Cheap Talk
Is Talk Cheap?: "Barack Obama is today’s most prominent example of the power of words. Conversely, the understated patrician style of country-club Republicans is just one of their many problems.
It is no accident that by far the most successful Republican politician of our lifetime — Ronald Reagan — was a man who did not come from that country-club background but someone who was born among the people and who knew how to communicate with the people."
[more...]
1:33 PM | | 0 Comments
Lower, and to the Left
HOW LOW can the market go?: "We’ll see a few bear-market rallies, but I certainly have no reason to think it’s hit bottom. Of course, market bottoms are mostly visible in retrospect, but I’m not seeing many people who think it’s time to put money in. And, given current economic policies, I don’t know why anyone would."
[more...]
(Via Instapundit.)
1:05 PM | | 0 Comments
This Shouldn't be a Surprise
WAGING WAR ON PROSPERITY: "President Lyndon Johnson’s administration was known for his War on Poverty. President Obama’s will become notable for his War on Prosperity.
We’re speaking, of course, of Obama’s plans to hike income taxes on the most wealthy 2 or 3 percent of the nation. He’s not just raising the top rate to 39.6 percent; he’s also disallowing about one-third of top earner’s deductions, whether for state and local taxes, charitable contributions or mortgage interest. This is an effective hike in their taxes by an average of about 20 percent."
[more...]
(Via Dick Morris.)
11:16 AM | | 0 Comments
Bingo! Call It Communism
______________Bingo! Call It Communism: "I once wrote that we could play 'Communist Manifesto Bingo': once President Obama enacts or strengthens five planks from the Communist Manifesto, yell 'bingo' and you win."
[...](Via American Thinker.)
Let's print up cards and play, we've got nothing better to do for fours years. Not that it will take that long to win.
11:06 AM | | 0 Comments
Extinguishing Physician Conscience
Extinguishing Physician Conscience: "The Baby Boomers will be the first Americans to be denied available effective life-saving treatments for reasons of cost. The seeds for this mass liquidation have already been planted."
(Via American Thinker.)
10:10 AM | | 0 Comments
Why, Whatever Do You Mean?
Obama and the Stock Market: Is the Media Mentally Ill?: "Why isn't the press criticizing Obama's economic policies in which Wall Street is showing a complete lack of confidence?"
(Via Pajamas Media.)
______________
Oh, I wonder.
10:09 AM | | 0 Comments
Where Conservatives Can Rally on Iraq
Where Conservatives Can Rally on Iraq: "The editors of National Review lay out their view of Obama's Iraq policy today and it's a line of argument that has gained fairly wide support among conservatives.
Yes, reducing force levels is OK, on the path that Odierno has charted out. The first wait-and-see evaluation should be after the Iraqi presidential election, though there probably ought to be at least a few-month waiting period to see how that's going to turn out. Tom Ricks reports that Obama's going to fudge the 'combat troops' issue by turning two BCTs into training brigades - we'll see what that looks like, as well as the overall posture.
2011 is still the more worrisome prospect. If you can't say exactly what Iraq will look like a year from now, how can we possibly be sure what it will look like in 30 months? Why say anything? This may be like Bush policy in the near term, but it's hard to imagine Bush making a big deal of the final withdrawal; rather, he would have waited and tried to negotiate a change to the SOFA.
Then there are just the two distinct personalities of the presidents: Bush was committed, heart and soul, to winning; Obama is committed to 'ending.' The rebuttable proposition ought to be that Obama is fundamentally not trustworthy on Iraq. How will Iraqis respond? They're happy that we're not drawing down too fast this year, but they're probably uncertain about what happens after that. The Iranians have expressed their displeasure thus far, but one subject at the meetings this coming spring will no doubt be how to play the longer-term game.
Obama's Iraq position has evolved a long way from his vote to cut off funding for the troops, and conservatives can praise that evolution -- but that doesn't mean conservatives can't highlight the uncertainty over the future. And we have to make clear that our strategy is not driven by 1] the clock, 2] the question of being there or NOT being there per se, but 3] the need to maintain and continue to build a partnership with Iraq. Conservatives can be agnostic about troop numbers (though it is worth noting that Obama looks a little like Bush I: Mission Accomplished, train-and-withdraw) but insistent about the long-term importance of our alliance with the Iraqis."(Via The Weekly Standard.)
10:09 AM | | 0 Comments
Those Evil Israelis
Those Evil Israelis: "Now, what's going on? Of course -- Israel Apartheid Week!
This year, IAW occurs in the wake of Israel's barbaric assault against the people of Gaza ...
Who were just minding their own business, right? Right."(Via The Corner on NRO.)
10:09 AM | | 0 Comments
There's No Home for Gitmo Inmates in Kansas
There's No Home for Gitmo Inmates in Kansas: "LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- Mayor Lisa Weakley can't think of a single good reason the federal government should transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Army's Fort Leavenworth in this city of 35,000.
She can, however, list many reasons why this community -- even though it's famed for its prisons and has the Defense Department's only maximum-security facility -- should not be their next home, starting with worries about the threat of terrorism.
'Is it really a bad thing not to want it in your backyard if you've got a really good, solid explanation?' she asks. 'We have geographical challenges, security concerns and economic concerns. These are different types of prisoners than we're used to.'"(Via The Corner on NRO.)
10:08 AM | | 0 Comments
Stem Cell Debate Moot?
FASTER, PLEASE: “Scientists have developed what appears to be a safer way to create a promising alt…: "FASTER, PLEASE: ‘Scientists have developed what appears to be a safer way to create a promising alternative to embryonic stem cells, boosting hopes that such cells could sidestep the moral and political quagmire that has hindered the development of a new generation of cures. The researchers produced the cells by using strands of genetic material, instead of potentially dangerous genetically engineered viruses, to coax skin cells into a state that appears biologically identical to embryonic stem cells.’"
(Via Instapundit.)
10:08 AM | | 0 Comments
America as an Empire?
Uh... no.
______________
Leftwing Myths Busted: "John Hawkins interviews Michael Medved who busts many leftwing myths about America:
One of the classic definitions of an imperialist power is a nation with an insatiable appetite for domination, conquest, and new land. The best proof that the United States doesn't fit that definition is one word: Canada. This great and largely defenseless nation to our north has co-existed with our nation and since a failed attempt to capture Canada in the war of 1812, which we lost by the way, we have left Canada very much alone. If we had been the kind of greedy imperialist power that America's critics allege, then why did we establish flourishing independent republics and nations like Japan, Germany, the Philippines, South Korea -- nations that we once occupied?
The American way, even with nations we fought against in war, is to go in, achieve whatever military aims we mean to achieve, and then eventually to go home, in every case, leaving the nation impacted better off than it was before. I think that if you look at all of the flourishing parts of Planet Earth, almost without exception, it has a great deal to do with the United States.
If you look at the darkest corners of the earth, you'll find nations that have had much less to do with the United States. In other words, if you take a list of nations on one side and look at the nations that are more productive, more free, more enlightened -- and then take a list of nations on the other side that would include nations like North Korea, Cuba, or nations of the Islamic World, like Iran -- the nations that have been less influenced by our nation are the less fortunate nations of Planet Earth. That says a great deal about the true nature of American influence."(Via The Jawa Report.)
10:08 AM | | 0 Comments
Lieberman Asks, Why Are Court Docs Behind Paid Firewall?
Lieberman Asks, Why Are Court Docs Behind Paid Firewall?: "Law for sale? Senator Joe Lieberman wants the federal courts to explain why they charge 8 cents a page to see public court documents online. (So do we.)"
(Via Wired News.)
Taxes, Senator.
4:00 PM | | 0 Comments
Appeals Court Allows Classified Evidence in Spy Case
Good thinking, Judge.Appeals Court Allows Classified Evidence in Spy Case: "A federal appeals court clears the way for classified evidence to be used in a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's once-secret warrantless spy program adopted in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks."
(Via Wired News.)
3:59 PM | | 0 Comments
Science V. Religion
Science V. Religion: "For those interested in the academy and these debates, this sounds just plain fascinating. Here's the set-up:
For those of you who do not know, on February 21st, the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association - the main professional body of American philosophers - hosted a kind of debate. I say 'kind of debate' because one philosopher gave a paper, the other commented and the first philosopher replied and the floor opened for questions. But in fact the session was a debate.
The debate was between Alvin Plantinga and Daniel Dennett. Plantinga is one of the founders of the Society of Christian Philosophers and one of the fathers of the current desecularization of philosophy. He is widely regarded - even by his critics - as one of the finest epistemologists of the last fifty years and one of the finest philosophers of religion since the Medieval period. Daniel Dennett is one of the New Atheists and is a well-known proponent of atheistic Darwinism and critic of religion. He is widely regarded - even by his critics - as one of the most important early philosophers of mind that opened the field to cognitive science and evolutionary biology. He has contributed enormously to the serious study of the mind and its relationship to the brain. Both philosophers are over sixty and perhaps at the height of their philosophical powers. They have also faced off before but, as far as I know, not in person.
Plantinga was the presenter. The session asked the question of whether science and religion were compatible. Plantinga argues that they are and that in fact the scientific theory taken to be most incompatible with religion - evolutionary theory - is not only compatible with Christian theism (the religious view Plantinga defends) but is incompatible with Christian theism's most serious opponent in the scientific world - naturalism. Naturalism is the view that physics and the sciences can give a complete description of reality. Plantinga defines it as the view that there is no God or anything like God.
I was at the talk. It was packed with professional philosophers and graduate students in philosophy, most of whom sided with Dennett. I wrote live comments on the debate/session. I prefer to remain anonymous for various reasons, in particular because I am inclined towards Plantinga's position over Dennett's and were this to become well-known it could damage or destroy my career in analytic philosophy. This is something I prefer not to put my family through. I almost didn't publish these comments at all, but as far as I could tell, this would be the only public record of the discussion.
Friends, if you can identify me, I request that you keep my identity secret. I am sharing my thoughts as a service to the philosophical community and all those who have an interest in such debates. But I prefer not to suffer at the hands of my ardently secular colleagues. This is not to say that all secular analytic philosophers are this way; they most certainly are not. But enough of them are that I cannot risk being known publicly."(Via The Corner on NRO.)
2:21 PM | | 0 Comments
The Rand Brand
The Rand Brand: "The Age of Obama and the rotten economy have been good for the Rand estate: Sales of Atlas Shrugged are surging. (Hat tip: Kyle Smith.)"
(Via The Corner on NRO.)
2:19 PM | | 0 Comments
How Can This Make Headlines in 2009?
Gates: Pakistan 'most worrisome' in Afghan war: "The 'most worrisome' part of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan has become the havens the Taliban and other insurgents have carved out in neighboring Pakistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday."
(Via CNN.com - World.)
2:17 PM | | 0 Comments
Well Said
Don't Worry -- Be Happy!: "One of the ironies of our transformation into a European socialist state is that the progressive is often targeted as much as the so-called right-wing nut. The double-income yuppie household in the Bay area, who paid a fortune for a rather modest home, and who voted for Obama, will soon learn of hope and change. They are now considered 'rich' and will pay thousands more in state, federal, and FICA payroll taxes, for victimized others who hitherto had no recourse to previously lean government services and entitlements.
The Europeans will soon learn that we are really multilateral now. Europe is, well, on its own, and so can properly go to the U.N. when it harbors worries about Russia, an Iranian missile, or a terrorist enclave. Supporters of Israel who voted for Obama can appreciate a rhetorical President who doesn't mangle 'nuclear' as Mr. Freeman, Ms. Power, et al. open bridges to Syria and Iran, pay for the Hamas reconstruction, and try to get back to the happy, calm years before 1967 when Israel was inside its 1948 borders and gave no offense. And for those who kept screaming that we were not liked abroad, we may well be now, since our positions will be pretty much like those that are shared by others, and even misunderstood states from Iran and Syria to Russia and North Korea will come to see that we have no intention of giving them any grounds for offense."(Via The Corner on NRO.)
2:06 PM | | 0 Comments
Bigger Is Better? - Of Course, He's a LIberal
Bigger Is Better?: "So apparently it's about good politics, not good policy:
Conversations with an array of White House aides, allies and advisers make clear that Obama sees the massive size of his agenda as a political advantage, not a vulnerability. The decision to move big and quickly with a $3.6 trillion budget that tries to tackle not just an ailing economy but energy, education and health care was a deliberate strategy -- one that Obama believes leaves Washington's deck stacked decisively in his favor, no matter the final fate of his proposals."(Via The Corner on NRO.)
2:02 PM | | 0 Comments
Too Big a Mess for Him
Freddie Mac CEO to resign - CNNMoney.com: "Newly-appointed Freddie Mac CEO David Moffett said he will resign by March 13; successor is yet to be named. By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney."
(Via Google News.)
1:55 PM | | 0 Comments
The Return of Gingrich
The Return of Gingrich: "Matt Bai's profile of Gingrich in the Times Magazine is worth a read. It's as accurate and unbiased a take in the mainstream press on a conservative as I can remember. Best quote:
'Most Republicans are not entrepreneurial,' he lamented to me. 'They're corporatists. They like the security and the comfort of a well-thought-out, highly boring boardroom meeting in which they do a PowerPoint once. And it worries them to have ideas, because ideas have edges, and they're not totally formed, and you've got to prove them, and they sound strange because they're new, and if it's new how do you know it's any good, because, after all, it's new and you've never heard it before.'
The most cringe-inducing bit, on the other hand, is when Gingrich says he is more like Benjamin Franklin than George Washington."(Via The Corner on NRO.)
1:34 PM | | 0 Comments
"Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket"
"Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket": "If anyone has any doubt that a cap and trade system will raise the cost of electricity for American consumers, here is a video of Barack Obama (from a conversation with San Francisco Chronicle editors in January of 2008) clearing it up:
Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, even, you know, regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."(Via The Corner on NRO.)
1:34 PM | | 0 Comments
Obama to Sign Pork-Filled Spending Bill
Obama to Sign Pork-Filled Spending Bill: "President will break campaign pledge, sign $410B budget bill laden with millions in lawmakers' pet projects"
(Via FOXNews.com.)
Big surprise.
1:29 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
9:51 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:49 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:47 PM | | 0 Comments
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?
1:44 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:42 PM | | 0 Comments
KJL on Palin
Blame Palin at Your Own Risk by Kathryn Jean Lopez on National Review Online
The recriminations begin early.
1:39 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:38 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:37 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:36 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:35 PM | | 0 Comments
Speaking of Blondes
American Thinker: Evita Peron Obama
When it comes to Barack Obama, fans of "Evita" have seen this show before.
1:34 PM | | 0 Comments
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.
1:32 PM | | 0 Comments
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...
11:05 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:53 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:52 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:50 AM | | 0 Comments
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:
11:39 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:38 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:35 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:33 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:32 AM | | 0 Comments
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.
11:31 AM | | 0 Comments