I think NARAL will be taking that endorsement back. I also think watching Obama stumble his way to the middle is getting painful to watch. Here is he new “nuanced” position on late term abortions:

In an interview this week with “Relevant,” a Christian magazine, Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions must contain “a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother.”

Obama then added: “Now, I don’t think that ‘mental distress’ qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term.”

TalkLeft points out this wasn’t his position last year.

Last year, after the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on late-term abortions, Obama said he “strongly disagreed” with the ruling because it “dramatically departs form previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women.”

I really wish Obama would pick a position on something and stick with it. Tracking his flip-flops is becoming a full time job.

I dare you to top this at your cookout:

How are you spending your 4th of July holiday? While most Americans probably slept, 1,215 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines raised their right hands and committed to a combined 5,500 years of additional service during the largest reenlistment ceremony in the history of the American military. Beneath a large American flag which dwarfed even the enormous chandelier that Saddam Hussein had built for the Al Faw Palace, members of all services, representing all 50 states took the oath administered by Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq.

Petraeus, reiterating earlier remarks made by Command Sergeant Major Hill, said that the unprecedented ceremony sends a “message to friend and foe alike.” He told those assembled that it is “impossible to calculate the value of what you are giving to our country . . . For no bonus, no matter the size, can adequately compensate you for the contribution each of you makes as a custodian of our nation’s defenses.”

Last year Gen. Petraeus, along with Senator John McCain, presided over a similar Independence Day ceremony. Then only 588 servicemen reenlisted. This year’s event, more than twice as large, saw the equivalent of two battalions extend their service in America’s military. Nearly the entire rotunda was filled with reenlisting servicemen, their voices drowning out all other noise. For two days the military members, flown in for the occasion from all across Iraq, have toured the elaborate palace where Saddam’s sons were said to have entertained friends lavishly and tortured enemies mercilessly in the basement dungeon. Following the ceremony, they were treated to Chicago deep dish pizza donated by Lou Malnati’s Restaurant and flown fresh by DHL for the occasion.

Damn. I would like to thank those 1,215 and the rest of our armed forces, past and present, living and deceased, for serving our country and making sure we still have an Independence Day to celebrate.

H/T Instapundit

It’s been a banner week for torture stores, what with Christopher Hitchen’s little waterboarding experiment and the shocking revelation that the US didn’t invent torture. Yes, I was aware of the existence of both stories. I am also aware of this post asking why so many conservative/right of center blogs have remained silent on the NYT story about the US employing Chinese torture tactics on Gitmo residents. Mainly, I didn’t post on either of these stories because they both hold no interest for me. Hitchens acting like a fool and purposely getting himself waterboarded is a funny story, but not really newsworthy to me. The NYT story, to me, is basically a rehash of what anyone with half a brain already knew. James Joyner shares my view, basically being most right-leaning blogs ignored the story because most have spent years posting on the ills of torture and didn’t feel the need to add one more post to the heap. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s that we’re tired of writing about torture and reiterating our viewpoints.

Oh, the nutroots are going to be are PISSED!

“I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed,” he said. “And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I’m sure I’ll have more information and will continue to refine my policies.”…

“My 16-month timeline, if you examine everything that I’ve said, was always premised on making sure that our troops were safe,” he said. “I said that based on the information that we had received from our commanders that one to two brigades a month could be pulled out safely, from a logistical perspective. My guiding approach continues to be that we’ve got to make sure that our troops are safe and that Iraq is stable.”

He added, “I’m going to continue to gather information to find out whether those conditions still hold.”

I knew the day would come when Obama would start putting conditions on an Iraq pullout, and it has come. Mark my words, you’ll see more of this from Obama until he gets to the point of admitting that he has no plans to pull out within the next two years (at least).  

And the bloom contines to wear off…..

H/T Hot Air

UPDATE - Even Obama’s inner circle has no idea what Obama’s Iraq stance is anymore.

Obama and the DNC are considering shortening the DNC conventionthis year from four days to three. The official reason is that the DNC is trying to eek out an extra “bounce” day after officially naming Obama the nominee. The RNC convention starts Sept. 1st, so there’s precious little time for Obama to bask in the spotlight before it travels to Minneapolis-St. Paul.  

Of course, shortening the DNC convention couldn’t have anything to do with being $15 million in the hole, could it?

Or maybe they meant for their photoshopped pics of NYT reporters to be obvious, I don’t know. At any rate, Fox News showed these two pics of Steven Reddicliffe and Jacques Steinberg during a broadcast of Fox & Friends.

Yeah, that was about as good an idea as the Michelle Obama “baby mamma” joke. Good going guys.

H/T Hot Airfor the screencaps

Nothing like some good old American double talk to (kinda) kick off the Independence Day weekend. Fourteen Dems who claim to just hate Big Oil have been found to hold stock in the oil companies. Let’s take a look at a few shining examples and their lame excuses.

“I always vote against the companies I own,” said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). “I don’t give a damn.”
Cohen owns $15,000-$50,000 of stock in Chevron, $50,000-$100,000 in Exxon Mobil, and $15,000-$50,000 in Schlumberger, a highly profitable oil-services company that provides technical expertise and equipment.

…

Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), the 2004 Democratic nominee, has blasted his colleague John McCain (Ariz.), the expected Republican presidential candidate, in recent days for pursuing policies that he says benefit the oil industry.

When Kerry ran for president four years ago, he criticized President Bush’s “energy policy of Big Oil, by Big Oil, and for Big Oil.”

Kerry has tens of thousands of dollars invested in those same companies, but an aide to the senator said the investment is held in trust and Kerry has no control over it.

Kerry’s financial disclosure reports show two investments in Exxon Mobil worth between $65,000 and $150,000 combined. He also showed a stake in BP worth between $15,000 and $50,000.

…

In the House, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) has criticized the industry for not investing more in production capacity and questioned whether companies have manipulated prices.

Maloney owns assets in BP and Exxon Mobil of $50,000-$100,000 and $100,000-$250,000, respectively.

BP earned about $17 billion in profit last year, giving Maloney dividends worth between $1,000 and $2,500, according to her financial disclosure report. Exxon earned $40 billion in profits, earning Maloney between $1,000 and $2,500 in dividends.

“I take positions that I believe are in our nation’s best interest,” said Maloney in a statement when asked about the investments. “While I am a strong supporter of American business, I have never hesitated to champion reforms that would benefit the American people.”

…

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), who has criticized “needless tax breaks for giant oil companies” and accused oil companies of deliberately decreasing capacity to boost profits, has one of the biggest oil investments. He owns assets in Richey Oil Company of Houston worth between $250,000 and $500,000, according to his financial disclosure report. He earned royalties worth $50,000-$100,000 from that investment in 2007.

There are a few more examples in the story, but you get the idea. I guess it would be too much to ask that these politicians who are so opposed to Big Oil and their profits give up their share of said profits, wouldn’t it?

PS - If you really want to take this to the extreme, when you own stock in a publicly traded company you in essence own a part of that company. Therefore, when you stock in Big Oil, you areBig Oil. Remember that the next time one of these buffoons gets up and starts their spiel against the oil companies.

Note to Team Obama; McCain is not fooling around anymore. Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, announced today that he will be handing over the day-to-day reigns to Steve Schmidt. No word yet on where the McCain camp is going with this, but Schmidt has a reputation for being *ahem* hard-nosed. The thought is that Schmidt will be making the McCain campaign more centralized, as opposed to the scattered 11 regional director plan put in place by Davis. Schmidt will also be keeping “unforced errors” from happeneing. Good luck with that.

Davis isn’t going anywhere though, he’s still the campaign manager and will be handling the VP pick process.

Hey look, Markos finally gets the memo that Obama is a regular politician!

Maybe what looks like cowering to me is really part of that “moving to the center” stuff everyone keeps talking about. But there is a line between “moving to the center” and stabbing your allies in the back out of fear of being criticized. And, of late, he’s been doing a lot of unecessary stabbing, betraying his claims of being a new kind of politician. Not that I ever bought it, but Obama is now clearly not looking much different than every other Democratic politician who has ever turned his or her back on the base in order to prove centrist bona fides. That’s not an indictment, just an observation.

Now I know there’s a contingent around here that things Obama can do no wrong, and he must never be criticized, and if you do, well f*ck you! I respect the sentiment, but will respectfully disagree.

Illusions shattered….I’d say it’s sad, but most of the people over at Kos are old enough to know better. I wonder what kind of treatment Obama is going to get from the netroots now.

Damn, I guess the media really is beginning to turn on Obama. From, of all places, WaPo:

The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a “super super jumbo.” Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.

Compared with the average terms offered at the time in Chicago, Obama’s rate could have saved him more than $300 per month.

Team Obama says this can be attributed to lender competition.

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the rate was adjusted to account for a competing offer from another lender and other factors. “The Obamas have since had as much as $3 million invested through Northern Trust,” he said in a statement.

Here’s the problem with that excuse. Getting a $1.65 million home financed with only $330,000 down is damn near impossible. There wouldn’t be very much competition from other lenders, seeing as there are veryfew lenders willing to mortgage that much. Beyond that, if you can find a bank willing to do that they’re going to want to see something more substantial than a very recent increase in income. That coupled with the fact that he paid no originating fee or points makes the whole thing look a little suspect.

H/T Hot Air

UPDATE - Glenn gets emails. Occasionally they are useful, like this one he got from a reader who says that Obama’s mortgage is not all that uncommon. Seems that the bank he went through, Northern Trust, specializes in super jumbo loans for those wouldn’t qualify for said loan at another bank.

Really, when is Obama going to tell him to zip it?

Appearing on liberal radio host Ed Schultz’s show Tuesday, Clark stuck to his guns, and he accused McCain and the GOP apparatus of drumming up a false controversy.

“The only orchestration was by Republicans,” Clark said, referring to unsubstantiated accusations that his criticism was encouraged by Obama, who has repeatedly distanced himself from Clark’s remark.

“I think that since John McCain’s hired the Swift Boat team to protect his military record,” Clark continued, “they just decided they would launch a preemptive strike.”

…

“This is a manufactured controversy,” he continued, accusing the Republican party of launching a “reconnaissance attack. Someone’s going in there to see how the Democratic party’s going to handle the national security issues. Because believe me John McCain is running on national security.

“He’s claiming that having served in the armed forces somehow gives him superior judgment over Barack Obama. And what I’m trying to say is, while I honor his service for having been a fighter pilot and been shot down and a courageous prisoner of war, that does not give him a claim to superior judgment in the oval office,” he continued. “In fact if you look at what he’s said, his judgment’s been pretty bad on some of the major issues” like the GI Bill of Rights.

Wow Wes, thank for that probing insight. McCain is running on national security issues? Wow, I never would have guessed! McCain wants to protect his military record from people who are trying to poo-poo it? Damn, I never would have figured that out on my own! Effin’ nitwit.

H/T Raw Story

Bob Barr is fielding requests from GOP critters to drop out of the POTUS race for fear he’ll hurt McCain’s chances in November.

Barr said a GOP senator recently approached him to ask that he drop his White House bid, a request that has come from more than one Republican since he received the Libertarian Party nomination in May. The senator’s plea­ fell on deaf ears. (­Barr would not reveal the lawmaker’s identity). 

“What they say is, ‘It’s not that we disagree with what you’re doing, Barr. It’s not that we don’t understand. We do understand, and we actually agree with what you’re saying, but we don’t want to vote against a Republican because that might help the Democrat,’ ” Barr said of the talks he has had with those who want him to quit.

Well, if you guys actually agree with what Barr’s saying then maybe you could, you know, start acting like him. You know, the way Republicans used to act 30 years ago.

Most likely not, but that’s not going to stop Dems from a little election year grandstanding.

Leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate are discussing with key committee chairmen the shape of another emergency spending bill that would again aim to spur the economy and help those hurt by the economic slowdown, several congressional aides said on Tuesday.

Now they already know good and well that Bush is going to veto any new stimulus package that lands on his desk, but they still choose to fool around with this instead of doing something that might actually be productive. Tax dollars at work, folks.

What, is he eating them or something?

Please tell me, o wise and all-knowing Mr. Reid, whatever shall I put in my gas tank to get myself to work? I don’t want to make myself/others/the earth/you sick.

H/T Hot Air

UPDATE - And he also compares oil companies to Hitler. Where does he find time to come up with his material?

And here I though Obama made time to throw people under the bus. Not anymore, he’s too busy.

“I guess my question is why, given all the vast numbers of things that we’ve got to work on, that that would be a top priority of mine?” Obama said, responding to a reporter who asked the candidate why he hadn’t called on Wesley Clark to apologize for his remarks yesterday. “I’m happy to have all sorts of conversations about how we deal with Iraq and what happens with Iran but the fact that somebody on a cable show or on a news show like General Clark said something that was inartful about Sen. McCain I don’t think is probably the thing that is keeping Ohioans up at night,” he added.

Or maybe he thinks it’s a distraction. It’s one of those, I’m sure.

PS - Allahpundit says “inartful” is the new buzzword. We’re going to be seeing “inartful” coupled with “distraction quite a bit in the upcoming weeks, you’ve been warned.