Popular Vote was Not a Landslide
Barack Obama's victory last night was no doubt historic, and the Democrats, as expected, extended their leads in the House and the Senate. But their victory was no landslide, despite what appeared to be overwhelming advantages.
Obama won around 52 percent of the popular vote, defeating John McCain by between five and six points. That's nothing like the true landslides of the past: Reagan by ten points in 1980 and 18 in 1984; Nixon by 23 in 1972; or even Bush by eight in 1988. And yet, with hindsight, it is remarkable how much Obama had going for him. After breaking his pledge to take public financing he raised more money, by far, than any Presidential candidate in history, outspending McCain nearly two to one. Millions of new voters, many of them minority voters, were registered, and they went heavily for Obama. Obama enjoyed the monolithic support of the entertainment industry and was something of a fad among the young. He benefited greatly from being an African-American; the idea that his victory would be a good thing for America, on that ground, was widespread even among his opponents. He ran largely against a retiring President who, for three years, has rarely seen his name appear in a sentence that did not include the word "unpopular." He had the active support of essentially 100 percent of the nation's news media. And, perhaps most important, he benefited from a financial crisis that struck at the most opportune moment (for him) and was unfairly blamed on the Republicans by most voters.
Despite all of this, Obama mustered only a five-point win.
Something of the same sort happened in Congress. The Democrats were awash with money, outspending their opponents in nearly every contested race. Democratic candidates benefited from the new registrations and the Obama phenomenon. In the Senate, they had easy pickings because the seats that were up this year were overwhelmingly Republican.
Yet here too, the Democrats' results, while positive, were not of the landslide variety. At the moment it appears that they will gain five seats in the Senate and 20 in the House.
The Democrats will be solidly in control in Washington. The silver lining is that for the first time in quite a few years, they will not be able to duck responsibility. As soon as they actually begin governing in January, they will, inevitably, begin to alienate voters. Obama in particular will not remain a tabula rasa, all things to all people, much longer. Whether he turns out to be the hard leftist of his legislative years or the borderline Republican that he sometimes seemed on the campaign trail, he will disappoint some of his followers. And the next time a hurricane strikes, it will be the Democrats' fault.
In the coming weeks we will be writing about where conservatives should go from here. As a starting point, it will be important not to lose sight of last night's strong performance by John McCain and competitive performances by Republicans around the country. There are still a lot of voters willing to vote for conservative and Republican candidates--not always the same thing, of course.
Finally, a word of appreciation for McCain. Losing Presidential campaigns are easy targets of criticism; with hindsight everyone is a pundit. But I think McCain ran a good race. He vindicated the judgment of many Republicans that he was the candidate best suited to run a competitive race in a year when the Democrats held most of the cards. His choice of Sarah Palin as Vice President turned out to be a good one, as she was an effective campaigner who brought more excitement to the ticket, at times, than McCain himself. (A recent Rasmussen poll indicated that more Republicans were happy with Palin as the V-P nominee than McCain as the Presidential nominee.) If it hadn't been for the financial meltdown that occurred at the worst possible time, McCain likely would have won. If he had opposed the bailout instead of supporting it, he still might have won.
So I don't think we'll be seeing much gloom among conservatives in the weeks to come. The Democrats will get their turn at the plate and be forced to take responsibility for their actions. That in itself is a good thing. Meanwhile, conservatives will be debating where we go from here and looking for new leadership. It will be an interesting time.
Paul adds:
Power Line - Always look on the bright side
One should never say "never" in politics. However, Barack Obama's victory almost certainly means that neither Hillary Clinton nor Al Gore will ever be president of the United States.
Obama's Aunt is Illegal
Michelle Malkin » Throw Aunti from the bus
Over the weekend, the Associated Press reported that Barack Obama’s beloved Aunti Zeituni Onyango — a Boston public housing resident — was an illegal alien deportation fugitive who was ordered to leave the country by an immigration judge four years ago. Despite her illegal absconder status, she not only obtained federal housing benefits, but also illegally contributed to Obama’s campaign. Obama denies knowing about her illegal status and has promised to return her donations.
HA!
The Jawa Report: Why I'm Voting For Obama
Because, he's promised to invade Pakistan.
THE Muslim wedding of a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl has been raided by police.
Cops arrested the Muslim cleric conducting the sick ceremony and the children’s parents in Pakistan’s largest city.
The cleric had not yet begun the ceremony of Mohammad Waseem, seven, and his bride Nishain Karachi, five – which was attended by 100 guests.
Okay, I'm kidding, I'd never vote for Obama. But, hell, someone needs to invade this craphole. I vote for India.
Yeah, What If...
What if Wright played a bigger role in campaign? - Jonathan Martin - Politico.com
...But what would have happened had John McCain and the Republican Party been willing to aggressively use Wright’s incendiary comments against Obama, holding up his relationship with his former pastor to question the Democratic nominee’s judgment?
VIDEO: McCain on SNL
In Case you missed it. It's funny stuff.
Hot Air » Blog Archive » Video: McCain/Fey in ‘08
From SNL, two Maverick cameos plus that Affleck goof on Olbermann that caused Krazy to krash the set on Friday.
KJL on Palin
Blame Palin at Your Own Risk by Kathryn Jean Lopez on National Review Online
The recriminations begin early.
Essential Reading
Ego and Mouth by Thomas Sowell on National Review Online
After the big gamble on subprime mortgages that led to the current financial crisis, is there going to be an even bigger gamble, by putting the fate of a nation in the hands of a man whose only qualifications are ego and mouth?
Barack Obama has the kind of cocksure confidence that can only be achieved by not achieving anything else.
Flatland
Obama in 2-D by Mark Steyn on National Review Online
For many of his supporters, Barack Obama is an idea. He offers “hope, not fear”. “Hope” of what? “Hope” of “change.” Okay, but “change” to what? Ah, well, there you go again, getting all hung up on three-dimensional reality, when we’ve moved way beyond that.
Far-Lefty
What We Know About Obama by Stanley Kurtz on National Review Online
Reflecting on all that I’ve written about Barack Obama over these past six months, four inter-related points stand out: Obama’s radicalism, his stealthy incrementalism, his interest in funding and organization-building, and his willingness to use — or quietly support — Alinskyite intimidation tactics. Since we stand on the cusp of the election, I’ll lay out the bottom line. For those who want to know more, go back and read the detailed studies on which I base these conclusions.
Interesting Observation
American Thinker: Conservatism's blonde moment
Standards of discourse exist for good reasons. They are not only matters of individual honor and personal morality, but have a practical purpose. Once the standards go, and any and all tactics are allowed, the argument is automatically won by whoever has the biggest mouth, whoever adapts the sleaziest tactics, or whoever comes up with the nastiest insults.
Speaking of Blondes
American Thinker: Evita Peron Obama
When it comes to Barack Obama, fans of "Evita" have seen this show before.
Obama Daily Kos Post from 9/30/2005
9/30/05 Obama told the Koz Kidz to pretend to be moderate Democrats to push the radical agenda of Obama.
Poll Round-Up
The Corner on National Review Online
The RCP average for Ohio is Obama +4.6, but the latest Mason-Dixon poll has McCain +2.
I'll let more qualified augurs argue over what that means, but it has the local press here buzzing.
Power Line - The Fat Lady Is Still Warming Up
From Drudge: Zogby's polling yesterday had John McCain pulling into a one-point lead, 48-47, over Barack Obama. That result is an outlier, I suppose, but Obama has never been able to seal the deal with the voters and quite a few remain undecided, one in seven according to a recent AP poll. Throughout the campaign, McCain has made a series of runs where it looked as though he might catch up, only to fall back again. And the state by state polls continue, for some reason, to look worse for McCain than the national numbers.
Still, I have a feeling that once you get past his core constituencies, Obama's support is very thin. The fact that he has had to try to cast himself as a tax-cutter is revealing. Does anyone really believe it? True, there's a sucker born every minute, but still... If there really are voters who have contemplated voting for Obama on what are essentially conservative grounds, it would not be surprising if some of them shift their allegiance between now and Tuesday.
Pew: Obama on pace to break 50% - David Paul Kuhn - Politico.com
Obama leads John McCain 52 percent to 46 percent, by Pew’s measure, which projects that McCain will win undecided voters by a slight margin.
Pew’s final pre-election poll in 2004, including its projection of the undecided vote, correctly predicted that George W. Bush would defeat John Kerry 51 to 48 percent.
When undecided voters are excluded, Obama's lead in the Pew poll increases slightly, to 49-42.
The Campaign Spot on National Review Online
Except for Zogby last night, McCain hasn’t led in a poll since the last week in September and anybody who starts predicting a McCain victory in the face of that record is more than a little sporting.
But saying the race is over strikes me as just as emotional and un-thoughtful. I’m a real skeptic about huge turnout predictions but the interest levels this year really do show an unprecedented level of interest, perhaps as many as 25 million new voters. And here’s the point—those interest levels are up among McCain-leaning groups too. Are the media and the Obama blitz motivating the conservative base too? These aren’t questions aren’t being raised and they should be. The media was so surprised that Bush won in 2004 because the conservative turnout was higher. What’s going on with it this year?
With so much at stake I hate to sound clinical, but this election is a classic. When it’s over we are going to know a lot more about politics and culture in 21st century America. And Zogby.
Investor's Business Daily TIPP Tracking Poll (which was the most accurate last time around, has the the spread at only 2.1% for Obama.
And a final word...
Friend to the PLO
Khalidi and Obama: kindred spirits [Martin Kramer's Sandbox]
As Obama admits, the two had many "conversations" over dinner at the Khalidis' home, and these may well have constituted Obama's primer on the Middle East. Yet Obama has given no account of these conversations, even as he has repeatedly emphasized other ones which would seem far less significant.
Obama's 99% Lie
The Corner on National Review Online
In an MSNBC interview yesterday, Barack Obama repeated his canard that differing judicial philosophies among Supreme Court justices don’t matter in “ninety-nine percent of cases [because] the Constitution is actually going to be clear. Ninety-nine percent of the cases, a statute or congressional intent is going to be clear. But there are going to be one percent, less than one percent, of real hard cases” where differences in judicial philosophy do matter.
What an idiotic statement. If Sarah Palin said something so stupid, she’d be pilloried from coast to coast.
VIDEO After Link
Pajamas Media » This Is the Khalidi Obama Embraced
Many others have surmised that the Los Angeles Times is running interference for Barack Obama, declining not just to provide the tape of the Rashid Khalidi goodbye event which Obama attended in 2003, but a complete transcript. It is reasonable to ask what could have been so bad about the event. What could possibly have been so objectionable about the speeches or proceedings that might concern voters at this late date?
Well, the original Times report gives us only the sketchiest account. But now we have a video of a complete Khalidi lecture from June 2007. It is quite an eye-opener.
Viewers curious about the views of the man whom in 2003 Obama gave a “warm embrace” (physically or verbally?) should skip to the fifty-minute mark on the video tape. You see, Khalidi tells us, the U.S. is repeating the same error of the Cold War in pursuing its war against Islamic terrorists. According to Khalidi it is the same “blind, foolish, reductionism.” And the U.S. policy is designed according to Khalidi to “get Palestinians to destroy one another.” And on it goes.
Chris Dodd Under Investigation
NBC news reports that the Justice Department has begun an investigation into whether Countrywide Financial Corp used the 'Friends of Angelo (Mozilo)' program to buy influence with Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and others. According to a senior Countrywide official who handled its VIP program, there was no way Dodd and Conrad could not have known they were getting a special deal:
VDH on MSM Bias
The End of Journalism by Victor Davis Hanson on National Review Online
There have always been media biases and prejudices. Everyone knew that Walter Cronkite, from his gilded throne at CBS news, helped to alter the course of the Vietnam War, when, in the post-Tet depression, he prematurely declared the war unwinnible. Dan Rather’s career imploded when he knowingly promulgated a forged document that impugned the service record of George W. Bush. We’ve known for a long time — from various polling, and records of political donations of journalists themselves, as well as surveys of public perceptions — that the vast majority of journalists identify themselves as Democratic, and liberal in particular.
Yet we have never quite seen anything like the current media infatuation with Barack Obama, and its collective desire not to raise key issues of concern to the American people. Here were four areas of national interest that were largely ignored.
Excellent Article
American Thinker: Spotting the Camouflaged Candidate
Sometimes it's possible to spot a camouflaged animal not by watching for motion but by doing just the opposite: watching for motionlessness.
Cut Them Out of the Loop
American Thinker: Obama to Critics: Just Shut Up
Though Barack Obama has campaigned on the message of rising above partisan agonistics, his campaign has actually engaged in some very troubling tactics that raise serious questions about how he would conduct himself in office. As demonstrated by the campaign's recent announcement to blacklist the Orlando television station whose reporter, Barbara West, dared ask Sen. Biden a hard question about Barack Obama's tax policies, Barack Obama's campaign for president has demonstrated that Obama the Candidate favors the stifling of speech and censoring of dissent.
Who Obama was Dining With
The American Spectator : The PLO's Professor
The refusal by the Los Angeles Times to release the videotape featuring Barack Obama's farewell toast to Rashid Khalidi has thrust the Columbia University professor and activist into the center of the presidential campaign, creating particular interest in his ties to Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization.
Sowell on Powell
Obama, Powell, and Popularity by Thomas Sowell on National Review Online
Among all the people who are now scrambling to get on the Obama bandwagon, none is likely to impress more people than Colin Powell — especially people who know no more about the specifics of Colin Powell’s actions than the specifics of Barack Obama’s.
Like Ross Perot, Colin Powell once had such support from the American people that there was nothing to stop him from going all the way to White House — and beyond to greatness — except his own shortcomings. Both squandered historic opportunities.
The Hammer Drops
Further Left than LBJ by Charles Krauthammer on National Review Online
Last week I made the open-and-shut case for John McCain: In a dangerous world entering an era of uncontrolled nuclear proliferation, the choice between the most prepared foreign-policy candidate in memory vs. a novice with zero experience and the wobbliest one-world instincts is not a close call.
But it’s all about economics and kitchen-table issues, we are told. OK. Start with economics.
Fillabuster Proof?
Can Democrats reach a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate? State level polling averages reported in this morning’s Real Clear Politics (RCP) reveal that the road to sixty votes--while not impossible--looks pretty tough for the Democrats. But the numbers also show little margin of error for the GOP.
Good Read
Pajamas Media » An Open Letter to Americans Who Love Israel
When it comes to Israel and her survival as a free nation, the stakes are so high that it behooves even the most trusting American to examine closely the words and records of our candidates in this regard.
Who Has Standing if Not the Citizens?
American Thinker: Who Enforces the Constitution's Natural Born Citizen Clause?
If you believe in individual rights and the notion that our Constitution is a document granting enumerated but limited powers to the federal government, then you have reason to be troubled by the recent dismissal in Berg v. Obama et al.
Latest Sowell
A Perfect Storm by Thomas Sowell on National Review Online
The least qualified candidate in American history — at one of the most dangerous points in history.
Another Obama Rellative Could Use Some Wealth-Spreading
Found in a rundown Boston estate: Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango - Times Online
Barack Obama has lived one version of the American Dream that has taken him to the steps of the White House. But a few miles from where the Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard, his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in modest circumstances in Boston, have a contrasting American story.
Obama's Political Alliances Round-Up
Back in April, we reported on a page at the Barack Obama website belonging to a fundraiser named Hatem Elhady, former chairman of the Hamas-linked Islamic charity “Kindhearts.” One of the friends listed on Elhady’s page was none other than Michelle Obama, and we have the screenshots to prove it. When this page was exposed at LGF, the Obama campaign first erased Michelle Obama’s name from the page, then shortly afterward, the entire page disappeared.
The Obama campaign says it has "no ties" to ACORN, a ludicrous assertion given that the campaign has disclosed to the FEC a payment of $800,000 to ACORN's subsidiary, Citizens Services Inc. The depth of the relationship between the Obama campaign and ACORN was revealed today when a former ACORN staffer testified in a lawsuit brought by the Pennsylvania Republican Party...
Little Green Footballs - Zombie: Barack Obama's Close Encounter with the Weather Underground
Zombie has a huge new report, digging into Barack Obama’s mysterious years at Columbia University and his involvement in the anti-apartheid movement—which brought him into close contact with the Weather Underground. Would you be surprised to learn that Obama, Bill Ayers, and Bernardine Dohrn all happened to live in New York City at the same time? And could a little-known violent incident at Kennedy Airport in 1981 be the original connection between Obama and Ayers’ Weather Underground?
Dianne Wilkerson (D) - Arrested by the FBI
This morning, Massachusetts State Senator Dianne Wilkerson was arrested on charges of attempted extortion and wire fraud after an 18-month investigation by the FBI. The FBI alleges that Wilkerson took bribes from $500 up to $10,000 (for a total of $ 23,500 ) to help secure a liquor license for the Roxbury nightclub Dejavu. The FBI also released photos – reproduced here – which it says shows Wilkerson accepting the bribes from a confidential FBI informant. The full FBI affidavit can be viewed here.
Snoopergate
Toledo police clerk charged in Joe The Plumber snooping case; Update: Snooper was doing a favor for a reporter; Joe may sue
Race Tightening Round-Up
The numbers are close, the opinions are polar opposite.
Are Tightening Polls a Sign of a John McCain Surge? - Michael Barone (usnews.com)
The tracking polls seem to show the presidential race tightening. Rasmussen numbers released this morning show Barack Obama ahead of John McCain by only 50 percent to 47 percent—the narrowest margin in Rasmussen polls for more than a month and the first time McCain has been over 46 percent since September 24 (nine days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and two days before the first debate). Gallup's tracking released yesterday showed McCain behind by only 49 percent to 47 percent on its traditional-turnout model but behind by a much larger 51 percent to 44 percent on its expanded model.
HOPE FOR MCCAIN at DickMorris.com
Iraq isn’t the only place where the surge seems to be working. John McCain’s gains over the last five days are remaking the political landscape as Election Day approaches.
The double-digit leads Barack Obama held last week have evaporated, as all three of the top tracking polls (the most current and reliable measurements out there) show McCain hot on Obama’s heels.
After several weeks of John McCain’s campaign attacks on Barack Obama’s tax plan and idea of “spreading the wealth around”, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds voters trust McCain more than Obama on taxes, 47% to 45%.
Power Line - The Race Is Getting Closer
Barack Obama's national lead over John McCain is down to two points in Gallup's "traditional" turnout poll, and this morning Rasmussen Reports has Obama's lead dwindling to three points. The Rasmussen result is especially significant, I think.
One month ago, Obama was up nine points on this crucial issue. McCain continues to outperform the generic Republican ticket by a longshot, and while Obama leads in six of ten top issues for Americans, Obama led in all 10 last month.
McCain pollster predicts massive turnout - Mike Allen - Politico.com
The pollster for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) predicted Monday that 130 million people – the highest percentage of eligible voters in American history – will turn out in this presidential election.
“Turn-out IS going to go through the roof,” McCain’s pollster, Bill McInturff, says in a strategy memo released to the press. “Last night, 81% of voters described their interest in this election as a 10! Wow.”
Pajamas Media » Ten Reasons Why McCain Could Still Win
The media is telling voters, especially Republican voters, that the presidential race is over. The handwriting is on the wall. The fat lady is singing. Don’t even bother to vote.
But wait, isn’t there an election next week? After all this, don’t voters have a choice?
Pajamas Media » Ten Reasons Why McCain Doesn’t Have a Prayer
Here are the top 10 reasons why McCain doesn’t have a prayer.
10. About those tracking polls…
There is no doubt the tracking polls for Rasmussen, Gallup, Zogby and the rest have been narrowing of late. But the movement toward McCain has been a ripple when he needs a virtual tsunami. You can cherry-pick polls based on “likely voters” or “registered voters” or, as Gallup has done, on a different model of “likely voters.” No matter what side you’re on, you will probably find ammunition for your argument.
UNDECIDEDS SHOULD BREAK FOR MCCAIN at DickMorris.com
If current survey trends continue, Obama will finish with less than 50 percent in the polls. Even discounting the Nader vote (some people never learn), the undecided voters could tip the race either way. How will they break?
Undecideds an unlikely ‘life raft’ for McCain - David Paul Kuhn - Politico.com
A Pew analysis concluded that undecideds will likely split equally for McCain and Obama on Election Day.
Photo: AP
The pool of undecided voters remains as large as one in 10, but John McCain can hardly rely on them to overtake Barack Obama. According to past election results, those voters who decided in the last week of a campaign are unlikely to break decisively for either candidate and dramatically alter Tuesday's race.
Obama-Saddam Connection?
Obama's Mansion, Saddam's Money - article by Daniel Pipes
In three steps, these corrupt businessmen tie the Democratic Party presidential candidate to the executed Iraqi tyrant:
A Look Back at the New Deal
New New Deal No Better Than the Old One by Michael Barone on National Review Online
With victory in sight, Barack Obama’s supporters are predicting that he will give us a new New Deal. To see what that might mean, let’s look back on the original New Deal.
Brit Hume Stepping Down
The man behind 'fair and balanced' - Michael Calderone - Politico.com
Hume, 65, said that the decision to leave was his own, explaining that he wants to spend more time with his wife, Kim, who stepped down as Fox’s Washington bureau chief two years ago, and the rest of his extended family. He’s also interested in following more spiritual pursuits, he said, such as the regular Bible study attended by his wife.
Politico Admits It's Biased (Sort-Of)
Called out by their Mom. No Joke.
Why McCain is getting hosed in the press - John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei - Politico.com
Why McCain is getting hosed in the press
Their readers respond:
Reader responses overflow after story - Alexander Burns - Politico.com
When Politico editors John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei tackled the subject of media bias Tuesday, they knew they were venturing into controversial territory.
Still, they hadn't predicted the most intense reader response Politico has ever received, with hundreds of e-mails pouring into their inboxes within hours of the story hitting the web.
L.A. Times Supression Round-Up
Little Green Footballs - LA Times Still Hiding Video - Protest Scheduled
There will be a protest outside the offices of the Los Angeles Times this morning at 10am Pacific. Details on this page: Picket LA Times.
Little Green Footballs - Martin Kramer on Rashid Khalidi and Barack Obama: Kindred Spirits
Were we to see the videotape, it might give us some sense of how far down the road Obama went in that [anti-Israel] direction—and not all that long ago. It would be interesting to know, for example, if there was reference to Iraq. In 2003, when Khalidi’s friends gave him his goodbye party, he was deep into propagandizing against the Iraq war. Among his arguments, he included this one:
This war will be fought because these neoconservatives desire to make the Middle East safe not for democracy, but for Israeli hegemony. They are convinced that the Middle East is irremediably hostile to both the United States and Israel; and they firmly hold the racist view that Middle Easterners understand only force. For these American Likudniks and their Israeli counterparts, sad to say, the tragedy of September 11 was a godsend: It enabled them to draft the United States to help fight Israel’s enemies.
This argument against the war was not at all unusual on the faculty of the University of Chicago at the time. Another professor of Middle East history, Fred Donner, gave it blatant expression on the pages of the Chicago Tribune, calling the Iraq war “a vision deriving from Likud-oriented members of the president’s team—particularly Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith.” So perhaps it is not surprising that Obama, in his October 2002 antiwar speech, declared:
“What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”
No mention of Cheney or Rumsfeld—and no need to mention them, to a constituency that knew who was really behind the push for war, and why. (Later, the same argument would figure prominently in The Israel Lobby, co-authored by another Chicago professor, John Mearsheimer.)
Obama, when pressed during an appearance before a Jewish audience, admitted that “I do know him [Khalidi] because I taught at the University of Chicago.” This sounds wholly innocuous; I also know Khalidi because I taught at the University of Chicago—twice, in 1990 and 1991, when I had an office on the same hall. Obama continues: “And I do know him and I have had conversations.” Well, even I’ve had conversations with Khalidi. (A former Chicago graduate student who must keep meticulous records writes to me that he spotted me on December 6, 1990, at the Quad Club lunching with Khalidi.) Nor does it mean much if Khalidi introduced Obama to Edward Said; Khalidi introduced me to Edward Said in New York in November 1986.
The difference is that while I came away from these encounters convinced that Khalidi’s purported moderation was a sham, and have said so, Obama went the other direction, maintaining their friendship right up to Khalidi’s send-off from Chicago, to which he contributed an encomium. Which is why I’d really like to see that videotape. I’m just curious which of Rashid Khalidi’s virtues I somehow missed, and Barack Obama saw.
Little Green Footballs - McCain Demands That LA Times Release Hidden Tape
The John McCain campaign is demanding that the Los Angeles Times release the videotape of Barack Obama toasting former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi, at a party attended by radical Palestinian activists and former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn...
Little Green Footballs - LA Times: 'We Keep Our Promises'
You’re not going to believe this one.
I certainly don’t.
McCain campaign accuses L.A. Times of ‘suppressing’ Obama video.
“The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it,” said the newspaper’s editor, Russ Stanton. “The Times keeps its promises to sources.”
This is excuse #4 from the LA Times. It took them three days to come up with this.
Little Green Footballs - Quotes from the LA Times Suppressed Obama Video?
Doug Ross has received a tip from a reader he says has been reliable in the past, with some inside information on the videotape that the Los Angeles Times continues to hide:
Saw a clip from the tape. Reason we can’t release it is because statements Obama said to rile audience up during toast. He congratulates Khalidi for his work saying “Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine” plus there’s been “genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis.”
It would be really controversial if it got out. That’s why they will not even let a transcript get out.
Caveat: I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this. However, it certainly would explain why the LA Times is suppressing the video.
And this:
Little Green Footballs - $150,000 Reward for LA Times Suppressed Video
Dirty Harry’s Place has a letter from Dune Capital Holdings, offering a $150,000 reward for the videotape of Barack Obama toasting former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi.
Little Green Footballs - Khalidi Tape News: The Guest List
A PUMA blog has done some good investigative work, and pieced together a verified guest list for that party for Rashid Khalidi: The Khalidi Tape: Putting the Bits and Pieces Together with New Details.
Verified Information
Location:
Burbank Manor, 6312 W 79th St., Burbank, Illinois
Time:
Friday, August 1, 2003
6pm - Reception
7pm - Dinner and Reception
Those who attended:
1. AAAN (Arab American Action Network)
2. Not In My Name
3. Ali Abunimah (a Palestinian rights activist in Chicago who helps run Electronic Intifada, who met Obama in 2000)
4. Bernadine Dorhn and Bill Ayers
5. Barack Obama
6. Mayor of Chicago Richard Daley
7. Rashid Khalidi
8. Mona Khalidi
9. Gihad Ali, a Palestinian spoken word poet
10. NPR Worldview host Jerome McDonnell (not McDonald as written in the e-mail)
11. Camilia Odeh (director of SWYC Southwest Youth Collaborative)
12. Sanabel debka troupe (traditional Palestinian dance group)
13. Hatem Abudayyeh
14. Others - Up to 50 to 500 guests
The Corner on National Review Online
With the Los Angeles Times Khalidi tape in the news, I thought I’d post a link back to "Ayers-Khalidi Quotes," where I laid out evidence for the existence of a tight personal, intellectual, and political relationship between Bill Ayers and Rashid Khalidi.
When it comes to insulting our collective intelligence, the Obamedia soundtrack of the ongoing campaign breaks new ground on a daily, indeed an hourly, basis. Still, the Los Angeles Times takes the cake.
Change you can believe in is a short hop from fairy tales you can be sold. In that spirit, the Times tells us, we’d really, really love to release the videotape we’re holding of that 2003 Khalidi shindig — the one where Barack Obama joined a motley collection of Israel-bashers, including the former terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, to sing the praises of Rashid Khalidi — former mouthpiece for PLO master-terrorist Yasser Arafat. But alas, our hands are tied by journalistic ethics.
Of course the ever ethical Times would never try to skew election coverage in favor of a candidate it has recently endorsed (after blowing kisses at him for two years). Nor would the newspaper give its readers anything but a complete, accurate, and truthful account of an event like the Khalidi Bash that it deemed worthy enough to cover. You can take that to the bank. But, gosh-darn, it turns out that a “source” the Times won’t name supposedly provided reporter Peter Wallsten with the videotape on the solemn promise that the paper would never let it see the light of day … except to report on it as the Times saw fit.
If you believe that one, I’ve got a tax cut for you.
The LA Times refuses to release a tape in its possession showing Barack Obama at a party for Rashid Khalidi.
The Times is keeping this potentially damaging video of Obama under lock and key because of an agreement with the source who provided the tape, but Jennifer Rubin suggests at the very least the Times
should do a better job describing the scene. Why not a fuller account of what Obama actually said? Who else was sitting at Obama’s table? What did the original report mean by "the warm embrace Obama gave to Khalidi, and words like those at the professor’s going-away party, have left some Palestinian American leaders believing that Obama is more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say"?
What is the L.A. Times Hiding? - Jeffrey Goldberg
I don't think it's entirely necessary for me to explain, once again, why I believe that Rashid Khalidi is not a danger to the Republic. I also don't think I have to rehearse the controversial idea that Barack Obama was not, in fact, the Hyde Park chapter president of the PFLP-GC. (That was Rahm Emanuel.) But there's a video out there of Obama saying kind things about Khalidi, and on the general principle that information in an open society shouldn't be kept secret and that the voters should make up their own minds about whether or not they trust certain candidates, this video should be set free. But a pro-censorship organization called the Los Angeles Times, which has the tape in its possession, is hiding it, for reasons it won't fully explain. And it's looking more and more ridiculous each passing day.
Sowell on Obama and Taxes
Taxing Times by Thomas Sowell on National Review Online
Chief Justice John Marshall said it all in one sentence: “The power to tax is the power to destroy.”
It is not the money that is taxed away that is destroyed. What is destroyed is the wealth that does not get produced in the first place, because high taxes make its production not worthwhile.
Those who are receptive to Senator Barack Obama’s plan to increase taxes on “the rich” seem not to understand that the issue is the nation’s loss of wealth. Today, wealth can leave the country when heavy taxes threaten it — instantly, in an age of electronic financial transfers — and create jobs and economic growth overseas, instead of at home.
Obama and Socialism
It is, however, precisely what is to be expected from an individual reared by an “unreconstructed liberal” mother of the ‘60s era, an individual who consciously sought out Marxist professors – both as college instructors and as sponsors for his career in Chicago politics.
Far from an insignificant and highly theoretical bout of legal navel-gazing, this 2001 interview provides a clear glimpse into the ideology Obama wishes to implement. For this reason, the transcripts must be assailed – with those news outlets that report them.
After all, he does not have the luxury of saying he made these comments when he was naïve and inexperienced, because he is still naïve and inexperienced. Further, reparations based on race, sex, class, or sexual orientation still lie at the heart of his judicial philosophy. His only option is to deny the words on the page. His fan base in the media has gotten ahead of him on the matter. Will he be successful in his effort to deny his own views and thereby get an opportunity to implement them...?
The Corner on National Review Online
Speaking in front of a huge audience at downtown Raleigh rally yesterday, Barack Obama threw off a humorous line about John McCain's accusation that the Obama tax plan is redistributionist:
McCain has “called me a socialist for wanting to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can finally give tax relief to the middle class,” Obama said. “I don’t know what’s next. By the end of the week he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten.”
Ha ha.
Only, in this passage Obama revealed precisely why he is vulnerable to such charges: he can't seem to tell the difference between a gift and a theft. There is nothing remotely socialistic or communistic about sharing. If you have a toy that someone else wants, you have three choices in a free society. You can offer to trade it for something you value that is owned by the other. You can give the toy freely, as a sign of friendship or compassion. Or you can choose to do neither.
Collectivism in all its forms is about taking away your choice. Whether you wish to or not, the government compels you to surrender the toy, which it then redistributes to someone that government officials deem to be a more worthy owner. It won't even be someone you could ever know, in most cases. That's what makes the political philosophy unjust (by stripping you of control over yourself and the fruits of your labor) as well as counterproductive (by failing to give the recipient sufficient incentive to learn and work hard so he can earn his own toys in the future).
Government is not charity. It is not persuasion, or cooperation, or sharing. Government is a fist, a shove, a gun. Obama either doesn't understand this, or doesn't want voters to understand it.
Gestapo?
Barack Obama is mocking the charges that he promotes socialist ideology, but if he really has nothing to do with socialism...
American Thinker: The Repugnance of Socialism
Consider only these 3 areas of Obama's collective plan for the redemption of American society:
* Obama wants to use a lot of taxpayer money to offer education to children from birth through college. Free to mommies and daddies. On the taxpayer dollar, rather than on the parents'.
The socialist lure: Give the state your children and the state will relieve you of the burden of educating them and teaching them values and knowledge. Parents, you're off the hook.
The result: The state then makes all the decisions about what your children will be taught, how they will be brought up, what knowledge is important and what is not.
* Obama wants to bring the federal government's involvement into healthcare to an unprecedented level.
The socialist lure: Give the state your money and the power to enforce healthcare for all, and the collective state will relieve you of your responsibility to provide this service for yourselves and your children.
The result: The state makes healthcare decisions. Healthcare is then rationed according to need, as decided by the state.
* Obama wants to enshrine positive rights to all citizens that include a guaranteed "living wage" to all regardless of individual work.
The socialist lure: No citizen will be without the means to live a fairly equitable life regardless of individual delinquency or extra effort.
The result: The poor and unfortunate become wards of the state and vastly increase in number. Work incentives plummet.
* Obama wants our politics to be nice, not mean or divisive. He wants unity. He wants us all to get along.
The socialist lure: Peace. Harmony. Goodwill to all. No good guys and bad guys. All will be nice and we will sing Kumbayah in perfect harmony all over the world.
The result: Anyone who dissents, who finds error, who sees things differently will be silenced. This is the only way collectives ever enforce their ideas of "unity."
Life of the New Party by Stanley Kurtz on National Review Online
A variety of evidence now indicates, with a high degree of likelihood, that Barack Obama was a member of the far-left New Party, which also endorsed him in his first run for the Illinois state senate in 1996. Obama’s New party ties graphically illustrate the connection between his troubling “associations” and the core economic issues of the presidential campaign. The New Party’s agenda was radically redistributionist. More important, the New Party’s specific strategy for achieving its economic goals precisely paralleled Obama’s now infamous 2001 radio remarks on “major redistributive change.” So let’s take a tour of New Party ideology, after which we can explore the ever-increasing evidence that Obama himself was in fact a New Party member.
There should no longer be any dispute that Barack Obama’s aim is to socialize the American economy — as he vaporously puts it, to bring about “redistributive change.” The real question is how he’ll go about it. Very likely, the answer lies in a potentially cataclysmic treaty that has gotten virtually no attention during the campaign: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...
Obama's Not ‘New’ by Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online
America first encountered the vision Obama espouses under Woodrow Wilson, the first progressive president and the first to openly disparage the U.S. Constitution as a hindrance to enlightened government. His new idea was to replace it with a “living constitution” that empowered government to evolve beyond that document’s constraints. The Bill of Rights, lamented the progressives, inhibited what the government can do to people, but it failed to delineate what it must do for people.
The old conception of individualism needed to be replaced by a new system in which the citizen would “marry his interests to the state,” in Wilson’s words. This would allow the state to fulfill the progressive pledge to “spread the prosperity around.” Obama shares Wilson’s faith in a living constitution and has argued that Supreme Court judges should be confirmed based on their empathy for the downtrodden.
American Thinker: Barack Obama: Red Diaper Baby
Barack Obama is a "red diaper baby" who has spent his formative years -- literally from the moment of his birth -- interacting with members and sympathizers of the Communist Party, USA. His mother Stanley Ann Dunham has been described by former classmates as a "fellow traveler." His grandfather Stanley Armour Dunham arranged Obama's mentorship by Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis...
American Thinker: Dreams from Frank Marshall Davis
As more and more audio and video emerge on Barack Obama's desire to redistribute wealth, not to mention his views on the housing crisis that has torpedoed the U.S. economy, I keep returning to two columns I've read by Frank Marshall Davis, the communist journalist-agitator who mentored Obama in Hawaii. While much attention has been paid to Obama's relationship with communist-terrorist Bill Ayers -- and rightly so -- much less attention has been devoted to Davis. That's a mistake, since Obama was influenced more by Davis than Ayers...
Little Green Footballs - Another 'Redistribution' Statement from Obama Surfaces
He’s doing everything he can to downplay and disavow it now, but Barack Obama has been talking about the redistribution of wealth for quite a long time; since the beginning of his political career, in fact. Ed Morrissey links to an article from the March-April 1996 issue of “New Ground,” the official journal of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America—who endorsed Obama...
.
Letter to Obama from Heritage Foundation
The Corner on National Review Online
Dear Senator Obama:
Two recent campaign advertisements seriously misrepresent the views of my client, The Heritage Foundation. They suggest, quite falsely, that The Heritage Foundation and one of its analysts support your tax plan.
The print ad on your Website as well as your ad entitled “Try This” reference a quote from policy analyst Rea Hederman. In fact, Mr. Hederman never said what is quoted there. Rather, the words you quote are from a New York Sun reporter who interviewed Mr. Hederman and summarized his views erroneously.
That the reporter’s summary is erroneous is evident from the actual quotes from Mr. Hederman presented in the article, which make it quite clear that Mr. Hederman believes your tax plan would be bad not only for the country, but for the middle class. By omitting the direct quotes from Heritage that are contained in the article and attributing to Heritage a conflicting statement not made by its analyst, the advertisement appears to be an intentional attempt to mislead.
Surely there can be no doubt within your campaign as to how Heritage truly views your tax plan. When one of your economic advisors, Jeffrey Liebman, made this same misrepresentation in a September 4, 2008 letter to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Hederman promptly sent a corrective and very public letter. It appeared in the September 16 issue of The Wall Street Journal under the title: “A Bad Plan That Is Less Bad Is Still Not A Very Good Plan.” In it, Mr. Hederman strenuously decried Mr. Liebman’s blatant misrepresentation and set the record straight.
The Heritage Foundation believes that your advertisements’ use of its name is not only not a fair use of its intellectual property, but is an intentional attempt to mislead and misinform voters. As a responsible candidate, you should insist that your campaign cease to run these false advertisements immediately.
Very truly yours,
Alan P. Dye
The Math
Without question, the Barack Obama infomercial served as a very slick and powerful recitation of the biggest promises he's made as a presidential candidate. But the very bigness of his ideas is the problem: he seems blind to the concept his numbers don't add up.
So he'll just raise taxes.
Closing the Gap
MCCAIN GAINS IN ALL THREE TRACKING POLLS at DickMorris.com
Zogby, Rasmussen and Gallup all report McCain closing to 5 points back. Zogby had him 12 back, Rasmussen 8 and Gallup 6 in their previous polling. McCain’s use of the Joe the Plumber and the tax issue in his ads is working!
Interesting Debate on the Question of Iran
Pajamas Media » Face Off: Should the U.S. Attack Iran Before January 20?
A debate between Daniel Halper and Meir Javedanfar.
Biden's Judgement
The American Spectator: Biden and the Tale of Aldrich Ames
In spite of a warning from his Republican predecessor, one of Senator Joseph Biden's first acts as the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1987 was to abolish the Committee's Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism. Biden's action came just as one of the most famous spies in American history had begun leaking secrets to the Soviet Union. The spy -- Soviet CIA mole Aldrich Ames -- went undiscovered for nine years, almost the entire period of Biden's chairmanship of the Committee. Biden relinquished his post after Republicans re-captured the Senate in 1994. Ames was finally arrested that year.
Virginia Military Vote Update
Fairfax Registrar Must Count Military Ballots - HUMAN EVENTS
Military absentee votes will be counted in Fairfax County, Virginia thanks to an opinion just issued by Virginia's Attorney General Bob McDonnell. The just-issued opinion smacks down the partisan effort by Fairfax registrar Rokey Suleman who -- contrary to federal law -- was requiring military absentee ballots to show the address of the witness countersigning the ballot.
More on the Polls
I'm kind of beyond polls at this stage — although I found this analysis by Jay Cost very interesting. As he points out, the standard deviation this year is significantly higher than usual - which means that the polls that turn out to be wrong will be wronger than usual. Also, they're not a conventional central cluster — a pyramid with a few outliers at either end. The McCain graph has almost no cluster anywhere, suggesting that the number you get depends as much on the "turnout model" cooked up in the pollsters' office as on anything Mr and Mrs America tell 'em down the phone line.
Interview with FBI Agent in the Weather Underground
Pajamas Media » Eyewitness to the Ayers Revolution
When Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn led the domestic terrorist group Weather Underground in 1969, a chance meeting led Army veteran Larry Grathwohl into joining the group. Grathwohl served as a courier, running messages between the group’s leadership (called the “Weather Bureau”) and individual cells that were to carry out attacks.
Grathwohl was also an informant for the FBI.
Sowell on Uncommon Knowledge, Part 2
Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions: Chapter 2 of 5 - Uncommon Knowledge
Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions: Chapter 2 of 5
Sowell describes the constrained and unconstrained visions of the law, noting that the former applies to John McCain and the latter to Barrack Obama.
Sowell on Obama and the Supreme Court
Thomas Sowell : Obama and the Law - Townhall.com
One of the biggest and most long-lasting "change" to expect if Barack Obama becomes President of the United States is in the kinds of federal judges he appoints. These include Supreme Court justices, as well as other federal justices all across the country, all of whom will have lifetime tenure.
Senator Obama has stated very clearly what kinds of Supreme Court justices he wants-- those with "the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old."
Like so many things that Obama says, it may sound nice if you don't stop and think-- and chilling if you do stop and think. Do we really want judges who decide cases based on who you are, rather than on the facts and the law?
More Audio: America = Nazi Germany
Little Green Footballs - Obama Compared America to Nazi Germany
The audio recording of Barack Obama espousing his socialist philosophy of “redistribution of wealth” is all over the Internet and Fox News today (although most other media outlets are ignoring it), but there’s another disturbing section on that tape that has so far escaped notice.
The link to the audio is here: Chicago Public Radio - Audio Library: Odyssey.
At about 15:30, Obama compares what was going on in the United States during the time of Brown vs. the Board of Education to ... Nazi Germany. Yes, really. Here’s the quote:
“...just to take a, sort of a realist perspective...there’s a lot of change going on outside of the Court, um, that, that judges essentially have to take judicial notice of. I mean you’ve got World War II, you’ve got uh, uh, uh, the doctrines of Nazism, that, that we are fighting against, that start looking uncomfortably similar to what we have going on, back here at home.”
There you have it. America is close to electing a President who compares his own country to Nazi Germany.
And yet, who's got the Anti-Israel vote all sewn up?
Obama’s Friendship with Khalidi by Mona Charen on National Review Online
Many American Jews preparing to pull the lever for Obama have never heard of Asbahi. But they surely know about Jeremiah Wright. They know that he gave a “lifetime achievement” award to Louis Farrakhan; that he supported efforts to get U.S. businesses to divest from Israel; that he gave space in the Trinity Church bulletin to Hamas; and that he has accused Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians. They are preparing to vote for a man who tamely tolerated all of that (and more) for 20 years.
New Ads
Both of these ads are running in some key states.
First: Born Alive Infant Protection...
Second: Jeremiah Wright...
How Obama Reads the Constitution
'We The Government?' - HUMAN EVENTS
The Constitution, according to Obama in this 2001 radio broadcast, "[s]ays what the states can’t do to you. Says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf."
Rush Limbaugh is arguing now that from these comments it's clear Obama "doesn't believe in the US Constitution." He most certainly believes in it -- he just thinks the government has failed to use it to its overweening advantage.
This provides some incredibly revealing insight into Obama's interpretation of the role of government. For him, it is ideally up to the courts to assure social and economic justice is meted out, not lawmakers. We call this legislating from the bench, of course, and most agree this is an abuse of power that directly contradicts the tenets set forth in the Constitution.
But here's the main point: the Constitution doesn't exist to empower government, but to empower people. It begins, "We the people," not "We the government." He's absolutely right that it limits what government can do, and necessarily so -- at the time it was authored the United States was emerging from under the thumb of a ruling monarchy. Obama's apparent willingness to use the Constitution as a means of giving government more power isn't necessarily surprising, unless you've been in hiding the past year, but it is very frightening.
Two About the L.A. Times Supression
The L.A. Times Suppresses Obama’s Khalidi Bash Tape by Andrew C. McCarthy on National Review Online
Let’s try a thought experiment. Say John McCain attended a party at which known racists and terror mongers were in attendance. Say testimonials were given, including a glowing one by McCain for the benefit of the guest of honor ... who happened to be a top apologist for terrorists. Say McCain not only gave a speech but stood by, in tacit approval and solidarity, while other racists and terror mongers gave speeches that reeked of hatred for an American ally and rationalizations of terror attacks.
Now let’s say the Los Angeles Times obtained a videotape of the party.
Little Green Footballs - LA Times Responds to Readers: Get Lost
This is how the Los Angeles Times has chosen to respond to requests to release the Obama-Rashid Khalidi videotape, courtesy of an LGF reader.
To paraphrase: “No, we’re not going to release the video. Go away.”
From: Readers Rep
Date: Monday, October 27, 2008 16:14
Subject: RE: Not read: The L.A. Times Suppressing Obama’s Khalidi Bash Tape?
To:
[...]
The Times did write about the tape, so I’m not sure what you mean aboutsuppressing the video or information from the video. Here is a copy of the report about the video.
Thanks again for writing,
Jamie Gold
Readers’ Representative
...
If that is the case, then release the video that you have of the event and don’t merely report it. Why is the Los Angeles Times sitting on a videotape of the 2003 farewell bash in Chicago at which Barack Obama lavished praise on the guest of honor, Rashid Khalidi - former mouthpiece for master terrorist Yasser Arafat?
...
Thanks for your note back. It sounds as if you don’t find “mere reporting” to be enough, but The Times is not suppressing anything.
Just the opposite — the L.A. Times brought the matter to light.
Thanks again for taking the time to write.
Jamie Gold
Readers’ Representative
A perfect example of the utter arrogance of the media, and the contempt in which they hold their readers. They’re very aware that video has an immediacy and power that mere words do not; that’s why they’re suppressing it.
And it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that there’s more to that video than they reported.
Why the Audio Matters
A couple of the libertarians over here don't seem all that worked up about the Obama audio. It could be that they are influenced by their own theories of expanded Ninth Amendment jurisprudence and positive rights. But anyone who has studied this issue, including Sunstein's views (he being a top adviser to Obama), should be concerned about Obama's views. Obama is not saying he opposes the Court using positive law theories to expand social and economic "rights," he is saying it might not be practical. But, as we all know, with a couple appointments to the Court, it could become reality.
Fillabusterproof
American Thinker: Strengthening Mac's 'Fear The Redistributor' Message
John McCain's use of his opponent's past words to expose the Socialism in his current dreams would be far more effective a vote-swayer were he to make clear why a President Obama might prove uniquely capable of realizing his Leftist vision. What's more -- such a strategy would likely bolster GOP forces on their state race fronts as well.
Fuel for Their Fire
American Thinker: The Left Keeps Hate Alive
As America witnesses the closing of the racial divide, some people refuse to believe that the attitudes that gave us the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow are taking their final breath. This refusal doesn't stem from those who long for the days of segregation, it comes from the political left. In other words the people who claim to be the champions of diversity are doing everything they can to make sure the appearance of racism is still alive and well.
Instead of embracing this obvious progress, they are making unsubstantiated accusations of racism against those that disagree with them and do not support the candidacy of Barack Obama. Unfortunately for GOP presidential candidate Senator John McCain and his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin, they have the misfortune of being the Caucasian opposition to the first serious Black presidential hopeful. Simply put, it's not a good time to be the white guy.
Iran: Birthplace of Liberty?
American Thinker: The Memory of Liberty Haunts Iran
Iran's Mullahs are trying to stamp out the memory of a great hero of human rights, a Persian who preceded Islam and therefore threatens it. Free people all over the world celebrate the memory of Cyrus the Great, the author of one of mankind's greatest documents, the first Charter of Human Rights, on October 29th. This benevolent king, ruling over a vast empire of diverse people nearly three millennia ago, enshrined the principles that define and protect human dignity in the Cyrus Cylinder.
Cyrus' Charter of Human Rights is the first written document which stipulates that all humans have universal inalienable rights, without regard to any and all demographic considerations such as ethnicity, nationality and religion.
The Three-Legged Approach
Reagan + Friedman + Keynes by Larry Kudlow on NRO Financial
Back in early 1981, when I went to Washington to work for President Reagan, one of the architects of supply-side economics, Columbia University’s Robert Mundell, visited my OMB budget-bureau office inside the White House complex. At the time we were suffering from double-digit inflation, sky-high interest rates, a long economic downturn, and a near 15-year bear market in stocks.
So I asked Prof. Mundell, who later won a Nobel Prize in economics, if President Reagan’s supply-side tax cuts would be sufficient to cure the economy. The professor answered that during periods of crisis, sometimes you have to be a supply-sider (tax rates), sometimes a monetarist (Fed money supply), and sometimes a Keynesian (federal deficits).
Go Get'em Boys
Power Line - Special Forces Launch Raid Inside Syria
The tactical details aren't clear, but the U.S. military has confirmed that special forces and helicopters have attacked targets across the Iraq border inside Syria. The raid was part of an effort to stop the flow of foreign terrorists across the Syrian border and into Iraq. The Syrian border, according to U.S. military sources, is the last one that is still porous and allows access to Iraq by foreign terrorists. The flow of foreign terrorists and money into Iraq has slowed to a fraction of what it was a year ago; sealing the border with Syria would reduce it even further.
I'm not sure why this sort of attack wasn't carried out a long time ago, but it appears to be one more step by the administration toward turning over a stable Iraq to its successor.
UPDATE: A knowledgeable reader writes:
The announced goal was to shut down a family who were facilitating jihadi entry into Iraq. The intel was obviously good . . . so good we did a very risky and un-necessary thing, if the "goal" is as advertised: we endangered American helos and troops by inserting them conspicuously into hostile territory, needlessly endangering both and our prestige (imagine if something had gone wrong and the helos had tangled like in Iran after the Shah's overthrow).
This was not a subtle operation. We could easily have sent exactly the same message -- if a message we were sending -- by using a drone and some smart munitions.
Something else was going on there -- kidnapping, the appearance of kidnapping (to remove a friendly operative), computer theft, setting up sensors, or something else.
That sounds right.
Thanks, 'W'
An Unexpected Bright Spot by Alexander Benard on National Review Online
Amidst the many worrisome trends the next president will face when he assumes office in January, he will be able to take comfort in at least one major bright spot: The strategic landscape in the Middle East will be more favorable to the United States than at any point in recent history.
His Executive Experience
The Wreck of the Annenberg by Andrew J. Coulson on National Review Online
Thanks to Bill Ayers, a great many people now know that Barack Obama chaired the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 1999. Ayers, erstwhile member of the 60s’ terrorist group, the Weather Underground, was the driving force in bringing Annenberg’s millions of education reform dollars to Chicago, and he worked with Obama once the project was up and running.
It was inevitable that political hay would be made from this link, but in the process a more fundamental insight has been overlooked: The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a total failure. And to this day, Senator Obama remains committed to its failed approach.
But instead of being in a position to waste tens of millions of private dollars, as he was then, Obama is now asking voters for the power to waste hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. Before granting him that power, Americans should understand what went wrong.
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