McCain's POW time & the general election

Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal today on Sen. McCain's unwillingness to talk about "private" stories. For example:

[Col. Bud] Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."

The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.

But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place. Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place.

Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complemented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again.

Rove goes on to make the case that McCain needs to be more open to letting the public know about these events. I'm not sure. I agree (in part) with Ed Morrissey that the article would have sounded better coming from a fellow POW such as Col. Day. I think a better idea would be a 527 group of McCain's fellow POWs, Vietnam veterans, etc. to deliver ads in the fall to tell these stories for McCain. That way, the general public will still get a sense of McCain's service in the Vietnam war while McCain runs primarily on the issues (with a little war-hero biography thrown in here and there).

"I was only 9"

There is a great piece in the City Journal journal today by John Murtagh, a target of Bill Ayers' terrorist group. When this man was only 9, the Weather Underground bombed his home, seeking to kill not only his father, but his whole family:

In February 1970, my father, a New York State Supreme Court justice, was presiding over the trial of the so-called “Panther 21,” members of the Black Panther Party indicted in a plot to bomb New York landmarks and department stores. Early on the morning of February 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car. (Today, of course, we’d call that a car bomb.) A neighbor heard the first two blasts and, with the remains of a snowman I had built a few days earlier, managed to douse the flames beneath the car. That was an act whose courage I fully appreciated only as an adult, an act that doubtless saved multiple lives that night.

I still recall, as though it were a dream, thinking that someone was lifting and dropping my bed as the explosions jolted me awake, and I remember my mother’s pulling me from the tangle of sheets and running to the kitchen where my father stood. Through the large windows overlooking the yard, all we could see was the bright glow of flames below. We didn’t leave our burning house for fear of who might be waiting outside. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. Sunlight, the next morning, revealed three sentences of blood-red graffiti on our sidewalk: FREE THE PANTHER 21; THE VIET CONG HAVE WON; KILL THE PIGS.

Of course, Ayers' actions shouldn't matter to Murtagh, because he was only 9 at the time.

Amy Holmes at The Corner predicted the future...

...with regards to Hate-monger Jeremiah Wright at least. This is what Ms. Holmes wrote on March 18, 2008:

He leaves this thing alone for the time being and suffers through the next few primaries. [...] Then, he deploys The Pastor Plan. It goes like this. Pastor Wright arranges to give a speech. In it, the pastor makes such outlandish and slanderous claims, not unlike we've already heard, that Obama has no choice but to say, "Enough! Jeremiah has gone too far. I cannot abide his divisive, harmful, and inappropriate language. He does not speak for me or my family which is why we must, with heavy hearts, sever our relationship. He will always be a friend and welcome at my door. But I cannot continue to take his counsel, religious or otherwise." It helps here if the pastor has used some swear words and invented new conspiracies.

[...]

Timing is key. Sometime right after the inevitable 527 Pastor Wright ads start running. In fact, they can be the pretext of the pastor's speech. The 527 ads provoke the Reverend's fury. Obama reacts. Bam! It's over. Pastor problem solved.

Eerie.

UPDATE:Welcome Kausfiles readers. Take a look around!

Actual Headline: "Global warming set to fan HIV"

You read that right. In addition to causing heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, and snow storms, global warming is now set to help spread AIDS:

"It was clear soon after the emergence of the HIV epidemic that discrimination, gender inequality and lack of access to essential services have made some populations more vulnerable than others,'' said Prof Tarantola, of the University of NSW.

Those problems had not gone away, he said, and today extra threats were lurking on the horizon "as the global economic situation deteriorates, food scarcity worsens and climate change begins to affect those who were already dependent on survival economies''.

"Climate change will trigger a chain of events which is likely to increase the stress on society and result in higher vulnerability to diseases including HIV,'' said Prof Tarantola, due to address an HIV forum in Sydney tonight.

[...]

"Climate change will lead to food scarcity and poorer nutrition, putting people with perilous immune systems at more risk of dying of HIV, as well as contracting and transmitting new and unusual infections,'' Prof Cooper said.

Life sure is different over there in the reality-based community. Maybe this is party of Whitey's grand plan to spread some of that good ol' government-engineered HIV. Wright is a prophet.

I missed this during Wright's NPC appearance

I was otherwise engaged yesterday, and didn't get to comment on Rev. Wright's appearance at the National Press Club. Michelle Malkin live-blogged it, and this statement during the Q&A session:

Question: Would people of other races be welcome at your church?

“Yes…a white woman stood up at our church and said “I am unashamedly African.”

Huh? So the only way for a person to feel comfortable at Trinity United Church of Christ is to either be "African" or "African in spirit"? I thought the goal of the Christian Church was to unite people as brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of earthly, temporal thins like race, gender, politics, or anything else. Apparently, I was wrong. But then again, I am the White Devil, so what do I know?

Looks like "The Speech that Saved the World" didn't save the world...

Headline: Tells voter at Winston-Salem town hall that he will address the Wright issue at a “big press conference” following the event.

Sadly, by the time I hear what he says I'll probably be at work.

UPDATE: Looks like I was wrong. Sayeth the Obamessiah:

“I’m outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate. I believe they do not accurately portray the perspective of the black church. They certainly don’t portray mine. If he considers this political posturing, then he doesn’t know me very well. And I don’t know him well either.”

AIDS conspiracy: “Ridiculous proposition.”

Farrakhan support and analogy of Marines/terrorism: “They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. They should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing clearly and unequivocally here today.”

Heh. I seem to remember Obama saying that he couldn't denounce Wright any more than he could denounce the black community.

There's more of the press conference at the link.

NRCC: Sure, we'll fund the kleptocrat!

Stephen Laffey vs. Lincoln Chafee, version 2.0:

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. said that even though Alaskans might be lukewarm about the Republican on the presidential ticket, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the state is so red that it won't matter when it comes to the congressional race. McCain will "provide cover" for Republican candidates in Alaska, including Rep. Don Young, Cole said.

[...]

"But so far as I know, nobody's been charged with anything and I think that becomes really critical. At the end of the day, I've served with Don Young. I believe he's an honorable man. I don't have any doubt about it."

They will never learn. This makes it all that more important for conservatives to support Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell's candidacy. If I can afford to do it on my $18,000 a year salary, you can, too.

Despite Rep. Cole's friendly words, Don Young remains one of the most corrupt figures in politics on either side of the aisle. Cole can't even (reliably) say that Rep. Young could win against his Democratic challenger in the fall. Internal polling from his likely challenger shows Young behind by 8 points.

Cole and the NRCC are sacrificing respectability, ethics, and even electability on the altar of incumbency. This is why Republicans lost in 2006, and why they will continue to lose in 2008. If McCain stands up and "provides cover" for Young, he can throw out any chance of running on a message of good ethics and change in government.

No, Pete, there oughtn't be a law.

It's brilliant ideas like this that caused Republicans to lose in 2006:

Congressmen Peter J. Roskam (R-IL) today unveiled his “There Oughta Be a Law” initiative at a press conference in Bloomingdale.

[...]

“As a new member of Congress, I have learned first-hand what most 6th District residents already know, Washington is broken. Partisan politics have hamstrung Congress’ ability to find solutions to the most pressing problems our nation faces.

“The constituents I represent are reasonable folks with sound ideas – and it’s time to send a little more 6th District solutions to Washington.

“Therefore, I am proud to give my constituents the unique opportunity to have their legislative idea introduced in Congress. The very best way to restore faith in our nation’s government is to empower individuals. This is the ultimate definition of representative government.

Apparently, being a Republican in Chicago means that you want statist laws coming from the constituents, rather than the Representative in DC.

As Radley Balko (h/t, btw) points out:

Results of prior "there oughtta be a law" competitions: drug testing for welfare recipients, and seat belts for dogs.

Ri-friggin'-diculous.

The most telling Wright quote yet...

From the Hate-monger's appearance at the National Press Club this morning:

On the Government created AIDS: Have you read "Medical Apartheid"? I read different things.. Cites the Tuskeegee Experiments. "I believe our government is capable of doing anything."

Emphasis mine.

I believe that this one sentence says more about Wright, Sen. Obama, and liberalism in general than any number of Wright's sermons or Obama's "distractions". The government is capable of "doing anything" in modern liberalism.

It is capable of injecting AIDS and crack into the black community. It is capable of creating the 9/11 attacks. It is capable of fabricating wars just to kill "dark people". It is capable of any imaginable evil.

But wait, there's more! It is also capable of providing for all your hopes and dreams! It is capable of fully funding all health care in America. It is capable of taking care of your child's college education for you. It is capable of equitably redistributing wealth from the have's to the have-not's. It is capable of giving everyone high speed internet. It is capable of ending all conflicts just by talking. It is able to completely eliminate poverty in the United States and across the globe.

It is capable of getting 300,000,000+ individuals to unify to agree that all these things are a good idea.

Yes, the government is capable of anything.

(Make sure to go to the link. There are plenty of quotes from Wright there.)

Boston Herald editor: Mass murderers really inspire me!

Especially the one's that are murdering for the little guy:

"Tabloids in some cases say what other papers only think," says [Boston Herald editor Kevin] Convey, the Herald's editor, whose office faces a freeway separating the paper's unfashionable neighborhood from the blue-collar enclave of Southie. "If you don't have fun putting out a tabloid, you're brain-dead."

Convey may be having a grand time, but his paper is hurting, its daily circulation having shrunk to 203,000 (compared with 384,000 for the Boston Globe), and just 113,000 on Sunday. He is down to a scrappy band of 10 city reporters, beyond those in the features, business and sports sections.

[...]

Convey, who keeps a poster of Che Guevara in his office, says the problems facing his guerrilla operation are not directly linked to the shrinking of the city's working class. Still, he says, "a lot of people find tabloids to be beneath them. In Boston, where the air is a bit more rarefied and you're closer to Harvard, some people have a problem with tabloids. I think there's a certain nobility in tabloids."

You see, Convey is just like Che, standing up for those who don't have voices. Hopefully he hasn't yet made the foray into killing all those who oppose him. Watch your back, Martin Baron.

Hey, if the Boston Herald goes under, he could always look for a job on the Obama campaign.

PA Man Arrested for Complaining

Watch out, DPUD, you're probably next. Marshall Pappert, a resident of the Pittsburgh suburb of Bridgeville has learned a valuable lesson about government effectiveness. He, speaking for both himself and his fellow neighbors, has taken the government to task for not dealing with a ready-mix concrete company in their neighborhood guilty of air pollution violations. According to the neighbors, the company begins running trucks at 2am, and the dust the company produces is so bad that residents can't even open their windows. The city and county officials have finally dealt with the problem:

The breaking point came when Pappert left three voice mail messages at the office of borough Manager Lori Collins.

"I'm asking you as a Bridgeville resident of 56 years to resign and get off of your position. Do the right thing," Pappert said in one message to Collins.

His messages accused the borough manager of going back on a promise to collect dust samples from homes and have them tested.

"You never did that. You said you were going to come over here with (Solicitor) Richard Ferris within a week. You told me that you were going to take a silicate sample, and that was it. And for four months, you left me wondering why you didn't," Pappert said.

Bogats said Pappert's messages gave him cause for concern because of "his voice tone, his voice influx, the anger that was present in his voice."

Bogats arrested Pappert on a charge of harassment, which is a criminal summary offense.

"In that voice mail that he left, did he curse?" Parsons asked.

"No," Bogats said.

"Did he threaten?" Parsons asked.

"No," Bogats said.

"What did he do that rose to the level of a crime?" Parsons asked.

"In section 2709 of the Pennsylvania crimes code, dealing with harassment, it specifically states that when a person, they harass, annoy or alarm an individual based upon the conduct, then it's harassment," Bogats said.

Emphasis mine.

They've quoted a Pittsburgh-area ACLU lawyer who feels this is a violation of Pappert's First Amendment rights, and I'm inclined to agree. Any small government-minded lawyers in the area feel like helping the guy out?

Quote of the Day

"In a scrupulously politically correct age, it's not offensive to organize a "Kill the police!" demo or to preach that the government invented AIDS in order to perpetrate an African-American genocide. You can pull that stuff and still be part of respectable society, hanging out with presidential candidates and whatnot. What's grotesquely offensive is the chap who's insensitive enough to point out such statements and associations. So the North Carolina Republicans are denounced as "racists" for being so unenlightened as to bring up the subject of the neo-segregationist hater Rev Wright."

Another round of Guess! That! Party!

Let's head down to Birmingham, where the Mayor has found an interesting way to fight crime:

Struggling to confront a worsening homicide rate, the mayor asked pastors and citizens Friday to don burlap sacks and ashes Friday in an Old Testament-style sign of biblical repentance.

Mayor Larry Langford said his "sackcloth and ashes" rally at Boutwell Auditorium was inspired by the Book of Jonah, where residents of the ancient city of Ninevah wore rough fabric and ashes as a sign of turning away from sin.

[...]

Since he took office last year, Langford has held three prayer rallies as a way of addressing crime and violence. Bibles were handed out at one of the events.

"This city needs to humble itself," said Langford, a professing Christian.

Conveniently, the mayor has chosen a "solution" that doesn't involve getting tough on criminals or personal responsibility.

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to smell that creeping theocracy we've all been warned about...

Awwwww....someone feels left out.

The bitter Democratic primary has had many victims: the Obamessiah's transcendence is gone, Bill Clinton's legacy (whatever was left of it) has been badly damaged, and Democratic voters who are both female and African-American have had to decide if they are more "African-American" or more "woman" (identity politics is a harsh mistress). However, the greatest victim of all is someone who's had to watch from the sidelines, Al Sharpton.

Life's been hard on ol' Al. The cameras are all focused on Barack and Hillary. What choice does a man have, but to go race-baiting in New York City:

Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.

"We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."

Sharpton was joined by the family of 23-year-old Sean Bell - a black man - and a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club. Two of the three officers charged were also black.

The rally at Sharpton's office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, Harlem's main business thoroughfare, where some bystanders yelled out "Kill the police!"

It should be noted that 2 of the 3 officers charged in the shootings were black. Why let facts get in the way of The Narrative?

Exit question: Why do people call him "Rev." Al Sharpton? When was he last time he lead a church or preached, for that matter?

The Macaca Warning

You've heard of Miranda rights? How about something similar for politicians:

Dan Manatt of PoliticsTV argues that “campaign managers should consider, on a daily basis, reminding candidates of their digital Miranda rights.” He calls it the “macaca warning.”

“You have the right to be recorded — and [you] should expect you are being videotaped and recorded 24/7. Anything you say can and will be used against you by your opponents. Beware that something that sounds OK in one setting may be a gaffe in another setting.”

You would think that this would be a standard rule to abide by, even in pre-Macacagate days.

Hillary listens to Newt?

Who knew?

Well, she probably doesn't, but when it comes to debates, someone at the Clinton campaign is channeling something Newt Gingrich said this fall. That is, Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams has found a way for the Obamessiah (change be upon Him) to avoid "distracting" debate moderators:

In the spirit of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, we make this proposal:
Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will participate in a 90-minute debate in an open public forum. Just the two of them -- no questioners, no panelists, no video clips. One candidate would speak for two minutes, then the other, alternating back and forth all the way through the debate. Their discussion – not any pre-set rules – would determine how long they spend on one subject before moving on to another. Such a debate would range across all of the challenges, large and small, we face as a nation or it could focus on the most significant issue we face today -- the economy.

We can readily agree on a host, a place, a date, and a broadcaster or series of broadcasters.

Ha! Best Democratic primary evuhhhhhhh!

The Obama campaign has already, predictably, rejected such a debate. But why? There is no way for his answers to get cut down to "snippets" and taken out of context. There are no moderators to bring up "distractions". There will be no one to blame but him if he has a disastrous perfor....oh wait. There we go. I forgot the First Rule of Democratic Politics: always have someone to blame besides yourself.

Gateway Pundit has already noticed the blatant racism of Clinton's debate suggestion:

Didn't Lincoln and Douglas debate slavery? Is that what this is all about?... Another twisted racist attack by the Clinton's?

Is this some sick stunt where Hillary gets Obama on stage, plays Democrat and defends slavery for 90 minutes? Sick.

/snark

UPDATE: I found video of Hillary delivering the challenge to Obama. Here you go...

Obama camp fightfightfightin' Fox News Sunday

As you may remember, Fox News Sunday had set up an "Obama Watch", counting the number of days since he last said he would appear on the program. A refresher:



Well, the Obamessiah (change be upon Him) has decided to descend from the heavens tomorrow to communicate with we lowly rabble - you know, those of us who cling to guns, religion, and racism because we're poor - and appear on the program. But, via TPM's Election Central, he plans to be at his netroots-style fightfightfightin'-est:

A senior Obama adviser vows that he will "take Fox on" when he appears on the network this Sunday, though it's unclear yet just how.

[...]

Here is what the adviser IM-ed me about this today:

We are clear-eyed about Fox’'s role in the dissemination and amplification of Republican talking points this election. They have been the tip of the spear when it comes to repeatedly broadcasting some of the most specious of rumors about Obama. He is going on their Sunday show to take Fox on, not because we have any illusion about their motives or politics in this election.

He'll be ready if that mean old meanie Chris Wallace tries to ask him about any of those "distractions".

Parnell for Congress: Donate Now!

As I mentioned earlier, Kleptocrat Rep. Don Young (R-AK) will face a primary challenge from Alaska's Lt. Gov Sean Parnell. Parnell's campaign site is finally up. You should head over there and drop a couple dollars to help unseat one of the most unethical members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Common (Wo)Man Nancy Pelosi: Gas is $2.56 a gallon most places

If you remember, a year ago the Associated Press was breathlessly informing all of America that then-GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani was out of touch with Americans because she didn't know the correct price of milk or bread.

Cut to one year later, here's Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Larry King's show:



I expect to see an article from the AP any minute telling readers how uneducated Speaker Pelosi is on one of the most important issues of the day. Annnnnnnny minute.

The darkest of dark horses

I had held off even mentioning Carly Fiorina as a possible choice for Sen. McCain's running mate, but VP Watch has pointed out this news item that suggests we may have to start looking into her background:

Former HP chief Carly Fiorina is rumored to be near the top of a very short list of possible Vice Presidential candidates.

Fiorina has already joined the Republican National Committee as the party's "Victory Chairman." She has been promoting presumed GOP presidential candidate John McCain on the campaign trail. "John McCain has the right vision for our country and the character, experience and judgment to lead," she has said.

While the article goes on to point out that this could just be a red herring to trow off the Democrats, I think it's worth looking into.

Her obvious positives: as a former CEO and business leader she knows more about the economy than McCain, she brings gender diversity to the GOP ticket (which will be especially helpful if Sen. Obama gets the nomination), and she has the executive experience that Sen. McCain lacks. Now, on to the negatives.

Fiorina's most glaring negative is that she has never run for any public office before. While she has done some campaigning for Sen. McCain already, it is my understanding that this campaigning has been confined to the business/technology community. McCain needs a VP who is at home on the campaign trail and can connect with everyday workers with as much ease as they connect with executives. Having never run for office, most of Fiorina's views outside of business issues are unknown. If she is socially conservative (which is what McCain will need), she has to be able to prove it somehow. Her tenure as CEO at Hewlett-Packard ended when she was forced to resign by board members due to what they saw as poor performance.

As I said before, most of her views are unknown. However, she has done some interviews which have touched on important political issues. She, like McCain, sees great promise in guest worker programs for foreign workers:

I think first of all the H-1B Visa program is very important to the technology industry. The American people get concerned and understandably emotional about it when they perhaps don’t understand the differences between the H-1B Visa program and illegal immigration. So we have to make these differences clear because as McCain said, illegal immigration is a hugely emotional issue and it’s a very difficult issue in a state like California. So we have to be very open and specific about why the H-1B Visa program bears no resemblance to illegal immigration. We also then have to recognize that American workers all over this country are increasingly concerned about their ability to compete against foreign workers, whether those foreign workers are outside our country or whether they’re coming into our country.

However, in the interview quote above, she segues into the need to retrain American workers, so that businesses are less reliant on guest worker programs in the future.

On Iraq, Fiorina doesn't seem to be anti-war, but she may have doubts over whether it was the right thing to do in the first place:

Whatever people think about how we got here, what we do now is a matter of grave importance. And Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama think that what we should do is depart even though we're finally starting to see success. John McCain believes that we need to build on the success that we've seen in the last year or so and win in Iraq - not because he wants to stay there for 100 years but in fact because he believes a stable country is in our interests.

In my heart, I think it takes a soldier to bring us home with victory and honor. I think it takes a soldier, someone who really understands war - how terrible it is, the cost of war, the price of war - I think it takes someone who really understands it, to finish it.

On a better note, she doesn't seem like the type of person to play the gender card. For example, she has questioned Fortune magazine's list of top female executives:

It’s a terrific thing to highlight women leaders ... [but] the list sends the wrong message. The list says women have to compete against each other one to 50, because they can’t play with the big boys. It’s not the fact that they’re highlighted that’s the problem. ... I think part of the reason we haven’t made as much progress as we should is that women leaders are thought of as different somehow. There is no men’s list.

I'm sure that if Sen. McCain is seriously considering her for VP, we'll subtly start learning about more of her personal views on political topics outside the realm of business. But, as I wrote this post, I have become increasinly convinced that this won't be the case. McCain will have to bring his A game this year, and choosing an RNC insider unknown to most voters might not be the best idea.

We'll see.

The economy is so bad...

...that people were willing to pay $20,000 for a Sen. Obama's half-eaten waffle.

Why the GOP Coalition Works

Jim Geraghty says it better than I ever could:

Government dollars, even with high tax rates, are finite. Sooner or later, a dollar has to be spent on either environmental protection or worker retraining programs, on scholarships or on expanding Social Security, on government-run health care or foreign aid, on infrastructure programs or on open space preservation. Sooner or later, a Democratic leader can only split the difference so much, and more resources will go to one instead of the other. Someone will feel shortchanged, resentments will build. Besides money, there's the finite resource of time, focus, and energy of lawmakers.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, you have social conservatives who want government to stop distributing condoms in schools and preventing their children from praying; you have home schoolers who want to teach their kids on their own without government interference; you have gun owners who want to keep their guns; you have entrepreneurs who want fewer regulations, and you have taxpayers who want their taxes low. Grover Norquist called this the "Leave Me Alone Coalition." Only when you run into a gun owner who wants to distribute condoms in schools do you run into a problem... or something like Terry Schiavo, which pit the pro-life and small-government wings against each other.

I was an intern for Grover about a year ago, and I had a chance to glance over a chapter or two of his new book on the "Leave Us Alone Coalition" in its final draft stages. I recommend it.

US Envoy to Africa: Hey, Mugabe...how about you leave already?

Eh. It looks hopeful on the outside, but I'm not convinced:

"We think in this situation we have a clear victor," said Ms Frazer, the senior US envoy to Africa.

"Morgan Tsvangirai won and perhaps outright, at which point you don't need a government of national unity. You have to accept the result."

But she said that any results released would not have any credibility and added that: "There may need to be a political solution, a negotiated solution."

Emphasis mine.

A negotiated solution? As I understand democracy, when one side clearly wins no negotiation is necessary. If Sen. John Kerry had won the presidency in 2004, how would people - on the left and the right - have acted if Bush had refused to step down, and the international community called for a "negotiated solution".

What would this "negotiated solution" look like? Captain Ed has a prediction:

Instead of actually releasing the real vote counts and treating it like a real election, dictator Robert Mugabe would offer to partner with Morgan Tsvangirai in a “national unity” government until another fresh election could be held.

[...]

[A] “power-sharing” government will most likely mean Mugabe holds the strings while Tsvangirai acts as a puppet to give him a fig leaf of credibility. If Mugabe wanted to honor an election, he has the opportunity now by inviting the UN to review the raw vote totals and the MDC’s photographs of the local precinct results that they took as a safeguard against Mugabe’s election-rigging. If he won’t do that, then why would the MDC or anyone else trust that he will honor the results of the next election?

Negotiations won't work for two reasons: 1) Mugabe isn't interested in true negotiations - only in keeping power and, 2) the MDC is operating under the (correct) premise that they won the election outright and no negotiations are needed.

What say you, UN? What say you, African Union?

Oh that's right. This mess is just one of the horrifying after-effects of colonialism...you know, that period of time when people had plenty of food, security, and the right to own land, regardless of race.

Are you ready for 300 pages of class warfare and whining?

No? Me either. But Mike Huckabee is writing a book for us anyway:

Two weeks after the next president is elected, Mike Huckabee will publish a book sharing details on his failed bid for the White House and offering his vision for remodeling the conservative movement.

[...]

"There's going to be a lot of untold stories and untold anecdotes," said Will Weisser, Sentinel's associate publisher. "But the other part is the governor's vision for the future of American politics and society and what should we be working towards? How does the (Republican) party become more unified?"

As we saw in the primary, Huckabee thinks GOP unification lies in big government domestic policies, class warfare, and religious identity politics.

I wonder ow many pages will be devoted to how The Man tried to keep him down by...ummm...not voting for him?

ABSCAM Jack Murtha gets a challenger!

It will be Lt. Col. William Russell, who was kicked off of the ballot for only having 993 out of the 1000 signatures required. Writes David Freddoso:

To qualify for the November ballot, he had to get at least 1,000 write-in votes in the district yesterday to qualify for the ballot. His consultants saw this as doable, but still a challenge in a primary where there was really nothing happening on the Republican side — not even a decent local race to attract voters to the polls.

[...]

I'm told that the count now stands at 4,700 write-in votes for Russell, and the largest county in the 12th District hasn't even reported yet — nor have any absentees been counted.

Sounds good to me. You can go here to donate to Lt. Col. Russell's campaign.

I guess it's time for "old politics" again...

You may remember how Sen. Obama whined about getting grilled at the debate in Philadelphia last week. A refresher:

In criticism of his rival, [Obama] called the debate "the rollout of the Republican campaign against me in November" and said it represented textbook Washington politics that Clinton was very comfortable playing.

Cut to one week and one devastating primary loss later. What say you, Obamessiah:

Unable once again to score a knockout, Sen. Barack Obama is likely to make his new negative tone even more negative -- with a sharp eye on trying to end the Democratic presidential nomination fight after the May 6 primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

[...]

With Obama clearly favored in North Carolina, even he has called Indiana the "tiebreaker," a state that adjoins Illinois but where Clinton voters hold sway in the working-class towns in the south. In the two weeks leading up to the Indiana primary, a Democratic strategist familiar with the Obama campaign said aides are likely to turn to the controversies of Bill Clinton's White House years -- Hillary Clinton's trading cattle futures, Whitewater and possibly impeachment.

"Everyone knows the history of the Clintons," the strategist said.

Plouffe would not say the campaign planned to address that period, but seemed open to the possibility in the future: "The Republicans certainly are going to look at those issues, the Clinton finances, the record issues. We have chosen not to go there."

Emphasis mine.

It seems that the Obamessiah has seen a vision from His Father in heaven, and "Republican tactics" are now okay. What makes it even better is that the second emphasized portion uses nearly the exact same language that Clinton surrogates use when attacking Obama on issues like his connections to Ayers, Rezko, and Wright.

Classic.

John McCain in Kentucky Today

...about 65 miles from my hometown, no less. I wasn't able to make it, as Inez, KY is pretty hard to get to from Lexington, but the text of Sen. McCain's speech is posted at his site. Some excerpts, emphasis mine in all:

I think we should establish a "People Connect Program" that rewards companies that offer high-speed Internet access services to underserved, low-income customers by allowing these companies to write off the cost of this service. The government should enlist the help of private/public partnerships to devise creative and successful solutions to the lack of access to information technology. In many places, cities and towns are working with businesses that have experience providing high-speed Internet services to share the cost of building and improving that service. Where companies are unwilling to build information infrastructure, the federal government can support towns through government-backed loans or by issuing bonds with a low interest rate.

This is a practical, free-market alternative to plans for ineffectual municipally-owned wi-fi in major cities. In my hometown, which is much easier to get to than Inez and has a higher population, high-speed internet only became available in the past 3 years. I would still venture to say that a large number of people in my community still have dial-up. In a community like Inez, where 37% of families were below the poverty line, this program will certainly help increase the flow of information and jobs to the area.

Rural areas often struggle to attract young highly qualified and motivated new teachers. At the same time, we make it very difficult for Americans with exceptional skills for teaching to enter the field of education through non-traditional means. These are often people who would like nothing better than to take advantage of the quiet beauty and traditional values that are the foundation of rural America. But the path to teaching is often made up of more barriers than gateways. You can be a Nobel Laureate and not qualify to teach in most public schools today. The next president should aggressively support state and national initiatives that attract exceptionally qualified candidates into teaching and that provide certification based on the candidates' demonstrated knowledge of the subjects they will teach, as well as their knowledge of how to teach. Terrific organizations like Teach for America attract the very best young college graduates from all disciplines to enter the teaching profession. The Troops to Teachers program takes advantage of the sense of heightened responsibility and duty that military veterans were taught in the discipline of the armed forces, and which makes many of them excellent candidates to impart those virtues to our children, and help them see the value of learning as a means to self-improvement.

If my time in an Eastern Kentucky public school taught me anything, it's that there is a need for good teachers in the area. I had many that were excellent, but just as many that spend most of the class debating various NASCAR-themed topics with the students.

Not to knock Inez or Martin County, but if someone wants to show up in a town of 466 people and spend their life there as a teacher, there should be few barriers in their way.

Before I take your questions and ask you a few of my own, which is why I came here today, I want to close by saying that if I am president, I will not forget that the decisions I make will affect, for good or ill, your ability to make decisions for your families. I will not forget my responsibilities to every American community. I will not offer talk as a substitute for action. I will not make promises I intend to forget. And I will not make this my last visit to Inez. If I'm elected, I will come back here in the course of my administration; hold another townhall meeting, and invite you to hold me accountable for the decisions I have made and the promises I have sworn to keep.

All I can say is, if Sen. McCain is elected, he better make sure that he keeps this promise. Small town people don't forget statements like this.

Jindal and Jay

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is going to be on The Tonight Show next Monday. VP Watch has the press release from NBC.

Best. Democratic. Primary. Ever.

Ha. I love it. After the Pennsylvania primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton has now taken over the lead in the popular vote from Sen. Barack Obama. This is, of course, after Sen. Obama's campaign has said for weeks that the superdelegates should vote in line with the popular vote. Classic.

There might be some light blogging today. One of the downfalls of working second shift is that you wake up after everyone else has already covered major topics in-depth. Also, since the major story of the day seems to be something I know little about (Gen. Patraeus' being named Centcom commander) I'll just have to direct you to other people who are far more informed than me.

"Everything's going to get louder, even if it never gets better"

Today's song of the day, "Get Better" by Mates of State, seems to be about the election season. Heh.



One of the most fun bands to see live.

Remember Earth Day!

al-Qaeda would want it that way!

Burglaries up 21%...thank God for the Second Amendment!

Oh wait, burglaries are up 21% in Washington, DC, where the Second Amendment doesn't apply:

Criminals are jimmying locks, kicking in front doors, breaking through roof hatches and skylights, and sometimes even sawing security bars off windows to get into houses and businesses, police said. They are hauling off computers, flat-screen televisions, jewelry, digital media players and other items, which they then sell.

Police data show that 922 burglaries were reported in the city in the first quarter of the year, compared with 761 in the same span last year. The biggest increases have been reported on Capitol Hill and in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, including Congress Heights.

The neighborhoods mentioned in the final paragraph are in the SE quadrant of DC, which is plagued by violence and extremely high unemployment. Approximately 1/3 of the homicides in DC took place in one neighborhood in this quadrant alone.

This is also the section of DC that has the highest African-American population. So this city, whose voters are 90% Democrat, continues to claim that it stands up for civil rights and minorities while keeping a gun ban in place that does nothing to deter robberies. The best way to stand up for people who have next to nothing is to first allow them to protect the things they do own and their own livelihoods. That's a change^tm that would give people hope^tm.

Another Evil of Western Society

It must be interesting to live in a world where you see conspiracy around every turn. It's a lot easier than personal responsibility. The latest Western distraction to be forced on Muslim society? Greenwich mean time:

Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth.

[...]

One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north.

He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed.

Just so we have our facts straight: Britain setting up a standardized system of time is bad, but setting up a standardized culture and religion under a global 7th-century caliphate is good. Gotcha.

Next up: The Shroud of Rezko...

In case you missed the headline yesterday, the Church of the Obamessiah (Change be upon Him) now has it's own holy artifacts:

In this, the campaign that goes on and on, why would anyone be inclined to hold on to something so transient, so fragile, as an aging campaign sticker? (And why, in our travels about town -- a survey of sorts that's hardly exhaustive -- do we not see well-worn stickers for John McCain or Hillary Clinton?)

Heh. Emphasis mine.

Yes, why do you not see well-worn stickers for McCain and Hillary? My guess: Because their supporters, ya know, support them, not worship them.

Why, it's almost as if Obama supporters are supporting Obama to be trendy or cool. But surely this is just a phenomenon that isn't carried over to the superdelegates. Oh wait:

But even politicians are mentioning the persuasiveness of their children, either in earnest or as political cover, as a factor in their Obama endorsements.

That list of Democrats includes Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Ahem.

We want to run against this man.

We really do:

"You have a real choice in this election. Either Democrat would be better than John McCain," Obama said to cheers from a rowdy crowd in central Pennsylvania. Then he said: "And all three of us would be better than George Bush."

Head over to Ace's for a post by Gabriel (who wrote the post I wanted to write. Bastard.) analyzing the situation.

This makes me laugh every time

It fits so perfectly.

Song of the Day

"Lion's Mane" by Iron & Wine. I'm going to see him in concert tomorrow in Louisville. I know you're jealous.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

So, remember Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), the House of Representatives version of Lincoln Chafee? He was defeated in the GOP primary in February by State Sen. Andy Harris, who had the support of the Club for Growth:



Well, it seems that Rep. Gilchrest's campaign director is now working for Harris' Democratic opponent:

The campaign director for Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), the nine-term congressman ousted by state Sen. Andrew Harris in February’s Republican primary, has joined the campaign of the Democratic nominee, Queen Anne County State's Attorney Frank Kratovil.

Lynn Caligiuri, who worked on all of Gilchrest’s reelection campaigns, called Kratovil’s campaign “the best opportunity to continue the thoughtful, moderate approach that Gilchrest has brought to the district for nearly two decades” and endorsed the Democrat.

Let's hope he's as successful with Kratovil as he was with Gilchrest.

You can donate to Harris' campaign here.

Who cares? It was 40 years ago!

The Chicago Daily Observer has put together a resume of the terrorist activities of everyone's favorite friendly neighbor and English professor, Bill Ayers. Some highlights include:

8 October-11, 1969 – The “Days of Rage” riots occur in Chicago in which 287 Weatherman members from throughout the country were arrested and a large amount of property damage was done.

16 February 1970 – Bombing of Golden Gate Park branch of the San Francisco Police Department, killing one officer and injuring a number of other policemen.

6 March 1970 – “bomb factory” located in New York’s Greenwich Village accidentally explodes. WUO members Theodore die in t. The bomb was intended to be planted at a non-commissioned officer’s dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The bomb was packed with nails TO INFILICT MAXIMUM CASUALTIES UPON DETONATION.

14 October 1970 – Bombing of The Harvard Center for International Affairs [NYT, 10/14/70, p. 30]

1 March 1971 – Bombing of The United States Capitol.” [NYT, 3/2/71]

19 May 1972 – Bombing of The Pentagon . [NYT, 5/19/72]

18 May 1973 – Bombing of the 103rd Police Precinct in New York

October 20, 1981 – Brinks robbery in which several members of the Weather Underground stole over $1 million from a Brinks armored car near Nyack, New York. The robbers murdered 2 police officers and 1 Brinks guard. Several others were wounded.

1981 - “Guilty as hell. Free as a bird. America is a great country,” Ayers said when interviewed by David Horowitz.

Emphasis mine, ALL CAPS in original.

Hope. Change. Unity. Cold-Blooded Murder. But it was 40 years ago, so who cares if people got murdered, right?

This is CNN...

"Hey, I'm off to work as soon get my bag of meth and this rope tied around my junk..."

Trig Palin

Yeah, I don't get that name either. But anyways, Gov. Sarah Palin gave birth to a new son yesterday morning. Hopefully she can be ready to go if Sen. McCain chooses her for his vice president. We now have confirmation that she'd like that job, by the way.

You can send her congratulations here.

Yes, Democrats, please keep this up.

So, by now you've probably seen the following smart-ass web ad naming all the things that Sen. John McCain is older than:



Classy, isn't it?

The Lone Star Times and Jim Geraghty have found some other things that John McCain is older than. My favorites:

John McCain is older than Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

John McCain is older than betraying national security secrets on the front page of the New York Times.

When John McCain was born, it was legal to own a gun in the District of Columbia.

John McCain is so old that when he was born, Obama's neighbor and donor William Ayers hadn't tried to kill anyone with a bomb yet.

When John McCain was born, Americans in small towns had only been clinging to religion and guns for about a century and a half.

When John McCain was born, no one feared that former president Herbert Hoover would embrace a leader of a terrorist organization.

My views on all children, in 4 seconds.

(From the Joe Don Baker movie Mitchell, one of my favorite episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, ever. You can watch the MST3K version here.)

Shhhh...

It's Karol's birthday today!

Hope. Change. Unity. Whining.

I suppose it's to be expected of a man who has never faced a serious elector challenge - either in a Democratic primary or a general election - but Sen. Obama and his team are at their fight-fight-fightenist today. Sayeth the Obamessiah (change be upon him):

Deadpanning, the Illinois senator said, "It does not get much more fun than these debates. They are inspiring events."

In criticism of his rival, he called the debate "the rollout of the Republican campaign against me in November" and said it represented textbook Washington politics that Clinton was very comfortable playing.

"They like stirring up controversy and they like playing gotcha games, getting us to attack each other," he said. "Senator Clinton looked in her element. She was taking every opportunity to get a dig in there. That's her right to kind of twist the knife a little bit ... that's the lesson she learned when Republicans did it to her in the 1990s."

Emphasis mine.

Call me insane, but isn't that what you want if you are a Democrat? Shouldn't Democratic voters know how well their presumptive nominee will stand up to Republican attacks in the fall before they christen him the nominee? This statement is (or rather, should be) seen by the Democrats as an admission that this man isn't ready for prime time yet.

If I were a Democrat today, I would be mad at the media for not questioning Sen. Obama harder on William Ayers, Louis Farrakhan, Hate-monger Jeremiah Wright, etc. before he stacked up an insurmountable delegate lead and most of the popular vote.

Sen. Domestic Terrorist Tom Coburn (R-OK)

I had to work last night (of course) so I'm kind of at a disadvantage talking about last night's Democratic debate. So naturally, when I heard that Sen. Obama compared his years-long political relationship/friendship with domestic terrorist William Ayers, I thought it was too good to be true. I was wrong:

[Ayers] is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George.

The fact is, is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.

Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements? Because I certainly don't agree with those either.

I eagerly await a statement from Sen. Coburn to see what he thinks about all this. Let's hope it's feisty!

Equating real domestic terrorism to having a simple policy difference is a variation on a theme for the left. To them, policy differences and conservative politics are indistinguishable from criminal offenses. From Scooter Libby's prosecution to Henry Waxman's constant Congressional investigations to calls in the lefty blogosphere to pull ABC's broadcasting license, the left never has any ideas to combat policies they dislike, only threats.

Smart. Tough. Tolerant.

More thoughts on Obama's slander of Sen. Coburn can be found here and here.

He'll fit right in...

An inmate at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas has gotten on the May 25 Democratic primary ballot in Idaho:

[Keith Russell] Judd, 49, qualified for the ballot by submitting a notarized form and paying the required $1,000 fee, state Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said. As a result, Democratic voters will be able to choose among Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Judd.

"We got conned," Ysursa told The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash.

It's Judd's second presidential bid in Idaho, the newspaper said Wednesday. In 2004 he declared as a write-in candidate for president, which requires only the submission of a declaration, and didn't get any votes.

Considering the his opponents on the ballot, I can't see any reason why Idaho Democrats shouldn't vote for him. The best part: Judd isn't scheduled for release until 2013, so even if his long-shot bid for the presidency succeeds, he can't do us that much damage.

2012 (or 2016) seems much too far away

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's approval rating is at 77%. Let's hope it stays that way.

McCain: No Pro-choice VP

Who does this rule out? According to Nachama Soloveichik at the Club for Growth, this would mean that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (who McCain may not need to carry Florida anyway), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, and Sen. Joe Lieberman shouldn't count on being at the bottom of McCain's ticket this fall. (NYC Mayor Nanny Michael Bloomberg would fall into this category as well.)

What is mildly surprising about this statement from McCain is that this throws four of the most maverick-y choices he could make for vice president out the window, even a couple from swing states that he needs in his column this fall.

UPDATE: In other veepstakes news, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford: Are he and McCain on the outs, or are they just fine?

The right's best grievance-monger

We all know that Sen. McCain has angered us in the past. It's old news. It's out there. Everyone is aware of it. But there is one thing you can expect, like clockwork, every time McCain starts cozying up to conservatives (like, say, by giving an economic speech heavy on conservative themes). So, when I saw in the HotAir.com headlines that Michelle Malkin had written another ham-fisted, obnoxious, faux populist column rehashing McCain's past sins, I wasn't surprised:

The New York Times–endorsed media darling got a standing ovation from the nation’s newspaper editors at a big journalism powwow in Washington this week. Some maverick. While McCain eagerly criticized Obama as an “elitist” for his derisive comments about small-town Pennsylvanians, Obama’s got nothing on McCain when it comes to insulting average Americans who oppose illegal immigration.

Pandering to the open-borders lobby as cozily as Obama panders to San Francisco billionaires, McCain has attacked grassroots enforcement activists as bitter racists and xenophobes, cursed his Senate opponents and mocked the “goddamned fence” in front of his deep-pocketed business supporters. And who can forget his disdainful admonition to conservatives, whom he berated to “calm down.”

Yawn.

It's like there is some block in her that will not allow any good information pass about McCain without stammering out something like, "But...but...but...he, uh, was angry at me once. Yeah! That's it!" One of the reasons I became a conservative is because the liberals I knew seemed to constantly act like nothing was ever good enough for them. There was always something wrong with everything. I can't handle that kind of constant negativity, but apparently Michelle can.

UPDATE: I re-read this later, and thought it sounded a bit too harsh. Michelle has a lot of good work, and her political insights (along with those of Ace, Jeff Goldstein, etc.) helped get me into grad school, believe it or not. So, while I won't pull a classic lefty blogger trick and send this post down a memory hole, please note that this article could probably use a few rough edges sanded off of it.

Call Obama elitist? Well, you're probably a racist

Well, being one of those, psychologically imbalanced, uneducated crackers from small town America that Sen. Obama studies with such confusion, I did not know this. But here it is, anyway:

The individual who asked about the comments suggested the charges of elitism had racial overtones.

“As a white person, this term, the way it is being used against you, it isn’t far from ‘uppity,’ OK?” the man told Obama angrily. “And I think the Clintons are getting away with something that they must be called on. They will continue to do it until somebody states, ‘Mrs Clinton, you’re really close to prejudice here. This is wrong.’”

The moment that all criticism of Sen. Obama leads to charges of racism is the moment that his candidacy is over. People don't like being told - event by surrogates and supporters - that they are racist because they have policy differences or question an opponents associations and judgment.

UPDATE: Shocka! Looks like the LA Times' op-ed page is in agreement:

"Elitist" is another word for "arrogant," which is another word for "uppity," that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves.

At the bottom of the American psyche, race is still about power, and blacks who move up risk triggering discomfort among some whites. I've met black men who, when stopped by white cops at night, think the best protection is to act dumb and deferential.

Emphasis mine.

Calling small-town folks racist, gun-humping Neanderthals who are only religious because the economy is bad is now "standing up for oneself." Gotcha.

Orange and Maroon

The Virginia Tech Massacre was one year ago today. Jeff Emanuel remembers the shootings and the events that followed here.

Apart from having one friend on campus that day locked up in his room, and knowing several friends who lost people they cared about, I don't have any personal connection with this story. That makes me feel a little insincere writing about it on any profound level.

Movie of the Day

Juno came out on DVD today, in case you're interested. I already picked up my copy.



The soundtrack is pretty good, too.

It's ideas like this that will help him win in November...

Sen. McCain is proposing a "gas tax holiday" for this summer, meaning no federal gas taxes from Memorial Day to Labor Day:

To help people weather the downturn immediately, McCain urged Congress to institute a "gas-tax holiday" by suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. He also renewed his call for the United States to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and thus lessen to some extent the worldwide demand for oil.

Combined, he said, the two proposals would reduce gas prices, which would have a trickle-down effect, and "help to spread relief across the American economy."

If this long-shot proposal gets accepted, I think the greatest benefit is that people would finally, tangibly see how much the federal government costs them every time they fill up their tank. Also, I would predict that, come Labor Day, there would be a lot of people angry that the taxes are being re-installed. Hopefully that anger would lead them to choose the most tax-friendly candidate in November, rather than someone who would surely vote against any tax relief. A press release on McCain's full economic plan can be found here.

Quote of the Day

From James Taranto's column today (errr....yesterday):

Unlike Ayn Rand, [Sen. Russ] Feingold and [Sen. Barack] Obama see selfishness as a virtue only for bitter-off cultural conservatives. The well-heeled San Francisco Democrats Obama addressed on Friday stand to pay much higher taxes if he is elected. Many of them no doubt back Obama because they like his liberal positions on subjects like guns, abortion and same-sex marriage. If you think Obama criticized their priorities, we've got some change you can believe in. In Barack Obama's America, rich people who vote on cultural issues rather than economic self-interest are principled and self-sacrificing. People of more modest means who do so are credulous and bitter.

Shouldn't the Second Coming know things like this?

At CNN's "compassion forum" (whatever that is) the other night, Sen. Obama was asked when life begins, to predictable results:



So basically, "Ugh.....I dunno?". That won't cut it in my estimation. Why? Because if you don't have a clear answer, the only ethical standard is to err on the side of life.

This is a test that Sen. Obama's voting record just doesn't pass, especially when it includes this Illinois State Senate vote:

State senator Obama voted in 2002 against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. The legislation was part of a package that defined a “born alive” infant, including those born after a botched abortion, and required doctors to evaluate and provide medical care to them.

The need for this protection was underscored by a nurse at a Chicago area hospital who had seen a baby born alive and then set aside to die. Infanticide is the accurate word for that, but it might offend an important Democratic special interest group.

Barack Obama didn’t cravenly opt to be merely “present” when it came to infant protection. He went for the Democratic gold and straightforwardly voted no.

So Sen. Obama isn't interested in protected what he concedes might be life or infants that are actually born during botched abortions. You stay classy, Barack.

It would get more people to vote, that's for sure.

Yes, it's old. But it's tax day, so why not try to cheer ourselves up with a 17-month-old pipe dream:

The passage of time between when we dutifully vote and when we curse the IRS actually serves as a comfortable buffer zone for politicians against an onslaught of public discontent. It’s the ultimate “buy now, pay later” scheme.

As a result, taxpayers often end up with elected officials who give lip service to the idea of lower (or at least simpler) taxes, but who rarely have to deal with the immediate consequences of failing to back up words with deeds.

As a response to the disconnect, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R., Md.) has sponsored a bill that would move the deadline for federal income-tax returns from April 15 to the first Monday in November — conveniently, the day before Election Day. The cause is simple: strengthen the link between the politicians we elect and the taxes we pay for their services (or disservices).

More information on Rep. Bartlett's bill can be found here.

UPDATE:via HotAir, here is the Young America's Foundation's Jason Mattera asking Sen. Ted Kennedy about his funneling the Kennedy money into trusts and foundations, given his continued support for the death tax:



FYI, a good source of information about the death tax is the American Family Business Institute.

Note that Adlai lost...twice.

In George Will's column today, he points out that Obama is everything his supporters claim, but for the wrong reasons...and that won't help him in the general election:

When a supporter told Adlai Stevenson, the losing Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956, that thinking people supported him, Stevenson said, "Yes, but I need to win a majority." When another supporter told Stevenson, "You educated the people through your campaign," Stevenson replied, "But a lot of people flunked the course." Michael Barone, in "Our Country: The Shaping of America From Roosevelt to Reagan," wrote: "It is unthinkable that Roosevelt would ever have said those things or that such thoughts ever would have crossed his mind." Barone added: "Stevenson was the first leading Democratic politician to become a critic rather than a celebrator of middle-class American culture -- the prototype of the liberal Democrat who would judge ordinary Americans by an abstract standard and find them wanting."

Stevenson, like Obama, energized young, educated professionals for whom, Barone wrote, "what was attractive was not his platform but his attitude." They sought from Stevenson "not so much changes in public policy as validation of their own cultural stance." They especially rejected "American exceptionalism, the notion that the United States was specially good and decent," rather than -- in Michelle Obama's words -- "just downright mean."

While in undergrad, I took a 20th century history course, and I remember that when we covered the 1952 and 1956 elections the professor would say: "Well, Stevenson was an incredible intellect, and a lot of his ideas went over the heads of the American public." I remember raising my hand and saying, "Umm...isn't it possible that they understood his ideas, but just didn't like them?"

That seems to be the line whenever a Democrat loses: "They were just too smart for those rubes out there in flyover country". Both Al Gore and John Kerry lost their elections because "they couldn't speak in sound bites" or "their ideas were too nuanced and sophisticated to be understood by Middle America." I tended to think it was because they came off as aloof, arrogant, preening jackasses. But hey, what do I know. I'm just bitter young man who clings to guns and religion because I'm not getting paid enough.

Let's hope that Sen. Obama's documented arrogance catches up with him, just like Adlai's did.

Plan on dancing on the steps of Jefferson's Memorial to celebrate his birth?

Well don't. You'll get arrested.

"Green is green"

Hit & Run has a good post up about free market-based environmentalism. This is an issue that has been dominated by the left, but has potential to be used by the right (and libertarians). The video at the post features TJ Rodgers, who is in charge of a company that manufactures solar energy:

[H]e tells a story about the time he caught the president of SunPower "blathering about ice caps or something like that" and went to great lengths to publicly mock him for being, essentially, a Birkenstocks-wearing dirty hippie.

Rodgers' position these days seems to be something like this: Give the people a product they want, make a profit doing it, and don't feel too high and mighty if you happen to do something "socially responsible." Green is good? Who cares? The important thing, as he puts it, is that "green is green." Like money, get it?

There is a market out there for people who don't really mind being green, as long as it doesn't hinder capitalism. For example, driving a Toyota Prius doesn't hurt the free market or the environment. Just ask Rep. Tom Tancredo.

I believe Republicans and Libertarians have a chance to take this issue and run with it. There are plenty of conservative people out there who wouldn't mind being more environmentally friendly if the stigma of being a "dirty hippie" weren't attached to the issue.

Sen. John McCain has embraced the issue, but unfortunately (and not surprisingly) he tends to align with the left instead of with the free market. An interview with Sen. McCain on environmental policy can be found here.

Song of the Day/Light Blogging

The song of the day is "Jesus, Etc." by Wilco. I have things to do today before work, so I might not blog as much as I would like.

Ace's Day Job Revealed!

BREAKING! Must Credit IVD!

No wonder he needed a day off.

He should know, he is the Messiah after all.

At Messiah College in Pennsylvania (a more left-wing Christian school), Sen. Obama defends his earlier remarks:

First question for Obama is about his small-town clingy diss.

Obama’s new spin: “Cling” is in the Bible! Oh, and it’s the government’s fault.

And this is a distraction.

Classic. You see, Christianity not only calls one to point out that the US created AIDS to kill black people and that 9/11 was America's chickens coming home to roost, but it also requires one to point out that people only believe in religion because the economy gets bad. Because Sen. Obama used a word that was once used in an English translation of the Bible, it must be true!

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Freak Show

While reading what I hoped would be an informative article on Sen. Clinton's behind-the-scene worries and calculations, I ran across something troubling. Being relatively new to the vast right-wing conspiracy, I've sometimes worried that my masters/handlers/thinkers would leave me out of the loop. You know...forget to send me the days talking points, fail to tell me which minority group to beat up on this week, etc.

Today it happened. There's been a name change, and apparently I didn't get the memo. It seems that we are no longer the vast right-wing conspiracy:

Both men lost control of their public images to the right-wing freak show — that network of operatives and commentators working mostly outside of the mainstream media — and ultimately lost their elections as many voters came to see them as elitist, out-of-touch, phony, and even unpatriotic.

Obama is a much less familiar figure than Kerry or Gore, with a life story that is far more exotic, who is coming out of a political milieu in Chicago politics that is far more liberal.

The freak show has already signaled its early lines of attack on Obama. Polls show a significant percentage of Americans believe — falsely — that he is a Muslim. Voter interviews reveal widespread unease with minor and seemingly irrelevant questions like why he does not favor American flag pins on his lapel. Nor have we heard the last about Wright and his fulminations.

Here will be the real kitchen sink: every damaging comment or association from Obama’s past, mixed together with innuendo and downright fiction, to portray him as an an exotic character of uncertain values and weak patriotism.

Obama’s advisers say they are not naive about freak show attacks. Their response is that Obama’s appeal to a new brand of politics, and his personal poise and self-confidence, will allow him to transcend attacks and stereotypes in ways that Gore and Kerry could not.

Emphasis mine.

Yes, we are now the right-wing freak show. Concerns about a potential Commander in Chief supporting a Kenyan politician who sought to institute sharia law in Kenya is just a fear-mongering, anti-Muslim attack from the right-wing freak show. Skittishness over the fact that the potential leader of the free world has long-term and close associations with domestic terrorists, people who call Judaism a "gutter religion", and think America invented HIV to kill African-Americans is nothing more than a freak show smear.

Good to know.

Glaciers Gone Wild!

Hillary knocks back a shot.



Watch out tonight, Bill! (shudder)

(h/t HotAir.com)

Something fishy in Red China

It seems there is now documentary evidence that China is staging events to make the Tibetan people look like extremists:

However, the young man attacking the wheelchair-bound torch carrier had his picture taken before this assault, only he wasn’t marching with Tibetan supporters. Dafydd has the photograph that clearly shows him as a supporter of the Beijing contingent in Paris, arriving at the parade under the Communist China flag — wearing his Tibet bandana.

More information and links at that post.

Any other advice you want to give them?

The Politico has a great article up on their site that compiled the top 12 reasons that Obama's elitist comments will hurt him. Tucked away on the second page of the article is #12:

12. It undermines Democratic congressional candidates who had thought that Obama would make a stronger top for the ticket than Clinton. Already, Republican House candidates are challenging their Democratic opponents to renounce or embrace Obama’s remarks. Ken Spain, press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said: “There is a myth being perpetuated by Democrats and even some in the media that an Obama candidacy would somehow be better for their chances down ballot. But we don’t believe that is the case.”

Emphasis mine.

If the NRCC actually believes this, why are they telling anyone? The GOP is already facing an uphill battle just to keep their slim minority in the Congress and revealing our hand won't help alleviate the situation. I think that Obama, irrespective of this latest Kinsleyian gaffe, will be the Democrat Party's nominee. Even if the NRCC shares this view, it is unwise and reckless to so openly show ones hand in politics.

If the NRCC is trying the ol' reverse psychology and think that Sen. Clinton would be better for our down the ticket chances, I must respectfully and strongly disagree. In this vintage posting at HotAir.com, Allahpundit reminds us why:

Hillary has more skeletons in her closet than any other candidate on either side of the aisle. But unlike the scary unknown skeletons in the other candidates’ closets, Hillary’s skeletons are familiar, like old friends.

Hillary’s skeletons are so well-known, they should have their own nicknames. Hey look, it’s “Whitey,” the Whitewater skeleton! Over there is “Pink Slip,” the Travel Office Firings skeleton — right next to the collection of bones labeled “Hillarycare.” That grinning skull on the shelf? His official name is “Cattle Futures Skeleton,” but he goes by “Hundred Thousand” — the eye-popping sum of money she made off those trades. It just sounds more “street.” And that bag of bones in the corner is the one formally known as “Magic Reappearing Rose Law Firm Billing Records Skeleton.” Yeah, it’s kind of an awkward name; just call him “Rosie.” Everyone else does.

Repeating itself

Who said this:

"The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States."

The answer is here.

Obama Issues Non-Apology Apology

Pretty standard fare amongst political elites of all stripes:

[O]bviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that. The underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply that people who have seen their way of life upended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so.

I agree with the Weekly Standard, in that I find the "underlying truth" he was trying to convey just as insulting as the words he chose.

Whosaidit: Jesus Christ vs. Obamessiah edition

I dunno, I had always thought they were the same person. But anyway, here you go. I got 7/10 correct.

(h/t the Moron-in-Chief)

Why Michael Steele won't be Vice President

The former Lt. Gov. of Maryland is more moderate than you think:

In 2006, Steele was very much seen as a rising star in the conservative movement, but he has since joined up with Christine Todd Whittman's liberal Republican group, the Republican Leadership Council (RLC)--a reincarnation of It's My Party Too. RLC claims to support "fiscally conservative, socially inclusive Republican candidates," but a quick look at the kind of candidates it supports demonstrates their candidates of choice are often liberal to moderate on both fiscal and social issues.

That's the last thing Sen. McCain needs at the bottom of the ticket, as the RLC's partner organizations are just as bad as the candidates they support.

The Unbearable Bitterness of Whitey

As I stated last night, Sen. Obama stepped in it royally by showing his elitism and condescension toward, well, basically anyone not from NYC, Chicago, or LA. It seems that the spin has landed on focusing on, and apologizing for, the least objectionable part of his statement: that voters are "bitter". Captain Ed shows how that just doesn't fly:

* “[T]hey cling to guns…” Cling to guns? Americans have “clung” to guns since the founding of the Republic. It’s such a core value to this nation that its founders placed it second on the Bill of Rights, right after freedom of speech and religion. Speaking of which …
* “or [they cling to] religion …” People don’t become religious because the economy hits a few bumps in the road. Obama may have chosen his religion based on politics, but most people follow a religion out of a deeper sense of spirituality. I can’t think of a more condescending and contemptuous analysis of religious dedication than this statement.
* “or [they cling to] antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment…” Small-town voters are bigots and xenophobes; there’s no other way to read the first part of this statement. The second part, about them being “anti-immigrant”, is a non-sequitur. They may be anti-illegal immigrant, but that’s a far different issue. Obama offers no proof that small-town voters are xenophobes, but the Frisco audience didn’t demand any, either. It’s part of their own bigotry that makes them see middle America in those terms.
* “or [they cling to] anti-trade sentiment …” And this is just jaw-droppingly hypocritical. This comes from the same candidate who opposes the Colombian free-trade agreement and wants to throw NAFTA out the window. Who’s clinging to anti-trade sentiment? Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Big Labor.

And conservatives thought the Rev. Wright kerfuffle was the nail in the Obamessiah's coffin. I think it will be much harder for Obama to pull a Jedi mind trick on voters with something he actually said. Especially something he probably thought would never get back to the rubes in flyover country (which, to me, is one of the more arrogant aspects of this whole statement: that he thought he'd get away with it.)

So, what do we do now? We make sure that Obama doesn't get away with limiting this to his calling people "bitter". If you have Facebook, link some blog post using the "posted items" link. Send out a MySpace bulletin. Blog about it yourself. Start the e-mails going. If you have any friends who are independents, fair-minded liberals, or conservatives who are considering voting for Obama because "he's such a nice man", make sure they have this quote:

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

And, depending on who you are talking to, make sure that they know the original reporting came from the Huffington Post, not exactly a right-wing outfit.

P.S. Matt Drudge is certainly not going to any great lengths to let people know the real context of the quote. No real surprise here, since the story was broken by bloggers, whom Drudge seems to detest. As of right now, he has no banner headline, and only links to 3 different articles, two of them merely hyping the Sen. Obama's spin of the remarks:

Obama Says Some Voters Are Angry, Bitter...

'I'M IN TOUCH'...

Concedes Remarks Were Ill Chosen...

UPDATE: Nice Deb has a good post up detailing Sen. Obama's history of condescension. My favorite:

“But understand, Tim, part of what I hope to offer as president is the ability to reach to people that I don’t agree with, and the evangelical community is one where the Democratic Party, I think, we have generally seen as hostile. We haven’t been reaching out to them, and I think that if we’re going to makes significant progress on critical issues that we face, whether it’s education or healthcare or energy or our foreign policy in this country, we’ve got to be able to get beyond our comfort zones and just talk to people we don’t like”.

(h/t S.Weasel)