Mark Penn: Press Losing Credibility on Palin

Carol Platt Liebau:

"When Hillary Clinton's campaign advisor argues that the MSM's over-the-top coverage of Sarah Palin is denuding it of credibility, that's remarkable.

But it's also true. The most recent example? An effort to argue that Sarah Palin didn't know what the "Bush doctrine" is. Well, actually, it's Charlie Gibson who misused the term.

As I noted last night, Gibson confused the Bush Doctrine, a substantive..."

Read more.

McCain Flies His Campaign Past Obama

Michael Barone:

John McCain was trained as a fighter pilot. In his selection of Sarah Palin, and in his convention and campaigning since, he has shown that he learned an important lesson from his fighter pilot days: He has gotten inside Barack Obama's OODA loop.

That term was the invention of the great fighter pilot and.... Read more.

Charlie Gibson's Gaffee

Charles Krauthammer

"There is no single meaning of the Bush doctrine. In fact, there have been four distinct meanings, each one succeeding another over the eight years of this administration -- and the one Charlie Gibson cited is not the one in common usage today.

He asked Palin, "Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?"

She responded, quite sensibly to a question that is ambiguous, "In what respect, Charlie?"

Sensing his "gotcha" moment, Gibson refused to tell her. After making her fish for the answer, he grudgingly explained to the moose-hunting rube that the Bush doctrine "is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense."

Wrong.

I know something about the subject because, as the....."  Read on.

Radical leftist's son: 'Obama learned his lesson well'

Child of Saul Alinsky sees Democratic Party using his father's methods

In a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe, the son of radical socialist community organizer Saul Alinsky praised Barack Obama for stirring up the masses at the Democratic National Convention "Saul Alinsky style," saying, "Obama learned his lesson well."

The letter signed L. David Alinsky closed by saying, "I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully. … It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday."

Saul Alinsky was a social revolutionist who advocated going beyond leftist approaches to the point of stirring mass organizations of "Have-nots" that would rise up and seize power from the "Haves." Alinsky's radical methods were often controversial, as were his words, such as the dedication of his book "Rules for Radicals": "To the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer."

What Was Feminism?
By Victor Davis Hanson

"The media went hysterical over Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and Republican nominee for vice president.." Read more.

Enduring Authenticity vs. Fleeting Charisma

David Limbaugh:

Many Democrats, including Joe Biden himself, are second-guessing Barack Obama's selection of Biden, but I have to wonder how many are having even greater misgivings about Obama leading the ticket. Read more.

Obama's Race to Lose - And He Might

Charles Krauthammer:

The Democrats are in a panic. In a presidential race that is impossible to lose, they are behind. Obama devotees are frantically giving advice. More.

Climate change: Global cooling?

"Further ammunition for global warming skeptics came from south of the border, where a Mexican scientist warns that Earth will enter a “little ice age” for up to 80 years because of a decrease in solar activity.

Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, predicts that the ice period will begin in about 10 years.

Predictions of a gradual increase in temperatures called global warming are erroneous, Velasco Herrera told a conference at the Centre for Applied Sciences and Technological Development regarding predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC models and forecasts are wrong because they are based only on “mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity," he said.

The phenomenon of climate change should include other kinds of factors, both internal, such as volcanoes and human activity, and external, such as solar activity, he said.

"In this century, glaciers are growing," as seen on the Perito Moreno mountain in the Andes; on Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada; and on Franz-Josef Glacier, New Zealand, Velasco Herrera said.

Satellite data indicate that a period of global cooling may have begun in 2005, he said."

Read more.

Feinstein ‘Not Concerned’ About Russian Bombers in Venezuela
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNSNews.com Thursday that she is not concerned about Russia’s announcement on Wednesday that it had moved two long-range bombers to a base in Venezuela, a South American country just over a thousand miles from Florida.“I don’t think Russia would launch attacks on the United States.” Other senators, however, both Republican and Democrat, were less optimistic about Russia’s action.

Oh-oh. A Strong Woman With Hubris

Palin: ‘I Didn’t Blink’
(CNSNews.com) - In his interview with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday, ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson suggested that Palin’s willingness to accept John McCain's vice presidential offer without hesitation demonstrated "hubris." Palin, expressing confidence in her readiness, said, “You can’t blink.” So -- “I didn’t,” she said.

WHY OUR ELITES FEAR FAITH

THE LEFT'S HATRED OF RELIGION EXPOSED
Ralph Peters

Nothing in recent memory has driven home the divide between our self-appointed aristocracy and "commoners" as sharply as the intelligentsia's rush to mock Gov. Sarah Palin's religious faith.

While the attacks and insults are backfiring on the mortified elites, the double standard applied to "Sarah America" is a disgrace that can't be excused as "just politics."

Certainly, much of the left-wing fury over Palin stems from the Democrat Party's assumption that it "owned" the exclusive right to nominate women to the executive branch (despite the crushing of Hillary Clinton's candidacy). How dare the Republicans advance a woman? How dare they change this year's election script?

But the root of the left's dread of this happily married mother of five seems to be that she actually believes in God. Washington fears faith - even nominal believers inside the Beltway have been shaped by secular educations and secular caste values.

Humans fear what they can't understand, and our comfortable ruling class just can't comprehend the power and the glory, the beauty and the ecstasy, the awe and commitment experienced by those who believe in a divine power. To paraphrase the late Leona Helmsley, "Faith is for the little people."

Read more ...

The Sarah Surge in Black and White

The louder the Left screams the better the Alaska governor seems to do.
By Larry Kudlow

It’s so much fun reading the newspapers these days. The Sarah surge continues to dominate all the political news while the Palin-McCain — er, McCain-Palin — ticket is forging ahead in the polls.

But let’s be fair. Even though Sen. McCain is now riding Gov. Palin’s skirt tails, he was the one who made the brilliant decision to put her on the ticket. And the louder the Left screams the better Sarah seems to do. So much better that for the first time the Intrade pay-to-play prediction market — which long has had Obama winning by 20 to 25 points in November — now shows a McCain lead. Unbelievable.

WHY SHE REALLY SCARES THEM

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

2008 For two weeks, Democrats and their media allies have leveled scorching fire at Sarah Palin. It's not having much effect, but they keep at it anyway.

The latest Fox News poll shows Palin with a 54-27 favorable/unfavorable ratio, which compares well with Barack Obama's 57-36, John McCain's 60-33 and Joe Biden's 51-29. (Of the four, she's the most popular).

Why do Democrats feel so threatened? They've even stopped attacking McCain and President Bush to launch a vicious and sexist barrage at her that would normally make a feminist angry and a Democrat blush.

Basically, it's this: John McCain only endangers Democratic chances of victory this November, but Sarah Palin is an existential threat to the Democratic Party.

She threatens a core element of the party's base - women.

Read it all here.

TAX CONTROVERSY

Rangel Says He Regrets 'Errors,' Rejects Calls to Cede Panel Post - washingtonpost.com

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) acknowledged yesterday that he had not lived up to the "higher standard" expected of members of Congress, but he maintained that he should not be punished politically for failing to disclose and pay taxes on rental income from his Caribbean resort property.

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT

Biden: Hillary might have been better :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

BOSTON -- Joe Biden said Wednesday that Hillary Clinton might have been a better choice for the Democratic ticket.

Biden was defending Clinton after a questioner at a fund-raiser said he was glad she wasn't selected as Barack Obama's running mate.

Autumn Angst: Dems fret about Obama - David Paul Kuhn and Bill Nichols - Politico.com

Polls showing John McCain tied or even ahead of Barack Obama are stirring angst and second-guessing among some of the Democratic Party’s most experienced operatives, who worry that Obama squandered opportunities over the summer and may still be underestimating his challenges this fall.

Muslim Swift workers sacked after walkout - The Denver Post

More than 100 Muslim workers were fired from a Greeley slaughterhouse Wednesday after refusing to report for work a day earlier in protest of the company's refusal to allow a prayer break during the work shift.

Another 120 workers — most of them Somalis — broke ranks with the protesters, went back to work Tuesday and kept their jobs, JBS Swift & Co. officials said in a statement.

"This action is a direct violation of our collective-bargaining agreement," Swift said of the walkout in a statement. "Employees were told . . . failure to report to work when recalled would result in their immediate termination."

Freedom of the Airwaves Essential
By Paul M. Weyrich

From the time that the telegraph first brought national news to local papers, communication has become easier and more abundant. Even if the Fairness Doctrine is re-imposed, which is highly doubtful, it would take a complete perversion of the Constitution to kill the Internet. And so long as free people have access to real information, there is hope for the survival of this Republic.

Chavez Hails End of ‘Yankee Hegemony’ As Russian Bombers Arrive
(CNSNews.com) – Russia’s defense ministry announced that two Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers landed Wednesday at a military airfield in Venezuela, where they are scheduled to carry out training flights. The move comes several days after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the region’s most outspoken critic of Washington, said he would welcome Russian planes and warships on his country’s territory.

U.S-Pakistan at Odds Over Cross-Border Strikes
(CNSNews.com) – Seven years after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S.-Pakistan anti-terrorism alliance that resulted from al-Qaeda’s attack on America is facing a moment of truth. On the same day that Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told U.S. lawmakers that the Afghanistan mission would place a greater focus on eliminating terrorist safe havens inside Pakistan, Pakistan’s army chief declared that his country’s sovereignty would be defended “at all cost.”

Senate Dems Claim Recession Despite 3.3 Percent Economic Growth
(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and leading Senate Democrats told CNSNews.com on Tuesday that the U.S. economy is in a recession despite the fact that the economy grew by 3.3 percent during the second quarter of fiscal year 2008. One Republican congressman suggested that Democrats are downplaying the state of the economy to boost their chances in the elections in November.

BEWARE OF A MOTHER'S SCORN

Moms Say Palin Is Role Model for All Women
Fairfax, Va. (CNSNews.com) - Many of the more than 15,000 people who gathered at a McCain-Palin campaign rally in northern Virginia Wednesday were mothers who challenged the notion that Sarah Palin cannot be a good parent and help govern the country at the same time. “I think it’s disgusting what they are saying about her, absolutely disgusting,” Vicki Doyle of Crystal City, Va., told CNSNews.com. “They wouldn’t begin to say that to a man. She can do it all, just like the men have done all these years.”

New Legislation Points to Political Progress in Iraq Despite Criticism
(CNSNews.com) – When Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker first reported on the results of the surge a year ago this past week, top congressional figures were quick to point out that the Iraqi government had satisfied only three of the 18 benchmarks set up as barometers for progress. But the White House is now reporting that 15 of the 18 benchmarks set up to measure the Iraqi government’s effectiveness have been satisfied.

The Palin Success Story
By Fred Thompson

"I said that Sarah Palin is the most remarkable success story in the history of American politics. Some of the main stream media took issue with that. Said I was putting her ahead of George Washington winning the Revolutionary War and Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves. I didn't realize that they thought that winning the Revolutionary War and freeing the slaves were political events.

Now, this women went from the PTA to becoming the vice presidential nominee, along the way she won the governor's office, took on the entrenched powers, including the big oil companies, her own state party chairman, an incumbent Republican governor, beating them, while reforming the energy policies for Alaska, and helping the entire nation.

Had she'd been a liberal woman doing all of this the main stream media would be fighting among themselves to get the television rights to her story.

So, I stick my by story."

Wow. That's about as much as I can say. Wow. I'm dumbstruck that the media is so moronic. The media elites think the Revolutionary War and the Civil War (i.e. ending slavery) were political events? Wow. These are the gatekeepers of news and insight? Pathetic. Everyday they set new lows. (Bold emphasis mine. -HH)

My Way News
Venezuela's Chavez says US ambassador must leave

U.S., China Laying Plans in Case North Korea Collapses

FOXNews.com

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is more impaired from the stroke he apparently suffered last month than reports from the region suggest, and the United States and China are holding talks about what to do if the government in Pyongyang collapses....

Democrats on Capitol Hill fear Obama fallout

FT.com

Democratic jitters about the US presidential race have spread to Capitol Hill, where some members of Congress are worried that Barack Obama’s faltering campaign could hurt their chances of re-election.

“There is a growing sense of doom among Democrats I have spoken to . . . People are going crazy, telling the campaign ‘you’ve got to do something’.”  More.

Who is Obama Opposing?

Barack Obama has spent most of his time prior to the Republican convention, attacking Pres. Bush. Then once Gov. Palin was chosen as veep and introduced at the RNC, he has been attacking her.

Makes me wonder if he knows that neither Bush or Palin are at the top of the Republican ticket.

Media Bias? No. It Is Political Activism.

Palin’s Torpedo Should Sink NBC - HUMAN EVENTS
By Jed Babbin

Back in the good old days -- when MSNBC’s liberal bias was merely overt -- the network was capable of embarrassment. Now, the network has chosen sides in the presidential election, and it is engaging in political activism.

Obama's Lipstick Smear

HUMAN EVENTS
By A.W.R. Hawkins

When Barack Obama stood in Lebanon, Virginia on September 9, and said, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” I must say I concurred. And like tens of millions of Americans, I didn’t think it was an insult directed at Gov. Sarah Palin. But it was a lame attempt at a quip to demonstrate that Sarah Palin is nothing new or that the McCain/Palin ticket doesn’t represent real change. I actually think the phrase fits far better on the Democrats, and particularly Obama, who has spent more than a year and half pretending to be what he isn’t in order to garner votes that he otherwise would not receive.

It was obvious that Obama was going to be a weak candidate when he confronted Maureen Dowd in December 2006, for comments she made about his ears. It was after a speech in New Hampshire that Obama walked up to Dowd and said: “You talked about my ears, and I just want to put you on notice: I'm very sensitive about [them]...I was teased relentlessly when I was a kid about my big ears.'" What? How is a man who can’t handle being ribbed for having gigantic ears ever supposed to handle the threats of our terroristic enemy; an enemy that will certainly forego picking on his ears in their bid to go straight for the throat?

What’s sad is that the complaint Obama lodged with Dowd may be the most genuine thing the guy has said in the last 20 months. In other words, weakness is the one thing he displays honestly.Read more.

Obviously the "lipstick on a pig" line is an old, tired, and trite political line. Therefore, it is not unusual, surprising, or odd that Barack would use it. There is nothing new, fresh, or original in anything Obama says.

My feeling is that Barack realized what he was about to say, hesitated a bit wondering if he wanted to go down that road; then, decided to go ahead because he realized it was a bit of a double entendre.

He has increasingly come off as a sassy teenager in his remarks. This is just another example of him sounding immature. He is a little thin-skinned and I think it is only going to get worse and more obvious between now and the election. He is nowhere near ready to face the Putins and Ahmedinijad's of the world. (HH)

Words Obama Will Regret
By Ken Blackwell

Msnbc's Doomed 'Experiment'

By Brent Bozell III

The executive suite at MSNBC is the last hardened corner of America to concede that maybe Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are nowhere close to the textbook definition of detached, "straight news" anchor. Their decision to abandon what was tenderly called their anchoring "experiment" only acknowledges that the idea was a bust: MSNBC was regularly coming in dead last among the commercial cable-news and broadcast-news network covering the conventions.

NBC News is coming to the realization that Olbermann and Matthews aren't only suppressing MSNBC's ratings on election and convention nights, they're ruining whatever credibility NBC's brand retained. When the boos really kicked in during Sarah Palin's acceptance speech in St. Paul, the delegates started chanting "NBC! NBC!" as the foremost example of partisan excess from an "objective" source. It's gotten so bad that old NBC warhorse Tom Brokaw is decrying how these men have "gone too far." This is shocking stuff coming from an anchorman who gave a Reagan-trashing interview to Mother Jones magazine in his Eighties heyday. More.

THE MEDIA IS A SEWER

By Jack Kelly:

"We need to throw every last molecule of s**t we've got at McCain and Palin," said a poster at the Democratic Underground blog. "Demonize them. Dehumanize them."

Panic brings out the ugliness in ugly people. And ugliness of this sort is not restricted to moonbat bloggers.

"In the press galleries at the convention, journalists wrinkled their noses in disgust when Piper, Ms. Palin's youngest daughter, was filmed kitty-licking her baby brother's hair in place," wrote David Carr in the New York Times Sunday.

How dark must your soul be for you to be "disgusted" by a six-year-old girl who is behaving lovingly toward her baby brother?

ON BIDEN

Christine O'Donnell is running for senate in the state of Delaware against Joe Biden. Yes, Joe is up for re-election this year, so he is running for senate and for the vice-presidency.

Sarah Palin is reportedly going to campaign for and with Ms. O'Donnell.

Palin is hot (not meant to be sexist) right now and all the Repubs want her to campaign alongside them.

What if Ms. O'Donnell ... this unknown housewife .... could defeat Biden in the senate race? He is not doing any senate seat campaigning. Palin certainly could give O'Donnell a boost of energy and excitement to her campaign.

Realistically, it's a big hurdle. Biden is pretty well entrenched. Thirty six years in the senate is a long time.

9/11 and the Continuing Threat

By David Aikman

In the seven years since the catastrophe of 9/11, the U.S. has been, by God's grace, spared any repeat action. But it has been because of the vigilance of American and allied forces protecting us--not because al Qaeda has become lazy.

In fact, the most vulnerable parts of the world to Islamist terrorism are now in Europe. Innumerable terrorist plots have been uncovered in Britain, Germany and France since 9/11 and a new wave of al Qaeda recruits, born and raised in Britain, seems to be flocking to bases in Pakistan, either to join the Taliban in Afghanistan or to destroy their own society at home.

Until this Islamist extremist madness is finally repudiated by mainstream Muslims, the threat to civilization from terrorists will remain.

“While addressing the [GOP convention], Sarah Palin criticized Barack Obama for not having enough ‘specifics.’ Obama was reportedly angry about the claim, but didn’t say exactly why.” —Conan O’Brien

Barack Obama, a famous fan of pickup basketball, must recognize his plight: It’s two on one now. John McCain drafted Gov. Sarah Palin, the star point guard from the Wasilla Warriors, to double-team Obama. (McCain’s team doesn’t care if no one covers Joe Biden, who seems to spend most of his time yelling to the media, ‘I’m open! I’m open!’ But when he gets the ball, all he does is talk about what a great player he is and dribble in place.)”

—Jonah Goldberg

ON DRILLING

“Congress returns... for an abbreviated session, with energy being the number one issue on the agenda. Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner, spent the August recess pushing for Congress to enact an ‘all of the above’ package to increase energy supplies and lower gasoline prices, and they will continue to do so. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, clearly thrown off balance by public opinion polls showing that a decisive majority of the electorate agrees with the Republicans on drilling, have a different, irresponsible agenda: running out the clock and preventing a straight up-or-down vote on drilling. But to do this successfully, they will have to continue their strategy of pretending to support compromise, while loading up energy legislation with poison pills that will make expanded drilling impossible... In the House, the Democratic leadership will offer a ‘compromise’ plan to allow drilling more than 100 miles from shore. (Which presumably means that if the next Prudhoe Bay is discovered 25 miles off the coast of Virginia or 50 miles from North Carolina, consumers should just shut up and be happy with oil from Mexico, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela instead.)” —The Washington Times

“As many as an estimated nine out of 10 children with Down syndrome are aborted in the womb, sought out by increasingly sophisticated prenatal tests and eliminated as too flawed, too burdensome, too different to live. This is the ugly eugenic underbelly of American life, even as we congratulate ourselves on our tolerance and diversity.”
—Rich Lowry

“In short, Sarah Palin is the emblem of what feminism was supposed to be all about: an unafraid, independent, audacious woman, who soared on her own merits without the aid of a patriarchal jumpstart, high-brow matrimonial tutelage and capital, and old-boy liaisons and networking.” —Victor Davis Hanson

“Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, see America as a nation in which government plays a primary role in individual lives. John McCain and Sarah Palin see the individual as primary and government as a protector of freedom that can help the less fortunate become self-sustaining.” —Cal Thomas

“No governor ever had foreign policy experience before becoming president—not Ronald Reagan, not Franklin D. Roosevelt, nor any other governor. It is hard to know how many people could possibly have had foreign policy experience before reaching the White House besides a Secretary of State or a Secretary of Defense.” —Thomas Sowell

Ten Myths About Budget Deficits and Debt

By Brian M. Riedl
Heritage Foundation

After three consecutive years of decline, this year's rising budget deficit has focused budget watchers on the issue of government debt. While the growing fed­eral debt is worrisome, the current public debate over government debt and deficits has fallen victim to pop­ular mythology and all-or-nothing rhetoric.

Vice President Dick Cheney is famously reported to have said that "deficits don't matter." On the other side, many deficit hawks give the impression that def­icits are the only thing that matters; that a budget's success or failure is wholly determined by whether it balances or not, and the actual tax and spending poli­cies are of secondary importance.

Reality is between these two extremes. On the one hand, government debt represents government's fail­ure to live within its means as well as a preference for dumping current costs into the laps of future genera­tions—with interest. This year alone, interest on the national debt (including all past deficits) will cost tax­payers $234 billion (8 percent of total spending).

On the other hand, modest government debt levels do not significantly raise interest rates or reduce eco­nomic growth. Specific tax and spending policies have a much greater impact on economic performance and social outcomes than whether or not the budget bal­ances. While paying the interest is burdensome, few would argue that the United States should not have gone into debt to fund its World War II engagement or past economic policies that made Americans signifi­cantly wealthier.

When properly measured, the federal govern­ment's debt burden is below the post-World War II average. It is currently lower than at any time during the 1990s, and is expected to remain roughly stable for the next few years under current policies. How­ever, unless Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are reformed, lawmakers risk allowing debt levels to increase to the point of economic calamity—and the highest intergenerational tax increase in history.

Go here to see what the 10 myths are.

A 'Failed Business Model'

Peter J. Wallison has written a good commentary at Forbes, "A 'Failed Business Model' " and calls Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan a "major disappopintment."

Although it was certainly necessary to bail out ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ) and Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE - news - people ), the plan put forward by the treasury secretary this weekend prioritizes steering them back to financial health and defers into the future what is to become of the companies.

What's worse, after blaming the collapse of the companies on a "flawed business model," the plan will preserve that model indefinitely, allowing the shareholders of what are now insolvent entities to recover some value.

Long after Paulson is gone from the Treasury, Washington will be wrestling with the problem of what to do about Fannie and Freddie. And if the two companies are eventually nationalized, privatized or liquidated, the government--meaning taxpayers--will have to compensate the existing shareholders in some way.

Go read it all.

CNN Parrots Dems on Republicans and Economy

The “best political team on television’s” coverage of the Republican National Convention unquestioningly repeated Democrats’ inaccurate charge that the GOP was ignoring the economy.

Read more of Nathan Burchfiel's "CNN Parrots Dems on Republicans and Economy" at the Business & Media Institute.

We Can't Afford the Democrats' Platform

By Phyllis Schlafly

The past two presidential elections taught the losing Democrats a couple of political lessons.

The Vision of the Left

By Thomas Sowell

It is hardly surprising that young people prefer the political left. The only reason for rejecting the left's vision is that the real world in which we live is very different from the world that the left perceives today or envisions for tomorrow.

Most of us learn that from experience-- but experience is precisely what the young are lacking.

"Experience" is often just a fancy word for the mistakes that we belatedly realized we were making, only after the realities of the world made us pay a painful price for being wrong. Read on.

Is Trig at the Heart of Media's Reaction to Palin?

Independents flocking to McCain

Washington Times

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain has gotten a jolt of support right where he wanted it - from the independent voters whom he courted so aggressively at last week's convention - and now holds a healthy lead over his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, in the chase for that key constituency. Continue reading.

Democrat Deceptions about Oil
By Alan Caruba

The reason this nation is held hostage to other oil producing nations is that the Democrats, going back to President Jimmy Carter, have waged war on the American oil industry.

India: Land on the March
By Ed Feulner

When I told friends I would be visiting India, the immediate response was, “Why? China’s the country of the future!” Well, I’ve visited China many times. It was time to meet some of the business, academic and governmental leaders of the world’s “biggest democracy,” as India bills itself. By 2020, India’s total population is expected to exceed China’s, making it the world’s most populous nation. In the early 1990s it launched critical economic reforms, and subsequent governments have endorsed those reforms, speeding their country into the modern era.

Pelosi Urged to Apologize for Misrepresenting Catholic Doctrine
By Paul M. Weyrich

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s war with the Catholic Church has now spilled over to the Congress. Pelosi (D-Calif.) recently challenged when life begins. The Roman Catholic Church says life begins at conception. The Speaker, who claims she is an ardent Catholic, says down through the years the Catholic Church has not been able to agree when life begins. Church authorities have hotly disputed her view. Now a group of Pelosi’s fellow House Members has weighed in with a sharply worded letter: “As fellow Catholics and legislators we wish you would have made a more honest effort to lay out the authentic position of the Church on this core moral issue before attempting to address it with authority.”

No Firm, Unified Western Response to Russia
One month after Russia invaded Georgia, triggering its worst rift with the West since the Cold War ended, the likelihood of a tough, united Western response is looking more and more remote. Although Western governments have strongly condemned the Russian action, actions taken against Moscow so far have been largely symbolic.

‘Give the American People Their Energy Vote’
(CNSNews.com) - “We have three weeks left in this Congress, and it’s time for the Democrats who control it to do the right thing and give Americans the energy vote they deserve,” said House Republican leader John Boehner on Monday. Boehner and other Republicans are demanding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) allow a yes-or-no vote on the Republican-sponsored American Energy Act. It’s not likely to happen, however.

Over at Gateway Pundit.:
Drip... Drip... Drip... Obama Camp Finds Itself On Life Support

When you run a whole campaign based on image and you lack experience, sound judgement and solid principles, this sometimes happens. The Obama-Biden Campaign continues to drop. Even the Far Left The Huffington Post is starting to see the writing on the wall: "We're Gonna Frickin' Lose this Thing." Sadly, the author blames the press for their losing candidate. Huh? 'There's never been such a weak candidate given such glowing reviews. There's never been a candidate who was excused as many times as Obama with G-D Wright, Fr. Pfleger, Bill Ayers, Rezko, his liberal record, inexperience, ...Sorry guys, it's it's not the press--It's the candidate.....

BARACK OBAMA'S FORMER PASTOR IN SEX SCANDAL

New York Post

He almost wrecked Barack Obama's presidential dreams, and now firebrand pastor Jeremiah Wright has helped destroy a Dallas church worker's marriage - and her job, The Post has learned. More.

Another Noteworthy Barack Obama Connection: Conspiracy Theorist, Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour

Over at Vital Signs:

Here's another of Barack Obama's friends that Americans should definitely know more about.

He is Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour (born Donald Warden) whose 1995 book claimed that the U.S. government was planning the genocide of black Americans. Read more.

I referenced Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour in an earlier post while noting a column written by Amanda carpenter where she introduced us to the "good doctor."

Al-Mansour once said, “White people don't feel bad, whatever you do to them, they deserve it, God wants you to do it and that's when you cut out the nose, cut out the ears, take flesh out of their body, don't worry because God wants you to do it."

No clear successor to Kim seen in North Korea

The Associated Press:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's Kim Jong Il — reclusive, eccentric and mercurial — has revealed little about who might succeed him as leader.

Kim, 66, has had at least four children with three women, but none has emerged as the obvious candidate to take the world's first communist hereditary dynasty into a third generation.

Kim was absent from Tuesday's celebration to mark North Korea's 60th anniversary, fueling speculation that he was gravely ill. Read more.

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

Obama’s Tax Plan Based on ‘Neighborliness’

(CNSNews.com) - We can afford to pay higher taxes. They can’t. That’s the gist of Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan, which he discussed with Fox New Channel’s Bill O’Reilly in an interview that aired Monday night. “If I am sitting pretty, and you’ve got a waitress who is making minimum wage plus tips, and I can afford it and she can’t -- what’s the big deal for me to say, ‘I’m going to pay a little bit more.’ That is neighborliness,” Obama said.

You got to be kidding me.

The Nation Will Be Watching California

By Albert Mohler

"Proposition 8 will appear on the November ballot in California. It was put on the ballot by public support in an attempt to return the state's marriage law to where it stood earlier this year.

In 2000 the people of California voted by an overwhelming margin to pass "Proposition 22" which stated: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

That is where the matter stood until May 15 of this year, when California's Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriages must be legalized and recognized in the state.

Proposition 8 is a citizen-initiated response to that Supreme Court decision and an effort to return marriage in California to the legal definition effective as recently as May 14 of this year. California's voters can make history and defend marriage in November.

The whole nation will be watching."

WHO IS SARAH PALIN?

She had me after her acceptance speech! She's a shark!!

Jack Kelly
To The Point


"I wrote Fire and Nice for McCain's VP back in June in which I said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be the ideal running mate for Sen. McCain. But I never thought he'd pick her.

I underestimated him. And Democrats will underestimate "Sarah Barracuda" at their peril.

At 44, Sarah Louise Heath Palin is the youngest governor in Alaska's relatively brief history as a state. She's also the nation's most popular governor, with an approval rating of 83%.

Ms. Palin is popular in part because of her personal qualities. She earned the "Sarah Barracuda" nickname as the point guard on her Wasilla high school basketball team, which she led to the state championship in 1982.

! Two year s later, when she won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant (and went on to be the first runner up in the Miss Alaska contest) she was also named Miss Congeniality. Fire and nice.

B ut she's popular mostly because she's been a crackerjack governor, a strong fiscal conservative and a ferocious fighter of corruption, especially in her own party.

Ms. Palin touches other conservative bases, some of which Sen. McCain has been accused of rounding. Her eldest son is a soldier. She's a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association who hunts, fishes and runs marathons. A regular churchgoer, she's staunchly pro-life.

Her wholesome family and modest lifestyle contrast with the wealth Sen. McCain married into, and will make it harder for Democrats to portray the GOP ticket as out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans. And it doesn't hurt that Ms. Palin's husband, Todd, a commercial fisherman and an oilfield worker, is part Yup'ik Eskimo.

Ms. Palin is an expert on energy policy, which figures to be the top domestic issue in this election. (She was Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissi on before resigning in protest over what she alleged were the lack of ethics by fellow Republicans.) Her presence on the ticket raises hopes Sen. McCain will soften his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve.

Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal has said that Sen. McCain should run -- a la Harry Truman -- against a corrupt, do-nothing Congress this fall. If he chooses to do so, Ms. Palin is the ideal partner.

She took on a corrupt GOP establishment in Alaska, and pushed a landmark ethics reform bill through the state legislature. She's as much a maverick as Sen. McCain, though one who elates, rather than irritates, conservatives.

Choosing Gov. Palin means that McCain can "count me in with both feet,&q! uot; say s radio talk show host Mark Levin, a frequent and often savage critic of Sen. McCain. "Palin is by all accounts a principled conservative and government reformer who can contribute migh tily to the decision-making that occurs in the White House."

If elected, Ms. Palin would be the first female vice president in history. This prospect may appeal to some disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters. On the other hand, pro-abortion women might be put off by her pro-life views.

There is no such thing as the perfect candidate. The knock on Sarah Palin would be her relative inexperience. She's only been governor for 18 months, and before that, the mayor of Wasilla, a small suburb of Anchorage.

But it will be difficult for Democrats to attack Ms. Palin on this without calling attention to Barack Obama's lack of experience. Ms. Palin is the undercard, not the top of the ticket. And her 18 months as governor (not to mention her two terms as mayor) is 18 months more executive experience than Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have combined.

Whether this is a brilliant choice or a bad risk will depend on how Ms. Palin p erforms on the campaign trail. But if I were Joe Biden, I'd be worried. A former journalist, Sarah Palin is careful about what she says and says it well, qualities for which Sen. Biden is not reknowned.

Sen. Obama picked Sen. Biden in part because of his reputed skill as a hatchet man. But if Sen. Biden comes on too hard in the vice presidential debate, he'll look like a bully. And Alaska is littered with the bodies of those who tried to bully Sarah Palin and failed.

What's not in doubt is Sen. McCain's rollout of his running mate was brilliant. The secret was kept until the last minute, which is remarkable in politics. Speculation about who it would be dominated the morning talk shows Friday, pushing aside discussion of Sen. Obama&#! 39;s acc eptance speech.

Sen. McCain has shown political skills few of us thought he had. I think he's about to take the new kid to school.


Jack Kelly is a former Ma rine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette."

Palin's a Tough, Smart Conservative Woman: Deal With It!

By David Limbaugh

Liberals excel in blinding themselves to their own biases and hypocrisy and blaming conservatives for their own sins, all of which they are showcasing in their frantic reaction to the Sarah Palin nomination.

Not only are they trying to destroy Palin. They are straight-facedly denying it and accusing Republicans of manufacturing this charge to exhibit phony sympathy for women.

Conservatives, after all, couldn't possibly be supportive of female Palin based on merit; it's just a political ploy to purloin Hillary voters. Liberal captives of identity politics just can't comprehend that neither gender nor race matters to conservatives. It's all about the candidate's political philosophy, approach to governance and qualifications to serve -- not those artificial constructs that liberals have exploited through the years.

Don't get me wrong. Palin's beauty and tough-as-nails femininity are refreshing icing on a delicious cake for conservatives, but if she were not demonstrably conservative, they'd be depressed -- not energized.

Read more.

Federal Judge: Public School Teacher Has Constitutional Right to Display Christian Patriotism

Thomas More Law Center - News

September 09, 2008

ANN ARBOR, MI – For the past twenty-five years, Brad Johnson, a high school math teacher at the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, CA, has been displaying large red, white and blue banners in his classroom that mention God. The banners contain patriotic phrases such as: “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God,” and “God Bless America.”

However, last year school officials ordered the banners removed because they promoted a “Judeo-Christian” viewpoint. The School District allowed classroom displays by other teachers that included posters of Buddhist and Islamic messages and Tibetan prayer flags, among other displays. As a result, the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit against the school district on behalf of Johnson.

Read entire story.

“Bombarded with hundreds of sexual advances”

California Catholic Daily -

Trial nears in case of San Diego firefighters forced to take part in “gay pride” parade

Jury selection was scheduled to begin today in the case of four San Diego firefighters who have sued the city, saying they were forced to participate in the 2007 “Gay Pride” parade and subjected to sexually demeaning gestures and catcalls as a consequence.

Capt. John Ghiotto, engineer Jason Hewitt and firefighters Chad Allison and Alex Kane filed the civil lawsuit, alleging their superiors forced them, in full uniform and on their city fire truck, to attend the July 21, 2007 San Diego “Gay Pride” parade over their objections.

“You could not even look at the crowd without getting some kind of sexual gesture,” said one of the firefighters in a Law Center press release issued shortly after the event. “If any crew member were to hang up pictures at the station of what we saw, we would be disciplined.”

During the parade, the firefighters “were subjected to vile sexual taunts from homosexuals lining the parade route,” said the press release. Among the comments hurled at the firefighters as they traversed the parade route were “show me your hose,” “you can put out my fire,” “you’re making me hot,” “give me mouth-to-mouth,” “blow my hose,” according to the Law Center. When the firefighters did not respond, “some in the crowd turned hostile and started shouting, ‘F—k you firemen’ and others began ‘flipping them off,’” said the press release. Some bystanders committed lewd acts, directed at the firefighters, such as exposing their genitals, grabbing the crotch, and blowing kisses.

Read full story.

Baracks ever changing position on the economy and taxes

Sunday, Barack was on with George Stephanopoulos and George was grilling him about the economy and taxes. When George asked Barack if he was going to raise taxes even if the economy was weak and stumbling, Barack replied, no, no, no.

He went on to state that he wanted to accelerate the tax cuts through another cash stimulus package and get the money back into the hands of the consumer.

My first reaction was that Barack just shot holes (unwittingly, I'm sure) in the Dems normal default position on taxes, and acknowledged that taxes are harmful to the economy. And as we know, there was never a tax that the Democrats don't like.

Today the Wall Street Journal dissects this point in an article Obama Tax 3.0. Go read it.

Obama’s Early Campaigns Financed by Lobbyists

While Sen. Barack Obama takes great pride in having recruited more than 1.2 million donors to his presidential campaign — many of whom contributed less than $100 — he hasn’t always been a man in touch with the grass roots.

Indeed, his early campaigns for the Illinois state Senate were heavily financed by well-connected business leaders, lobbyists, trial lawyers, and labor unions, ..... [more]

Global Warming ist Kaput

The year 2008 is turning out to be the coolest year in the last 5 years according the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Not only that, but top climate experts say the global warming period of the last 30 years is over. READ FULL STORY

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

Corsi to campaign: 'Where's the beef?'
Highlights holes in attack against 'The Obama Nation'
Jerome Corsi, author of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller "The Obama Nation," is asking the Obama presidential campaign "Where's the beef" in its 40-page list of criticisms of the book.


RELATED:
See Corsi rebuts Obama's 'Unfit for Publication'
'Attack piece' targeting 'The Obama Nation' reveals campaign doesn't want people to read it

HAVE YOU HUGGED A TERRORIST TODAY?

Obama: Terror groups have 'legitimate claims'
Asserts U.S. needs foreign policy that 'looks at the root causes of problems'

California bans 'brides,' 'grooms'

License rejected for couple seeking traditional marriage

WorldNetDaily

ROSEVILLE, Calif. – "Brides" and "grooms" are no longer allowed to marry in the State of California.

That privilege is only extended to individuals who allow themselves to be called "Party A" and "Party B" on marriage licenses.

Pastor Doug Bird of Abundant Life Fellowship in Roseville, Calif., was alarmed to find the state now rejects the traditional terms after he officiated his first marriage ceremony last week following the California Supreme Court decision to overturn Proposition 22.

Police: Montana mom kept dead son in car trunk

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - The body of a toddler found in the trunk of his mother's car may have been there for months as she drove around town, evaded questions about him and was even arrested, police said.

The mother, Summer ManyWhiteHorses, was charged Monday with deliberate homicide. Authorities say the body of her 2-year-old son, James, was found Friday in the trunk of her car—more than six weeks after it was towed to a wrecking yard when she was arrested.

Stocks surge on plan for mortgage giants

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks surged Monday as investors rushed to lay bets on a recovery in the financial and housing sectors following the weekend announcement that the U.S. government will bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Dow Jones industrials gained more than 175 points.

Hurricane Ike on track to veer away from Keys

MSNBC says Olbermann, Matthews won't anchor

World stocks soar on US mortgage bailout

The Associated Press: Congress warms to new oil drilling

Want Real Change? Quit Nominating Lawyers!

By Victor Davis Hanson

The 2008 presidential campaign is supposed to be a referendum on "change" -- who brings it and who doesn't.

Real change, however, hasn't yet proven to mean new politics.

The "hope and change" Barack Obama sounds like a traditional Northern liberal who always wants to raise taxes on the upper classes and businesses, expand government services and provide more state assistance to the middle class and poor. Read more.

Euro-Trashing Free Speech

Or, How Some Europeans and the UN Are Helping Islamists Undermine Freedom

By Cliff May

In Europe, free speech may end with neither a bang nor a whimper – but with a lawyerly assist. Read more.

Robin Hood Economics

By David Strom

You have to give him credit; the Obama tax plan has a lot of appeal to the average voter. The sales pitch, repeatedly endlessly, is that under Obama 95% of Americans would see their taxes go down.

Read more.

Welcome Back, Dad

By Michael Reagan

I've been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we'd never see his like again because he was one of a kind.

I was wrong!

Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he's a she.

Read more of Michael Reagan.

Why only 'modern' feminists hate Sarah Palin

By Kevin McCullough

Sarah Palin has become the most historic feminist icon in a decade. For this honor she has been subjected to derision, ridicule, and endless sexist contempt by not just the Obama/Biden presidential campaign, but other "modern" feminist voices to boot.

Palin's nomination and amazing composure in the heat of.....

Read more of Kevin McCullough.

COMING TO A NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR YOU?

By William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

If the tree-hugging, save-the-planet zealots have their way, the idiocy of global warming will not only be a matter of unquestionable scientific fact, the policies that "protect" the earth from global warming will be a matter of law – and those laws will be enforced with an iron rigidity. If you want a chilling preview of what the future may look like if the environmentalist nut jobs gain the control they seek, get a load of this story from Great Britain.

A new Web campaign by a British power company seeks to enlist kids as "Climate Cops" to actively keep watch over their parents and neighbors, and keep track of any "energy crimes" they commit.

Kids policing their parents? It's a Stalinist dream come true.

The site lures kids aged seven to 11 in with games, badges, and cartoons, and then actually prompts the children to investigate family and friends, and then, according to the website, "build your 'Climate Crime Case File' and report back to your family to make sure they don't commit those crimes (or else)!"

The "crimes" that this new legion of planet-loving Communist Youth are supposed to report on include using the wrong light bulbs (heaven forbid!), leaving the water running too long, and – you'll love these – putting hot food in the refrigerator (theoretically because it will require the fridge to have to run longer to cool this food down), and running the clothes dryer on a sunny day!

Coming soon to your neighborhood – government mandated clotheslines! (Don't laugh; it could be closer than you think if a certain senator is elected this November!)

I know what you're thinking: "Calm down, Dr. D! This is just an innocent attempt by the power company to get kids involved in being a little more environmentally conscious – you're making too much of this."

Well, I don't think so. I'm not the only one to see the disturbing similarities between this "Climate Cops" campaign and the way the communists encouraged children to report their parents for "crimes against the state." Thankfully, some Brit bloggers have been waging their own grass-roots online campaign against this power company's website.

The author of the EU Referendum blog wrote that the kids were being turned into a "network of spies and informers."

I've long contended that neo-fascists of the 21st century come not from the right of the political spectrum, but the left. The left has already promoted their own version of Orwell's "Thought Police" with the "political correctness" movement; so it's not a major leap for the left to want to indoctrinate the young and create their own "little league Gestapo" to enforce their whacked-out environmentalist agenda.

At the end of the day, the environmentalist agenda is less about saving the planet and more about grabbing as much government power and control as possible. And in this case, they're starting with the children.

But there could be a backlash – I went to the npower Climate Cops website after hearing about this story – and it wasn't working. So maybe folks in Britain can again dare to put warm leftovers in the fridge without fear of reprisal!

Well I tried going there and had no difficulty at all. But the first page gives you this message:

"Welcome to the npower Climate Cops homepage.

You must complete 3 missions before you can join the elite cadets and train to be a climate cop. So go get that flash [plug-in] and start helping the climate cops save energy and prevent climate change.

npower Climate Cops is for teaching purposes only and is designed to engage children in energy efficiency and encourage them to make a genuine improvement to the environment."

I did not bother going any further with it. (Bold emphasis is mine. HH)

ANOTHER GOV'T BOONDOGGLE AND EXAMPLE OF GOV'T INEPTITUDE

USA Today:
Taxpayers take on trillions in risk in Fannie, Freddie takeover

Democrats in Trouble
By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

The next round of polling could bring evidence that the Obama candidacy is in big trouble. It was John McCain’s gutsy selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate that opened the door to victory.

MORAL VISION AND INTELLECTUAL COURAGE

“Beginning in the 1950s, conservatives forged a political philosophy and, over the next several decades, built an intellectual infrastructure to popularize their principles and apply them to policy problems. And they found political leaders who could implement those solutions. In short, conservatism advanced because conservatives refused to get in tune with the times. They possessed the moral vision and intellectual courage to compose a better tune. They offered leadership, and they accepted the responsibilities that go with it. But too many Republicans have spent the last several years demonstrating that they can’t be trusted to lead... If they want to regain power, Republicans would be wise to re-embrace conservative principles. Liberalism is a bankrupt philosophy that has been tried and found wanting in one major policy issue after another, from national defense to social welfare, from education to the national economic policy. That’s why candidates run away from liberal ideas when it’s time for a general election. Republicans must run toward conservative policies if they want the tides of history to sweep them back into power.” —Ed Feulner

Russia May Hold Naval Maneuvers With Venezuela

OPEC Considers Cutting Oil Production

Religious ‘Defamation’ on Agenda at UN Rights Session
The United Nations’ Human Rights Council kicks off a new session in Geneva on Monday, and a controversial push by Islamic states to outlaw religious “defamation” is high on the agenda. In recent months, debate has swirled over efforts to limit freedom of expression in the context of religious discussion. That debate is now moving beyond a small group of concerned non-governmental and legal organizations to a wider audience. Critics of the OIC campaign say existing human rights instruments adequately protect individuals from incitement to violence based on religion, and they argue that a religion cannot be defamed.

GOV'T AT WORK .... NICE.........

D.C. Housing Authority Paid More Than $300K to Vacant Units
The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) paid $322,389 in housing assistance payments for units where no one was living, according to a July 30, 2008 audit by the Philadelphia Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to the audit, the DCHA did not “adequately implement controls” to prevent its Moving to Work program from making assistance payments on vacant units.

Pakistani Ambassador Says Foreign Troops 'Never' Will Be Allowed in His Country
Just two days after the U.S. military conducted a raid on Pakistani territory across the border from Afghanistan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States told CNSNews.com that his country would “never” allow foreign troops to operate on Pakistani soil. Haqqani said Pakistan is able to fight the terrorists on its own, adding that the war on terror probably won’t be resolved in the “short-term.”

Palin Finalized 20-Year Quest for Pipeline Deal in First 20 Months
In her first 20 months as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin completed a deal for a natural gas pipeline that had been a top economic goal for the state for nearly two decades.

ON CORPORATE TAXES

“Currently, the United States has the second-highest corporate tax rate of all industrial societies, after economically anemic Japan. The U.S. federal rate of taxation is 35 percent, and when the average state and local corporate tax rates are added, American corporations pay, on average, a 39.27 percent tax on their incomes. China is at 25 percent; Mexico is at 28 percent; socialist Sweden is at 28 percent; and prosperous Ireland is at a mere 12.5 percent. If these comparative rates continue for much longer, the United States economy will mortally bleed jobs and prosperity to a world—both nominally socialist and free market—that has learned the low corporate tax lesson from Reagan’s America that current Washington has forgotten. Obama’s solution to the problem of jobs and industry going offshore is to lean toward protectionist policies (renegotiate NAFTA, oppose new free trade treaties, etc.). When one combines Obama’s plans to tighten international trade, create carbon trading regulations that will be the equivalent of a further $100 billion corporate tax, raise taxes generally on business, as well as his mind-numbingly counterproductive ‘windfall’ profit taxes on petroleum product companies (full disclosure: as a rational person, I support and provide professional advice to the petroleum industry), one has a formula for economic catastrophe not seen since Herbert Hoover’s similar Depression-inducing policy in 1929.” —Tony Blankley

THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE..... PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN

“Frankly, what the tank ride did for Michael Dukakis, the plywood Parthenon just might do for Obama. Then again, this entire event, seemingly a miscalculation of epic proportions, could have been an example of perfect political acumen. For example, before becoming transfixed by Temple Obama, I was reading up on Obama’s relationship with ex-Weather Underground member and unrepentant Capitol- and Pentagon-bomber William Ayers—news of which the Obama campaign has been eager to downplay if not squelch entirely. I was also trying to unravel the ties between Obama, Obama’s unsavory fundraiser Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko, and Rezko’s unsavory money source Iraqi-British billionaire Nadhmi Auchi. (This is another story journalists are being pressured not to cover, as Andrew Walden at Accuracy in Media has shockingly and extensively documented, in this case by Auchi’s legal eagles.) And who knew Obama’s veep nominee Joe Biden had Rezko connections through a longtime associate named Joseph Cari Jr., who admitted involvement in a Rezko kickback scheme? And on it goes. But then, suddenly, Temple Obama went up, and with it, like incense in the fire, all patience for hard news.” —Diana West

ON WOMEN

“In our administration, our mission has been to appoint the best qualified people we could find, to fill substantial jobs with substantial individuals. And the result of this merit-based approach, not surprisingly, is that more women have served in top-level policy positions in our administration than in any previous one. And they’ve served with distinction, earning promotions and reappointments at a very high rate. We can be proud of what you and the other women have accomplished...I’m very happy about everything that American women are doing, yes, because it is good for women, but also because it’s good for America.”
—Ronald Reagan

ON PALIN

“Unlike Barack Obama, who thought so highly of himself that he wrote two autobiographies before he accomplished anything, Mrs. Palin has raised a family, run a business, managed a city and governed a state. She took on corrupt members of her own party, toppled a sitting Republican governor and said ‘no’ to Alaska’s infamous ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’ She is pro-life, pro-family, pro-Second Amendment and pro-free enterprise. She is the governor of America’s most natural resource-rich state and is an advocate of oil drilling in ANWR. (Perhaps she can talk some sense into McCain on that issue.) Oh, and she has an 80 percent approval rating among Alaskans.” —Doug Patton

A PIONEER WITH THE WRONG IDEOLOGY

“[Sarah Palin is]... the object of the cultural disdain of a left that loves the working class in theory, but is mystified or offended by its lifestyle and conservative values in reality. If there’s ever been an exemplar of the rural America that, in Barack Obama’s telling, ‘bitterly’ clings to its guns and religion, it’s Sarah Palin. It’s her misfortune to be a pioneer with the wrong ideology. So much bile was directed at Clarence Thomas because he was the ‘wrong’ kind of black man. Pro-life, pro-gun and a down-the-line, if populist, conservative, Palin is a traitor to her gender and thus encounters the sort of fury always directed at apostates... A lot of Palin-hatred is couched in terms of her lack of experience. Fair enough, but there’s a tone of contemptuous dismissiveness about the experience that she does have—fueled no doubt by her career in ‘fly-over country’ so remote no one really flies over it. The Obama campaign is loath to admit that she’s governor of Alaska, pretending instead she’s still mayor of tiny Wasilla, and the outraged commentary in the press makes it sound like the vice presidency is an office of such import that it would be better if the newcomer were at the top of the ticket and the wizened pro at the bottom—just like the Democrats.” —Rich Lowry

Dissecting Liberals

By Burt Prelutsky

If at times, it is not easy to determine what a liberal is, it’s because during presidential election campaigns, politicians who have been voting like liberals, talking like liberals and boasting about their liberal credentials, suddenly insist that they’re really centrists as they go about trying to garner the votes of gullible Republicans and Independents. It’s rather like Michelle Obama trying to convince us that she’s just another stay-at-home mom who loves America and her kids, and in exactly that order.

Most of us on the right can spot a liberal a mile away, just... (More)

A STARK DIFFERENCE

“This is hardly the first presidential campaign to pit an antiabortion Republican ticket against pro-choice Democrats. Never before, however, has the difference been so stark. Obama advocates abortion rights even more sweeping than those enacted under Roe v. Wade. ‘The first thing I’d do as president,’ he assured the Planned Parenthood Action Fund last year, ‘is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.’ The measure would not only codify Roe, it would eliminate even restrictions on abortion that the Supreme Court has allowed—the federal ban on government funding of abortion, for example, or the law prohibiting partial-birth abortion. During last month’s forum at the Saddleback Church, Obama was asked when ‘a baby gets human rights.’ He fudged: ‘Answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.’ But there is nothing hesitant about Obama’s abortion stance. As an Illinois lawmaker, he opposed a bill making it clear that premature babies born alive after surviving a failed abortion must be protected and cannot be killed or simply left to die. Even after virtually identical legislation—the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002—passed unanimously in the U.S. House and Senate, Obama continued to oppose the state version. On abortion, no presidential candidate has ever been so extreme. And when has a Republican ticket ever been so unabashedly antiabortion?”

—Jeff Jacoby

A Tour de Force

By Hugh Hewitt

The Republicans leave St. Paul with a unified party and a brilliant new star shining in the American political sky. John McCain needed no introduction, but his party needed fuel for the final push to persuade America that the war remains the crucial issue of our times and that a struggling economy weighed down by the economic cycle cannot afford the massive tax hikes proposed by Barack Obama.

That fuel came in the form of Sarah Palin. An astonishing 37 million Americans tuned in to see this commercial fisherwoman turned mayor turned governor turned vice presidential nominee rise above the savage and relentless attacks of the left and mainstream media on her family and her fitness as a candidate and a mother. Her astonishing tour de force on Wednesday night scattered her critics and energized the GOP base. Most crucial of all, it confirmed that John McCain's judgment is to be trusted on the key appointments and decisions he will face as president.

Barack Obama wished to join the military but the Vietnam war's end cooled his ardor?

Where does one go with such a transparent pander? With such loopy logic? More

On Sarah Palin

A surprising observation by Nick Cohen at the guardian.co.uk/The observer where he writes,
"When Barack's berserkers lost the plot."

He "has some words of wisdom for his friends on the left regarding attacks on Sarah Palin," and points out their hypocrisy.

Hat tip to Rick Moran at American Thinker.

Obama concedes the case on raising taxes

"The One" concedes that raising taxes while the economy is in a delicate condition could harm growth. But you have to wade through his vague prose to find it. More

Science slows global warming!

By James Lewis

Yes, kids, science is a wonderful thing. But not nearly as wonderful as climate modeling, which can perform supernatural miracles. Honest! More

The Tribe of Sarah: A Guide for the Perplexed Media

American Thinker:

Our friends in the media just do not understand the popular following Sarah Palin has attracted. In an effort to help, I thought I should explain her popular appeal to them in terms even an Ivy League graduate could understand.

If you consider yourself a member of the intelligentsia, think of Sarah's unexpectedly numerous admirers as a kind of tribe. We are going to examine a few of the folkways of strange and foreign people. Think of them as exotic and it may help you stifle any revulsion you may feel at their differences from your own familiar accepted ways. Read more.

MELANIE PHILLIPS: Contempt, apathy and lies - why Britain is crying out for a 'pitbull with lipstick'

Mail Online

Across the Atlantic, Americans have been convulsed by the overnight sensation of Sarah Palin.

At a stroke, this hockeymom 'pitbull with lipstick' has galvanised John McCain's presidential ticket and given the Obama Democrats their biggest and maybe insuperable problem.

But her significance does not stop there. Read on.

Hat tip to Powerline.

McCain and the New York Times

John Hinderaker at Power Line comments on the New York Times' position that they have not been unfair to Governor Palin. They "stand by its reporting."
Hinderaker writes:

The Times still thinks that John McCain didn't devote enough time to "vetting" Governor Palin. The problem with this front-page story is that it is only a story if there is some news about Palin that McCain failed to discover. The Times acknowledged this implicitly in the very first sentence of the front-page article that Mr. Hoyt defends:

A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.

The problem is that there was no such "series of disclosures." The best of the Times's purported "disclosures," that Palin was once a member of a party that advocated Alaskan independence, was false--just one more example of the paper's shoddy reporting. The remaining "disclosures" proved nothing at all about McCain's vetting process: 1) Bristol Palin was pregnant. The campaigns say they knew this, and the Times offers no evidence to the contrary. So this can't be a "disclosure" that "calls into question...how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background." 2) Governor Palin has hired a lawyer in connection with the dead-end "investigation" of the firing of a state employee whose least compelling reason for termination was his tasering of a small boy. People hire lawyers all the time--thank goodness!--and the Times doesn't even try to pretend that this was news to the McCain campaign. 3) Governor Palin's husband got a DUI 22 years ago, when he was 22 years old--about the same age when Barack Obama, by his own account, was doing illegal drugs.

This is, obviously, a pathetic "series of disclosures" on which to hang the Times article's thesis. The article was just one more in an endless series of partisan hit-jobs by the Times, and it's too bad that the paper can't admit as much.

“Not only is [Sarah Palin] young, they’re saying she’s the prettiest candidate for vice president since John Edwards.” —Jimmy Kimmel

Academic Mismatch I

By Walter E. Williams:

Which serves the interests of the black community better: a black student admitted to a top-tier law school, such as Harvard, Stanford or Yale, and winds up in the bottom 10 percent of his class, flunks out, or cannot pass the bar examination, or a black student admitted to a far less prestigious law school, performs just as well as his white peers, graduates and passes the bar?

Read more