September 2, 2008
Sep 02 00:12 Amen to That, John Sep 02 03:37 Surprise, Surprise Sep 02 07:43 Tarryl: Palin Is....Gasp...A Conservative Sep 02 08:30 Showdown: Change You Can Believe In vs. Change That's Invisible Sep 02 10:38 Pit Bulls & Hockey Moms Sep 02 11:39 Beatty Takes It To Sen. Kerry Sep 02 12:41 A DU Diarist With A Conscience!!! Sep 02 16:40 Jack Cafferty: Proof Positive That A Village is Missing Its Idiot
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Amen to That, John
John Hinderaker's post on Powerline is today's must reading. To say that John is upset with the anarchists is understatement. He's got a right to be. I'll let John's words speak for themselves. Here's what John said:
The first day of the RNC was fun but muted. One group, though, wasn't deterred from pursuing its agenda by events in the Gulf. The Communist/anarchist/truther/pro-Obama protesters were out in force, committing various crimes and attempting to disrupt the proceedings.Seeing as how John's one of the best lawyers in Minnesota, I take notice when he uses the term attempted murder. I join with John in expressing my disgust with anarhists like this. The First Amendment doesn't protect acts of violence, which this certainly is.
The most shocking events are described by Jim Hoft , who was on a bus that was attacked from above when a group of protesters dropped sand bags on to the top of the bus. This is attempted murder: if the protesters had succeeded in hitting the windshield, a sand bag would have crashed through and killed the driver. The resulting accident would have killed or injured others on the bus. To my knowledge, the left-wingers/would-be murderers were not caught.
A little later, a busload of Cub Scouts were en route to the convention, where they were to present the colors to open the convention. A group of protesters--liberals, Obama supporters, or whatever--blocked the road, surrounded the bus, and attacked it, rocking the bus back and forth, denting and scratching the sides, and generally terrifying the children trapped inside. The left-wing protesters attacked a number of buses in the same way, but there is something especially despicable about attacking a group of Cub Scouts.
Among us conservatives, it's pretty much an article of faith that people of all political persuasions are good folks who should be treated with respect; we just disagree about issues of public policy. (Liberals generally don't adopt that view, although there are some honorable exceptions.) But sometimes that model doesn't apply. The liberal/anarchist/Communist/pro-Obama protesters we have seen today in St. Paul are terrible people who, in many cases, should be subject to long prison terms. Let's hope that a few of them, at least, are prosecuted.
What's worse is that this isn't the only case of anarchists doing the despicable. Here's another instance of violence:
When Chairman Healy's mother Lila was spat upon by a protester, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons stepped between the elder Healy and the crowd. He was doused with a liquid substance that was later determined to be a mix of clorox and water. At least 10 other delegates also were hit with liquid.Let's hope that the people responsible for these hideous actions are put away awhile. It's also worth commending Rep. Simmons for responding to the anarchists' attacks. That showed alot of bravery.
With police assistance, the delegation managed to break through the crowd and slip inside the security perimeter. The police quickly responded to the altercation and were able to prevent it from escalating further.
Demonstrations are one thing. Acts of violence aren't tolerated. Acts of violence should be stopped with as much force as is necessary.
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 12:13 AM
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Surprise, Surprise
Looking for any excuse not to cover the Republicans, TV news anchors left St. Paul to cover Gustav . It's expected and it's appalling. Here's what the LA Times is reporting:
The television networks and national cable news outlets Sunday shifted their top talent and reporters from the Republican National Convention here to the Gulf Coast to prepare for Hurricane Gustav's landfall. That means John McCain and his campaign will not receive the uninterrupted attention that Barack Obama did during last week's Democratic National Convention.This is a bunch of crap. The storm shouldn't be "the prevailing story right now." It was a Cat-2 when it made landfall, which isn't a devastating storm. Katrina, by comparison, was a Cat-5 that left a massive trail of destruction.
But news executives, much like the presumed Republican presidential nominee himself, said they had no choice but to follow the potentially damaging events in the South, three years after Hurricane Katrina caught some news organizations flat-footed. "I don't even look at it as a matter of fairness," said Jay Wallace, vice president of news at Fox News. "The prevailing story right now is this storm."
This is a story that can be covered with a team of correspondents. Sending the anchors is overkill, especially after waiting a day after it made landfall. If this was such a pressing story, why haven't we seen wall-to-wall coverage of Gustav thus far? It seems that coverage hasn't been that big a focus.
You'll remember that coverage of Katrina was practically nonstop, with the networks suspending their regular schedules to provide coverage. Gustav coverage? Not so much, which says that this isn't the big deal that the networks and cable are making it out to be.
The good news is that we won't be subjected to hearing the anchors' biased opinions during Convention coverage. The bad news is that we'll be subjected to lesser known people spouting essentially the same nonsense. The better news is that Sen. McCain's picking Gov. Palin ensures that millions of people will be tuning in Wednesday night to hear her speech. The American people will be able to size her up for themselves. (BTW, expect Wednesday night's audience to be large.)
The best news is that I suspect that they'll be greatly impressed, which should get Democrats everywhere depressed.
Happy days are here again.
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 3:38 AM
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Tarryl: Palin Is....Gasp...A Conservative
Tarryl clark, my state senator, has a great quote in this MinnPost article that's just too juicy to pass up. When asked about Sarah Palin, here's how Tarryl responded:
"She (Palin) believes in teaching creationism in schools, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...I just know if he had picked someone like (former Republican New Jersey Gov.) Christine Todd Whitman, I think he would have a lot of independents" switching sides, Clark said.Tarryl's right. Gov. Palin believes in teaching creationism. Here's why she believes it:
"Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information.... Healthy debate is so important and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And you know, I say this too as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject, creationism and evolution. It's been a healthy foundation for me. But don't be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides."Therein lies the reason why today's liberals will think of her as the AntiChrist. The last thing the Al Gore clones want is a discussion on science. Hee's how their argument goes:
Global warming? It's settled science. Blasphemers to the faith must be destroyed. Creationism? That's nothing more than the Religious Right's way of discrediting the proven science of evolution. Blasphemers to the faith must be destroyed.Anything short of monolithic thought threatens them. Nonmonolithic thinking is discouraged.
Tarryl also mentioned that Gov. Palin believes in drilling in ANWR. Gov. Palin is guilty as charged. The thing is that 60+ percent of Americans agree with her. People that supported the ANWR and OCS ban when gas was $1.25-$1.50 suddenly don't think 'the environment' is the biggest issue. For some reason, people care more about their wallets than 'the environment'. To be sure, that shift has caused much consternation within the Democratic Party. Still, those people living in small towns that cling to their guns and their religion still insist on dropping the price of gasoline. (Talk about pushy peasants, huh?)
Next in Tarryl's quote is her saying that picking Christine Todd-Whitman would've attracted lots of women voters. That's possibly true but Gov. Whitman wouldn't have been seen as the powerful change agent that Gov. Palin is seen as. She'd also have driven 3-5 million evangelical voters to stay home on Election Day like they did in 2000.
Besides, something tells me that Gov. Palin will attract tons of women, whether they're hockey or soccer moms, women wanting to vote for the first female VP or whether they're women that like a woman whose spent her short political life pushing back against the old boys' networks that've tried standing in her way.
To be fair, I understand that Tarryl would rather have the first female VP be pro-choice. She's pro-choice so that's her preference. This year, though, that decision wasn't left in her hands. It's now in America's hands.
Personally, I like Gov. Palin's chances of making history.
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 7:50 AM
Comment 1 by Eric Heins at 02-Sep-08 09:43 AM
Re: Creationism in schools.
I believe the Biblical story of Creation is not necessarily about 'How'. I believe it is mostly meant to be about 'Why'. The message of Creationism is that an omnipotent and loving God made the universe. He made the earth as a perfect place for us to thrive and have relationship with Him. I would be concerned about allowing this foundational aspect of Christian faith to be taught in a setting controlled by political processes. Especially a setting currently tightly controlled by leftists.
The Left happily puts any of the ancient world's mythologies in curricula. The usual message they try to impart is, "Those silly ancients believed in gods. It is totally ludicrous for a modern thinking human to believe in that Christian mythology stuff."
Comment 2 by Mr. Shirt at 03-Sep-08 11:04 PM
Gary,
I'm respectfully stealing your "Pushy Peasant" phrase for my new blog. Hope you don't mind, I'm giving you credit in my profile, so it's not quite plagiarism :)
I saw that line & just loved it.
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 04-Sep-08 04:52 AM
Mr. Shirt, That's cool with me. Part of the reason why I come up with these lines is to highlight something in the hopes of it going viral.
Comment 4 by Mr. Shirt at 04-Sep-08 11:14 PM
Thanks!
And I'll try to do it justice :)
Showdown: Change You Can Believe In vs. Change That's Invisible
Kevin Hassett's article for Bloomberg is today's fun read. Here's the opening to Mr. Hassett's article:
There was much talk about change last week at the Democratic convention. But are the Democrats really offering any substantive change? To find out, I pulled out John Kerry's 2004 Democratic national platform and compared its fiscal policy with that contained in today's Barack Obama-inspired missive .If they take the time, that's the type of change that voters will reject. To be fair, Mr. Hassett did notice some change between 2004 and 2008:
The documents are so similar it's creepy. While there are a number of new minor policies, and fresh details on old targets such as health care, the big picture has stayed the same.
Both platforms promise to extend the Bush income-tax cuts for the middle class, but repeal them for the rich. In 2004, Kerry defined rich as those making more than $200,000. Today, Obama promises not to increase taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. So the definition of rich has increased from $200,000 to $250,000. That's change you can believe in that will be especially appreciated by everyone making between $200,000 and $249,999.Then there's this section of the Democratic Platform:
This convention's plan has ditched that carrot, and replaced it with the silliest passage in platform history: "We will bring together government, private industry, workers, and academia to turn around the manufacturing sector." Obama's plan to help the manufacturing sector appears to be, " Unleash the bureaucrats and professors ."If ever there was something that'll scare businesses into leaving America for foreign soil, that's the ticket.
Other than increasing taxes and implementing the Fairness Doctrine, can any liberal tell me what substantive changes Sen. Obama would make? If those are the only changes, then I'm fairly certain that that's change the American people will reject. People, generally speaking, like more money in their wallets. They also like the First Amendment. In fact, they insist on being able to speak their minds.
Compare that status quo change with Sarah Palin's list of change accomplishments. As I said here , the difference is stark:
Now that people are finding out how Sarah Palin took on the powers-that-be within the Republican Party of Alaska and how she ran out the Republican Attorney General before thrashing the sitting Republican governor in a GOP primary, people are taking a second look at Sen. Obama's reformer's credentials.The American people have a simple choice. They can vote for a pro-drilling ticket with a lengthy history of eliminating corruption or they can vote for a ticket that's long on windbagism and short on implementing change.
I'm confident I know which option informed voters will pick.
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 8:31 AM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 02-Sep-08 09:07 AM
The better thing is that by Wednesday Gustav will be gone and the media will have to focus on the Republicans. As for wall to wall on Sunday when I tried to tune into the cable networks such as fox and msnbc to see reruns of the Sunday morning talk shows I was seeing basically nonstop Gustav.
The problem is the media thinks now that every hurricane might be a Katrina so we have to cover it like Katrina. At one time on Sunday I thought the media was reporting it was going to be a type 4 or 5 it hit as 2 and downgraded to a 1.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Pit Bulls & Hockey Moms
Bill Kristol has posted the best short post of the morning . The post deals with the difference, from Sarah Palin's perspective between a pit bull and a hockey mom. Here's the key difference:
McCain aides whose judgment I trust are impressed by Sarah Palin. One was particularly amused by this exchange: A nervous young McCain staffer took it upon himself to explain to Palin the facts of life in a national campaign, the intense scrutiny she'd be under from the media, the viciousness of the assault that she'd be facing, etc.:I'd simply add that, in this case, that hockey mom wears it well. BTW, there's a reason why her teammates nicknamed her Sarah Barracuda.
Palin: "Thanks for the warning. By the way, do you know what they say the difference is between a hockey mom and a Pit Bull?"
McCain aide: "No, Governor."
Palin: "A hockey mom wears lipstick."
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 10:39 AM
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Beatty Takes It To Sen. Kerry
The more I read about Jeff Beatty, the more I'm impressed with him. This op-ed is a perfect example of why we need Jeff Beatty in the United States Senate. Check out how Mr. Beatty goes after Sen. Kerry on energy policy:
The U.S. Senate, including Sen. John Kerry, could have acted recently to resolve our current fuel crisis by voting for a comprehensive energy plan.The citizens of Massachusetts would be wise to pick Jeff Beatty because he has a plan to improve their lives. Compare that with Sen. Kerry. He's been in the Senate sin 1984. Since then, he's been wrong on almost every foreign policy issue. His accomplishments are thin to nonexistent. That begs the question: Why vote for someone who's had a remarkably mediocre career when you can pick someone whose policies would help his constituents and who brings a wealth of experience on homeland security matters?
Instead, Kerry characteristically shirked his responsibility to the people of Massachusetts. He and the Senate leadership ducked for cover, allowing a comprehensive energy reform bill, which included lifting Congress's moratorium on offshore drilling, to die.
Kerry and others then exited the U.S. Capitol for the August recess, a five-week vacation most of us cannot afford, leaving a steadfast few who demanded a vote on this issue literally standing in the dark of the House chamber with the American people left in the lurch.
This paragraph is another reason why Massachusetts needs Jeff Beatty's leadership:
This is a start, but I want faster relief for the "gas pains" America is suffering now. As a founder of a business and a former Delta Force officer, FBI Special Agent and CIA counter-terrorism officer, I have the solutions-oriented leadership skills to take immediate action.Jeff Beatty wouldn't just be a senator. He'd be a leader in the Senate. Massachusetts voters can't afford to miss this opportunity.
If Massachusetts voters elect Jeff Beatty, they will have made the most of a great opportunity.
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 11:40 AM
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A DU Diarist With A Conscience!!!
Check out this post on DU:
I've been here a long time. Not a prolific poster, but a prolific reader. And from what I've read today, I don't belong here anymore.It's easy to rip the Fever Swampers. They've made tons of outlandish comments. They've spewed tons of conspiracy theories that weren't just outlandish; they were beyond what intelligent human beings could believe.
Women being bashed for their right to choose having a family and a career with the support of their spouse.
Women being called sluts, bimbos and brood mares.
Women having their appearance dissected and witchhunts for compromising photos.
Innocent young girls being slandered with rumors & innuendos.
Enough. I want to win. But I don't want to win this way. And if you do, then I don't want any part of it.
I suspect that there are more DU diarists out there that are appalled with the filth that's posted on DU. I suspect that they're much like Brendan Loy . Here's what Loy said in August, 2006:
But regardless of all that, the hard reality is that the voters have spoken, and their message was loud and clear: there's no longer room for Joe Lieberman in the Democratic Party . And alas, tonight's result will reverberate through the November elections and into the 2008 presidential campaign. It's really much more than just a single primary in a single state; it's a shot across the bow of moderate Democrats everywhere. And so, whatever further ramifications this result might have, there's one thing it definitely means, one result that is officially cast in stone, as of today:Brendan Loy is the embodiment of what I'm calling Lieberman Democrats. Don't be surprised if there's an exodus of these voters to the McCain-Palin ticket.
I am no longer a Democrat .
What Fever Swampers don't get is that their hate-filled diatribes are driving people away from the Democratic Party. They haven't figured out that hate doesn't sell. They haven't figured out that people want common sense leaders with a positive agenda. The Swampers haven't figured out that most voters have higher decency standards than the Swampers have.
All I can say to lunatics on the DU fringe Left is this: Keep it up. You're part of our victory strategy.
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 12:42 PM
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Jack Cafferty: Proof Positive That A Village is Missing Its Idiot
Jack Cafferty is to Journalism what the Gong Show was to entertainment: a total joke. Anyone that thinks that Jack Cafferty is a journalist has set the bar awfullly low. Which leads me to Mr. Cafferty's latest
In a way, the perfect storm of a rapidly changing population...old white people aren't going to be in the majority very much longer (and isn't that who most of the Republicans are?)...has combined with the total abdication of principles, Republican or otherwise, of arguably the worst president in the nation's history to mark the beginning of the end of the Republican Party as we know it.I can't wait for election night when the returns start rolling in. I really can't. Despite the best efforts of the Agenda Media, America is falling in love with Sarah Palin. In case the Agenda Media didn't notice, she's smart and confident. Her answers are straight to the point, not vague or evasive. She has a story that's the ultimate in Americana. (How many women can relate to Gov. Palin's life as a hockeymom, balancing career and family, raising children in addition to being involved in the PTA?)
It's also laughable to hear Cafferty say that the GOP is mostly old white people. He obviously hasn't paid attention to the fact that the House Oil Rebellion is appealing to suburban voters, farmers and truckers. When it comes to high gas prices, everyone's agreeing with the GOP.
It's all the more laughable because I've seen the next generation of conservative leaders jump into action this summer. I've watched Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, Tom Price and other Young Turks grill Nancy Pelosi's Democrats for ignoring the gas crisis. I've watched Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Charlie Crist get involved in the McCain campaign. I've watched Tom Coburn, Norm Coleman and John Thune make their mark in the Senate, though Coleman and Thune should've stayed away from the Gang of 16.
That Cafferty didn't notice this i largely due either to his partisan blinders or to his willingness to ignore verifiable facts to make his storyline fit together.
Rush said today that Democrats, like Mr. Cafferty, haven't figured out that Gov. Palin is expanding the base of the GOP. (For that matter, neither has a certain liberal blogger here in St. Cloud but that's another matter.) Everyone keeps talking about the goal of picking Gov. Palin was to pick of disenchanted Hillary voters. I'm guilty of thinking that myself. I still think that alot of women that supported Hillary will vote for McCain but that's only part of Gov. Palin's appeal.
She'll appeal to working mothers from Maine to Massachusetts to Michigan to Minnesota to Missouri. She'll especially appeal to suburban voters. She'll also appeal to the pro-life Catholic and evangelical Christian base of the GOP. Sarah Palin guarantees an energized Christian base this fall. Don't think that that doesn't matter, either.
In 2004, evangelical Christians made up the majority of the doorknocking, litdropping and phonebanking volunteer army that President Bush rode to victory. Let's remember that President Bush lost the popular vote in 2000. After looking at the data, the Architect determined that approximately 4 million Christians stayed home. That's why he devised his plan to speak to the Christians' priorities throughout President Bush's first term. He wanted to guarantee their active participation.
Sen. McCain doesn't need a plan to energize Christians. He accomplished that by picking Gov. Palin.
Check out this blast of bovine excrement from Cafferty:
Watch for the signs this November. Republicans stand to be turned out of office at every level, from the U.S. Congress to governors' mansions and state legislatures. Republicans who remain in office will be rendered impotent by their shrinking numbers.Mr. Cafferty is to political strategery what Saddam Hussein was to military planning: They talk smart but they don't have a clue. Here's what Gen. Schwarzkopf said about Saddam in his final press conference before signing the ceasefire with Iraq:
"As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that he's a great military man-I want you to know that."In other words, Saddam was a loud-mouthed blowhard. There aren't any differences between Saddam's skills as a military strategist and Jack Cafferty's skills as a political analyst.
Here in Minnesota, we didn't ball up in a fetal position following the midterm disaster. Instead a group of blogger/activists thought out a roadmap that put us on the road to relevance. This November, that blueprint will help us regain a number of seats in the state legislature.
What Mr. Cafferty hasn't noticed is that the Democratic Congress isn't particularly well-loved or respected. They're seen as on the wrong side of the energy issue. While Nancy Pelosi digs in her heels on drilling, people are understanding that Republicans are the party with solutions. If Mr. Cafferty thinks that people won't notice the difference, then his observation skills are as limited as his intellect.
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008 4:41 PM
Comment 1 by Chuck at 02-Sep-08 10:25 PM
I think there may be a shift in momentum. The VP is usually not a deal changer unless a candidate has so outflanked another as badly as McCain has to Obama.
