The Watcher’s Council

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. – William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar Act II, Scene 2

There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, 
it will be because we destroyed ourselves. – President Abraham Lincoln

This week, we had a tie between two pieces that both dealt with President Barack Hussein Obama’s plan for amnesty for illegal migrants by executive order.

Joshuapundit’s – Strangling the Eagle – Barack Obama And Amnesty, Part I, was my analysis of exactly what this president is proposing and its ultimate effect on the country, much of what was hidden with President Obama’s obtuse rhetoric and serial prevarication.

Bookworm’s fine essay Brit Hume’s loud silence reveals the ugly secret about Obama’s immigration amnesty announcement, goes a great deal deeper in revealing her first person account with one of the major obstacles in dealing with what the president is attempting to impose on the country – sheer cowardice in unexpected places… and as usual, she takes us right to the heart of the matter.

Since I break the ties, Bookworm’s insightful piece takes the honors this week. Here’s a slice:

There are some words that, as a writer, I’ve always wanted to use. One of those words is “cadaverous,” which I think is just a lovely, almost Dickensian word. Having attended last night’s delightful PRI Gala dinner, I finally have that chance. But let me start at the beginning…

I don’t usually attend galas. Indeed, I don’t ever attend galas, since I am almost pathologically cheap and, no matter how much I admire the speaker or expect the company to be delightful, I simply cannot make myself pay several hundred dollars for a dinner and speech. Add to that the fact that it’s disrespectful for me to spend huge sums of money on a political cause that my husband finds distasteful, and galas and I are not a common pairing. I only was able to attend the PRI event thanks to the incredible generosity of a local Marin conservative who sponsored a table and invited me to be one of his guests.

The event was held at the Fairmont, atop Nob Hill, which is one of the truly grand dame hotels in the world. The Fairmont was in the process of being built when the ’06 quake struck, causing severe damage. Once the dust cleared, building on the hotel resumed with help from architect Julia Morgan (of Hearst Castle fame), who had all sorts of wonderful ideas about reinforced concrete for structural integrity. In 1945, the Fairmont hosted the meetings that culminated in the United Nation’s creation. The hotel is sufficiently charming and magnificent that I forgive it for being the venue that gave birth to that appalling antisemitic, anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-freedom, and anti-individualism organization. But as I so often do, I digress.

For me, there were only two problems with the evening: First, the table at which I sat was so large, and the volume of conversation so loud, that I was only able to speak to the men (very nice, interesting men) to my immediate left and right, which meant that there was a whole table full of manifestly intriguing people with whom I did not exchange a single word. Second, Steven Hayward, from Power Line, was supposed to speak there, but an attack of bronchitis kept him away. I’m a big admirer and was disappointed that I couldn’t meet him. The fact that those were was my only disappointments tells you that it was a damn fine evening indeed.

The food was exquisite (I love filet mignon), the speeches ranged from interesting to very interesting, and I was delighted to see former California Governor Pete Wilson receive the Sir Antony Fisher Freedom Award. I have a special reason for that delight. You see, just as in the 1980s I was a Democrat who utterly failed to appreciate what an extraordinary man, thinker, and politician Reagan was, I was still a Democrat in the 1990s, and therefore utterly failed to appreciate what an extraordinary man, thinker, and politician Wilson was. I grossly underestimated the measure of the man back then, and was therefore so pleased to stand up and applaud him now. (To appreciate what a great governor he was — a fact that the MSM successfully obscured in the 1990s for unthinking young Democrats like me — check out the Wikipedia article’s incomplete list of his accomplishments.)

After Gov. Wilson received his award and gave a short talk, the mike was turned over to the evening’s featured speaker, Brit Hume — and this is where I get to use the word “cadaverous.” I need to start out by explaining that, since I watch TV only occasionally (to satisfy my low passion for Dancing With the Stars or to see Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey), I had no idea who Brit Hume was sufficient to justify his role as a keynote speaker at a PRI gala. You probably know that he’s a former ABC correspondent and a current Fox News analyst. I did not know that.

My ignorance about Hume extended to his looks. I had no idea what he looked like. When I realized who he was, I went over to introduce myself and shake his hand, which took all of 10 seconds. (At NOUS events, protocol is to greet the speaker, and there are penalties for those who fail to do so. Having become familiar with this requirement, I like it and, if I can, extend it to all events that I attend.) Hume is very tall, and quite thin, and he has a slightly hound-doggish face, with a grayish cast to his complexion. He is a very nice looking man — but he is also somewhat cadaverous looking. (And there’s that word.) He’s not cadaverous in the sense of “corpse-like” but in the sense of “haggard and thin.” You TV watchers also already know what else I discovered about him, which is that he has a deep, lovely voice with a very slight Southern drawl.

Hume spoke about politics; Juan Williams; his start in an old-fashioned newspaper, complete with clattering typewriters and cigar-chomping copy editor; and Obama’s planned amnesty. It was this last that riveted my attention. Hume, whom I would describe as a very centrist Republican, had put together a laundry-list of things that Republicans shouldn’t do once Obama announces his amnesty. It was a comprehensive list. He started by noting that, because Republicans lack a Senate majority, Hume says it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to put together a veto-proof anything to block the amnesty and, failing that ability, any bills the Republican Congress passes will be a waste of time and the media will use any such efforts to paint Republicans as racist and selfish.

Hume also argued strongly that the House most certainly shouldn’t try to use the power of the purse to block Obama from putting the amnesty into effect because doing so will only precipitate another stand-off and shutdown. According to Hume, polls consistently reveal that voters hate shutdowns and, thanks to the media, that they always blame the Republicans, even though the president is arguably the true proximate cause. (I have a different feeling about shutdowns and the accompanying theater. Hume, incidentally, made clear that he has the lowest possible opinion of Cruz and the Tea Party.)

Impeachment, said Hume, is a no-go. The last time Republicans did that, it ended very badly for them. Just as with shutdowns, the public is hostile to this type of thing and, thanks to the media, it’s always the Republicans’ fault.

A lawsuit? Well, it’s true that Obama is acting outside of his Constitutional authority, but Hume believes that Congress will be found to lack standing to sue because it will not have sustained a direct injury as a result of the amnesty.

Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Dennis Prager – We Have a Moral Divide, Not a Racial One, submitted by Joshuapundit. It’s one of the better observations I’ve seen in print about what ails America.

Here are this week’s full results. Only Bookworm was unable to vote this week, but was not subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 2/3 votes! – Bookworm Room – Brit Hume’s loud silence reveals the ugly secret about Obama’s immigration amnesty announcement
• Second place with 2 2/3 votes – Joshuapundit – Strangling the Eagle – Barack Obama And Amnesty, Part I
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet – The Few, The Proud, The Irregulars
• Fourth place with 1 vote – Nice Deb – Ferguson Cop’s Wife: DOJ Agents In Town Are “Not There to Guide, They’re There to Harm.”
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Obama Rolls the Dice on Immigration – America Comes Up Snake Eyes
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – A Song Dedicated to the Thugs About to Riot in Ferguson
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Independent Sentinel – Obama Brazenly Lies, Stirs Up Ferguson, Justifies Violating the Constitution on ABC News
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Bar Obama From Addressing Congress For State Of The Union!
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews – Western media on Jerusalem terror or Palestinian media on same: who is better?
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The Next Defense Secretary

Non-Council Winners

• *First place with 2 1/2 votes! – Dennis Prager – We Have a Moral Divide, Not a Racial One submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place with 2 votes – Blazing Cat Fur – Read the ‘hostile’ column that got student writer suspended by campus newspaper submitted by Simply Jews
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – Kevin D. Williamson/NRO – A Small Man In A Big Office submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fourth place with 1 vote – Victor Davis Hanson – Meet The Snobocrats submitted by The Independent Sentinel
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes – Mai Noman – Why Some Arabs Are Rejecting Strict Sharia submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes – Gateway Pundit – Justice for Mike Brown Means Looting Big Screen TVs submitted by The Razor
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes – Hot Air – Ted Cruz: The Senate must block all presidential nominees until Obama rescinds his amnesty submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes – The Register – Renewable energy ‘simply WON’T WORK’: Top Google engineers submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes – Kurt Schlichter – America,You’ve Been Grubered! submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote – Mark Steyn – A Death In Syria submitted by The Noisy Room
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote – Drew M/Ace Of Spades HQ – Responding To Obama’s Executive Amnesty: Let Obama Give The State Of The Union Somewhere Else submitted by Nice Deb
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote – Mark Steyn – Elections Matter? submitted by The Right Planet

See you next week!

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum and every Tuesday morning, when we reveal the week’s nominees for Weasel of the Week!

And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council and the results are posted on Friday morning.

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