Dean Flop
 
Yesterday's House Judiciary Committee hearing featuring former Watergate felon John Dean was a complete flop.  Conservative members of the committee were well-prepared and they peppered Dean with tough questions. 
 
Dean has made a career out of attacking every Republican president since Nixon, declaring that some event in their administration was "worse than Watergate." 
 
When Reagan was president, Iran-Contra was worse than Watergate.  When George W. Bush was president, the NSA wiretapping scandal was worse than Watergate.  (Democrats had Dean testify about that too.)  Now that Donald Trump is in the White House, the Russia collusion hoax is worse than Watergate. 
 
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Dean, "You're hearing the ghost of Christmas past. . . We're here reopening the impeachment inquiry potentially into Richard Nixon."
 
Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) noted that in the last two years Dean had posted 970 tweets about Donald Trump -- all of them negative.
 
Rep. Jim Jordon (R-OH) noted that Chairman Nadler has brought in some really odd witnesses to testify before the Judiciary Committee.  Jordan said:
 
"Their first announced witness was Michael Cohen. The guy went to prison for lying to Congress.  Then they bring in John Dean to talk about obstruction of justice, and of course John Dean pled guilty to obstruction of justice."
 
The Dean hearing was such a flop that the New York Post noted, "Even CNN didn't carry the hearing live, because it can't afford to bore its audience."  (What little audience it has left!)  MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell mocked Dean's testimony as "theater."
 
On Fox News last night, Brit Hume said it was "amazing" that House liberals would have Dean testify, adding, "Who is going to be next for the House impeachment horde? [Deceased mobster] Whitey Bulger, perhaps?" 
 
 
 
Acosta's Conspiracies
 
CNN's Jim Acosta has just written a new book defending the liberal media.  He's not even trying to present himself as an unbiased, impartial journalist.  He's all in with the left-wing.
 
During an interview with Anderson Cooper, Acosta warned conservative media outlets that a future liberal president might attack conservative journalists just as aggressively as Donald Trump attacks the "fake news media." 
 
First of all, Trump isn't wrong to attack "fake news."  The liberal media has gotten a lot of things very wrong.  But let's back up a bit.
 
Where was Jim Acosta when Barack Obama "daily demonized" Fox News?  Where was Acosta when Obama's Justice Department seized journalists' phone records and targeted a Fox News reporter?
 
There's more from Acosta.  During a broadcast this morning, he accused conservatives of starting a "shameful whisper campaign" against Joe Biden's health, adding, "It's some of the same stuff that they tried to do to Hillary Clinton back in 2016."
 
No, Jim.  Conservatives didn't need to start rumors about Hillary's health.  The concerns arose naturally when she was caught on camera with repeated coughing fits and collapsing on the side of the street. 
 
But what really struck me was the total hypocrisy of Acosta's attack.
 
The left routinely accused Ronald Reagan of being mentally unfit for office.  Remember when the left accused John McCain of being too psychologically damaged as a POW to be president?
 
And the left-wing media have routinely attacked Donald Trump's mental fitness.  It even came up after the president's physical exam.  Last year, a Yale psychiatry professor briefed a dozen progressives on Capitol Hill about Trump's mental state.  And they are planning to do it again.
 
In other words, the media speculation about Trump's health is fair game.  But if anyone dares to question the health of a leading progressive, that's "shameful."  Exactly who is spreading rumors, Mr. Acosta?
 
 
 
Flag Flap
 
Have you heard about the latest flag flap?  This one doesn't involve the NFL or spoiled millionaire athletes.  This involves U.S. embassies and "gay pride."
 
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently received a request from a U.S. embassy to raise the "gay pride" rainbow flag on the flagpole this month.  Pompeo responded that it should not be done.  The ever reliable left-wing media is reporting that the Trump Administration "banned" the flying of gay pride flags at U.S. embassies. 
 
What the administration actually did was reiterate what is both logical and traditional:  On the flagpoles outside of U.S. embassies and other government agencies, only the flag of the United States should be flown. 
 
Defending the administration's position, Vice President Mike Pence said, "I'm aware that the State Department indicated that on the flagpole of our American embassies, one flag should fly, and that's the American flag.  And I support that." 
 
American embassies exist to promote one thing:  the United States.  Not a particular political agenda or ideological cause.  Apparently, this logic is beyond the intellectual abilities of the average fake news reporter.