Just watch the two clips below. The first one is long, so catch between the 1:00 and 1:30 mark. The second clip is less than a minute, so catch the whole thing.
This shows pretty much the current state of the Democratic party and the left in general -- rooting on hurricanes for political gain.
Kinda confirms that all that Katrina talk from the left has always been nothing but simple politics the entire time. If it's bad for Republicans, why not cheer on a natural disaster?
Well, that took—what?—an hour? Petulant just emailed me to say he heard someone on the Stephanie Miller Show calling Palin a "bimbo." (Presumably because she's a former beauty queen.) And I'm already reading indictments of "her" that include information like "her husband works for an oil company."
They're not happy with their fellow progressive men. (Snicker, snicker.)
I know I'm almost always right [/hubris] but it feels sooo good to have it proven sooo quickly.
"But it appears that Pallin's last child, a baby with Down's syndrome, may not be hers. It may be that of her teenage daughter."
I assume it will be deleted shortly. Can't let the public see the ugliness that is the Netroots.
I swear, with the out and out shrillness I've seen from a good chunk of the left today, I think McCain may have hit a homerun with this pick, and the left fears he may have as well.
Update: Speaking of those with mental handicaps, I just noticed the diarist can't even spell the nominee's name correctly. Pallin?
With the news coming out today concerning McCain's pick for Vice-President, I thought this selection appropriate. It involves both a Palin, and of course, the Great White North.
Some thoughts on McCain's pick of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his Vice-President nominee, in convenient bullet form.
~ The base is going to love it. Love, love, love it.
~ The main knock, and it is a legitimate one, is that two years ago, Gov. Palin was only a mayor of a town. Then again, two years ago, Barack Obama was only a state legislator, and Palin is running only for Veep, and not the actual Presidency.
~ This pick will not necessarily win over some of the PUMAs, but it does put them in play.
~ I can't wait for the latent misogyny of some on the left to come out in full force towards her between now and November.
Update: Two more points after watching her speech.
~ Charlie Gibson (I was watching ABC) made a good point. They are making a pitch for the working class, especially working class women. She comes from the working class, and she will be able to connect.
~ Both are so-called mavericks in their party. Palin made her name taking on the establishment of the Republican Party in Alaska, grown stagnant due to its one party rule up there. And McCain, well, we already know about how he has tweaked the national party.
Maysoon Abdelhady says she is the perfect Democratic National Convention delegate.
“I was recruited because I’m a woman. I’m a Palestinian. I’m a Muslim. I’m disabled and, because I’m 30 and still not married, people think I’m gay.
“I told all that to the head of the New Jersey delegation but she said, ‘Excellent — you fill every quota we have!’”
Update/Correction: Per the first comment at this post, looks like the quote above was taken out of context, and was meant to be gently self-mocking. My bad, should have taken better care. Dang you, National Review!
On the Shenanigans Outside the Democratic Convention
Looks like the folks who wanted to ReCreate '68 really haven't succeeded. All the reports I've read about the protests outside have been of a cursory manner. Those who wanted their voices heard responsibly seem to have been given their chance, and those who merely wanted to wear bandanas and break stuff haven't.
Friction between the union and immigrant workers, along with a tipoff at an electrical manufacturing plant, boiled over this week into the biggest workplace immigration raid in the nation's history.
When the first of the 595 suspected illegal immigrants was taken into custody Monday, some fellow workers broke into applause. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the investigation started three years ago after agents received a tip from a union member.
From that same story:
"On Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside the plant to apply for jobs as news of the raid spread. A billboard had gone up last week, before the raid, saying the company was hiring."
I understand that those here illegally just want to work and make a better living for themselves, but not at the expense of Americans trying to do the same thing. That is exactly what was happening here, and who knows where else. Mississippi has an unemployment rate of 8.5%, much higher than the national 6%.
And this company, Howard Industries, they should have some executives and upper management facing serious legal ramifications. Just like the executives at Tyson Foods after that bust in Iowa.
There Ain't no Politics Worse Than Little League Politics
My dad, who played college baseball and was drafted by the Tigers organization (never played minor league ball due to an injury) knows more about baseball than the average Joe. So when we were little, he agreed to help assistant coach our Little League All-Stars, of which my younger brother was one.
I was too young to comprehend exactly what Dad found himself a part of, but I knew he was absolutely disgusted. We didn't play in that league next season, which represented half the county, and instead enrolled us in another one farther away.
People remembered. The petty sort who love their local county power. My brothers, who were much better ball players than I, though I was no slouch, always has a wary eye turned towards them by some in the adult baseball clique.
So when I read this story about a 9-year old banned from pitching in his league because he's too good, I am highly sympathetic to his coach's claims that it is merely political. The petty sort are not above shutting down a talented 9-year old because he beats them too easily.
Even if (highly doubtful in my opinion) this child actually has been banned from pitching due to some fuzzy-wuzzy sense of fairness or self-esteem... Why?!
If you're an average player at that age group and you strike out against the pitching stud in your league, there is no shame in that. Your teammates all did the same thing. Now, if during one of those games you manage to connect on the ball and line a double down the gap, you remember that. Panting as you brush the dirt off your pants standing on second, rearranging the batting helmet just a bit too big for you so you can check the third base coach for signals... that's self esteem right there.
Let me get this straight: getting a Senate and House majority to authorize a bipartisan joint war-resolution, going to the UN, assembling a coalition, having a national and world debate on the wisdom of such an operation from December 2001 to March 2003, and then attacking a genocidal dictator, and staying on to foster a constitutional democracy are apparently the same "charge" "example" as an autocracy suddenly invading its democratic neighbor during the Olympics, and staying on to annex some of its territory?
Which brings up a question: If President, would Obama's sizable streak of liberal guilt handicap him in dealing decisively in an international crisis such as Georgia.
Wow, how incredibly naive, foolish, or both is the current Democratic nominee.
Let me make just one of many points that should be obvious to anybody out there with a functioning brain.
Yes, the Chinese economy is growing and industrializing, but they don't have to deal with all that annoying debate about how to plan their economic moves. Yes, it does have its advantages, but there are some negatives as well.
"LeRoi Moore, saxophone player for the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday of injuries suffered in an accident on an all-terrain vehicle in June. He was 46."
Have you ever made a real jack-ass comment on another person's blog, and then a few hours or the next morning recall what you had typed, and felt embarrassed if not just a wee bit ashamed?
Nope, me neither.
No seriously, I'm recently guilty. My sincere apologies to those whose discussion I polluted. Not cool on my part, at all. I'm better than that, or should be, and the folks involved are better than to have to deal with it also.
I'll leave the regular Friday Feel Gooding to others out there in internet land, (yeah I know, mostly Tennessee) but since I'm going to be seeing these guys tomorrow down at Waterfront Park for an outdoor concert, how about some My Morning Jacket.
It looks like the President is sending Georgia relief aid, and he is noticeably going to use our military to do it. It looks like the Russians may have won the provinces of South Odessia and Abkhazia, while the other provinces of Georgia should be under Tbilisi's control.
It is to ensure that the rest of Georgia remains under Tbilisi's control Bush is sending the military to delivery the aid, so Putin doesn't get the idea to grab for more.
Georgia is split in two by Russia on one side, and the US and her allies on the other, and we're airlifting support and aid while simultaneously drawing a line in the sand.
A firm but not reckless reaction to Moscow's aggression...
The President of Georgia Speaks, With Five Presidents Behind Him
Check out the mass of people gathered to hear Geogian President Saakashvili speak. Behind him are five presidents of former Soviet-bloc countries (Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) who know full well what it means to face oppression from Moscow.
Very impressive stuff.
Something both amazing and chilling to watch -- the red and white Georgian flags proudly waved -- and notice that here or there, you can see the ol' Red, White, and Blue herself hoisted in solidarity as well.
"Ben Smith [in the Politico] recounts that Russia's Washington public relations firm contacted reporters to remind them that McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann has lobbied for Georgia. Unbelievably, the Obama campaign aligned itself squarely with Vladimir Putin, putting out a statement that echoed the Russian PR firm's:
"John McCain's top foreign policy adviser lobbied for, and has a vested interest in, the Republic of Georgia and McCain has mirrored the position advocated by the government,' said Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan."
In the common sense-free world of Barack Obama, advocating for a fledgling democracy that is trying to align itself with the West and is threatened by the imperial aspirations of Russia constitutes a "conflict of interest."
The McCain camp responded with this statement:
The Obama campaign's attacks on Randy Scheunemann are disgraceful. Mr. Scheunemann proudly represented a small democracy that is one of our closest allies in a very dangerous region. Today, many are dead and Georgia is in crisis, yet the Obama campaign has offered nothing more than cheap and petty political attacks that are echoed only by the Kremlin. The reaction of the Obama campaign to this crisis, so at odds with our democratic allies and yet so bizarrely in sync with Moscow, doesn't merely raise questions about Senator Obama's judgment--it answers them."
"I strongly support the declaration issued by the Presidents of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and their commitment that 'aggression against a small country in Europe will not be passed over in silence or with meaningless statements equating the victims with the victimizers.'"
The recently liberated peoples of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are more than aware of how Russia plays the game, and the tendency among some in the West to passively demure with diplomatic cowardice. I do not know if that statement was a reaction to this statement, but it sure could be.
"It’s both sides’ fault — both have been somewhat provocative with each other."
Who was that statement made by? Answer: Mark Brzezinski, advisor to Barack Obama, and son of Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter.
Seriously, next time I complain about something stupid or trivial, I should think about this story.
CARACAS, Venezuela (Aug. 8) -- At least 38 Warao Indians have died in remote villages in Venezuela, and medical experts suspect an outbreak of rabies spread by bites from vampire bats.
And I'm annoyed about needing to get my brakes fixed on my car.
"Find out where he [Gordon Kromber, a US attorney prosecuting a suspected Al Qaeda operative] lives. Find out where his office is. If you've got some chutzpah - which is a word that you don't hear often - if you've really got it, find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is; picket him all the time. Call him a racist in signs if you see him. Call him an injustice. Call him whatever you want to call him, but in his face all the time. They can't take the heat; deliver it to them. We have to stop laying down to these injustices."
From the linked article:
"'That sounds very, very dangerous and sketchy,' said Bobby Chesney, a Wake Forest University law professor who studies national security law. It's fine to criticize the government, he said, but it is an entirely different matter to engage in such aggressive speech targeting the children of a federal employee."
While Mr. Chesney as a professional expert is lucid and strong in his stringent condemnation, let me repeat in my own more amateurish yet brutish manner for those who are too thick skulled or (more likely, sadly) those who are just too radically left-wing and partisan and therefore likely to be intentionally obtuse unless I make this point ridiculously obvious...
"Find out where his kids go to school."
Again, just for repetition's sake, again and again and again.
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school.
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
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"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
"Find out where his kids go to school."
And for all my liberal readers and fellow bloggers who love to talk about their sons and daughters, to post pictures of their neices and nephews, imagine if it was your precious loved ones that this Senator was attempting to get this audience to stalk; to scope out where these innocents attended school.
I've been away from the computer and politics for the past day or two, so this 'controversy' snuck on me. (Can't say I really miss it though.)
The current ad by the McCain campaign comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears and their superficial celebrity status is a bit stupid, to be honest. It makes a point, don't get me wrong, about similarities between the temporal rockstar quality of Sen. Obama's current hip status, and those of other celebrities who now have some tarnish on them.
If you want my honest opinion, unpersuasive if ultimately harmless.
"Jesse Jackson must have been forgiven by the Obama campaign and welcomed into its inner circle. Because it sure seems as if he’s giving the campaign advice."
This ad is racist, because you see, Paris and Brittney are white, and you know how black men like their white women. (wink wink nod nod)
Bull manure.
Those two women are also vapid creatures on a first name basis within our current tabloid media culture, adored one day and mocked the next, and this ad in no way says that Obama wants to do dirty erotic things to them, or any other dirty blonde out there, yet this blatant playing of the race card first by the netroots, then The New York Times, and now the candidate himself will only backfire. Hard.
You think the American public wants to potentially need to defend itself against the charge of racism anytime there is some sort of criticism to make of the Chief Executive for the next four or eight years? Hardly.
And by the backtracking the Obama campaign is doing concerning what Obama meant by his 'dollar bill' comment, they realize the self-inflicted damage that has been done. Not necessarily too late, but not necessarily soon enough, either.
Obama's campaign just made him with this episode, unnecessarily I must emphasize, the racial candidate, with all the baggage that implies. Not Hope, and not Change, but the common and worn-thin old racial politics.
The race is brand new, both campaigns now start at even, and it now depends on how they finish this last 100 days to determine which man will be out next President. Obama just sacrificed his advantage over an opponent's ad comparing him to Brittney Spears. (!?) Simply astounding.
