Riehl World View

NY Times Palin Journalists

2009-07-13T21:15:55-04:00

What a crew, or is that, a motley bunch?

Godspeed TOTUS: The Glow Is Off The Teleprompter

2009-07-13T20:48:46-04:00

It's always sad to watch a prolific statesmen fall from grace. Today, WH journalists witnessed just such a tragedy as TOTUS 1 plummeted to the ground from above, crashing rather un-statesmen-like at Obama's feet. Now all that's left are some shards of glass and a mix of wire and metal destined to be sold off in the first official State Ebay auction. The remnants briefly lied in state in the WH until the janitor arrived. A moment of silence was observed until Obama realized he still had one teleprompter with which to work.

Godspeed TOTUS, we'll all miss you until you are replaced.

ABC News' Sunlen Miller and Jake Tapper report: If a teleprompter falls in the White House, does it make a sound?

Yes, especially when it’s the President’s teleprompter – or TOTUS as it is often referred to.

Midway through his speech on urban and metropolitan policy in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building this afternoon, one of his two small glass prompters came crashing down, hitting the wood floor and crashing in many pieces. It made quite a ruckus.

“Oh, goodness,” a startled President Obama said. “Sorry about that, guys.”

He then proceeded on with his remarks, “To pull our economy back from the brink, including the largest and most sweeping economic recovery plan in our nation's history…”

For the rest of the speech the president relied on the one remaining teleprompter, to his right, and notes on his podium to finish his speech.

Shards of glass remained near the president’s feet for the duration of his speech.

Obama: The First Anti-American President

2009-07-13T17:12:33-04:00

The need to continue to dance around it is growing silly. Obama is Jimmy Carter on steroids, without the homespun Southern meme. From traditional American economics, to our traditional role in world affairs, Obama is not a fan of a traditionally American worldview. He's the anti-Reagan, in that sense. And only fear of being politically incorrect prevents more people from saying it.

Liz Cheney calls him out on his latest episode of undermining America in the world's eyes, because Obama sees America as just another country, with no special place in world history. He is a revisionist in the broadest sense. Don't look for it to stop anytime soon. From undermining the nation economically - to militarily and morally, his new vision for America is increasingly clear with each passing day. He seeks to re-invent us as less than what we are because, to his Leftist mind, it's somehow more.

It is irresponsible for an American president to go to Moscow and tell a room full of young Russians less than the truth about how the Cold War ended. One wonders whether this was just an attempt to push "reset" -- or maybe to curry favor. Perhaps, most concerning of all, Mr. Obama believes what he said.

Mr. Obama's method for pushing reset around the world is becoming clearer with each foreign trip. He proclaims moral equivalence between the U.S. and our adversaries, he readily accepts a false historical narrative, and he refuses to stand up against anti-American lies.

The approach was evident in his speech in Moscow and in his speech in Cairo last month. In Cairo, he asserted there was some sort of equivalence between American support for the 1953 coup in Iran and the evil that the Iranian mullahs have done in the world since 1979. On an earlier trip to Mexico City, the president listened to an extended anti-American screed by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and then let the lies stand by responding only with, "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for the things that occurred when I was 3 months old."

Stimulus Fail

2009-07-13T15:16:49-04:00

Thank God Joe Biden was policing all of this, or it might have been worse. That is the administrations usual claim when met with bad press.

If you were going to start a business and had an $8.32 million budget with which to begin, how many jobs do you suppose you could create? You could just employ yourself to play golf, or fish everyday, living off the interest, and do about as well as New Hampshire did.

It's nice work if you can get it. But you'd have to be in New Hampshire government to qualify.

You read that right. The stimulus package in New Hampshire has created 50 temp jobs, apparently all of them bureaucrat positions, and none of them permanent. The Office of Economic Stimulus (OES) employs five of those people, and when the governor appoints the director, that position will pay a $110,000 salary, plus benefits.

Roughly speaking, those 50 jobs cost the American taxpayer $8.32 million per position. If we calculate part-time positions as one-half of a full-time job, the cost per full-time job would be $9.9 million. At that rate, the $787 billion Porkulus package should generate about 79,495 jobs across America — or about what we lose today by 1:37 pm in new unemployment claims. And of course, all of those would last only as long as the stimulus money kept coming to fund them.

In Politics, $700,000 Can't Be Wrong

2009-07-13T15:08:47-04:00

For better or worse, if many politicians care about anything, it's the bottom-line. Given that Romney is known for raising money and likely drew a lot of larger corporate donations - at the same time Palin was enduring attack after attack from the Democrats and the media, these numbers are not bad at all. They will force other Republicans to pay attention, especially as they move into 2010 and need any dollars they can get to campaign. It'll be interesting to watch the trend going forward, particularly if Palin starts spending more time in the lower forty-eight.

Sarah PAC, the political action committee formed by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin earlier this year to maintain her national profile, raised $733,000 in the first six months of the year, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission today.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the way in terms of fundraising by potential 2012 Republican candidates. Romney showed nearly $1.4 million raised through his Free and Strong America PAC at the end of May.

Palin's showing is, however, a sign that she can raise cash at the national level and that she will be a player in the 2010 midterm elections if she, as expected, chooses to involve herself in downballot races.

It is all the more impressive given the chaos that surrounded her operation -- and herself -- over the first half of 2009. If Palin can spend her time out of office organizing a serious national effort, these numbers suggest the financial support is out there to help her.

Because The GOP Knows Better Than You

2009-07-13T08:36:08-04:00

I've been as objective as possible on Palin, insisting the jury that matters is a long way out. Because it is. But these comments from a professional Republican to the LA Times highlight the real problem for the GOP. They honestly think they know better, but the base is completely unimpressed by what we've been seeing. They can forget any broad coalition if the base doesn't show up. And the GOP establishment is incapable of turning it out due to attitudes precisely like this.

"People at the grass roots see a charismatic personality who is popular with other people at the grass roots. But their horizon only goes so far as people who think like them," said Mike Murphy. The veteran GOP ad man eviscerated Palin -- a "political train wreck," "an awful choice" for vice president, her resignation an "astonishing self-immolation" -- in a column published Thursday in the New York Daily News.

"Professional operatives keep their eye on a broader horizon and understand, without independents and swing voters, she can't win," Murphy said. "She's a stone-cold loser in a general election."

There's good news and bad news in the wisdom above. The bad news is the GOP will be out of power for years. The good news is, when it comes back, the ass quoted above will be out of a job.

Obama Considers Making Things Worse

2009-07-13T07:48:16-04:00

His own numbers beginning to tank, Obama is considering pulling out the Bush investigations card as a distraction. It's a bad move. His popularity will just go down that much further and faster if he considers buying into this stunt. His whole deal was supposed to be looking forward. Now that the electorate isn't liking the new vision, he may consider going backwards. That's not very bright.

Leading Democrats on Sunday demanded investigations of how a highly classified counterterrorism program was kept secret from the Congressional leadership on the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who is the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Fox News Sunday called it a “big problem.” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, on “This Week” on ABC, agreed that the secrecy “could be illegal” and demanded an inquiry.

NY Times: They Pay For This?

2009-07-13T07:41:45-04:00

Well, now we know at least one reason why the New York Times is going broke. Five reporters had a hand in a weak attempt to pile on the Palin bad press bandwagon. Save for a few minor details, a twenty-year-old could have written it by reading a few blogs. If this re-hash is the best the Times can do, I guess she does have a future, after all.

This article was reported by Jim Rutenberg from New York and Serge F. Kovaleski from Wasilla and Anchorage, Alaska. Jo Becker reported from New York and Kim Severson and William Yardley from Wasilla and Anchorage.

A Business Report

2009-07-12T20:54:37-04:00

Business would do well to forget about any real help from the Obama administration. Post-Bush, the Left seems to think it's entitled to go forward with their business-killing agenda, no matter how the economy suffers. It gives them what they want, but only means a worse economic downturn that will last longer than it needs to. Doug Ross offers this report from one businessman.

My clients are all entrepreneurs having built successful businesses with sales of $5 million to $50 million. My prospective buyers are typically companies with sales of $50 million to $200 million. Every one of these companies (buyers and sellers) today shares these common denominators:

Reno 911: Raceny

2009-07-12T17:51:08-04:00

I don't watch this show as often as I should. It's often hilarious. Anyway, I think the 2 hr movie is on Comedy Central tonight at 8 Eastern. Can't say if it's any good, or not. Check out this short clip from the show.

RENO 911!

Wednesdays 10:30pm / 9:30c

Reading Lessons

www.comedycentral.com

Joe Lo Truglio

Funny Cop Videos

Warning Signs For The Republican Party: A Third Way?

2009-07-12T15:48:46-04:00

The Republican Party establishment should take note, when you have two national political leaders like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin both talking about supporting center-right Democrats as a means to a ruling majority, a seriously disgruntled base, in addition to on going mostly non-partisan demonstrations in the streets, you have three significant developments you shouldn't ignore.

The governor, 45, said she shared former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's view that Republicans, now trailing Democrats and independents in registration in many states, should back moderate to conservative Democrats in congressional districts and states where Republicans stand almost no chance of winning.

The object would be to build a majority coalition that reflects what polls suggest is the center-right tilt of the U.S. electorate as a whole.

I wouldn't take this quite as far as a third party move, not yet. But more an independent center-right movement, as Tammy Bruce suggests. For the Republican Party, it could be a part of an internal struggle for the party itself.

Still, it's worth repeating. What should be heard loud and clear by the Republican elite is that, you now have a significant portion of your traditional voting base that has just about had enough and political leaders within your own party now giving voice to that serious frustration. Combined with the Tea Party movement, while it wouldn't be easy, this all makes a third political way in America far more possible than it has been for decades.

Palin elaborates:

"I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation," she said over lunch in her downtown office, 40 miles from her now-famous hometown of Wasilla — population 7,000 — where she began her political career.

"People are so tired of the partisan stuff — even my own son is not a Republican," said Mrs. Palin, who stunned the political world earlier this month with her decision to step down as governor July 26 with 18 months left in her term.

Righteous

2009-07-11T20:00:16-04:00

As in Brothers.

License Plate Cameras: Liberals Are Watching You

2009-07-11T15:10:40-04:00

Of about a million dollars in political donations from Tiburon in 2008, it went to Obama and the other Democrats by almost 8-1. I guess the whole Bush surveillance thing was just a lot of talk, or it's only okay, ... as long as they're doing the watching.

Your presence has been noted.

The posh and picturesque town that juts into San Francisco Bay is poised to do something unprecedented: use cameras to record the license plate number of every vehicle that crosses city limits.

Some residents describe the plan as a commonsense way to thwart thieves, most of whom come from out of town. Others see an electronic border gate and worry that the project will only reinforce Tiburon's image of exclusivity and snootiness.

"I personally don't see too much harm in it, because I have nothing to hide," commodities broker Paul Lambert, 64, said after a trip to Boardwalk Market in downtown Tiburon on a recent afternoon.

Rex Butler: Turning Alleged Rape Victims Into Casualities

2009-07-11T14:15:03-04:00

It's always nice to know what kind of company people are keeping. Meet the attorney for Levi Johnston and others who have filed ethics complaintsagainst Sarah Palin - link: Rex Butler. Read more about Butler and his PI Tank Jones ... at Conservatives4Palin. Butler appears to be the Al Sharpton of Anchorage in a sense and has been anti-Palin for years.

Sure, it's within the law and he's said to be competent. Sowhat if when he isn't representing people attacking Sarah Palin he makes his money trying to turn alleged 15 year-old rape victims into "casualties" who look like liars, whether they are, nor not? Everyone has to make a living, right?

In 1989, Butler represented one of four young men accused of raping a 15-year-old girl. Then it was discovered that the girl lied about some events during her testimony. Prosecutors offered a mistrial. Butler refused. “I want her to recant before the jury with that same straight face,” Butler said, according to another press account. “And we want to be able to cross-examine her now.”

In the end, one of the four young men went free and the other three pleaded no contest to a minor assault charge each.

“Some cases you can’t win at all,” Butler says now. “You like to take off the head, though, if you can — i.e., the biggest charge — so you’re left with the smaller charges. Sometimes in this business, you can’t win the big one, but you can knock ’em down…

“The rules say you have the right to be zestful and to defend with zeal. To me, defending with zeal means creating casualties. When you can get up there and you can make a person look like they’re lying, it doesn’t matter if they’re truly lying or not. Let’s be real about it. If you can make them look like they’re lying, or even feel like they’re lying, you’re creating casualties. That’s what you have to do sometimes to win.”

As if an alleged teen-aged rape victim probably isn't enough of a casualty already.

Nuclear Realism

2009-07-11T12:28:33-04:00

Not only do we not need a nuclear weapons free world, we should be building nuclear power plants, as well. Idiot activists. They're just holding America back from energy independence while screaming about that very thing.

Via Donald Douglas.

A Blog Round Up

2009-07-11T12:24:23-04:00

Several of this week's posts from various blogs highlighted - with links.

Via CNET: Item Not As Described

2009-07-11T12:16:32-04:00

Original link via CNET: Item Not As Described. All of the items are illustrated. It's worth paging through. Some of my favs below.

Item Not As Described - a blog that (tagline: Free is a Four-Letter Word) has dedicated itself to examining some of the free offers on Craigslist. Specifically, the site exists to expose the worst of the free in the Land of the Free.

A woman giving away Bibles. She obviously had been a Beanie Baby collector. The snark: putting a deposit down on a creek front retirement home in North Dakota, based on the dolls' worth.

We spoke to her: “Eventually, the deposit on the cabin was lost, and my faith went with it. Sure, bad things happen to good people, but when it gets this bad, well, what do you expect? If my green bear won’t even bring 50 cents at a yard sale, you’re not convincing me there’s a God.”

A DC area resident seemingly willing to fool their blind kid with a Lil Wayne impersonator at his birthday party.

Here is the kicker my son is blind so you don't need to look like the rapper just sound like him.

From Alaska, a half-eaten package of Martha Stewart's Pork Meatballs.

Free to a good home. I ate most of the first pack but they were too “porky” for my taste. They are frozen so they are still edible if not “porky”. Personally I think Martha could have done better.

An old couch (pictured) that has seen better days. Take a look and pick your own favorites, you might even furnish that spare room, or grab a "Bited" (sic) Bidet while you're at it.

The two people who used this couch - every day for years - clearly didn’t like each other much: note how far apart their respective head stains are. It’s too bad, really, because they obviously had a lot in common. If two people both love Jheri-Curl that much, shouldn’t they be able to get beyond their trivial differences? One to grow on, courtesy Item Not As Described.

Not Music To Their Ears

2009-07-11T11:26:26-04:00

A protest song against United Airlines, "United Breaks Guitars", draws 2 million YouTube hits in four days.

Why We Need The 2nd Amendment

2009-07-10T22:48:31-04:00

Because it can happen here?

I never would have believed it, but unfortunately, these days I think it could in some form. It's already a soft tyranny.

Regulation Alert: Yoga Instructors Up In Arms Standing On Heads

2009-07-10T20:34:11-04:00

Conceive it and the government will regulate, fine and tax it. It isn't like they bother people in airports, or anything. Where have all the Hare Krishnas gone, anyway? Or is it that I haven't been flying as much in recent years? More at Cato at Liberty.

Citing laws that govern vocational schools, like those for hairdressers and truck drivers, regulators have begun to require licenses for yoga schools that train instructors, with all the fees, inspections and paperwork that entails. While confrontations have played out differently in different states, threats of shutdowns and fines have, in some cases, been met with accusations of power grabs and religious infringement — disputes that seem far removed from the meditative world yoga calls to mind.

In April, New York State sent letters to about 80 schools to warn them to suspend teacher training programs immediately or risk fines of up to $50,000 — prompting yogis around the state to join in opposition, and, apparently, to persuade the state to back down.

The conflict started in January when a Virginia official directed regulators from more than a dozen states to an online national registry of schools that teach yoga and, in the words of a Kansas official, earn a “handsome income” in the process…

“If you’re going to start a school and take people’s money, you should play by a set of rules,” said Patrick Sweeney, a Wisconsin licensing official, who believes that in 2004 he was the first state official to discover the online registry and use it to begin regulating yoga teaching.

Levi Johnston: Low Life Extraordinaire

2009-07-10T20:13:15-04:00

Because no one has ever said that before. What an amazing piece of low life trash this Levi Johnston is. This is a guy who is going to take some serious ass whoopings in life before he totally crashes and burns. He'll probably be turning gay tricks on Sunset Boulevard for Crack in three years.

"She had talked about how nice it would be to take some of this money people had been offering us and you know just run with it, say 'forget everything else,'" Johnston said of the one-time GOP vice presidential nominee.

Johnston, who spent time living with the Palin family this past winter before splitting with Bristol, is reportedly seeking to do the very thing he accuses Palin of doing. The high school drop-out, who became famous on the stage of last summer's Republican National Convention, is said to be peddling a book and movie deal.

"It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills," Stapleton added in her e-mail.

The Computer Of The Future

2009-07-10T20:00:48-04:00

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says in ten years computers will be able to know your intent. At right, a popular model designed for Internet porn surfers prepares for use.

In the next 10 years, computers as flexible as a sheet of paper will replace notepads and newspapers, while others will be able to intuit what you're trying to find online, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Friday to a group of Charlotte technology workers.

When you type the word “Chicago” into a search engine, it will be able to determine whether you meant the city, the band or the musical based on your Internet history.

Drunken Badger Blogging

2009-07-10T19:42:24-04:00

Heh! Cute little bugger.

A badger in Germany got so drunk on over-ripe cherries it staggered into the middle of a road and refused to budge, police said on Wednesday.

link fixed

The GOP Brand And Bush/Palin Hatred

2009-07-10T16:18:53-04:00

Just a couple of points in follow up to this brief discussion of the future of the GOP brand with Katherine Mangu-Ward and Glenn Reynolds:

Meanwhile, noting the Palin hatred, the Bush hatred and, I suspect, looming Obama hatred, I have a thought on why politics is more polarized than it used to be: It's because people have more at risk. As Jerry Pournelle wrote a while back, "We have always known that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It's worse now, because capture of government is so much more important than it once was. There was a time when there was enough freedom that it hardly mattered which brand of crooks ran government. That has not been true for a long time -- not during most of your lifetimes, and for much of mine -- and it will probably never be true again."

I wonder if those of us who follow media and politics closely don't over read some of the hate meme? For all the supposed hatred of Bush, and Reagan before him, both men did manage to get elected twice to the highest office in the land. I don't believe the average voter follows all this closely enough to come to hate anyone that much. They are more likely to just like, or not like the government they're getting. And right now, there's plenty of reason for concern about DC, including Obama's big changes that will impact people's lives in ways I doubt they understand, or expect.

Also, I agree with Glenn on what the GOP brand should be. True, it may take some time, as it did to set up 1994, as the current faces of the GOP are mostly identified with DC. But there isn't as many of them today as there were thanks to recent losses. To some extent, that should help the GOP in 2010.

New faces and new blood allow a party to at least pretend there's some real change going on. But then, I'd add the Tea Party movement into the mix. Just as citizens are stirred up, hopefully there will be some serious new players on the GOP political side who get the message and will be able to pick up the banner of 1994 - or at least be influenced by that movement to hold it up and be held to it for a time. The banner was dropped, as too many Republicans were in DC for too long. That simply isn't the case, now. To the extent the GOP can brand the Dems as the party of DC every bit as they carve out a new identity for themselves, I suspect they will be positioned pretty well going into 2010.

I'd like to see the party run as a party of small government, individual liberty and fiscal responsibility.

Sarah Palin's Record Of Accomplishment In Office

2009-07-10T09:04:40-04:00

Via Powerline, who thinks she's running in 2012 but that the resignation will haunt her. Name one of the Republicrats that want to duck her who have accomplished half as much.

Here's some of the things we've done:

We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line for Alaskans on Point Thomson - and finally for the first time in decades - they're drilling for oil and gas.

We have AGIA, the gasline project - a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) - also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. This is energy independence.

And ACES - another bipartisan effort - is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas "clear and equitable formula" is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes new exploration and development and jobs that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.

We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.

We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.

We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands - where it should be.

We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.

We broke ground on the new prison.

And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.

And the Lt. Governor and I said "no" to our pay raises.

Top Rate To Over 40%, Millionaires Tax and More

2009-07-10T08:28:20-04:00

Watch your wallets. Most adults know that when they start talking about taxing the wealthy to pay for health care reform, they invariably end up coming after you. There are several other taxes being considered listed in the article, as well. And that trigger mentioned in the third excerpted graph below is nothing more than a Trojan Horse. They'll pull the trigger as soon as no one is looking. Why not? They're already preparing to shoot us in the back with higher taxes. That's what Democrats have always done and will continue to do. And as the ad states, they have Total Control.

Much of the revenue burden could fall on a privileged few. The House Ways and Means Committee is close to completing legislation expected to include a surtax of up to 3 percent on households with incomes that exceed $250,000, pushing the top rate over 40 percent, assuming President George W. Bush's 2001 tax cuts are allowed to expire next year as scheduled.

The Senate Finance Committee is weighing a "millionaires' tax," a surcharge on health benefits for top earners and a Medicare tax on capital-gains income. And still on the table is Obama's proposal to limit deductions for wealthy taxpayers.

But the more conservative Senate Finance Committee appears to be settling on a membership-based, cooperative model. Some senior Democrats say the finance and health committee bills could be blended to create a national co-op with a fallback option that triggers the formation of a public plan if private insurers do not offer adequate coverage alternatives.

Republicowards Afraid Of Sarah Palin?

2009-07-10T08:13:20-04:00

It seems the media just can't get enough of Sarah Palin. When it comes to some of the typical Republicowards, not so much. Credit Blunt, Grassley and I'd imagine other conservative and more principled Republicans on the Hill for not being Scaredy-crats. The irony is that many of these weak-kneed, big government Republicrats are probably less popular than Palin. We really do need to see more primary challenges from Republicans who are serious about less government and fiscal restraint. Or, conservatives need to think about abandoning more and more Republicans who are almost as bad as Democrats. Settling for Democrat-lite isn't going to get it done.

Republicans facing tough elections in 2010 don’t want Sarah Palin campaigning with them.

Though the soon-to-be-former Alaska governor is seen as popular with the conservative grass roots, several Republicans said she’d help them by staying home in Wasilla.

Several of these Republicans hail from districts or states carried in 2008 by President Obama, a frequent target of Palin’s criticism. Republicans must keep these districts and win others where Obama is popular if they are to gain seats next year.

GOP Rep. Lee Terry (Neb.), who squeaked out a victory despite his district’s overwhelming turnout for Obama, said he’d rather have House colleagues campaign for him than Palin.

“There’s others that I would have come in and campaign and most of them would be my colleagues in the House,” Terry said.

Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican from Northern Virginia, which is increasingly becoming Democratic territory, offered caution when asked whether he’d welcome a Palin fundraiser.

“I don’t generally need people from outside my district to do a fundraiser,” Wolf said.

Several other lawmakers indicated a wariness about accepting help from Palin, but did not want to criticize the GOP’s vice presidential candidate from last year. They said Palin could hurt them by firing up Democrats.

An unnamed GOP lawmaker representing a district that Obama carried in 2008 told The Hill that if Palin came into his district, his opponent would “probably be doing a dance of joy.”

Hoekstra: CIA Didn't Mislead Congress

2009-07-09T20:17:44-04:00

Congressman Pete Hoekstra was on with Mark Levin - brief audio here. It seems the whole CIA misled Congress story is a non-story and political ploy. There was no briefing, as there was no program. Just more time wasting from some histrionic Democrats in Congress. Who would have guessed?

The Three Stooges Now Appearing At HuffPo

2009-07-09T19:59:33-04:00

Everyone is picking up on the Alec Baldwin, Jack Cafferty kerfuffle - Goldfarb references Rick Sanchez, pronouncing CNN's team as hit and miss- ouch! But people are missing the real stupid in Baldwin's obviously more emotional, than thoughtful, slash at Cafferty for an old hit and run charge. Unless you're one of the 17 people who watches CNN, Cafferty, and Baldwin's career, you have no idea what the hell he is talking about here:

The material I received from a contingent in Ohio was back in 1996, but Playboy omitted that fact in editing the piece. As for running for office in the future, who knows?

Evidently it's this from USA Today. So these two guys are fighting over something that did or didn't happen back in 1996, but no one knows that except for 17 people and now Cafferty's producer because Playboy, who probably still has no clue when, or why the Tea Party's got started failed to properly reference a quote? There couldn't be any more stupid in one malicious and angry blog entry than there is in this one.

For weeks, everyone's been picking up quotes by Alec Baldwin in the July/August issue of Playboy in which the 30 Rock actor mentioned he would consider running for public office.

Baldwin said, "A law firm in a liberal Democratic bastion in Ohio state politics sent me a binder with a cover letter that read, 'Mr. Baldwin, here's who we represent, the kinds of cases we handle, our credentials in Ohio state politics. We want you to move to Ohio and run for governor. We will launch your career.'"

Classless Paid Sarah Palin Assassin Mike Murphy (R)

2009-07-09T16:45:23-04:00

This stuff doesn't bother me as a Palin supporter. I already said I thought she was done for the near term. It's the principle of the thing, or lack thereof. I'm really tired of this crap from paid Republican political operatives posing as writers. Below is the jerk's bio and lede from a Daily News item today. No agenda here, yeah, sure. Make a note and see if this clown starts working for Romney, again, assuming he isn't already. If he does, hold Romney to account.

Murphy is a writer and Republican political consultant who has advised John McCain, Mitt Romney, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jeb Bush.

Gov. Sarah Palin is the political train wreck that keeps on giving. First, she was an awful choice last year as John McCain's running mate. I came to this conclusion with regret - I am one of McCain's biggest admirers.

The trainwreck was the the entire McCain campaign. And the first time he passed Obama was right after Palin was announced. She was the only exciting thing about the entire miserably flawed campaign apparently Murphy advised in some way. And let's not even talk about the fund raising issues at hand. McCain has always been a slouch in that respect. And McCain blew it completely when he went back to DC over the stimulus plan and ended up looking like a fool.

That had nothing to do with Palin and everything to do with McCain and his campaign hacks. If these creeps can't stop bringing out the political knives - watch who hires them next and knife them. If candidates are going to lie down with dogs like this, they deserve to die in political terms.

And McCain's on going lack of defense for Palin as this plays out says a lot about his real character, too. At this point, they need to take that guy out in the primary if they can. It should have been done long ago.

Andrew Sullivan's America

2009-07-09T16:18:04-04:00

Live and learn. I learned some sad truths about many liberals today all the way back in college.

I've had a hard week. Still dealing with some extenuating circumstances with the Plague year, and I've been shaken to the core in my beliefs about America and the rules of engagement with Liberals.

Uh Oh! Duesler Founder Of The Chocolate Squad?

2009-07-09T15:52:49-04:00

Update: It get even better - via Tim M - a Plaxo site link from comments:

political views progressive, OPositive!

No it can't be.

Via Moe Lane and Donald Douglas - see them for more regarding the alleged racism at a Philly private pool headed by an Obama supporter and ... known as the Chocolate Squad on Twitter?

Chocolate Squad: Home url now a 404 just like the pool's site. I'm thinking it's him, as he mentions recruiting members for a pool club here.

Off to a great start Monday. Recruiting new members for our community swim club, finishing my Xocai Web site, and getting an oil change.

Talk about delicious irony.

Name dr john g duesler jr Location Huntingdon Valley, PA Web http://www.thecho... Bio Founder of The Squad; we are spreading the good word about healthy chocolate!

More On Health Care Reform

2009-07-09T15:31:00-04:00

Hmm. Good point. How are they going to ban soda and tax it at the same time?

Damned liberals can't keep their dumb ideas from getting in the way of one another.

Sarah Palin Tweet: Hmm

2009-07-09T13:26:39-04:00

From yesterday. Sorry, can't resist egging it on. I guess it all comes down to what the "larger vision" is.

Today,try this: "Act in accordance to your conscience -risk- by pursuing larger vision in opposition to popular, powerful pressure"-unknown

The Left's Unethical Abuse Of The Blog Format

2009-07-09T12:54:50-04:00

I've mapped this for so many stories it's old for me and, I imagine, many bloggers. But it's always worth exposing how the Left uses its blog infrastructure in an unethical manner.

The Washington Monthly:

A SHAKY STORY STARTS TO LOOK WORSE.... The rationale for Sarah Palin's resignation has never made sense, but it seems even less clear now.

There's nothing shaky about it, except for the usual liberal tactic. I dealt with it yesterday here. TPM, The Plum Line and others put out shaky non-stories and the Left blog infrastructure keeps putting it up somewhere else day after day.

Often they'll get MSNBC, or some lazy journalists to bite. That, or the alleged buzz in and of itself becomes the news as a means of giving a non-story legs.

There is no buzz. There is no story. But the Left's blog infrastructure never lets the facts get in the way of a talking point they want to push. It's actually one of the most unethical and egregious abuses of the form that there is. But they apparently don't respect that very much either. It is not beneficial for the form at all. It's one of the things that gives blogging a bad name as untrustworthy. And they're paid to do it.

The Conservative Grapevine

2009-07-09T12:39:47-04:00

The Conservative Grapevine is another place to check in for some buzzworthy conservative blog posts of the day.

RCP's is another place to check for what's buzzworthy, though not all items are conservative in nature.

Palin In Iowa? Watch The Heads Explode!

2009-07-09T12:25:51-04:00

Is this a sincere effort by the Iowa GOP to recuit Sarah Palin because they think she'll be a great draw? Or, was it arranged, as in one of those inside politics moves by operators that don't come with fingerprints? Let the speculation begin, assuming she accepts. I imagine Romney, Newt and Huckabee want to know, if they don't already.

Iowa Republican Party officials Wednesday said they are aggressively courting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to headline the state GOP's premier annual fundraising event.

And they have put a well-connected Des Moines woman in charge of trying to land the 2008 vice presidential nominee and popular party figure in the leadoff caucus state.

Aides to Palin did not immediately respond to Des Moines Register inquiries about whether the outgoing governor would consider the invitation to appear at the Ronald Reagan Dinner. The event has become a popular and high-profile stop for would-be presidential candidates.

Health Care Reform: Oh, You Mean We Have To Pay For It??

2009-07-09T12:13:19-04:00

What's more costly, that our Democrat government is inept, or health care reform? Unfortunately, they are one and the same. Already behind schedule, they've suddenly realized they may actually have to figure out how to pay for it. I realize that's all but unheard of in Washington these days, but geesh. If they think they are going to change everyone in America's health care and a huge portion of the nation's GDP with some last minute, too important to read BS, they are going to be thrown out in droves come 2010. Unfortunately, for the Democrat majority, at least, that may already be inevitable. Still, they are intent on making it worse. I won't be sorry to see them go.

On Wednesday, according to a Capitol Hill source, the Senate Finance Committee distributed to its members a list of about twenty ways to help pay for health care reform. Everything you could imagine was on the list: Taxes on soda and cigarettes. More savings from Medicare and Medicaid. A value-added tax.

It might sound like an ordinary and perfectly reasonable thing to do. And it would be--if this exercise were taking place, oh, six weeks ago.

But it’s the second week of July. By this point, the Finance Committee was supposed to be holding hearings in order to “mark up” legislation, so that the full Senate would have time to consider and vote on it before the August recess. Instead, the Committee is, in a sense, stuck at square one. Or at least square four, when it needs to be at square seven. Markup hearings won’t begin until there's language to mark up. And there won't be language until there's a basic understanding of the financing part.

What brought us to this juncture? Most immediately, it was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s message to Finance Chairman Max Baucus on Monday, which was widely reported in the press but somewhat under-appreciated for its import.

Most observers focused on the fact that Reid made clear to Baucus the strong preference of Democratic Senators for including a public insurance option, something Baucus was ready to ditch in order to win Republican support. Reid said that alright. But that wasn’t the only thing he said--or, apparently, the most important.

No, according to several sources on and off Capitol Hill, Reid’s primary message was about the financing of reform. Baucus had hoped to get around $300 billion in funding over the next ten years by capping the tax exclusion on group health benefits. I’m not sure what the exact parameters of the cap were supposed to be, but it's safe to assume they would either have hit a small number of people, hit people with a small tax hike, or some combination of the two.*

This apparently was unacceptable to several members of the Democratic caucus. Highly unacceptable. If reform included a cap on the exclusion, Reid warned, between ten and fifteen Democrats would oppose it. That's why Baucus and his colleagues on Finance are back to looking for money.

Republicans Recruit Stimulus Advocate Ayotte?

2009-07-09T11:52:10-04:00

If the Republican establishment thinks it's going to be able to take advantage of America's growing concern over government growth and spending, they are going to have to do better than recruiting official advocates for Obama's Stimulus Plan to run for the Senate.

As Chuck Todd had reported late last month, Republicans have been courting state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, who was appointed to her position by former GOP Gov. Craig Benson and re-appointed by Democratic Gov. John Lynch.

Now Ayotte says she's resigning (effective July 17) and is now officially exploring a Senate bid. "Recently, many New Hampshire citizens have urged me to run for United States Senate," she said in a statement. "I appreciate their confidence in me. After discussing this matter with my husband, Joe, and our family, I have decided to resign as Attorney General in order to explore a campaign for the United States Senate."

Not only is she supportive of the stimulus, as recently as May she was actively engaged in encouraging the spending on the part of government and non-profits. And she has her Deputy, Bud Fitch, pulling part-time duty distributing the funds. These strategies are emerging as one of the problems with the now all but failed Obama strategy. She's also now being called a "quitter like Sarah Palin" by Palin obsessed Democrats. Evidently women aren't allowed to resign posts for higher office.

May 15, 2009 -- CONCORD - New Hampshire Governor John Lynch and Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte today encouraged state, county, local and non-profit agencies to apply for criminal justice grants funded through the federal stimulus act. These grants will be administered by the Attorney General’s Office. The goal of this funding is to assist agencies and non-profits in the criminal justice community impacted by the recession, which will help to preserve and create jobs.

In any event, this is just another unfortunate sign that the Republican establishment is not getting the message. Nor are they going to be able to fool people anymore if they try to claim the banner of fiscal restraint and limited government if those principles are not guiding their actions behind the scenes.

People are done being fooled by just another DC political party that is more a part of the problem, than a potential cure.

Obama Admin: Ain't No Sunshine

2009-07-09T11:02:15-04:00

If I didn't know better, I'd swear Obama was Bill Withers. An EPA secrecy issue, possibly involving some financial arm twisting, via Michelle Malkin with more. Meanwhile, via Instapundit, the Inspectors General scandals continue to play out. With Obama, what we don't know can hurt us. But that theme was true during the campaign, even while the media portrayed him as one of the most open candidates ever. Unfortunately, we're finding out that joking with his media buddies on the bus is not open - unless you're one of them. And even then, it was likely just a ruse they went for out of ego, perhaps. At least bloggers remain skeptics, as old media types get old and shrivel away in their declining years.

Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs “to put nothing in writing, ever” regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, is demanding a congressional investigation of Browner’s conduct in the CAFE talks, saying in a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, that Browner “intended to leave little or no documentation of the deliberations that lead to stringent new CAFE standards.”

Senate Poised To Kill More Jobs In Teamster Payback?

2009-07-09T10:25:17-04:00

After viewing a Tweet by Jan Simpson on an FAA measure under consideration in the Senate, I did some looking and found an Editorial in today's Washington Times, as well as some important background here. In what amounts to a pay off to the Teamsters, Fed Ex has already said it will cancel 15 new planes if the measure passes, at a time when Fed Ex also just opened a new distribution hub, creating even more new jobs.

As you'll see in the Times'editorial and in the third graph below, the bill was bought and paid for through Rep. Jim Oberstar (D) MN. Leave it to Washington Democrats to kill more jobs in a down economy by expanding the Teamsters and paying back their biggest contributors.

UPS long has lobbied for a change in FedEx's status. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents truck drivers and other workers at UPS, also has pushed for the change so it can unionize FedEx workers.

Currently only FedEx pilots are unionized. FedEx said the change would create "upheaval" and that it no longer would be able to afford the additional 777Fs, "30 out of 45 airplanes we won't be buying if our RLA status is changed by Congress," a company spokesperson told Reuters yesterday.

This anti-FedEx provision is a sop to big Democratic donors from the Teamsters and from UPS, who combined have donated more than $164,000 to the provision's House sponsor, Rep. James L. Oberstar, Minnesota Democrat.

Is The NRSC About To Do It, Again?

2009-07-09T09:39:32-04:00

h/t Hot Air headlines.

Conservative Chuck DeVore has been planning a run against Barbara Boxer for quite some time. The LA Times reports fired CEO and former McCain campaign adviser Carly Fiorina may be interested in running for the seat.

Carly Fiorina, whose rocky tenure as chief executive of Hewlett Packard ended with her firing, is making serious preparations to run next year for the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Fiorina is wealthy and something of a Republican establishment heart throb, despite still being treated for a recent bout with breast cancer. What are the odds the NRSC under Cornyn is going to cut and run on the conservative Republican base, again?

Regardless of one's personal political choices, it's impossible to conclude anything other than that the NRSC under Cornyn has already alienated the Republican base by backing certain candidates over the wishes of said base. That would be Christ over Rubio in FL and Ridge over Toomey in PA, which didn't eventuate and the NRSC may be warming to Toomey.

How many times does Cornyn need to be booed publicly before realizing he's out of touch with the Republican base? More importantly, do he and the Republican establishment even care?

Plum Line And TPM: Still Plum Dumb Over Palin

2009-07-08T19:28:11-04:00

This analysis by Plum Line, suggesting Palin couldn't have quit due to costs incurred by Alaska in fighting bogus ethics complaints is just silly. They suggest it wasn't about the costs, as the money was already budgeted for the state's lawyers and would have been spent anyway, simply on other matters. Well, Duh! Waste is waste, no matter how you cut it. All this does is show how distracted the lawyers were from working on more serious state business. It also proves how desperate they remain to throw any trumped up allegation Palin's way they can, even after she has resigned.

But Murrow, the spokesperson, acknowledged to our reporter, Amanda Erickson, that this total was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints — based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor’s office and the Department of Law. The money would have gone to the lawyers no matter what they were doing. The complaints are “just distracting them from other duties,” Murrow said.

Furthermore, the still on going attacks disprove the notion that somehow things were going to change.

Similarly, TPM reports that there are only three ethics complaints outstanding against the Palin administration in any case — which, combined with the above, casts serious doubts on one of her chief stated reasons for quitting.

More Republican Idiocy And Sarah Palin

2009-07-08T18:54:56-04:00

Hopefully, this is more media blather, than it is an actual issue. But then, so many squish Republicans are idiots, nothing would surprise me. And it's those Republicans wh aren't worth a damn. Not because of how they view Sarah Palin, so much, but for how they view conservatism in general. And they wonder why we aren't there to support them when they need it.

Sarah Palin is not attractive to Chris Christie's N.J. Gov campaign

New Jersey GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's campaign has no interest in help from Sarah Palin after the former vice presidential candidate stepped down as governor of Alaska, in part to help Republican candidates across the country.

Too many Republicans are part of the problem and not the solution today.

Wow! Reagan versus MJ

2009-07-08T18:42:47-04:00

Yes, 31 million people watched the Jackson funeral. But 35 million watched Reagan's burial? The only other number that comes close is Princess Diana's.

And they wonder why Conservatives can't help but think back to the Reagan era.

As an aside, Obama's health care special drew about 5 million. Those aren't exactly we must do something, now! numbers.

Who Killed California's Economy?

2009-07-08T18:00:25-04:00

Or was it sort of a Lemming thing?

The Omperor's New Clothes

2009-07-08T17:58:11-04:00

But he's not wearing any.

Conservatives knew Barack Obama lacked gravitas over two years ago. And now we're starting to see the rest of the country catch on. Folks are getting hip to the Democrats' epic electoral fail of 2008.

A Culture Of Corruptocrats

2009-07-08T12:42:00-04:00

Hey, whatever happened to all that hope, change, transparency and accountable, responsible government we heard so much about? Oh, that's right, he won the election and isn't campaigning for anything right now. Maybe he'll run in 2012 on a platform of going to Washington to clean up all the bad government we've been getting? At least the press would be on board. Only Obama can clean up this mess, it's his mess, after all!

President Obama’s campaign to bring change to the nation’s capital hasn’t kept him from continuing the Washington tradition of handing out ambassadorships to political friends and fundraisers.

An old college roommate, the head of an entertainment production company and a lawyer whose family made its money selling vacuum cleaners are among more than a dozen people who have won ambassadorships after raising a total of at least $4 million for Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign, according to public records.

It's Okay To Question Your Patriotism

2009-07-08T11:47:16-04:00

It's un-American, as well as prohibited to question the patriotism of those attempting to undermine a war effort, but question Obama's policies and this is what you get. Liberals have no shame when it comes to hypocrisy. And I really regret that we are going to be reaping the unpleasant benefits to our politics going forward. Much more of this and the Right is going to get just as angry and ugly as the Left. Twenty-ten is going to be a no holds barred blood match politically speaking.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who has had an eventful couple of weeks to say the least, believes House Republican opposition to climate change legislation and the stimulus indicates they’re cheering against the good ol’ US of A.

“It appears that the Republican Party leadership in the Congress has made a decision that they want to deny President Obama success, which means, in my mind, they are rooting against the country, as well,” the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman told WAMU radio host Diane Rehm on Tuesday morning, promoting his new book, “The Waxman Report.”

Update: Conservative GPW's Congressman is Waxman? Well, that stinks.

... my Congressman, ever eager to frustrate Republican efforts at reform, (is) now criticizing Republicans for attempting to do to Democratic legislation today what he did to Republican legislation when the GOP was in the majority:....