As if he were a contestant at the Westminster Dog Show, President Obama tied the crowd to which he was speaking to an imaginary leash and trotted them around like a show dog.  The media then took the sound bites and clips and ran them on the air to bolster the contrived messaging and the altered set of facts.  Sound familiar?

Addressing a herd of lap dogs, and framed by the typical backdrop of quick applauding and slack-jawed acolytes, Obama was in his element, comparing the GOP candidates' conflict with CNBC moderators to dealing with difficult foreign leaders.  It was an incredible misrepresentation delivered to the uninformed and the unaware.  Familiar, indeed.  Anybody faint?

You see, despite the CNBC moderating folk being exposed and eviscerated for being banal, biased, and snarky on live national television, the uncomfortable recoil was declared to have been a sign that it was they who prevailed over the candidates.  Perhaps President Obama is confused, or is he disingenuous?

Obama said, "And then it turns out, they can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators."  He said. "If you can't handle those guys, I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you."  (See video.)

Handle they did.  Mr. President, you should have watched.

Ted Cruz did some “handling” of the moderators (see video).

Yet, Obama asked, how can these candidates who had trouble with the CNBC moderators stand up to China and Russia?  Applause, laughter, canine quick trotting.  Oh, the game of declaring a falsehood, then running with it.  Ferguson, Obamacare, Skip Gates, Benghazi, deficit reduction, border security...all come to mind as past fodder for Obama gymnastics.

How, Mr. President, do you handle the unscripted news conferences, the ones without the “call on him” list and the screened questions?  We would like to know.

One can wonder exactly how many in the audience watched the debates.  We who watched know what happened, but those who didn’t will gobble up Obama’s analysis and giggle.

Russian president Medvedev, to follow the canine theme, had President Obama jump up in his lap when Obama told Dmitry, “I will have more flexibility after the election.”  Did he also offer to run out to the driveway and get the newspaper?  The post-election flexibility of Obama regarding Russia has been demonstrated.  The incursion into Ukraine, Syria, underwater cable sniffing, the vapid START agreement...all are indications of a failed “reset.”

Attaboy.

If the facts aren’t as you like them, get a crowd together with some TV coverage and begin the game.  Lay out the falsehood, then work off it.  There is no cross-examination or unscreened questioning, just a crowd on a leash.  Trot them out, prance them before your media.  Now, who’s gonna clean up this mess?