Friday Zen

Sphere: Related Content

McCain Behind Closed Doors: I'm Still For Comprehensive Immigration Reform!

Sphere: Related Content

Allahpundit over at Hot Air reports (with some info coming from Michelle Malkin) this depressing but not surprising information on John McCain's carefully screened meeting last night with Chicago area Latinos:

Exercise caution. There’s only one source, she’s a member of the Minutemen and thus perhaps inclined to look too skeptically at what Maverick says on this subject, and this wouldn’t be the first time in the past few days where the media’s exaggerated something he said at a town hall. Even so, we got a bunch of e-mails this morning about the AP wire report on last night’s “private meeting” in Chicago showcasing this quote from attendee Rosanna Pulido:

“He’s one John McCain in front of white Republicans. And he’s a different John McCain in front of Hispanics,” complained Rosanna Pulido, a Hispanic and conservative Republican who attended the meeting.

Pulido, who heads the Illinois Minuteman Project, which advocates for restrictive immigration laws, said she thought McCain was “pandering to the crowd” by emphasizing immigration reform in his 15-minute speech.

Jake Tapper must have gotten some e-mails too because he called her this morning to follow-up. Quote:

[S]he went to the meeting, a room full of 150-200 people. “Sure enough,” Pulido says, “his mantra at the meeting was comprehensive immigration reform.’ And there were cheers and applause whenever he mentioned comprehensive immigration reform.”

“Then he said, ‘I bet some of you don’t know this — did you know Spanish was spoken in Arizona before English?’ And the crowd roared. I was appalled,” Pulido said. “He was pandering to these people — that’s what they wanted to hear.”…

“He was telling one group of people one thing and the Hispanics another,” says Pulido. “I’m a conservative and I think he’s throwing conservatives under the bus.”…

As Allahpundit correctly notes, this isn't the best sourced story out there and its veracity should be regarded somewhat skeptically. Heightening one's skepticism is this quote:

"This was not a secret meeting," said Rafael Rivadeneira, a vice chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Illinois, who was among more than 150 Chicago-area Hispanic leaders who attended. "There was nothing he said that they wouldn't want people to hear."

What makes this story so troubling is how easy it is to believe. McCain had been building some degree of goodwill among conservatives over the past few days with his evolving-in-the-right-right-direction energy policies but it is very much like him to bristle at conservative support and turn around and bite us in the ass as his version of "You're welcome." We can only hope that the story is mis-characterizing the meeting and that McCain is smart enough to realize that roundly kicking your core constituents every now and then is not the smartest road to the White House. The lack of trust conservatives have over his position on illegal immigration is something he needs to overcome not to reinforce.

The Economy Stinks Because They Say It Does.

Sphere: Related Content

Hat tip to Michael Novak over on The Corner for this story detailing how the media distorts its reporting of news about the economy based on which party is in the White House.

Why has so much of the media accepted the deep recession story when the data is so mixed? The most plausible explanation is that many are motivated by political bias.

Economist John Lott and I studied thousands of economic news stories written over the past 30 years or so, and found that coverage tended to be far more negative when there was a Republican in the White House as there is now.

The bias has an easy explanation. Yale University economist Ray Fair has shown that a weak economy hurts the incumbent party. If a Democratic-leaning press can convince everyone that the economy is in recession, then it can influence the election.

Our analysis indicates that the treatment of the economy would be much different if there were a Democrat in the White House today. If so, then the headline of each bad piece of news would be, more accurately, "Economy Hovering Above Recession."

But instead of that, we get doom and gloom.

The politically motivated pessimism, like the computer virus, can have real consequences. While the economic data has been mediocre, consumer sentiment, as measured by the Conference Board, has been driven by the negative drumbeat to its lowest in 16 years. Negative sentiment might well slow spending enough to give us a textbook recession in the second half of the year.

But another possibility lurks behind the numbers. The Federal Reserve and Congress have delivered a ton of economic stimulus, and that stimulus is set to juice up an economy that has been weak, but not terrible. If everything goes according to plan, the economy will grow faster in the second half of the year, and a recession will have been avoided.

If we follow that path, then you can bet that the media won't admit it until Nov. 5.

Even in years when the msm is not as completely enamoured of the Democratic nominee as they are with Barack Obama, their reporting of the performance of the economy remains skewed. Is it any wonder then that this year, in which the economy is weak, but demonstrably not in a recession the msm rarely give us insights like the following:

Over the past two quarters, the annualized growth rate was about 0.7 percent, almost double the growth rate of the shallowest recession on record.

Consumption has been holding up as well. Annualized real consumption growth over the first two quarters of a postwar recession is 0.2 percent. The maximum annualized growth rate over the first two quarters was 2.8 percent, posted during the 1969-70 recession. The minimum growth rate over the same time frame was negative 4.7 percent, which was posted during the recession of 1980.

The annualized growth rate over the past two quarters has been 0.8 percent, not the best on record, but roughly four times higher than the typical post-World War II recession.

A pessimist might argue that the jobs data has been terrible this time, right?

Think again.

Job Losses

The average change in non-farm employment during the first six months of a postwar recession is negative 387,000. The maximum employment loss was slightly more than 1 million during the recession of 1948-49. In the recession of 1973-74, employment actually rose 690,000. That's a wacky number for a variety of reasons. If we exclude it from the calculations, then the average post-war recession began with a drop of 506,000 jobs.

The employment loss since December 2007 has been 324,000 jobs, way below that average.

Barack Obama is spending a good deal of his efforts running against the "Bush economy" as if it were almost as awful as Reaganomics (a term that fell out of favor with the press when Reagan's economic policies actually kicked in and started to work) but in fact the economy continues to grow, even now, albeit slowly. Don't expect the media to correct him anytime soon.

Has McCain Found His Issue?

Sphere: Related Content

John McCain's task in this election is a daunting one. Some of the impediments he faces are:

1. The fact his party is in extreme disfavor with the public


2. He is of the party of an unpopular President finishing his second term leaving a struggling economy


3. He will be facing an opponent the press loves


4. He will be facing a much better funded opponent


5. His base is unenthusiastic about his candidacy


6. He's old


7. Etc

But he does have a possible ace up his sleeve if he's willing to use it and there seem to be more signs every day that he just might be. Yesterday came this story announcing that he called for:

...the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds "to make clean coal a reality," measures designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

In a third straight day of campaigning devoted to the energy issue, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting also said the only time Democratic rival Barack Obama voted for a tax cut was for a "break for the oil companies."

McCain said the 104 nuclear reactors currently operating around the country produce about 20 percent of the nation's annual electricity needs.

"Every year, these reactors alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America. Yet for all these benefits, we have not broken ground on a single nuclear plant in over thirty years," he said. "And our manufacturing base to even construct these plants is almost gone."

Coupled with his recent announcement of being in favor of additional offshore drilling McCain is starting to look serious about an issue that is top of mind for a large segment of the population. According to a recent CBS poll Gas/Heating oil is second only to Economy/Jobs as the most important problem facing this country today (and an argument can be made that energy and the economy are really part of the same issue).

The advantages of taking this pro-active, pro-American initiative line are numerous.

1. It isn't pie in the sky. It will work to bring energy prices down. As soon as the market understands that more oil will be coming online even if it will be some years down the road the price of oil will begin to drop. And a belief that more nuclear power will be added to America's energy mix will have the same effect.

2. Barack Obama can't mimic McCain. As this story points out:

A recent report by the Interior Department shows that there are about 139 billion barrels of undiscovered oil on U.S. territory, onshore and offshore combined, much of it restricted from extraction because of environmental regulations. Further, indications are that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) does not support drilling for that oil and would not take steps to do so if elected president.

On Monday, President Bush called on Congress to allow the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Continental Shelf to be opened to domestic oil drilling -- something that would "help us through this difficult period" of $4 per gallon gasoline, he said.

Since entering the Senate, however, Obama has co-sponsored at least 100 pieces of legislation supported by environmentalists, including measures against further domestic oil drilling. He has voted against drilling in ANWR and against an oil leasing program also set for ANWR.

Obama explained why he opposed domestic oil drilling in his bestselling book, "The Audacity of Hope."

"We cannot drill our way out of the problem," Obama wrote, adding, "over the last 30 years, countries like Brazil have used a mix of regulation and direct government investment to develop a bio-fuel industry; 70 percent of its new vehicles run on sugar-based ethanol."

In a Sept. 2005 speech in Indianapolis, Obama further stated his opposition to expanded oil drilling.

"We could open up every square inch of America to drilling and we still wouldn't even make a dent in our oil dependency," he said. "We could open up ANWR today, and at its peak, which would be more than a decade from now, it would give us enough oil to take care of our transportation needs for about a month. Clearly, this is not a solution."

It isn't merely that he's made statements opposing drilling in the past - God knows that violating his word is not a major concern for Obama as his violating his previous policy on public financing of his campaign shows) but he can't afford to alienate the Environmental extremists who have been major supporters. Yesterday the Sierra Club endorsed Obama and most other environmental groups are likely to do the same. He won't risk their ire. So as McCain's position becomes better known and gains him some traction, Obama is stuck making excuses.

Also if McCain would finally reevaluate his position on drilling in ANWR, a place which he still persists in believing is some sort of Grand Canyon-like pristine wonderland (Its not. Swamp in the summer; tundra in the winter. See photo below) he could go a long way in warming up those conservatives who remain hostile to him, a significant portion of whom may choose to "sit this one out" unless McCain does something to make them happy. ANWR may just be that warm bath they're looking for.

John McCain is not going to have an easy time winning this election but a full-bore push to cut energy prices by making the US more independent of Arab oil could go a long way in accomplishing that end.

Blogs For John McCain is encourage as well

Just Average American comments

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air also notes the opportunity for McCain

The Opinion Blog notes Charles Krauthammer's column on this issue

Thursday Zen

Sphere: Related Content

Drill, Dammit, Drill

Sphere: Related Content

Amazingly it looks like the Republicans might actually be getting smart on the issue of drilling for domestic oil. Yesterday President Bush came out in support of ...

...John McCain’s plan to lift the ban on fresh oil drilling off the US coast and accused Democrats of contributing to record fuel prices by restricting domestic production.

Mr Bush called on the Democratic-controlled Congress to lift the moratorium that has limited access to offshore oil and gas reserves for more than two decades.

His intervention came a day after Mr McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, made the same proposal in a shift from his previous support for the ban.

Mr Bush said about 18bn barrels of oil were believed to exist in the 80 per cent of US coastal waters that are off-limits to drilling – enough to match current US production for 10 years.

The Republicans have made their push for increased domestic oil production a key policy ahead of November’s presidential poll amid mounting public anger at soaring petrol prices.

McCain's move towards opening up more domestic drilling is a move in the right direction on what will probably be one of main issues in this campaign season and one on which the Dems are vulnerable, beholden as they are to the Evironmental loons of the Left. McCain, of course, is still opposed to drilling in ANWR, for reasons that still seem as mysterious as Mona Lisa's smile but the fact that he positioning himself as he seems to be doing hopefully is hinting at a reevaluation of his current ANWR policy.

The American people, under the pressure of the current dramatic spike in oil prices are finding that their adherence to every whim of the Environmental movement has consequences that they might not be ready to live with. A recent poll shows that the Republicans might just have found an issue on which they and country are unambigiously in agreement:

A push by U.S. President George W. Bush and Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain to lift a ban on U.S. offshore oil drilling could find plenty of support from Americans weary of rising energy costs, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll.

Some 59.6 percent of Americans surveyed in the poll released on Wednesday said they would favor government efforts to boost domestic drilling and refinery construction to cool record prices.

Roughly the same amount -- 59.3 percent -- said they would back efforts to reduce domestic demand in the world's biggest energy consumer through tougher fuel-efficiency standards, while 54.2 percent of respondents said they supported increased use of biofuels like ethanol to cut gasoline use.

With Iraq more clearly appearing to be a success with every passing day and an emphasis on doing what the American people want done re: oil drilling, maybe, just maybe this November won't be quite the debacle for Republicans it seemed certain to be just a short time ago.

But of course one should never discount their ability to screw things up, either.

Hot Air is encouraged as well

OverView Of Michelle's Big Adventure

Sphere: Related Content

Barbara Walters, continuing her personal jihad against whatever might have remained of her credibility (and believe me, there wasn't much left) invited Michelle Obama to The View yesterday to, you know just shmooze with the girls; fist-bump, talk about pantyhose, how she manages to look so smashing, etc. But Babs wasn't going to shy away from the tough questions so she also blind-sided the lovely Michelle by asking her to try to figure out why those vile, hate-mongering Republicans are going to "you know...attack you...What do you think is causing this controversy and these attacks?" Of course Joy Behar and Whoopie Goldberg were on hand to help Michelle and show deep understanding of any nonsensical thing she might say.

Speaking of nonsensical and Whoopi, her observation that up until now Black women on TV have usually been toothless imbeciles actually seemed to raise the same question in Michelle's mind as it did in mine: 'Whoopi, what the Hell kind of racist crap are you saying?' Sort of off the top of my head the first Black women on TV who come to my mind are Oprah Winfrey, Condi Rice, Halle Berry and Vanessa Williams. Not a toothless grammatically-challenged simp among them.

But aside from that little lapse Babs and the chicks tried to make Michelle's little visit as unchallenging and uncontroversial for her as if it were scripted by the DNC. But despite the effort to make things as smooth as possible the political Michelle couldn't help but pop out now and then. In talking about the Obamessiah's Father's Day speech, in which he parroted Bill Cosby without the sincerity Michelle couldn't help but uncover her solution to just about everything: government. Even while couching her answer in terms of personal responsibility she lets us know that it is government's responsibility to make parents responsible. Of course if the Obama's were interested in Black fathers' sticking around and being real fathers they might not support the whole social and political structure that has destroyed the Black family. But the girls were certainly never going to go there.

By the time the half hour love-fest was over the Obama campaign had gotten exactly what it wanted, the reinvention of Michelle, the former perpetually po'ed dragon-lady into Michelle, the homebody, the America-lover, the chick who's just like you and all your girlfriends who just went to see the Sex and the City movie together (and yes, of course Michelle loves S and the C. Duh.).

I'll bet it got boffo ratings. Mission Accomplished. For Michelle, that is. For Babs, what's left? Participating in a wet T-shirt contest?

Michelle Malkin comments as well

Hot Air does as well

Wednesday Zen

Sphere: Related Content

Illegal Immigration Benign? Uh, Not really

Sphere: Related Content

A hat tip to John Derbyshire at NRO for the astonishing video, above. Derb's source, Tuscon schoolteacher John A. Ward concludes a formal complaint to the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board with the following:

Although the video highlights one teacher at one school in TUSD, my experiences as a former teacher in the ethnic studies program in TUSD allow me to recognize the situation for the much wider problem that it is. TUSD should be forthcoming about its ethnic studies program. It has an obligation to the citizens of Tucson and the taxpayers of Arizona to do so. Ultimately, it is We the People who get to decide the nature of our public schools, not one powerful lobby within the District.

I wish I could carry the video around in my pocket and whip it out to every person who tells me illegals have no other motivation in coming here than to earn a buck and become Americanized.

A Tale Of Two More Endorsements

Sphere: Related Content

The Wall Street Journal yesterday had a good piece on who some influential Iraqis support in the upcoming US Presidential election. The answer should come as no surprise:

"...I did sit down last week with four key provincial Iraqi leaders, Sunnis and Shiites, who -- without actually endorsing Mr. McCain -- made their views abundantly clear.

"The Iraqis are really fearful about some of the positions the Democratic Party has adopted," says Sheik Ahmed Abu Rishah. "If the Democrats win, they will be withdrawing their forces in a very rapid manner."

Mamoun Sami Rashid al-Alawi, the governor of Anbar province, agrees. "We have over a million casualties, thousands of houses destroyed," he says. "Are we going to tell [Iraqis] that the game is over? That the Americans are pulling out?"

Messrs. Abu Rishah and Awani, both Sunni, have possibly the toughest political jobs on the planet. Sheik Abu Rishah inherited the leadership of the Iraq Awakening movement when his brother was killed by al Qaeda last September. Gov. Awani's immediate predecessor was kidnapped and killed by insurgents, and he has survived more than a score of assassination attempts.

Today, the governor speaks with a mixture of confidence and foreboding. He insists al Qaeda has been vanquished. But, he adds, "Iraq is in a strategic location and has huge resources. There are a lot of eyes on Iraq." Later in the conversation, he makes his point more precisely. "Liberating Iraq is a very good dish. And now you are going to hand it over to Iran?"

A sense of incredulity hangs over the way Iraqis see the U.S. political debate taking shape. The governor tells a moving story about their visit to Walter Reed hospital, where they were surprised to find smiles on the faces of GIs who had lost limbs. "The smile is because they feel they have accomplished something for the American people."

But the Iraqis came away with a different impression in Chicago, where they had hoped to meet with Mr. Obama but ended up talking to a staff aide. "We noticed there was a concentration on the negatives," the governor recalls. "The Democrat kept saying that Americans have committed a lot of mistakes. Yes, that's true, but why don't you concentrate on what the Americans have achieved in Iraq?"

The Iraqis are even more incredulous about Mr. Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iran, which they see as a predatory regime. "Do you Americans forget what the Iranians did to your embassy?" asks the governor. "Don't you know that Ahmadinejad was one of [the hostage takers]?"

Only in these times would it not be surprising to see foreigners trying to talk up the accomplishments of the US to a disparaging US Presidential contender. The concluding sentences of the piece almost have to be read twice to be believed:

The administration and the Iraqi government are now wrangling over a status-of-forces agreement -- evidence that Iraq has reached a point where it can once again act like a sovereign nation. But the Iraqis leave no doubt that they want a deal, not least "so Iraq would be able to protect U.S. interests in the region," as Sheik Abu Rishah puts it. Having lost 4,100 Americans for Iraq, the Iraqis are offering to return the sacrifice -- assuming only that the alliance endures.

Throughout our interview, the men did not stop fingering their prayer beads, as if their future hinges on their ability to make their case to the American public. They're right: It does. Which is why Iraq, all but alone among the nations, will be praying for a McCain victory on the first Tuesday in November.

Now after reading the above the following video doesn't seem so odd:



A few days after this endorsement, Hamas did recant but one has to wonder if that had more to do with the recognition that their good words were hurting their candidate than any real reevaluation of Obama.

RedArizona also notes who is supporting McCain

The Goracle Endorses The Obamessiah

Sphere: Related Content

Al Gore's endorsement of Barack Obama is an act of courage the likes of which has not been seen since the first liberal donned an AIDS ribbon. Courageously waiting until weeks after the Obamessiah secured the Democratic nomination Gore, looking overstuffed and sounding more and more like an unhealthy version of wrestling promoter, Vince McMahon took the stage to hector the American people and tell pretty lies about Saint Barack.

Seemingly eating a steady diet of his own press clippings Gore condescended to his audience by saying some calculatedly kind words about John McCain which he knew would garner boos so that he could play the role of "bigger man" before coming out against "experience" as a qualification for high office.

But our shared experience as a nation tells us otherwise. I remember when one prominent Republican wondered out loud whether the Democratic nominee, and “really is grown up enough to be president.” Another used the phrase, “naive and inexperienced.” Yet another said, “the United States cannot afford to risk the future of the free world with inexperience and immaturity in the White House.” Who are they talking about? Every single one of those quotations came from the campaign of 1960, when the Republicans attacked John Fitzgerald Kennedy for allegedly lacking the age and experience necessary to be president.

Apparently Gore forgot that one of the centerpieces of Democratic candidate, Mike Dukakis' 1988 campaign against George Bush was his "poor judgement" in picking as inexperienced a VP candidate as Dan Quayle (who, by the way was far more accomplished and experienced than is the Obamessiah). Hey, Al I know about Dan Quayle. He was a Vice President of mine and Barack Obama is no Dan Quayle and as I've said here, that is not a good thing.

Of course Al, showing even more audacity than he does girth had to, as always, go into his global warming rap despite this info which comes via Hot Air:

In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research…
In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month…

After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use [in February 2007], the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month – 1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Apparently the audacity of hope is not the only audacity Democrats like to display.

But even more odd than Obama's delight at the 12th hour endorsement by one of America's most peculiar, scolding frauds is the location chosen for the the pasty former VP to give it; Michigan, home of the US auto industry. This would hardly seem to be the most auspicious locale from which the planet's conscience should try to pump up the fortunes of the hallowed one. Simply put, Al Gore is not exactly a friend of cars. In his towering work of overstatement, Earth in the Balance Gore had this to say:

When we seek to artificially enhance our capacity to acquire what we need from the earth, we do so at the direct expense of the earth’s ability to provide naturally what we are seeking. We frequently ignore the impact of our technological alchemy on natural processes. When we manufacture millions of internal combustion engines and automate the conversion of oxygen to CO2, we interfere with the earth’s ability to cleanse itself of the impurities that are normally removed from the atmosphere.
Source: Earth in the Balance, page 207

While he likes to add how doing this is something of a cinch and would actually produce and not lose jobs I wonder how the average auto worker would react if they realized that the man who wrote the words above may well get a chance to act on those beliefs in an Obama presidency.

All in all, even in a campaign that seems more political satire than reality, Gore's endorsement spectacle managed to come off as, well, weird. What's next Barack; America-cursing clergy? Oh, wait. Never mind.

Sister Toldja note the fraud of the Goracle also

Barking Moonbat also takes note of the historic endorsement

Stop The ACLU also thinks the Goracle is a wee bit of a phony

Wake Up America thinks so, too

Moobattery also pays homage to the Goracle

So does Secular Apostate

Mike's America doesn't think much of the planet's conscience, either

Liberty Pundit is also amused by the Goracle's hypocrisy

Common Sense Political Thought notes it as well

Stormy Weather

Sphere: Related Content

Had a bit of a lightning storm in Northeastern CT where I live last night that kept me off the computer during the time I usually write so there probably won't be many (if any) posts today. Be back tomorrow.

Monday Zen

Sphere: Related Content

Pet Chair!

Sphere: Related Content

It was designed by a Dutch guy. I always tell you those damn Eurpeans are lazy...Of course it does look kinda cool and...NO! NO! I won't be buying one! I mean it. Really.

Tough Times

Sphere: Related Content

My buddy Brian over at Liberty Pundit is having a bit of a tough time right now. He lives right near the mid-West flooding. While his home is safe, his job is under water and this is causing some understandable hardship. Any help would be appreciated.

WFB Should Have "Plastered" Him When He Had The Chance

Sphere: Related Content

During a 1968 joint television appearance at the Democratic National Convention William F. Buckley turned to author/homosexual/lefty gasbag Gore Vidal, who had just called him a "crypto-Nazi, and uttered these now famous words "Now listen, you queer, you stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered." Sadly there was no follow-through and the execrable Vidal remained un-plastered. Buckley should have hit him.

In yesterday's NY Times Magazine Vidal was interviewed and had this to say about John McCain's years being held as a POW in Vietnam:

Reporter: And what about Mr. McCain?

Vidal: Disaster. Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?

Reporter: Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Vidal: That’s what he tells us.

As reprehensible as such suggestions are, they're really very much in keeping with Vidal's personality which, along with his native intellect, viperous nature and the joy he takes in condescending to everyone from kings to kooks made him something of an enfant terrible when young. Sadly the enfant terrible often morphs into the cranky nut-job as he ages and so it has been with Vidal.

Among some of his more intentionally provocative (never discount the use of the vicious bon mot to gain publicity) quotes are:

"When Ronald Reagan's career in show business came to an end, he was hired to impersonate, first, a California governor and then an American president who would reduce taxes for his employers, the Southern and Western New Rich, much of whose money came from the defence industries. There is nothing unusual about this arrangement. All recent presidents have had their price-tags."
Gore Vidal, Armageddon? (essay)

"Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies." (A little bit of self-revelation which actually explains much about him.)
Gore Vidal, "quoted in Sunday Times Magazine (London)", September 16, 1973

'We still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true purpose. But it is fairly plain to many civil libertarians that 9/11 put paid not only to much of our fragile Bill of Rights but also to our once-envied system of government which had taken a mortal blow the previous year when the Supreme Court did a little dance in 5/4 time and replaced a popularly elected President with the oil and gas Bush-Cheney junta.'
Gore Vidal - "The Enemy Within" essay

'The truth about Pearl Harbour is obscured to this day. But it has been much studied. 11 September, it is plain, is never going to be investigated if Bush has anything to say about it.'
Gore Vidal - "The Enemy Within" essay

Vidal had spent much of his dotage cultivating his unpleasant, factually dubious rhetoric but the charge against McCain, the facts of which he seems blithely unaware may hopefully hasten his retreat into irrelevance.


McCain's experiences as a POW are briefly summarized here by people far more credible than the conspiracy mongering Vidal.



Hat tip to Hot Air

Commentary Magazine also notes

Baldilocks Strikes Back!

Sphere: Related Content

A respectful head nod to fellow blogger baldilocks for having the principles and guts to go after Black conservatives for going wobbly and potentially voting for the Left-wing extremist, Barack Obama. Baldilocks references this story which documents how some previously stalwart conservatives, people who know why liberalism is antithetical to the best interests of not just White people but Black people and people across the color spectrum, are placing color above the best interests of the nation.

Highlighted are such folks as former Congressman J.C. Watts and radio host Armstrong Williams. Retired General Colin Powell is also noted, although his "conservatism" on issues other than military have always been something of a question mark. Notably lacking in the story are such true-believers as Dr. Thomas Sowell, who has made it clear that Obama's policies, whatever his skin tone, make him utterly unacceptable as President and radio talk show host and all around brilliant guy Larry Elder who is also putting priniciple first.

Baldilocks, like Sowell and Elder puts principle over pride, even the understandable pride taken in the fact that a Black man is a serious contender for the highest office in the land.

Armstrong Williams, Rep. J.C. Watts, General Colin Powell, Senator Edward Brooke and, sadly, my friend Joseph C. Phillips may be falling into the trap which I have repeatedly described--one lined with pride and with fear: pride of race and fear that Obama is the last chance for a black president to be elected. (GOPAC chairman Michael Steele isn't going for the okey doke, however; but that may be only due to his position.)

People say that women have problems thinking objectively and strategically. Well, I'm seeing a whole group of men who are having that problem. Friends, you're letting the nearness of a dream's seeming fulfillment blind you to what will likely come after that ephemeral happiness is dissipated, after the novelty has worn off: the nightmare.

And guess who will get blamed for that short-sightedness? Not just you.

With 90+ percent of black Americans voting Democrat regardless of who the candidate is, it will be bad enough as it is. But I, for one, expect you, black conservative Republican men to have enough balls to stand on principle, not on your emotions. You've shown your testicular fortitude by being publicly conservative against a tide of Identity Politics. Don't start behaving like castrati now.

Stop thinking selfishly. We're not choosing a President of Black American Dream Fulfillment; we're choosing a President of the United States.

It has always been amazing to me that Blacks stick as faithfully to the Democratic Party as they do considering the monumental damage that party has done to them. Writer Bruce Bartlett chronicles that damage in his book Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past . And in this column he summarizes some of the Democratic sins:

Slavery is the greatest evil ever to beset black people in this country. In the decades leading up to the Civil War, there was intense political debate on what to do about it. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 for the express purpose of ending slavery. The Democratic Party, by contrast, defended it to the bitter end.

Just to show how far Democrats would go to defend slavery, it's worth remembering what happened to Sen. Charles Sumner, Republican of Massachusetts. After giving a speech denouncing slavery in 1856, he was viciously beaten by Rep. Preston Brooks, Democrat of South Carolina, for daring to question the right to own slaves. Being a coward, Brooks waited until the elderly Sumner was seated alone at his desk in the Senate and, without warning, struck him repeatedly with a cane. It took months for Sumner to recover.

In 1858, Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat of Illinois, debated Republican Abraham Lincoln on the question of slavery. Said Douglas during one of those debates: "For one, I am opposed to negro citizenship in any and every form. I believe this government was made on the white basis. I believe it was made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and I am in favor of confining citizenship to white men, men of European birth and descent, instead of conferring it upon negroes, Indians and other inferior races."

So prevalent were these views in the Democratic Party that Douglas was named its presidential candidate in 1860. Amazingly, Southerners actually viewed Douglas as being too moderate on the slavery issue and instead voted for Vice President John C. Breckinridge, a slave-owner who also ran as a Democrat, thus splitting the pro-slavery vote and allowing Lincoln to win.

After the war, the Democratic Party held a lock on the South for more than 100 years. All of the "Jim Crow" laws that prevented blacks from voting and kept them down were enacted by Democratic governors and Democratic legislatures. The Ku Klux Klan was virtually an auxiliary arm of the Democratic Party, and any black (or white) who threatened the party's domination was liable to be beaten or lynched. Democrats enacted the first gun-control laws in order to prevent blacks from defending themselves against Ku Klux Klan violence. Chain gangs were developed by Democrats to bring back de facto slave labor.

President Woodrow Wilson, the second Democrat to serve since the Civil War, reintroduced segregation throughout the federal government immediately upon taking office in 1913. Avowed racists such as Josephus Daniels and Albert Burleson were named Cabinet secretaries. Black leaders like W.E.B. DuBois, who had strongly supported Wilson, were bitterly disappointed, but shouldn't have been surprised. As president of Princeton University, Wilson refused to admit blacks and as governor of New Jersey ignored blacks' requests for state jobs, even though their votes had provided his margin of victory.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt had his first opportunity to name a member of the Supreme Court, he appointed a life member of the Ku Klux Klan, Sen. Hugo Black, Democrat of Alabama. In 1944, FDR chose as his vice president Harry Truman, who had joined the Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City in 1922. Throughout his presidency, Roosevelt resisted Republican efforts to pass a federal law against lynching, and he opposed integration of the armed forces.

Another Ku Klux Klan member, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, personally filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for 14 straight hours to keep it from passage. He is still a member of the U.S. Senate today. As recently as the 1980s, Sen. Ernest Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina, publicly referred to blacks as "darkies" and Hispanics as "wetbacks" without suffering any punishment from his party.

In short, the historical record clearly shows that Democrats, not Republicans, have been the party of racism in this country.

Liberal policies tie Blacks to a new master, the government which, like any smart master keeps them dependent. Black conservatives know this. How they can now even think of signing up with Massa' because he may now have a Black face is something on which other conservatives should confront them.

Baldilocks does and she deserves credit for doing so.

Rhymes with Right also reviews The Dem's history re: race

D.C. Thornton also sees it right

So does Outside The Beltway

Obama's REAL Color Problem: Its Not That He's Black; Its That He's Yellow

Sphere: Related Content

Barack Obama, the man who is simply hopping up and down to go head to head with the Iranian Hitler, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and any other kill-crazy maniac who has murdered his way to the leadership of some country or other is scared to death of facing John McCain. McCain's comments in the video above refer to his original offer to Obama to meet with him mano-y-mano in a series of ten unstructured joint-candidate townhall meetings. As McCain notes in the video Obama has backed out of eight of those debates, accepts one that will be Lincoln/Douglas style (they'll give long speeches to each other and take no questions) and one townhall gathering on JULY 4 when nobody is watching TV.

What this says about Obama is that what we all know already is correct: the townhall format, in which longer, detailed answers are required is not his forte. In the past this type of unscripted forum has led to some of Obama's most embarrassing moments on the campaign trail. He stutters and stammers and mangles the facts, contradicting himself with wild abandon. In other words without a script in front of him he shows himself to be the shallow glass of water many on the Right believe him to be. His refusal to accept McCain's offer shows that he believes it, too. His refusal to go up against McCain in this kind of unstructured format is an amazing admission, especially contrasted with how he says he will handle foreign leaders. On the one one hand he's telling us that he doesn't have the goods to deal with McCain while on the campaign trail he's telling us he will meet with the Ahmadinejad's of the world, who are conspiring against us, ASAP and without preconditions.

Whatever you may think about McCain (and I've stated my negative feelings about him ad nauseum in numerous posts) he doesn't want to blow America up. Ahmadinejad does. So Obama would prefer to risk screwing up against a guy who is a genuine danger to the country than with a man who is only a danger to Obama's own ambitions. Obama isn't just a coward, he's also a fool and as President he would be a dangerous one.

I was listening to Brit Hume's show last night and in the roundtable session they were discussing Obama's refusal to take on McCain in the ten townhalls. While acknowledging that Obama was a coward for avoiding them they felt that this really wouldn't matter to the electorate as the main issues in the campaign will remain the eoconomy and the war. Well they may have been right about the issues but they were wrong about Obama's behavior in this situation being irrelevant. The public is still forming their opinions about Obama and if they come to see that he simply doesn't have what it takes to lead that will affect how they vote. In conjunction with Obama's socialist policies McCain should highlight Obama's cowardice daily. He has the wrong message and he is the wrong man. If people recognize that, Obama can't win.

Stop The ACLU also knows a chicken when they see one.

Hot Air does, too

And Wake Up America

RIP Tim Russert

Sphere: Related Content

Meet The Press Anchor Tim Russert died today while at work.

Tim Russert, NBC News's Washington bureau chief who was renowned for his tough questioning of politicians, died of a heart attack after collapsing while at work today. He was 58.

Russert was perhaps most famous for his probing questions of politicians on the Sunday morning talk show ``Meet the Press.'' He was also a best-selling author whose books included a tribute to his father, ``Big Russ and Me.''

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw announced Russert's death on the air, telling viewers about Russert's childhood growing up in Buffalo, New York, his love for his family and his tremendous work ethic. Brokaw said Russert was ``one of the premier political analysts and journalists of his time.''

``The news division will not be the same,'' Brokaw said.

Russert took over as anchor of ``Meet the Press'' on Dec. 8, 1991, and since then it has become the most-watched Sunday morning interview program in the U.S. and the most-quoted news program in the world, according to the network's Web site.

He was born in Buffalo on May 7, 1950, and graduated from John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. He earned a law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Cleveland.

He worked for former New York Governor Mario Cuomo in Albany from 1983 to 1984 and was a special counsel in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 1982.

He was married to journalist Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine and had a son, Luke.

Our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Further commentary this weekend.

Hot Air also notes his passing

So does Flopping Aces

Friday Zen

Sphere: Related Content

Come Back Laura Ingraham!

Sphere: Related Content

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has the latest on Laura Ingraham's disappearance from her own radio show these past few weeks.

Laura Ingraham has apparently run into a contract dispute with her syndicator and has been off the air for most of the last two weeks. It seems like a bad time for the Right to lose one of its strong and entertaining national voices. The Republicans and conservatives look like they’re in for a bad time already in Congressional races, and the effort to inform people about the presidential race and its issues needs to be in full gear now.

Come back, Laura. We need you.

Michelle Malkin agrees

Hugo Chavez Campaigns For Obama (Well Sort of)

Sphere: Related Content

Venezuelan Communist President Hugo Chavez, enemy of GWB and 'bro to the stars is apparently ramping up the rhetoric against our current President.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he expects oil prices to keep climbing and predicts they could reach $200 a barrel.

It isn't the first time the Venezuelan leader has mentioned that benchmark-- though he hasn't said when it might be reached.

Chavez reiterated the prediction after the price of light, sweet crude continued to rise on the New York Mercantile Exchange and settled at $136.38 a barrel Wednesday.

Chavez said in a televised speech Wednesday that oil should be $100 a barrel, but could keep rising to $200.

He blamed the falling U.S. dollar, U.S. ``threats'' against Iran, and what he called ``bad management'' of the U.S. economy for driving rising prices.

Venezuela is the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the U.S.

Chavez is, of course an expert on economic management as this story shows:

Mirina Kakalanos has been forced to double prices at her family's shoe store in the last year. Customers turn away after browsing the pumps and sandals, but Kakalanos says she has no choice.
“There is less money coming in, and more costs to cover,” said the 40-year-old mother of three, whose Greek immigrant father opened the shop after moving to Venezuela in search of a better life. Now she barely makes enough to get by.


Boom times are waning in oil-rich Venezuela, even as world crude prices soar. Inflation is nearing 30 percent, the highest in Latin America, and annual economic growth slowed to 4.8 percent in the first quarter, a four-year low.
Analysts say President Hugo Chavez's economic policies are hindering private investment and growth just as he hopes to boost support ahead of November's regional elections. Many point to the economy as his Achilles' heel.

Already complaining of inflation and food shortages, voters last December rejected constitutional changes that would have allowed Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely – his first blow at the ballot box, where he had enjoyed four straight electoral and referendum wins.

Inflation has been a familiar problem, but a newly slowing growth rate is making it a more urgent concern.

As prospective Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has shown great interest in a very similar economic agenda it is only left to be wondered how much he will be involved in the upcoming campaign.

When asked just that question, long-time Chavez pal, actor Sean Penn said,

"Bush is a f...king b..stard and murdering sc..bag. I hope his f..king .ss gets..."

Well, you get the point.

Mugabe's Reign Of Terror Continues - World Shrugs

Sphere: Related Content

Serial killer and election-thief Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is continuing his brutal ways in the aftermath of his country's recent much disputed Presidential election.

President Robert Mugabe's regime struck at his rivals Thursday only two weeks before Zimbabwe's presidential runoff, twice detaining his challenger and jailing the No. 2 opposition leader to face treason charges.

The U.S. ambassador, meanwhile, said 20 tons of American food aid heading to impoverished Zimbabwean children had been seized by authorities last week and given to Mugabe supporters at a rally.

The repeated detentions, coupled with Western accusations that Mugabe's regime is using food as a weapon, dramatically demonstrate the obstacles to the campaign thrown up by the longtime leader.

"This is a government that is taking tremendous and, frankly, awful strides to maintain its power, that is increasingly abusing its own citizens and has raised, or should I say lowered, the bar to a level that we rarely see," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said in Washington.

Morgan Tsvangirai, who led the opening round of presidential voting 2 1/2 months ago and faces the increasingly autocratic Mugabe in a June 27 runoff, was first stopped at a roadblock in the south and held at a police station for about two hours, his party said.

Apparently feeling these actions aren't enough to frighten and silence his opponents Mugabe has found more horrific ways to get his point across:

BRUTALITY has sunk to new lows in Zimbabwe ahead of this month's election, with government militiamen burning people alive.

It emerged yesterday that three people linked to the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change party were killed in two attacks last Friday.

Dadirai Chipiro, 45, was attacked by three men seeking her husband who was away on business, The Times reported.

They grabbed Ms Chipiro and chopped off a hand and both her feet.

Then they shoved her into her hut, locked the door and hurled a petrol bomb through the window.

On Friday the 21-year-old pregnant wife of a local councillor in Harare - Pamela Pasvani - was burned to death.

The councillor's six-year-old son also died in the fire.

Mugabe's neighboring countries have been approached about dealing with him in the past and have instead given him a total pass. That is why attempts to involve them in the current situation are so depressing:

[US Ambassador James] McGee called on Zimbabwe's neighbors to intervene, saying the Southern African Development Community should send more observers to ensure peace before and during the vote.

Officials of the regional group said 120 monitors would deploy beginning Thursday and plans called for a total of 400 observers by election day—three times the number sent for the March 29 vote.

"We'd like to see three to four times that," McGee said. "Then I think we would have an opportunity" for free and fair elections.

The opposition, McGee and other foreign diplomats, and Zimbabwean and international human rights groups accuse Mugabe of unleashing violence against Tsvangirai's supporters to ensure Mugabe wins the runoff.

The government and Mugabe's party deny the allegations.

And so Mugabe's monstrous reign of terror goes on. And so does the "world community" of which so many in the US are so impressed, without any real intention to do anything about him.

Hot Air takes note

Thought Leader is also outraged

BuzzFlash.net talks about UMass revoking Mugabe's degree

So is Vlad Tepes

Hugh Hewitt is also displeased

A Blog For All is equally outraged

Rep Man doesn't seem thrilled, either

John McCain Is Learning A Lesson About What The "New Politics" Is Like - Same Old Same Old

Sphere: Related Content

It is probably a very good thing for John McCain that the Dems have their nominee locked in so far in advance of the conventions and the "official" start of the Presidential race. All this lead time should give McCain plenty of opportunity to see how self-defeating will be his planned "civil" campaign against Barack Obama.

Despite giving oh-so-very-many hope, Obama, a "new kind of politician" ya know, seems oddly comfortable with lying to the public about McCain's comments and positions, not to mention dropping the very old-type-of-politicians habit of speaking in "code phrases" (about which the Left are so sensitive) about McCain's age.

The Obama distortion that McCain is responding to above is sort of the continuation of his lie of a few months ago in which he tried to make it sound as if McCain would be happy if American troops remained in Iraq for "100 years". Obama intentionally made it sound like McCain would be happy with American soldiers fighting and dying there for 100 years. In fact McCain meant then, as he means in the current situation that it wouldn't be terrible if American troops were in Iraq in the future the way American troops are still in Japan and South Korea, as non-fighting monitors. At the time even the msm thought Obama's distortion was egregious enough to confront him on it directly. That didn't stop Mr. Hope and Change. He blithely just kept on 'a lyin'.

There are more chinks in Saint Obama's armor than in any other candidate in recent memory. From his radical buddies, his socialist policies, his lack of any demonstrated policy or legislative leadership, his breathtaking ignorance on foreign policy, his lack of curiosity about what is really going on on the ground in Iraq, his quotidian gaffes and on and on, Obama is a veritable goldmine of material that can be used for attacks. If, in spite of Obama's gutter tactics McCain still finds it uncivil to hit him over the head with rhetorical 2x4s on a regular basis he will certainly lose.

Hopefully for him these recent hints of the deluge of garbage the Dems are about to drop on him has been bracing enough that he'll understand what it is that he's up against and what he'll have to do about it to win.

Liberal Values, a liberal but not a moonbat discusses

Thursday Zen

Sphere: Related Content

Shh! Don't Tell Al Gore: Late Spring Snowstorm On Mount Hood

Sphere: Related Content

Its a darn good thing that Al Gore is impervious to facts because if he cared a lick about the truth this story would rattle the King of Global Warming:

Winter-like weather returned to the Northwest as snow fell across the state Tuesday including on Mount Hood where drivers were dealing with unusual weather for this time of year.

And while it didn't cause major problems, most people were asking, "What happened to spring?"

The snowfall at Timberline Tuesday was amazing, blowing snow and ice most of the day. There was packed snow and ice on the roadway that turned to slush in some spots and the trees were coated thickly.

Even though the Fourth of July is less than a month away to many it seemed more like February.

"I don't ever remember it being this much snow this late in the season," one mountain resident said.

People who live on the mountain said they found 3 to 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground Tuesday morning and it was a shocker -- even for those who stay there year-round.

"It is not supposed to do this in June," Bill Roberson of South Carolina said with a laugh as he stood in the falling snow wearing shorts.

It must be getting harder and harder to be Al Gore.

Let's See, Oil Prices Are High. What To Do? What To Do? Wait A Second, I Know! Drill Dammit! Drill!

Sphere: Related Content

While John McCain is blowing his chance to capitalize on possibly the biggest issue of the upcoming election - high oil prices - at least Republicans in the House (of all places!) are doing the right and smart thing. Michelle Malkin cites USA Today that:

Supporters of a proposal to allow drilling for oil and gas off the U.S. coastline are expected to make their case to a House panel Wednesday.

Offshore oil and gas production has been banned off most of the U.S. coastline since Congress approved the Outer Continental Shelf moratorium in 1981, which prevented the leasing of coastal waters for fossil fuel development.

Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., wants to change that with an amendment to the Interior Department spending bill to be considered by a House Appropriations subcommittee. The amendment would lift the prohibition on exploration 50 to 200 miles offshore but continue to ban drilling within 50 miles of the coastline.

“For 27 years, Congress has deliberately locked-up vast offshore oil and natural gas reserves,” Peterson said. “With the price at the pump increasing daily — with no end in sight — and the cost of natural gas trading at record levels, Congress needs to unlock these reserves.”

He cites estimates from the Minerals Management Service that there are 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas located offshore.

The bill later went down to defeat along party lines, Republicans all in favor of drilling, Dems against. This is the kind of common sense issue that would easily resonate with voters. Sadly standard bearer McCain is squishy on offshore drilling and no better than the head of the Sierra Club when it comes to drilling in ANWR, apparently mistaking that tundra-covered hellhole in Alaska for the majesty of the Grand Canyon.

Although it escapes the two major party candidates for President the American people are sharp enough to understand that if we are being jerked around over the issue of foreign oil it makes a helluva lot of sense to drill for our own instead.

Malkin goes on to cite the WSJ that:

A century and a half after oil production began, there is ample evidence that a lot of oil — and natural gas — remains to be found in the U.S. and its territorial waters. Some of those areas are wide open to oil companies, including most of the Gulf of Mexico where deep-water floating rigs now routinely drill wells hundreds of miles from shore. Even in the gulf, areas are off limits, including most of the waters off the Florida coast. The entire East and West Coasts are off limits for new drilling.

The US has a huge amount of oil that remains currently untapped. The Bakken Formation in Montana and North Dakota alone is hugely rich in oil.

In April 2008, a report issued by the state of North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources estimated that the North Dakota portion of the Bakken contained 167 billion barrels of oil[9].

Due to their thisclose relationship with the radical environmental movement the Dems are in no position to exploit this opening. A May Gallup poll shows that 57% of Americans favor drilling in coastal and wilderness areas. If the Republicans in Congress can get their thick-headed Presidential candidate on board they'd be able to speak very appealingly with one voice to the American people on an issue that has mass appeal and is good policy, too.

A Newt One discusses

Bear Creek Ledger does as well

So too The Cassandra Page

Less Is More - Barack Obama's Real Message

Sphere: Related Content

For all his empty talk about hope and change and the mainstream media's amazing lack of intellectual curiosity about what it all means I'm really starting to believe that come November 4 the American public just may finally "get it" unintentionally thanks to Obama himself. The video above is just the latest example of Obama inadvertently spilling the beans on himself.

While the American people are having fits about each day's increase in the cost of gasoline Obama reveals in the video, not that he wants to see prices go down but that he's only unhappy that they're going up too fast. For anyone familiar with the Left this attitude is no big surprise. Obama and his ideological cohort see rising energy prices as a method of conservation. When energy costs are too high people will be forced, out of economic necessity, into using less. While Conservatives would be happy with reduced consumption of oil, we'd like alternatives to be highly developed enough first that petroleum can be made less essential without decreasing people's lifestyle choices. The Left, the Green Left especially would be happy if we were all to go back to living in straw huts and wearing fig leaves.

Obama's previous slip of the tongue about his plans for the new America he'd like to build can be seen in the video below.

Obama doesn't want to raise America's standard of living. This would be unfair to all those other countries around the world where they can't drive SUVs as big as ours or "eat as much" as we can or keep their homes at 72 degrees like we do. To Obama this is a zero sum world. If we have something it means we've taken it from someone else and is therefore immediate evidence of our corruption.

Barack is certainly not the only one in the Obama family to feel this way. His very talkative and very influential Mrs. is on-board with this kind of thinking as well. Back in April in a North Carolina speech she let the cat out of the bag when she said,

"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."

Even if the McCain campaign proves to be as ineffectual as I suspect it just might be the truth about Obama's real vision for America; one in which we all must come to accept Obama-imposed limitations might become apparent anyway. While Obama is a gifted reader, without a carefully written script before him his extreme inexperience and lack of intellectual nimbleness might just make his real intentions slip out so frequently that they finally sink into the American consciousness. And, God willing, that might be what it takes to finally sink him.

Hot Air didn't miss the implications of Obama's comments, either.

Neither did Stop The ACLU

Wednesday Zen

Sphere: Related Content

Naked Bike Ride, Etc

Sphere: Related Content

Just one question: Where do you go to see attractive nekkid people riding around in public?

I...Uh...You Know What I Mean...Uh....Yeah...Support This Guy

Sphere: Related Content

For a...long...uh...you know...time, I figured that...I mean I thought...uh, ya know...thought...or let me think this uh through...uh. I actually kinda thought, you know...well let me say...uh thought that this...Oba...uh, I mean Obama uh, guy was just an...well, by that I mean was a just, uh just an empty...uh jacket and pants...nice pants, ya know...uh suit...an empty suit. But after seeing this...movie thing here. Ya know? After seeing this moving picture deal, uh...I think I...support him for...President of all these...uh 57 states.

Yeah, I'm...uh...well...ha ha...you see, endorsing...(that's the word, right?) him.

Thank you.

Liberty Pundit admires his eloquence, too

Stop The ACLU is equally impressed

Tigerhawk is also awed to hear Obama-unplugged

Shock in Washington: Private Business More Efficient Than Government

Sphere: Related Content

The picture above is a shot of the Senate Dining Room, part of the government run Senate Restaurants, and it looks pleasant enough. Sadly that is the only nice thing that can be said about it. In a story embarrassing to Democrats because it shows how poorly the government performs in comparison to the private sector, the degree of the failure is instructive about more than just restaurants.

Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate's network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money -- more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another.

The financial condition of the world's most exclusive dining hall and its affiliated Capitol Hill restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops has become so dire that, without a $250,000 subsidy from taxpayers, the Senate won't make payroll next month.

The embarrassment of the Senate food service struggling like some neighborhood pizza joint has quietly sparked change previously unthinkable for Democrats. Last week, in a late-night voice vote, the Senate agreed to privatize the operation of its food service, a decision that would, for the first time, put it under the control of a contractor and all but guarantee lower wages and benefits for the outfit's new hires.

The House is expected to agree -- its food service operation has been in private hands since the 1980s -- and President Bush's signature on the bill would officially end a seven-month Democratic feud and more than four decades of taxpayer bailouts.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Rules and Administrations Committee, which oversees the operation of the Senate, said she had no choice.

"It's cratering," she said of the restaurant system. "Candidly, I don't think the taxpayers should be subsidizing something that doesn't need to be. There are parts of government that can be run like a business and should be run like businesses."

The difference between the private and public systems is made apparent by the behaviour of the (imagine this!) marketplace.

In a masterful bit of understatement, Feinstein blamed "noticeably subpar" food and service. Foot traffic bears that out. Come lunchtime, many Senate staffers trudge across the Capitol and down into the basement cafeteria on the House side. On Wednesdays, the lines can be 30 or 40 people long.

House staffers almost never cross the Capitol to eat in the Senate cafeterias.

"It's so bad that the Senate hasn't yet figured out that House 'Taco Salad Wednesday' trumps any type of entree they have to offer," said Ron Bonjean, a former press secretary to both the House speaker and the Senate Republican leader.

"Those who think the House and Senate don't talk enough clearly haven't been in the Longworth cafeteria on the House side at lunchtime recently. Senate staffers have been flocking there for better food, more options, and you get some exercise to boot," said Brian Walsh, spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.),who frequently dines on the other side of the Capitol.

And of course that consumer satisfaction is borne out on the bottom line. While the government run system has lost more than $18 million since 1993, as noted above, the...

...Restaurant Associates turns a substantial profit -- paying $1.2 million in commissions to the House since 2003. Company officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

You might think that this little lesson on the benefits of capitalism might not only make Senator Feinstein blush a bit but might also make her reexamine some of her long-held liberal economic assumptions. But don't count on it. Her liberal power base is certainly not interested in her making reasonable policy decisions. They and she are about power first and foremost. Even this small step seemed like it caused her physical pain.

Now if only we could get everyone to take note of this situation and then realize that these government folks are the same ones who now want to take over health care.

Outside The Beltway also notes