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THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, October 14, 2010
THE TWO FACES OF MICHELLE OBAMA
Two first la-
by Michelle Malkin Syndicated Columnist
dies will hit the campaign trail for Dem- ocrats this month: Mi- chelle Obama, c h amp i o n of ordinary Amer icans, and Michelle Obama, mon- ey-grubber
ON WINNING Third in a se-
ries HELMAND PROV-
by Oliver North Syndicated Columnist
INCE, AFGHANISTAN -- For reasons not altogether clear to me, only brief snippets of Fox News Chan- nel’s broadcasts are carried on the satellite sig- nals available
on U.S. military installations here in Afghanistan. That means that if I want to watch the news over here, it has to be one of the “major network” shows carried on the American Forces Network -- or the 24/7 broadcasts of CNN International and Al-Jazeera. That’s how thousands of sol- diers, sailors, airmen, guards- men and Marines assigned to these bases learned that their commander in chief was holding “backyard conversations” in lieu of campaign rallies this election season. And that’s where they heard him talk about how “dif- ficult” the war in Afghanistan has become, how “challenging”
and “uncertain” it is, and how the outcome cannot be “a sure thing.” Here’s some news, Mr. Obama:
All wars are “difficult” and “chal- lenging.” Most armed engage- ments are “uncertain” while they are happening. And few are ever “a sure thing” between start and finish. No one I have met here on this visit to these battlefields is prepared to hoist a “Mission Accomplished” banner. But the U.S., allied and Afghan National Security Forces personnel we have talked to on this “embed” overwhelmingly believe we are winning. Perhaps more impor- tantly, it doesn’t help the morale or motivation of our troops, our allies or the Afghan populace -- but it does encourage our ad- versaries -- when the president of the United States is consistently ambivalent about the prospects for victory in this war. It should be expected in this
day and age that the so-called “mainstream media” will prog- nosticate disaster at every turn. That’s what happened during See NORTH on 12
for the liberal elite. The actions of the second Michelle will tell you all you need to know about the lip service of the first. Mrs. Obama kicked off her
electioneering with an online “grassroots” appeal to individual donors coordinated by the White House political arm Organizing for America (OFA). With humble heart, the president’s wife asked followers (“the folks who voted to make change real”) to scrounge up “$3 or more to help grow this movement.” The first lady announced an eyebrow-raising pledge program by anonymous donors (so much for transpar- ency) who will “match” every con- tribution made before Nov. 2. She identified the “Michelle Match” participants as “teachers and firefighters, truckers and nurses” -- which may be Obama code for Big Labor and its $88 million midterm campaign war chest. Remember: Obscuring funding sources is par for the course at Chez Obama. OFA is run by Da- vid Plouffe, the Chicago wunder- kind of astroturfing and a senior adviser at AKPD Message and Media. That’s the public relations firm founded by fellow Chicago guru and White House senior ad- viser David Axelrod, who has long specialized in disguising special- interest cash to create the illu- sion of grassroots support.
While she panders publicly to
the hoi polloi, Mrs. Obama will shake the money tree behind closed doors for some of Wash- ington’s wealthiest Democratic officeholders. Next week, she’ll return to her native Chicago to raise money for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois Alexi Giannoulias. The president drummed up $1 million for the beleaguered state treasurer in August and will himself fly back to Chicago on Friday to raise more money for the scandal- plagued Giannoulias -- who is locked in a tight race with mod- erate Republican challenger Rep. Mark Kirk. Giannoulias is the basketball buddy of Mrs. Obama’s husband and brother. He worked for his family’s now-defunct subprime sleazeball financial institution, Broadway Bank. Reminder: This is the place where Obama parked his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign funds. It’s the same place where a mutual friend of Obama and Giannoulias -- convicted Obama fundraiser/slum lord Tony Rez- ko -- used to bounce nearly $500,000 in bad checks written to Las Vegas casinos. And it’s the same place that lent an esti- mated $27 million to mob crooks Michael “Jaws” Giorango and Demitri Stavropoulos. Faced with increased scrutiny
from local Chicago media and Republican critics, Giannoulias has attempted to minimize his executive role at the shady bank and told voters he had largely left Broadway Bank in 2005. But he admitted this week that he benefited from a massive $2.7 million tax deduction by report- ing to the IRS that he had worked some 500 hours for the company in 2006. The claim allowed him See MALKIN on 18
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