http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080911/wl_nm/russia_venezuela_dc
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Russia Watch
Two Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons have arrived in Venezuela for war games. Is the Monroe Doctrine still in effect? It will probably be ignored for now, but the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 stated no European power can interfere in the Americas. During the Cold War, however, the Monroe Doctrine was invoked to legitimize American efforts to stop the spread of communism in its hemisphere.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080911/wl_nm/russia_venezuela_dc
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080911/wl_nm/russia_venezuela_dc
Seven Years On
Today there are seven significant reasons to credit the Bush Administration: No major terror attacks repeated since 9/11/2001. Now recall if you can, the minutes, hours, and days after the attacks, when nearly every single American believed subsequent attacks would occur. If somebody on 9/12/2001 told you the country would go 7 more years without any grand terror attack from an Al-Qaeda type organization, would you have believed them? This nation's safety for the past 7 years should be greatly attributed to President Bush for taking the fight to the terrorists. After all, had an attack occured, Bush would have been completely blamed for it, so why not give him the credit for thwarting any attack?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Russia Watch
Russia is planning to target U.S. missile shield sites in Central Europe. There are 10 interceptors proposed for the site, which is no match for the massive Russian arsenal consisting of thousands of nuclear missiles. Still, the Russians feel threatened by the site, and under Putin the nationalist, they are flexing their muscles. Of course, the missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic are a response to the Russians arming their Iranian friends with nuclear missile technology. Interestingly, the nations near Russia are now suddenly on board for cooperating with the U.S. after witnessing what happened to Georgia.
Michael Medved and David Frodosso on the Ideological Obama
Michael Medved recently interviewed David Freddoso, author of “The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate.”
Michael Medved: What’s the most important thing people don’t know about Barack Obama?
David Freddoso: The carefully-crafted media image of Senator Obama as a reformer is a great lie. There is, in fact, nothing in his career to point to him as someone who bridges partisan divides for the sack of positive change. This is quite clear from his record in how he’s dealt with the machine politics of Chicago, how he’s essentially served as an enabler of some extremely corrupt politicians in that city, how he has championed the same old systemic corrupt arrangements that have existed in Washington, and existed in Springfield, and in Chicago, including the various forms of corporate welfare, the special advantages that certain lobbyists seek. Senator Obama has been right in the center of that for his entire career. There is so many cases of it. The pattern is completely unmistakable and I lay them all out in “The Case Against Barack Obama.”
Medved: What is surprising to me is you talk about Barack Obama’s deep and extremely sleazy involvement with the worst of the machine politicians and yet some of the reformers, some of the leading reformers—people like former congressman and federal Judge Abner Mikva who are known as reformers—kind of adopted him. Why?
Freddoso: Well, they took a liking to him. Part of it has to do with the ties that he had in High Park, and in fact they talked Emil Jones, the state Senate president, into adopting him. There is one piece of campaign finance legislation that had been written by and proposed by someone else that ended up given to Obama basically because of a conversation that occurred between Mickva and Jones who is the state Senate president in Illinois. So you can see, nonetheless, that when reformers run an election in Chicago, Senator Obama tends to endorse the other guy, he doesn’t endorse the reformers. This was clearest, as I point out in the first chapter, in a race that was very high profile that took place in 2006. So this is also a very recent phenomenon; this isn’t something from his distant past.
Medved: What about the idea of Obama as a far left candidate rather than a unifier? When did he start this conversation about him being a man of the center, somebody who is going to bring everyone together? When did he cease his identity as being somebody who is on the edge?
Freddoso: Well, you know another one of his biographers, David Mendell, refers to Obama’s charming lack of specificity. So this is something people in Chicago have noticed for quite a while—that he is able to talk about issues as though he’s taking everybody’s side. And people want to listen to him. They kind of want to believe and, as Obama himself says in “The Audacity of Hope,” he becomes something of a blank screen onto which everyone projects their own views and they all want to see him and think he agrees with them. Or, even if he doesn’t agree with them, he would be open to hearing their point of view.
In fact, when you look at Obama’s legislative record he’s really not terribly ideologically open minded. He tends to take a position that is at the far left and stick to it even when members of his own party, even when other liberals aren’t willing to follow him there. I mean one famous example that everyone knows about from this campaign is when he talked about meeting without pre-condition with world leaders of terrorists states. That was something that even his supporters like Tom Daschle couldn’t get behind, and of course Hillary Clinton didn’t agree with that, but also Joe Biden—people with a little more experience in foreign policy weren’t willing to follow him there.
Another terrific example of that, which I think is maybe the most dramatic of his career, was when he was the only Illinois senator in 2001 to speak against a bill that would have protected premature babies from being left to die after they’ve survived abortions. That was one of the very few times that Senator Obama took a really hard position that could hurt him politically and he did it for the sake of a very, very, very extreme abortion agenda that even such abortion advocates as Barbara Boxer were unable to support when the same bill came in front of her in the Unites State Senate. She gave a speech saying “I hope this [the Born Alive Infant Protection Act] passes unanimously”—and she voted for it and it did pass unanimously. So, Senator Obama definitely has an ideological, a rigid ideological view of just about every issue that you can think of.
Michael Medved: What’s the most important thing people don’t know about Barack Obama?
David Freddoso: The carefully-crafted media image of Senator Obama as a reformer is a great lie. There is, in fact, nothing in his career to point to him as someone who bridges partisan divides for the sack of positive change. This is quite clear from his record in how he’s dealt with the machine politics of Chicago, how he’s essentially served as an enabler of some extremely corrupt politicians in that city, how he has championed the same old systemic corrupt arrangements that have existed in Washington, and existed in Springfield, and in Chicago, including the various forms of corporate welfare, the special advantages that certain lobbyists seek. Senator Obama has been right in the center of that for his entire career. There is so many cases of it. The pattern is completely unmistakable and I lay them all out in “The Case Against Barack Obama.”
Medved: What is surprising to me is you talk about Barack Obama’s deep and extremely sleazy involvement with the worst of the machine politicians and yet some of the reformers, some of the leading reformers—people like former congressman and federal Judge Abner Mikva who are known as reformers—kind of adopted him. Why?
Freddoso: Well, they took a liking to him. Part of it has to do with the ties that he had in High Park, and in fact they talked Emil Jones, the state Senate president, into adopting him. There is one piece of campaign finance legislation that had been written by and proposed by someone else that ended up given to Obama basically because of a conversation that occurred between Mickva and Jones who is the state Senate president in Illinois. So you can see, nonetheless, that when reformers run an election in Chicago, Senator Obama tends to endorse the other guy, he doesn’t endorse the reformers. This was clearest, as I point out in the first chapter, in a race that was very high profile that took place in 2006. So this is also a very recent phenomenon; this isn’t something from his distant past.
Medved: What about the idea of Obama as a far left candidate rather than a unifier? When did he start this conversation about him being a man of the center, somebody who is going to bring everyone together? When did he cease his identity as being somebody who is on the edge?
Freddoso: Well, you know another one of his biographers, David Mendell, refers to Obama’s charming lack of specificity. So this is something people in Chicago have noticed for quite a while—that he is able to talk about issues as though he’s taking everybody’s side. And people want to listen to him. They kind of want to believe and, as Obama himself says in “The Audacity of Hope,” he becomes something of a blank screen onto which everyone projects their own views and they all want to see him and think he agrees with them. Or, even if he doesn’t agree with them, he would be open to hearing their point of view.
In fact, when you look at Obama’s legislative record he’s really not terribly ideologically open minded. He tends to take a position that is at the far left and stick to it even when members of his own party, even when other liberals aren’t willing to follow him there. I mean one famous example that everyone knows about from this campaign is when he talked about meeting without pre-condition with world leaders of terrorists states. That was something that even his supporters like Tom Daschle couldn’t get behind, and of course Hillary Clinton didn’t agree with that, but also Joe Biden—people with a little more experience in foreign policy weren’t willing to follow him there.
Another terrific example of that, which I think is maybe the most dramatic of his career, was when he was the only Illinois senator in 2001 to speak against a bill that would have protected premature babies from being left to die after they’ve survived abortions. That was one of the very few times that Senator Obama took a really hard position that could hurt him politically and he did it for the sake of a very, very, very extreme abortion agenda that even such abortion advocates as Barbara Boxer were unable to support when the same bill came in front of her in the Unites State Senate. She gave a speech saying “I hope this [the Born Alive Infant Protection Act] passes unanimously”—and she voted for it and it did pass unanimously. So, Senator Obama definitely has an ideological, a rigid ideological view of just about every issue that you can think of.
Biden Admits Hillary Best Choice
While out campaigning today, Joe Biden admits Hillary was a better choice for VP. Perhaps he was trying to be polite, but why say that? Everybody is already thinking that anyway. Biden just shot the campaign in the foot again this week. This puts Obambi's judgment into question because he chose Biden over what would appear to be a much better choice. It seems the best strategy for the Obama campaign to finish out the week would be just to avoid public appearances altogether.
Stand up Chuck.
Biden tells a guy in a wheelchair to stand up. If a Republican did this, it would be all the media would talk about.
Snob Alert
Matt Damon sits with the Associated Press and discusses how he needs to know if Palin thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago, because she is going to have the nuclear codes. Thank you, another Hollywood windbag telling us how to vote. Maaaaaaaaaaaatttttt Daaaaaaaaammmmon.
And for a little comedic relief after listening to Matt Damon's snobbery:
And for a little comedic relief after listening to Matt Damon's snobbery:
Another Attempt by a Democrat to Talk About Religion
Today, Representative Steve Cohen (D) spoke on the House Floor and compared Obama to Jesus, and Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilot. Simply brilliant! Why didn't I think of it this way before? Obama = Savior of all mankind, Palin = Satan. The left-wing attacks just keep coming but nothing is sticking. Keep it up Sarah, you are driving the libs mad!
I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, um, that the parties have differences, but if you want Change, but if you want change, you want the Democratic party, uh, Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus who our, uh, minister prayed about, uh, Pontius Pilate was a governor.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, um, that the parties have differences, but if you want Change, but if you want change, you want the Democratic party, uh, Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus who our, uh, minister prayed about, uh, Pontius Pilate was a governor.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In Addition to the BBC Poll...
So it appears the whole world will hate us if we don't elect Barack Obama, but this is the same world that is uncertain who was actually behind 9-11. And the closer you survey to the Middle East, the more people think Israel was behind the terror attacks. Yes, as Americans we really need to care what these people think. We might as well vote Borat for president in '08, that way the Jews don't "Repeat their attacks of 9-11."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, there is no consensus outside the United States that Islamist militants from al Qaeda were responsible, according to an international poll published Wednesday.
The survey of 16,063 people in 17 nations found majorities in only nine countries believe al Qaeda was behind the attacks on New York and Washington that killed about 3,000 people in 2001.
On average, 46 percent of those surveyed said al Qaeda was responsible, 15 percent said the U.S. government, 7 percent said Israel and 7 percent said some other perpetrator. One in four people said they did not know who was behind the attacks.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, there is no consensus outside the United States that Islamist militants from al Qaeda were responsible, according to an international poll published Wednesday.
The survey of 16,063 people in 17 nations found majorities in only nine countries believe al Qaeda was behind the attacks on New York and Washington that killed about 3,000 people in 2001.
On average, 46 percent of those surveyed said al Qaeda was responsible, 15 percent said the U.S. government, 7 percent said Israel and 7 percent said some other perpetrator. One in four people said they did not know who was behind the attacks.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Kim Jong-il might be ill.
On Tuesday, the North Korean socialist state celebrated its 60th birthday with the notable absence of Kim Jong-il. U.S. intelligence has hinted that Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke, leaving one of the most prominent relics of the Cold War without its dear leader.
"Kim's health is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world's first communist dynasty. Kim himself, at a summit with South Korea's president in October 2007, dismissed persistent media speculation he was ill.
His demise, without a clear succession plan like the one under which Kim took power from his father in 1994, could compound the multiple troubles posed by his nuclear-armed, impoverished, repressive and often belligerent state."
"Kim's health is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world's first communist dynasty. Kim himself, at a summit with South Korea's president in October 2007, dismissed persistent media speculation he was ill.
His demise, without a clear succession plan like the one under which Kim took power from his father in 1994, could compound the multiple troubles posed by his nuclear-armed, impoverished, repressive and often belligerent state."
The reasons why the bankrupt North Korean state still manages to exist are complex, but perhaps the death of Kim may lead to a peaceful unification of the country modeled in the fashion of East and West Germany after the Cold War. Regardless, it sounds like the world is a ronery place right now for Kim.
Does Anybody Know What a Community Organizer Actually Does?
Michelle Malkin points out the ridiculousness of Obama's community organizing days with ACORN, a Marxist front group that seeks out to spread left-wing change in inner cities from the ground up.
"Why Obama's "Community Organizer" Days Are a Joke"
--- Michelle Malkin
Rudy Giuliani had me in stitches during his red-meat keynote address at the GOP convention. I laughed out loud when Giuliani laughed out loud while noting Barack Obama's deep experience as a "community organizer." I laughed again when VP nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cracked: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."
Team Obama was not amused. (Neither were the snarky left-wingers on cable TV who are now allergic to sarcasm.) They don't get why we snicker when Obama dons his Community Organizer cape. Apparently, the jibes rendered Obama's advisers sleepless. In a crack-of-dawn e-mail to Obama's followers hours after Giuliani and Palin spoke, campaign manager David Plouffe attempted to gin up faux outrage (and, more importantly, donations) by claiming grave offense on the part of community organizers everywhere. Fumed Plouffe:
"Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed. Let's clarify something for them right now. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies."
Let me clarify something. Nobody is mocking community organizers in church basements and community centers across the country working to improve their neighbors' lives. What deserves ridicule is the notion that Obama's brief stint as a South Side rabble-rouser for tax-subsidized, partisan nonprofits qualifies as executive experience you can believe in.
What deserves derision is "community organizing" that relies on a community of homeless people and ex-cons to organize for the purpose of registering dead people to vote, shaking down corporations and using the race card as a bludgeon.
As I've reported previously, Obama's community organizing days involved training grievance-mongers from the far-left ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). The ACORN mob is infamous for its bully tactics (which they dub "direct actions"); Obama supporters have recounted his role in organizing an ambush on a government planning meeting about a landfill project opposed by Chicago's minority lobbies.
With benefactors like Obama in office, ACORN has milked nearly four decades of government subsidies to prop up chapters that promote the welfare state and undermine the free market, as well as some that have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and voter fraud. Since I last detailed ACORN's illicit activities in this column in June (see "The ACORN Obama knows," June 19, 2008), the group continues to garner scrutiny from law enforcement:
Last week, Milwaukee's top election official announced plans to seek criminal investigations of 37 ACORN employees accused of offering gifts to sign up voters (including prepaid gas cards and restaurant cards) or falsifying driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers or other information on voter registration cards.
Last month, a New Mexico TV station reported on the child rapists, drug offenders and forgery convicts on ACORN's payroll. In July, Pennsylvania investigators asked the public for help in locating a fugitive named Luis R. Torres-Serrano, who is accused "of submitting more than 100 fraudulent voter registration forms he collected on behalf of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now to county election officials." Also in July, a massive, nearly $1 million embezzlement scheme by top ACORN officials was exposed.
ACORN's political arm endorsed Obama in February and has ramped up efforts to register voters across the country. In the meantime, completely ignored by the mainstream commentariat and clean-election crusaders, the Obama campaign admitted failing to report $800,000 in campaign payments to ACORN. They were disguised as payments to a front group called "Citizen Services, Inc." for "advance work."
Jim Terry, an official from the Consumer Rights League, a watchdog group that monitors ACORN, noted: "ACORN has a long and sordid history of employing convoluted Enron-style accounting to illegally use taxpayer funds for their own political gain. Now it looks like ACORN is using the same type of convoluted accounting scheme for Obama's political gain." With a wave of his magic wand, Obama amended his FEC forms to change the "advance work" to "get-out-the-vote" work.
Now, don't you dare challenge his commitment to following tax and election laws. And don't you even think of entertaining the possibility that The One exploited a nonprofit supposedly focused on helping low-income people for political gain.
He was just "organizing" his "community." Guffaw.
"Why Obama's "Community Organizer" Days Are a Joke"
--- Michelle Malkin
Rudy Giuliani had me in stitches during his red-meat keynote address at the GOP convention. I laughed out loud when Giuliani laughed out loud while noting Barack Obama's deep experience as a "community organizer." I laughed again when VP nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cracked: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."
Team Obama was not amused. (Neither were the snarky left-wingers on cable TV who are now allergic to sarcasm.) They don't get why we snicker when Obama dons his Community Organizer cape. Apparently, the jibes rendered Obama's advisers sleepless. In a crack-of-dawn e-mail to Obama's followers hours after Giuliani and Palin spoke, campaign manager David Plouffe attempted to gin up faux outrage (and, more importantly, donations) by claiming grave offense on the part of community organizers everywhere. Fumed Plouffe:
"Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed. Let's clarify something for them right now. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies."
Let me clarify something. Nobody is mocking community organizers in church basements and community centers across the country working to improve their neighbors' lives. What deserves ridicule is the notion that Obama's brief stint as a South Side rabble-rouser for tax-subsidized, partisan nonprofits qualifies as executive experience you can believe in.
What deserves derision is "community organizing" that relies on a community of homeless people and ex-cons to organize for the purpose of registering dead people to vote, shaking down corporations and using the race card as a bludgeon.
As I've reported previously, Obama's community organizing days involved training grievance-mongers from the far-left ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). The ACORN mob is infamous for its bully tactics (which they dub "direct actions"); Obama supporters have recounted his role in organizing an ambush on a government planning meeting about a landfill project opposed by Chicago's minority lobbies.
With benefactors like Obama in office, ACORN has milked nearly four decades of government subsidies to prop up chapters that promote the welfare state and undermine the free market, as well as some that have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and voter fraud. Since I last detailed ACORN's illicit activities in this column in June (see "The ACORN Obama knows," June 19, 2008), the group continues to garner scrutiny from law enforcement:
Last week, Milwaukee's top election official announced plans to seek criminal investigations of 37 ACORN employees accused of offering gifts to sign up voters (including prepaid gas cards and restaurant cards) or falsifying driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers or other information on voter registration cards.
Last month, a New Mexico TV station reported on the child rapists, drug offenders and forgery convicts on ACORN's payroll. In July, Pennsylvania investigators asked the public for help in locating a fugitive named Luis R. Torres-Serrano, who is accused "of submitting more than 100 fraudulent voter registration forms he collected on behalf of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now to county election officials." Also in July, a massive, nearly $1 million embezzlement scheme by top ACORN officials was exposed.
ACORN's political arm endorsed Obama in February and has ramped up efforts to register voters across the country. In the meantime, completely ignored by the mainstream commentariat and clean-election crusaders, the Obama campaign admitted failing to report $800,000 in campaign payments to ACORN. They were disguised as payments to a front group called "Citizen Services, Inc." for "advance work."
Jim Terry, an official from the Consumer Rights League, a watchdog group that monitors ACORN, noted: "ACORN has a long and sordid history of employing convoluted Enron-style accounting to illegally use taxpayer funds for their own political gain. Now it looks like ACORN is using the same type of convoluted accounting scheme for Obama's political gain." With a wave of his magic wand, Obama amended his FEC forms to change the "advance work" to "get-out-the-vote" work.
Now, don't you dare challenge his commitment to following tax and election laws. And don't you even think of entertaining the possibility that The One exploited a nonprofit supposedly focused on helping low-income people for political gain.
He was just "organizing" his "community." Guffaw.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/why_obamas_community_organizer.html
Karl Marx Wearing Lipstick is Still Karl Marx
You can put lipstick on a Marxist, but it's still a Marxist. Elect this guy and we can make a left turn on education policay, health care policay, tax policay, and foreign policay. And what's with the attack on Karl Rove? Without the teleprompter, Obamessiah forgot he is not running against Rove, who happens to be a private citizen.
World Wants Obama. Fortunately Americans Get to Decide.
The world loves to try and make decisions for America, which is why they revere the United Nations so much. Countries around the world know Obama will give them what they want, at the expense of the liberty of the individual American. As Obama is falling in the polls at home, the world is still drooling at the chance for the Obamessiah to be the Commander in Chief of the United States. Yes, punish American business with strict environmental standards, weaken the U.S. military, meet with the heads of state of some of the world's worst regimes, and push America to conform to the socialist agenda. Obama 08 indeed.
The BBC poll:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/09/2360240.htm?section=world
The BBC poll:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/09/2360240.htm?section=world
Sarah Palin on Glenn Beck
An appearance made by Sarah Palin while she was still governor of Alaska. Washington can sure use her experience running perhaps the most important energy state in the union.
Soaring Cost of Paying for the Healthcare of Illegal Aliens
Video testimony of a hospital administrator testifying before the Florida legislature. Treating illegal aliens on the taxpayer's dime has cost the state $100 million, not to mention legal fees incured when trying to deport illegals back to their home countries for care.
Dems Having Trouble Covering Palin
Jonah Goldberg calls it like it is in the "Los Angeles Times." Sarah Palin is tough for the Obama campaign or their chronies in the media to smear without looking like fools themselves.
"McPalin Rattles Team Obama"
Jonah Goldberg
Barack Obama, a famous fan of pickup basketball, must recognize his plight: It's two on one now. John McCain drafted Gov. Sarah Palin, the star point guard from the Wasilla Warriors, to double-team Obama.
(McCain's team doesn't care if no one covers Joe Biden, who seems to spend most of his time yelling to the media, "I'm open! I'm open!" But when he gets the ball, all he does is talk about what a great player he is and dribble in place.)
So after the halftime show of the political conventions, to strain the sports metaphor a bit further, it looks as if the change-up in strategy has Team Obama rattled and in danger of choking. Polls -- the closest thing we have to a scoreboard -- show that McCain, at least temporarily, has taken the lead. The Real Clear Politics average of national polls since Friday shows McCain ahead by a razor-thin (and statistically meaningless) 2.9 percentage points. The USA Today-Gallup poll has McCain leading by a whopping 10 points among likely voters (and four points among registered voters), though that's almost surely an overstatement.
The McCain-Palin convention bounce also all but closed the ticket's gender gap. According to Rasmussen, Obama had a 14-point lead among women; now it's three. According to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, McCain now has a 12-point lead among white women.
Still, there's a lot of pressure on Sarah Barracuda. Called up from the political minors, she could yet wilt under the hot lights. But that's looking less and less likely.
The outrageous attacks on Palin out of the block (She banned books! She opposed family planning education! She's a creationist!) have missed the mark. And the eagerness of the mainstream media to go after her family life has backfired as well. For instance, the Washington Post's Hanna Rosin wrote sneeringly in Slate magazine of Palin's "wreck of a home life." Would Slate say that Obama, conceived out of wedlock to a teen mom, comes from a "wreck" of a family? I somehow doubt it. Palin's more sober critics, mostly on the right, worried that picking her would undermine McCain's claim to "experience." Almost the exact opposite has happened. Thanks to the double-team strategy, Obama has found himself in the awkward position of sounding as if he's running against the GOP's vice presidential nominee. When Obama compared his own experience to Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla (leaving out her current job as governor), he ran right into the pick the McCain campaign had set, leaving McCain a clearer path to victory.
The more Obama has to explain why being a community organizer -- or a state legislator, or a one-term senator with few accomplishments under his belt -- is better preparation for the presidency than being a mayor or governor, the more he volunteers his own shortcomings when compared with McCain.
Besides, on paper, Obama doesn't stand up very well against Palin. All of the mythic themes of Obama's political narrative -- the ethics reformer, the bipartisan, the new kind of politician -- all look like press-release material next to Palin's accomplishments. Obama voted the Democratic Party line more often (97%) than McCain voted in accord with President Bush (90%). In Washington, Obama's supposedly "sweeping" ethics reform -- which forces congressmen to eat lobbyist-provided meals standing up instead of sitting down -- and his feckless reforms in Illinois make him look the Bambi to Palin's Godzilla.
Obama's idea of ethics reform is to mandate clean sheets in the brothel. Palin's is to tear it down.
The most unsportsmanlike conduct in the days to come will be the search for Palin gaffes, of which there undoubtedly will be many. The media will call fouls on her that they never call on the other candidates. Over the last week, Obama misspoke and referred to his "Muslim faith" on ABC's "This Week" and told a rally how excited he was to be in "New Pennsylvania." Perhaps that's one of the 57 states he once claimed to campaign in?
And let's not forget Biden, whose gaffes are the unavoidable byproduct of his limitless gasbaggery. Biden could shout on "Meet the Press," "Get these squirrels off of me!" and the collective response would be, "There goes Joe again." But if Palin flubs the name of the deputy agriculture minister of Kyrgyzstan, the media will blow their whistles saying she's unprepared for the job.
Fair or not, that's how it works in the pros. But so far, it still looks as if the MVP title is hers to lose.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg9-2008sep09,0,695687.column
"McPalin Rattles Team Obama"
Jonah Goldberg
Barack Obama, a famous fan of pickup basketball, must recognize his plight: It's two on one now. John McCain drafted Gov. Sarah Palin, the star point guard from the Wasilla Warriors, to double-team Obama.
(McCain's team doesn't care if no one covers Joe Biden, who seems to spend most of his time yelling to the media, "I'm open! I'm open!" But when he gets the ball, all he does is talk about what a great player he is and dribble in place.)
So after the halftime show of the political conventions, to strain the sports metaphor a bit further, it looks as if the change-up in strategy has Team Obama rattled and in danger of choking. Polls -- the closest thing we have to a scoreboard -- show that McCain, at least temporarily, has taken the lead. The Real Clear Politics average of national polls since Friday shows McCain ahead by a razor-thin (and statistically meaningless) 2.9 percentage points. The USA Today-Gallup poll has McCain leading by a whopping 10 points among likely voters (and four points among registered voters), though that's almost surely an overstatement.
The McCain-Palin convention bounce also all but closed the ticket's gender gap. According to Rasmussen, Obama had a 14-point lead among women; now it's three. According to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, McCain now has a 12-point lead among white women.
Still, there's a lot of pressure on Sarah Barracuda. Called up from the political minors, she could yet wilt under the hot lights. But that's looking less and less likely.
The outrageous attacks on Palin out of the block (She banned books! She opposed family planning education! She's a creationist!) have missed the mark. And the eagerness of the mainstream media to go after her family life has backfired as well. For instance, the Washington Post's Hanna Rosin wrote sneeringly in Slate magazine of Palin's "wreck of a home life." Would Slate say that Obama, conceived out of wedlock to a teen mom, comes from a "wreck" of a family? I somehow doubt it. Palin's more sober critics, mostly on the right, worried that picking her would undermine McCain's claim to "experience." Almost the exact opposite has happened. Thanks to the double-team strategy, Obama has found himself in the awkward position of sounding as if he's running against the GOP's vice presidential nominee. When Obama compared his own experience to Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla (leaving out her current job as governor), he ran right into the pick the McCain campaign had set, leaving McCain a clearer path to victory.
The more Obama has to explain why being a community organizer -- or a state legislator, or a one-term senator with few accomplishments under his belt -- is better preparation for the presidency than being a mayor or governor, the more he volunteers his own shortcomings when compared with McCain.
Besides, on paper, Obama doesn't stand up very well against Palin. All of the mythic themes of Obama's political narrative -- the ethics reformer, the bipartisan, the new kind of politician -- all look like press-release material next to Palin's accomplishments. Obama voted the Democratic Party line more often (97%) than McCain voted in accord with President Bush (90%). In Washington, Obama's supposedly "sweeping" ethics reform -- which forces congressmen to eat lobbyist-provided meals standing up instead of sitting down -- and his feckless reforms in Illinois make him look the Bambi to Palin's Godzilla.
Obama's idea of ethics reform is to mandate clean sheets in the brothel. Palin's is to tear it down.
The most unsportsmanlike conduct in the days to come will be the search for Palin gaffes, of which there undoubtedly will be many. The media will call fouls on her that they never call on the other candidates. Over the last week, Obama misspoke and referred to his "Muslim faith" on ABC's "This Week" and told a rally how excited he was to be in "New Pennsylvania." Perhaps that's one of the 57 states he once claimed to campaign in?
And let's not forget Biden, whose gaffes are the unavoidable byproduct of his limitless gasbaggery. Biden could shout on "Meet the Press," "Get these squirrels off of me!" and the collective response would be, "There goes Joe again." But if Palin flubs the name of the deputy agriculture minister of Kyrgyzstan, the media will blow their whistles saying she's unprepared for the job.
Fair or not, that's how it works in the pros. But so far, it still looks as if the MVP title is hers to lose.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg9-2008sep09,0,695687.column
United Arab Emirates Fears Iranian Aggression
The United States is planning to follow through with a sale of sophisticated anti-missile defenses to the United Arab Emirates, worth roughly $7 billion. The UAE fears it will be a target for an Iranian nuclear missile because of its billions of dollars of valuable infrastructure in the Persian Gulf. Do we have a Middle Eastern arms race brewing yet?
http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080909/tbs-usa-uae-missile-7318940.html
http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080909/tbs-usa-uae-missile-7318940.html
Russia Still Helping Iranian Nuke Program
Iran's nuclear power plant at Bushehr is near completion thanks to help from a Russian state-owned company. Building the Bushehr power plant is an important deal for Russia because it signed a $1 billion contract with Iran to get the site up and running. In addition, Russia is making more profits by selling Iran associated air-defenses to protect the site from an Israeli or American air strike.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL928538320080909?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL928538320080909?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Monday, September 8, 2008
Babies, Lies, and Scandals! Oh, My!
The left-wing media's attacks on Sarah Palin do not appear to be sticking. The liberal smear campaign, all the way from the cover of People Magazine to the snub by the Oprah Winfrey Show have actually increased Sarah Palin's popularity with your average "Wal-Mart Moms." It's okay though, we all understand the elite liberal media is still fuming over McCain's choice of a conservative that they were not prepared for. Since the socialist agenda prevails over all others, the militant feminists out there are now lambasting Sarah Palin for running for office to serve her country because she has a family to tend to (surely it has nothing to do with her conservative politics!). Of course, whenever a man leaves to fight a war for his country, he is betraying his family. The irony here is smothering. NObama/NOprah '08.
Bill Kristol's article in the Weekly Standard can also add a little insight into this:
http://weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=15526&R=13C0D340B
Stupid sensational reporting and left-wing bias at its best.
Bill Kristol's article in the Weekly Standard can also add a little insight into this:
http://weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=15526&R=13C0D340B
Stupid sensational reporting and left-wing bias at its best.
So maybe he did have a legislative accomplishment. Well, almost.
An article in this week's "National Review" highlighted an important point about the inexperience of Obama. Come election day 2008, Barack Obama will have spent 59 of the previous 112 months campaigning for higher office. Essentially, Obama has spent more time asking American voters to give him a job upgrade than actually serving the public in office. It is evident that if Obama were elected president, he would launch his 2012 re-election campaign almost immediately. However, we have little to go on as to how he would actually govern. It appears Obama can run a campaign for public office, but once in office he has accomplished very little. He has no notable legislative accomplishments to speak of, but in the thick of the primary vs. Hillary Clinton, he aligned himself with fringe left-wing groups opposing a surveillance-reform bill intended to help the CIA and NSA. The bill actually obtained broad bi-partisan support in the Democrat dominated Congress, and Obama was in a small minority. Still, he stood strong, and promised to vote no or filibuster the surveillance-reform bill. But, after the final vote rolled around, it became politically expedient to just cave in and vote yes for the bill. One would like to believe Obama voted for the bill to strengthen the national security of the United States. Instead, Obama's goal of blocking the bill succumbed to the need to boost his presidential campaign.
RUSSIA WATCH
Now that Russia is back in the business of eating up smaller countries, it seems to be an appopriate time for Moscow to return to Caribbean region. A joint naval exercise between Russia and Venezuela has been announced marking the first major military operation near the United States since the Cold War. The Russian navy once again wants to be seen on the world stage. This marks the second strategic calculation by the Russians this week, right after banning the broadcast of "South Park" on Moscow television.
"My Muslim Faith"
While talking about his Christian faith, Obama makes a gaffe and mentions "My Muslim Faith." The hilarious part is that the Obama campaign goes around decrying average Americans as ignorant for thinking he is a Muslim. Perhaps Obama should get the story straight himself and quit confusing people. Since there apparently was no teleprompter, it's a good thing George Stephanopoulus was there to help Obama correct himself. 10 out of 10 Palestinians agree, Obama for President 2008.
Keith Olbermann: Worst Anchor in the World
As ratings for MSNBC plummet, anchors Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews get the boot for off-air squabbles and left-wing bias. They will not be covering the debates or election night results. After cheerleading at the DNC and frowning throughout the RNC, it looks like viewers and network execs alike have had enough. So long Keith Olbermann, the worst news anchor in the world.
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