocate who has showcased his biracial family on the campaign trail, came as the frontrunner is within striking distance of clearing the 40 percent mark in the primary vote that would prevent a runoff three weeks later.
“… there’s Bill de Blasio, who’s become the Democratic front-runner,” New York Magazine’s Chris Smith asked Bloomberg early on in a wide-ranging interview. “He has in some ways been running a class-warfare campaign …”
“Class-warfare and racist,” Bloomberg interrupted him.
“Racist?” Smith asked. (more…)

Think the mealy-mouthed, pansy Republicans can learn a lesson from Australia? Yeah, me neither… but the lessons are there for the taking if they’d just pull their PC embedded, wishy-washy, wind-testing heads out of their proverbial asses.
(Via Breitbart)  The conservatives won a stunning landslide victory in Australia’s national elections, capturing 53% of the vote Saturday. Conservative leaders emphasized a hard line against immigration, against a carbon tax, and against continual increases in government spending. This “no compromise” attitude became a key to victory.

Tony Abbott, Australia’s prime minister-elect, center, waves to supporters as he stands with wife Margie, second left, and their daughters Frances, left, Louise, second right, and Bridget after delivering his victory speech in Sydney.

Conservative leader Tony Abbot, a former Rhode Scholar and Catholic seminarian, has been the center of controversy throughout the campaign because of a “take-no-prisoners” attitude. And for a former boxer, this is hardly as surprise. Abbot has promised intense focus on an economy that is slowing down after a decades-long mining boom driven by demand for natural resources by China’s manufacturers.  (continue reading)

*Updated Congressional Vote Counts*   You can see how your congressional  House and Senate representatives are planning to vote:
Via ABC News Congressional Whip Polling:
OPPOSE MILITARY ACTION IN SYRIA: 75
LIKELY TO OPPOSE: 150                                        Total Oppose 225
SUPPORT MILITARY ACTION IN SYRIA: 19
LIKELY TO SUPPORT: 25                                       Total Support 44
UNDECIDED: 140
UNKNOWN: 23                                                          Total Undecided 163 (link)
The Huffington Post/Think Progress Polling: (more…)