I'm not a Bill Maher fan.

I've never found him to be particularly insightful or funny.

And now he has put this horrific image in my head.

I think there is a problem, though, with the media gushing over him too much. I don't think he thinks that he's all that, but the media does. I mean, the coverage after, that I was watching, from MSNBC, I mean these guys were ready to have sex with him....It's embarrassing.

A three-way between Olbermann, Matthews, and Obama?

I may be turned off for life.

While the Dems are on the attack against the GOP vice presidential candidate on experience, there is one obvious comeback.

More executive experience. More experience on the energy issue.

Pro-life. Pro-gun. Pro-defense. Anti-terrorist. Anti-earmark. anti-corruption.

Well, that is the assessment made of Sarah Palin by a number of historians.

Presidential scholars say she appears to be the least experienced, least credentialed person to join a major-party ticket in the modern era.

So unconventional was McCain’s choice that it left students of the presidency literally “stunned,” in the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. “Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who’s of presidential caliber,” said Goldstein.

“I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major-party ticket in modern history,” said presidential historian Matthew Dallek.

Interestingly enough, both Goldstein and Dallek, along with the rest of the scholars quoted in the article, share a certain common denominator -- all but one of them are Democrat donors, and the remaining scholar is a former speechwriter for a major Democrat Party figure!

After reading this article, the McCain campaign issued the following statement: "The authors quote four scholars attacking Gov. Palin's fitness for the office of vice president. Among them, David Kennedy is a maxed-out Obama donor, Joel Goldstein is also an Obama donor, and Doris Kearns Goodwin has donated exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Finally, Matthew Dallek is a former speech writer for Dick Gephardt. This is not a story about scholars questioning Gov. Palin's credentials so much as partisan Democrats who would find a reason to disqualify or discount any nominee put forward by Sen. McCain."

Odd, isn't it, that the "objective media" managed to find not a single Republican-leaning scholar of the presidency to talk to or quote. I don't know about you, but it looks like a partisan hit piece to me, wih the conclusion drawn before the first question was asked.

Oh, and I like Don' Surber's observation.

Question: Do scholars question her qualifications?

Answer: Of course: “Presidential scholars say she appears to be the least experienced, least credentialed person to join a major-party ticket in the modern era.”

Question: Is it true?

Answer: It depends on whether you think Lincoln’s one term in Congress was more experience than being a mayor and a governor.

For all that Pat Buchanan has been trying to assist the Jew-baiting, Hamas-supporting wing of the Democrats by claiming she was a big donor and organizer to his 1996 campaign.

Because, you see, she is on record as backing another candidate in 2000.

The McCain campaign says that instead of supporting Buchanan -- or even McCain -- in 2000, Palin actually supported Steve Forbes.

And indeed, another AP story from August 7, 1999 -- one month after the Buchanan trip to Wasilla -- states that joining state sen. Mike Miller of Fairbanks on the Forbes campaign's Alaska "leadership committee will be Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin, and former state GOP chairman Pete Hallgren, who will serve as co-chairs."

When combined with the fact that there is no record of even a single donation to Pat Buchanan by Palin or any family member, the fact that not even one Buchanan campaign press release or news story reports on her being in any way involved with the Buchanan campaign, the evidence is clear -- Sarah Palin was never part of Pitchfork Pat's Buchanan Brigades in any capacity, and wore that button only as a courtesy to a visiting candidate of her party.

And if wearing that button for a couple of hours makes Palin an anti-Semite unacceptable to Jews, how ought Barack Obama's two decades of membership at a church where anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist sentiments were spewed from the pulpit and printed in church publications be treated?

H/T Soccer Dad

Well, only if you look at the evidence.

LGF has the report on a website claiming that Palin supports gay marriage.

In the Linux console, if you enter the following commands, you can learn the secrets of a political dirty trick. First, look up the host of ‘sarahpalingayrights.com’ to get the site’s IP address.

host sarahpalingayrights.com
sarahpalingayrights.com has address 74.208.74.232

Then use the same command to look up the domain name pointer of that IP address.

host 74.208.74.232
232.74.208.74.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer obamadefense.com

Well, well. “Obamadefense.com,” eh?

And what happens if you enter obamadefense.com on your browser’s address line?

Why, you’re redirected to none other than FightTheSmears.com, the official Barack Obama site that’s supposed to be defending him against smears.

Looks like they may have a second purpose: to generate a few smears of their own.

Don't believe that? Enter 74.208.74.232 in your address bar in the browser and see where it takes you. You'll find it is FightTheSmears.com -- a wholly owned subsidiary of the Obama campaign, as mentioned above.

No way this is a coincidence.

Either this is an intentional smear by the Obama campaign -- or someone on the Obama campaign is misappropriating the campaign's resources to set up the website. Either way, this move is likely illegal.

Which really seems to be a tempest in a teapot, since under Alaska law and the Alaska Constitution, she has the right to fire a political appointee for any reason -- or no reason at all.

But let's consider what the controversy is about.

The first serious scandal in Gov. Sarah Palin's administration has roots in a family feud. It erupted into public view with the July 11 firing of the state's top public safety official.

Some call it Troopergate.

Palin's abrupt dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan is now being investigated by a special counsel hired by the Alaska Legislature as to whether there was any official misconduct.

* * *

At issue is whether Palin, her administration or family improperly pressured Monegan to fire Alaska state trooper Michael Wooten, the ex-husband of Palin's sister, and whether Palin fired Monegan when that didn't happen. Palin's sister, Molly McCann, and Wooten are divorced but still battling in court over custody and visitation.

Now what this comes down to is a "he said/she said" dispute between Gov. Palin and a disgruntled political appointee she fired. And Palin has laid out a case for the firing that seems compelling to me.

Monegan was a Palin appointee, and she had a right to fire him for any reason. She's previously refused to say exactly why she got rid of him, but laid out several reasons Wednesday, saying she's decided to talk about it because Monegan is.

Palin said he wasn't doing enough to fill state trooper vacancies and battle alcohol abuse issues. She said he "did not turn out to be a team player on budgeting issues."

Palin said it's fine to have debates during cabinet meetings over the budget but Monegan went further and indicated to legislators she wasn't proposing enough spending. Palin's acting chief of staff, Mike Nizich, said Monegan asked legislators for spending that hadn't been authorized by the governor.

"The response he got was don't come to us and ask for more money when you cannot fill the 56 or 58 trooper positions that were vacant," Nizich said. "So he was making a pitch for additional funding when he couldn't even fill what he currently had available to him."

All of which, frankly, makes this a tempest in a teapot in my eyes -- right there is your good cause for the firing. Especially since no one other than Monegan has made a claim (much less presented evidence) that Palin herself placed any undue pressure on him to fire Wooten. And the calls by Todd Palin to Monegan? Seems they were made at the direction of the head of the governor's security detain -- because he saw Wooten as constituting a threat to the governor he is tasked with protecting.

Oh, by the way, what is Wooten alleged to have done that might have been grounds to fire him? is this just a case of trying to ruin her sister's ex-husband out of spite?

No, it isn't -- as official records released by the troopers' union at Wooten's request clearly demonstrates.

On July 17, the Public Safety Employees Association, with Wooten's permission, released the investigative file concerning the complaints brought against the trooper by the Palins, Palin's father and others.

The internal personnel investigation began in April 2005, long before Palin became governor and months before her October 2005 announcement that she was running. The investigation into Wooten wrapped up in March 2006.

Troopers found four instances in which Wooten violated policy, broke the law, or both:

- Wooten used a Taser on his stepson

- He shot a moose without a permit, which is illegal. At the time he was married to McCann, who has a permit but never intended to shoot it herself.

- He drank beer in his patrol car on one occasion.

- He told others that his father-in-law - Palin's father, Chuck Heath - would "eat a f'ing lead bullet" if he helped his daughter get an attorney for the divorce.

Drinking (presumably when on duty) while in a patrol car? Hunting illegally? Assault on a 10-year-old with a Taser? Threatening to murder a parent for helping his daughter get a lawyer -- a right guaranteed by both the US and Alaska constitutions? And all he got was a 10-day suspension, cut in half after union officials protested that punishment as too harsh? Would somebody tell me why this man is even walking the streets, much less wearing a uniform and carrying a badge? Why were there no criminal charges brought -- especially over the assault on the kid?

And let's not forget that these are just the charges confirmed by the state police. That doesn't get into the claims of restraining orders he violated, possible other incidents of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and the domestic abuse of Palin's sister. Trooper Wooten seems like a mighty unstable character to me -- a true menace to society with a gun and a badge.

For more details, see what is clearly the internet's definitive post on the issue, over at Flopping Aces.

But the reality is that the evidence really doesn't support the charge that Palin herself did anything wrong -- but even if it did, wouldn't a reasonable person see it as simple over-zealousness based upon a concern for public safety?

After all, let's consider a hypothetical alternative.

Suppose, just for a minute, that no one in the Palin administration or family said anything about Wooten after Sarah Palin became governor.

Six months or a year from now, Wooten shoots someone, wrecks a patrol car while drunk, abuses another kid or gets busted for other serious illegal activity.

Wouldn't Palin's opponents then ask "Knowing what she knew, why didn't Gov. Palin do more to get rid of this cop who she knew to be unstable and dangerous?"

I know I would -- and I've been mentioning her as an attractive choice for VP (and possible future presidential candidate) for about six months now.

So if anyone erred in this case, I'm glad that they have erred on the side of protecting the public from a rogue cop with a history of violence and threats of violence against the innocent.

H/T Hot Air, Wizbang, Strata-Sphere, Victorious Opposition

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson's Website, Is It Just Me?, Mark My Words, Rosemary's Thoughts, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Shadowscope, , Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Pursuing Holiness, Pet's Garden Blog, third world county, , Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate's Cove, , The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, Cao's Blog, , NN&V, Conservative Cat, Nuke's, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie is Wired, Political Byline, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, , Beagle Scout, and CORSARI D'ITALIA, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

I think I may have found an over-privileged, over-paid, super-rich class that needs to be socked with higher taxes -- whiny liberal celebrities with private jets.

Take this story about Diddy and the privations he is upset about facing.

Fuel prices have grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Diddy.

Sean "Diddy" Combs complained about the "... too high" price of gas and pleaded for free oil from his "Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters" in a YouTube video posted Wednesday. The hip-hop mogul said he is now flying on commercial airlines instead of in private jets, which Combs said had previously cost him $200,000 and up for a roundtrip between New York and Los Angeles.

"I'm actually flying commercial," Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. "That's how high gas prices are. I'm at the gate right now. This is really happening, proof gas prices are too high. Tell whoever the next president is we need to bring gas prices down."

I'd like to address a few words to the semi-talented Pee Diddly-squat:

I'm sure I speak for the overwhelming majority of Americans when I say "Big f*ckin' deal!"

Listen, you arrogant, elitist douchebag, that is how the rest of America lives -- when we can afford to get on a plane at all. After seven years without setting foot on an airplane at all, I've actually flown three times this year -- once to visit my mother-in-law when she became critically ill, then again to bury her two weeks later. The third trip was to see my parents for the first time in eight years. Only once -- when a fluke with my dad's frequent flier program made it cost fewer miles than flying economy -- did we have the luxury of flying in first class where there are still meals, drinks are free, and you even get a hot towel to wash up. So forgive me if I don't feel your pain about not being able to afford $200K private jet flights.

Let's see if I get the logic of the Obama supporters.

Obama has no executive, foreign policy, or national security credentials -- but he's ready to lead from day one.

Palin has executive experience, including being head of her states National Guard and leading the only state that borders on TWO foreign countries (Canada and Russia) -- but she shouldn't be VP because of a lack of experience in case of John McCain's hypothetical demise.

Am I the only one who sees a logical disconnect there?

O Wondrous Lightworker, in light of your record as a legislator and public statements during the campaign, would you please enlighten the people of this great nation on the following two questions.

1) Given the fact that Sarah Palin's youngest child has Down Syndrome, do you believe that the governor and her husband were "punished with a baby"?

2) If, at the last minute, Gov. Palin had decided that she did not want the baby, should it have been legally permissible to allow him to die unattended in a linen closet in order to preserve a woman's "right to choose"?

Americans want to know -- some more than others.

UPDATE: Looks like the Libbies are in an uproar that someone at the RNC suggested running with a similar comment from Rush Limbaugh. Given Obama's staunchly pro-abortion and pro-infanticide record, I don't see the problem with Limbaugh's comment or the staffer's suggestion -- unless your objection is that it is truthful information that would be bad for Obama.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson's Website, Mark My Words, Rosemary's Thoughts, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Shadowscope, , Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Pursuing Holiness, Pet's Garden Blog, third world county, , Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate's Cove, , The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, Cao's Blog, , NN&V, Conservative Cat, Nuke's, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie is Wired, Political Byline, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, , and CORSARI D'ITALIA, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

We all know that the general climate at the Daily Kos alternates between hatefully deranged and derangedly hateful on a second by second basis, but the mouth-frothing over the selection of Sarah Palin is astounding, even by Kos standards.

Take this attempt to impose a religious test for public office.

No less than the official newsletter of the Assemblies of God of Alaska promotes her proudly as one of the denomination's own, and she was actually feted at an official function of the Assemblies' Alaska District as recently as this year....

Got that, folks -- membership in one of the fastest-growing Christian denominations in America is a dangerous association that is so far outside of the realm of acceptability that she should be defeated at all costs.

And then there is this smear not just of Sarah Palin, but also of one of her daughters, on the flimsiest of evidence.

But it appears that Pallin's last child, a baby with Down's syndrome, may not be hers. It may be that of her teenage daughter.

The evidence? Claims that she never looked fat enough to be pregnant -- something that might be attributed to her rather strenuous exercise regiment that often includes runs of 7-10 miles. So of course, it must mean that her daughter got knocked up, right KOSsacks?

Anybody know if this would be actionable in a court as libel against the daughter? After all, she most definitely is NOT a public figure -- but they post pictures of her and claim she was pregnant out of wedlock anyway.

And then there is a whole host of other sewage over there, all attempting to destroy Sarah Palin as a human being, not just as a candidate.

I'm curious, will any of the high-profile Democrat officeholders who post at Daily Kos demand an apology and retractions from Markos Moulitis? Will Kos Diarist Rick "I apologize for Texas" Noriega, the Texas Democrat running for US Senate, finally disassociate himself with the dregs of his party?

Americans with moral decency want to know.

Since I've been speaking highly of her for the last six months, you can imagine how ecstatic I am over this development!

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain introduced his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, at a raucous rally Friday, praising her "tenacity" and "skill" in tackling tough problems.

"She is exactly who this country needs to help us fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second," McCain told supporters in Dayton.

Palin, who becomes the first woman to serve on a GOP presidential ticket and the first Alaskan to appear on a national ticket, echoed McCain's appeal to battle the status quo in Washington.

Conservative. Pro-life. Pro-gun. Pro-drilling. A reformer who fights corruption. Exactly the sort of person we need at the highest level of the GOP on the national stage -- and one of the best picks I could have imagined McCain making.

The Anchoress has this, via Althouse.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS: Did this Gulfstream private jet, going from Anchorage, AK to Hook Field Municipal Airport, near Dayton, OH (scene of tomorrow’s Republican VP announcement) carry Governor Palin? Track the flight via Flight Aware.

Well, we'll know in a few hours. But it would certainly make me very happy -- and would be the most pro-life pick McCain could make.

You know, over an offensive artistic insult to our religion?

An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.

The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.

Called "Zuerst die Fuesse," (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.

I find the work to be both offensive and blasphemous. But I'm not going to embark on a campaign of senseless violence over it. neither are other followers of Christ.

After all, we are not Muslims.

I'm curious, though -- would the artist as readily depict Muhammad holding a beer and a bacon sandwich, perhaps while molesting his child-bride Aisha? If not, why not?

Would it be because they have greater respect for the faith of the false prophet?

Or just that they recognize that involvement with such an artistic project would significantly shorten their life expectancy?

And it would appear that the falsehoods and distortions Barry Hussein spewed at his Nuremburg Rally would make him appear to be a pathological liar on a Clintonian scale.

ARLINGTON, VA – Tonight, the McCain campaign issued the following statement from Tucker Bounds, McCain 2008 spokesman, on Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention:

“Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama. When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm’s way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President.”

BARACK OBAMA’S TOP MISLEADING CLAIMS

MISLEADING CLAIM #1: Barack Obama Can Bring Democrats And Republicans Together. OBAMA: “America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· NPR’s Juan Williams: Barack Obama “Doesn’t Have The Record” Of Bipartisanship That John McCain Has. NPR’S JUAN WILLIAMS: “You think about everything from campaign finance to immigration and on, and there’s John McCain working across party lines. Senator Obama doesn’t have a record. Now, he can make the claim and he can hold himself up as pure and trying to reach to a new generation of post partisan politics, but he has to do so largely based on rhetoric and wishful thinking because he doesn’t have the record.” (Fox News’ “Special Report With Brit Hume,” 5/7/08)

· Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpPp2usgY6Y

· The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen: “There Is Scant Evidence The Illinois Senator Takes Positions That Challenge His Base Or Otherwise Threaten Him Politically.” “Obama might have a similar bottom line, core principles for which, in some sense, he is willing to die. If so, we don’t know what they are. Nothing so far in his life approaches McCain’s decision to refuse repatriation as a POW so as to deny his jailors a propaganda coup. In fact, there is scant evidence the Illinois senator takes positions that challenge his base or otherwise threaten him politically. That’s why his reversal on campaign financing and his transparently false justification of it matter more than similar acts by McCain.” (Richard Cohen, Op-Ed, “McCain’s Core Advantage,” The Washington Post, 6/24/08)

· Politico’s Jonathan Martin: “He’s pretty much a conventional liberal on the issues and has few examples of breaking with his own party, so how does Obama try to pull off being ‘post-partisan?’” (Jonathan Martin, “Obama’s Third Way: It’s All In The Tone,” Politico, 6/30/08)

· Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK): “His Record Does Not Reflect Working In A Bipartisan Fashion.” “Boren, the lone Democrat in Oklahoma’s congressional delegate, said that while Obama has talked about working with Republicans, ‘unfortunately, his record does not reflect working in a bipartisan fashion.’” (Tim Talley, “Okla. Dem Calls Obama Liberal, Declines To Endorse,” The Associated Press, 6/10/08)

· “The Record Shows Obama To Be A Fairly Doctrinaire Liberal Democrat …” (Editorial, “Obama’s Rhetoric Soars, But What Does His Record Suggest?” USA Today, 1/28/08)

· In 2007, Obama Voted With The Democrat Party 97 Percent Of The Time. (Congressional Quarterly Website, www.cq.com, Accessed 3/3/08)

· In 2006, Obama Voted With The Democrat Party 96 Percent Of The Time. (Congressional Quarterly Website, www.cq.com, Accessed 1/27/08)

· In 2005, Obama Voted With The Democrat Party 97 Percent Of The Time. (Congressional Quarterly Website, www.cq.com, Accessed 1/27/08)

MISLEADING CLAIM #2: Barack Obama Will Ensure That Our Troops On The Ground Have “The Equipment They Need In Battle.” OBAMA: “As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· Barack Obama Voted Against Providing $94.4 Billion In Critical Funding For The Troops In Iraq And Afghanistan. (H.R. 2206, CQ Vote #181: Passed 80-14: R 42-3; D 37-10; I 1-1, 5/24/07, Obama Voted Nay)

MISLEADING CLAIM #3: Barack Obama Has Not Supported The President. OBAMA: “These challenges are not all of government’s making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush. … But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· Barack Obama Says He Voted With President Bush “For The Most Part.” REPORTER: “For a couple of days, they’ve been saying you voted to raise taxes something like 94 times. That seems to be the drumbeat that’s going to happen during this campaign. Are you going to raise taxes in a big way for average Americans?” OBAMA: “I mean this is the standard fare of politics. And the truth of the matter is that the only bills that I voted for, for the most part, since I’ve been in the Senate were introduced by Republicans with George Bush. You know, they were the majority for a big chunk of the time I was there.” (KMOV [St. Louis, MO], 6/10/08)

· Watch Barack Obama’s KMOV Interview

· The New York Times‘ David Brooks: Democrats Saying McCain Represents The Third Bush Term Are “Just Factually Inaccurate.” “Finally, the Obama people are too convinced that they can define McCain as Bush III. The case is just factually inaccurate. McCain will be able to pull out dozens of instances, from torture to global warming to spending, in which he broke with his party, as Rush Limbaugh will tell you.” (David Brooks, Op-Ed, “Calling Dr. Doom,” The New York Times, 6/3/08)

Newsweek’s Michael Hirsh: “As We Now Know Nearly Four Years Later, McCain Was Dead On In His Analysis Of What Went Wrong In Iraq.” “In early November 2003, at a time when Fred Dalton Thompson was playing a tough D.A. on ‘Law and Order,’ John McCain was cross-examining Donald Rumsfeld for real on Capitol Hill. It was still very early into the U.S. occupation of Iraq, but the as-yet-unacknowledged (by Rummy, that is) insurgency was already out of control. Alone among his fellow GOP senators, McCain blasted Rumsfeld for not putting enough U.S. troops on the ground, and for resorting too soon to ‘Iraqification’ – that is, transferring security to ill-prepared Iraqi forces. In an extraordinarily blunt speech at the Council on Foreign Relations that grim autumn, McCain warned that ultimately Iraq could become another Vietnam ‘if we lose popular support in the United States.’ The next day, the secretary of Defense asked McCain to breakfast. ‘I read y our speech,’ harrumphed Rumsfeld (that ‘must have been an enjoyable experience for him,’ McCain later joked to me). Then Rummy patiently explained to his fellow Republican why he and his top civilian brass (Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith and the usual crowd of incompetents) would continue to do things the same way. They ‘believed there was no need for additional troops,’ McCain later related. McCain had already realized that Rumsfeld was a lost cause. The real question, the senator suggested to me back then, was whether George W. Bush himself would push Rummy to make changes. ‘I’d like to see the president fully engaged,’ McCain said. Bush needed to be on top of ‘more details of what’s going on.’ As we now know nearly four years later, McCain was dead on in his analysis of what went wrong in Iraq. Right down to the need for Bush to get engaged and fire Rumsfeld. McCain was so right that, among military experts today, the emerging conventional wisdom about Bush’s current ’surg e’ is that if it had occurred back then – when McCain wanted it and the political will existed in this country to support it for the necessary number of years – it might well have succeeded.” (Michael Hirsh, “Why McCain’s Collapse Matters,” Newsweek, 7/26/07)

· John McCain Voted Against The 2005 Bush-Cheney Energy Bill. (H.R. 6, CQ Vote #152: Motion Agreed To 92-4: R 53-1; D 38-3; I 1-0, 6/23/05, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 6, CQ Vote #158: Passed 85-12: R 49-5; D 35-7; I 1-0, 6/28/05, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 6, CQ Vote #213: Adopted 74-26: R 49-6; D 25-19; I 0-1, 7/29/05, McCain Voted Nay)

· John McCain Is “Widely Acknowledged To Have Charted A Course Independent Of Bush” On Climate Change. “On global warming, McCain is widely acknowledged to have charted a course independent of Bush. Immediately after the 2004 election, in which he stumped for Bush’s re-election, he sharply distanced himself from Bush on climate change, calling the administration’s stance ‘terribly disappointing.’ McCain had co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Joe Lieberman to curb greenhouse gases in 2003. Bush had opposed any such move, citing possible harm to the economy and doubts over global warming.” (William March, “McCain Bucks Ties To Bush,” The Tampa Tribune, 6/11/08)

MISLEADING CLAIM #4: John McCain Believes We’ve Made “Great Progress” And Families Aren’t Hurting. OBAMA: “He said that our economy has made ‘great progress’ under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the e conomy are strong.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· FactCheck.org: Obama Use Of Quote Is “Misleading” And “Distorts” John McCain’s Words. “The second and third quotes the Obama campaign uses from McCain are more misleading. The ad shows McCain saying: ‘[T]here’s been great progress economically.’ The quote comes from an interview McCain did with Peter Cook at Bloomberg Television in April. … McCain was making a case for what he believed were positive economic developments during Bush’s time in office. However, the fuller quote shows McCain was saying that whatever progress had been made, it wouldn’t be enough to comfort families ‘facing these tremendous economic challenges.’ His comments overall are pessimistic; he cites ‘challenging times’ and ‘enormous difficulties.’ The Obama campaign distorts his views by using just a snippet of his remarks.” (D’Angelo Gore, “Distorting McCain’s Remarks,” FactCheck.org, 8/19/08)

· In The Full Question And Answer Cited By Barack Obama, John McCain Clearly Said That We Are In “Tough Times” And Families Are Facing “Tremendous Economic Challenges.” Bloomberg’s Peter Cook: “I’m going to ask you a version of the Ronald Reagan question. You think if Americans were asked, are you better off today than you were before George Bush took office more than seven years ago, what answer would they give?” McCain: “Certainly, in this time, we are in very challenging times. We all recognize that. Families are sitting around the kitchen table this evening and figuring out whether they’re going to be able to keep their home or not. They’re figuring out whether they’re – why it is that suddenly and recently someone in their family or their neighbor has lost their job. There’s no doubt that we are in enormous difficulties. “I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created, et cetera, et cetera, yo u could make an argument that there’s been great progress economically over that period of time. But that’s no comfort. That’s no comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges. But let me just add, Peter, the fundamentals of America’s economy are strong. We’re the greatest exporter, the greatest importer, the greatest innovator, the greatest producer, still the greatest economic engine in the world. And, by the way, exports and free trade are a key element in economic recovery. But these are tough times, tough times, and nobody knows that more than American families including in small towns of Pennsylvania. They haven’t lost their fundamental religious beliefs, their respect for the Constitution, their right to bear arms. They are still – keep America as a beacon of hope and freedom throughout the world.” (John McCain, Interview With Bloomberg TV, 4/17/08)

· Watch Video Of Obama Economic Attack Compared To John McCain’s Full Response: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WynLgJFBxSs

· ABC News: Barack Obama Proved “He Knows How To Twist With The Best Of Them” When He Cited The McCain Quote. “Although Obama gets substantial mileage out of running against politics as usual, he provided a reminder on Friday that he knows how to twist with the best of them. Speaking in Erie, Pa., Obama charged: ‘John McCain went on television and said that there has “been great progress economically” over the last seven and a half years.’ Obama did not tell his audience, however, that McCain’s Thursday reference to economic progress was quickly followed by him adding that such progress is ‘no comfort’ to struggling families.” (Teddy Davis And Talal Al-Khatib, “Obama Twists McCain On Economy,” ABC News, 4/18/08)

MISLEADING CLAIM #5: Barack Obama Will Pay For His Massive Spending Increase. OBAMA: “Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I’ve laid out how I’ll pay for every dime – by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don’t help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less – because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· Barack Obama: “I Do Not Make A Promise That We Can Reduce [The Budget Deficit] By 2013.” “‘I do not make a promise that we can reduce it by 2013 because I think it is important for us to make some critical investments right now in America’s families,’ Obama told reporters this week when asked if he’d match McCain’s pledge.” (Nedra Pickler, “Analysis: Obama Won’t Try For McCain’s Budget Goal,” The Associated Press, 7/8/08)

· Chicago Tribune: Barack Obama Has “No Interest In Eliminating Deficit Spending.” “Since winning the nomination, Obama reportedly has been moving toward the middle of the political spectrum. But on the budget, he still sounds left of center, with no interest in eliminating deficit spending.” (Editorial, “Failure Of Nerve,” Chicago Tribune, 7/8/08)

· The Associated Press: Barack Obama Not “Even Trying” To Balance The Budget And “Frankly Says He’s Not Sure He’d Bring It Down At All In Four Years.” “Barack Obama says John McCain’s plan to balance the budget doesn’t add up. Easy for him to say: It’s not a goal he’s even trying to reach. Not only does Obama say he won’t eliminate the deficit in his first term, as McCain aims to do, he frankly says he’s not sure he’d bring it down at all in four years, considering his own spending plans.” (Nedra Pickler, “Analysis: Obama Won’t Try For McCain’s Budget Goal,” The Associated Press, 7/8/08)

· The National Journal’s John Maggs: “[Obama] Has Rhetorically Committed To A ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ Approach By Offsetting New Spending And Tax Cuts With New Taxes Or Spending Cuts, But His Proposals Do Not Come Close To Meeting This Standard.” (John Maggs, “Obama On The Economy,” The National Journal, 5/31/08)

· Los Angeles Times: Barack Obama “Has Not Identified New Revenue Sources Or Spending Cuts To Pay For Some Of” His Proposals. “The Obama campaign responds that tax cuts, once enacted, are usually renewed and do not expire. Therefore, they say, Obama can legitimately claim to be recouping money for other purposes by scaling back the tax cuts. Obama has not identified new revenue sources or spending cuts to pay for some of what he wants to do.” (Peter Nicholas, “Adding Up The Cost Of Obama’s Agenda,” Los Angeles Times, 7/8/08)

· The New York Times’ David Brooks Said For Barack Obama To Fund His Domestic Programs, He Will Have To Break His Pledge Not To Tax The Middle Class. “Both [Obama and Clinton] promised to not raise taxes on those making less than $200,000 or $250,000 a year. They both just emasculated their domestic programs. Returning the rich to their Clinton-era tax rates will yield, at best, $40 billion a year in revenue. It’s impossible to fund a health care plan, let alone anything else, with that kind of money. The consequences are clear: if elected they will have to break their pledge, and thus destroy their credibility, or run a minimalist administration.” (David Brooks, Op-Ed, “No Whining About The Media,” The New York Times, 4/16/08)

MISLEADING CLAIM #6: Under Barack Obama, We Will Achieve Energy Independence. OBAMA: “And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· The Detroit News: Barack Obama’s Energy Plan Will “Do Nothing To Answer The Nation’s Long-Term Needs.” “The latest additions to Sen. Barack Obama’s energy plan, outlined during an appearance in Lansing Monday, may win the Democratic presidential candidate some votes from disgruntled consumers in November, but they’ll do nothing to answer the nation’s long-term needs.” (Editorial, “Obama’s Energy Plan Is Fueled By Populism,” The Detroit News, 8/5/08)

· The Washington Post Editorial: Barack Obama Offering Gimmicks On Energy. “When his presumptive Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), proposed a gas tax holiday as a way to reduce the high cost of driving, Mr. Obama showed political courage and intellectual honesty by refusing to sign on to that obvious gimmick. ‘It’s an idea to get them through an election,’ Mr. Obama said. Now he has two such gimmicks of his own.” (Editorial, “Tapping Tired Wells,” The Washington Post, 8/6/08)

· Barack Obama Opposes Allowing States To Decide If They Want To Drill Offshore To Increase American Energy Independence. Obama: “The politics may have changed, but the facts haven’t. The accuracy of Sen. McCain’s original position has not changed: Offshore drilling would not lower gas prices today, it would not lower gas prices next year and it would not lower gas prices five years from now.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Press Availability, Jacksonville, FL, 6/20/08)

· Barack Obama Opposes Immediate Gas Tax Relief For American Families. Obama: “I think John McCain’s proposal for a three month tax holiday is a bad idea.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Blue Bell, PA, 4/21/08)

· Barack Obama Called John McCain’s $300 Million Prize For A Better Battery A “Gimmick.” Obama: “In this campaign, John McCain is offering the same old gimmicks that will provide almost no short-term relief to folks who are struggling with high gas prices. Gimmicks that will only increase our addiction for another four years.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Las Vegas, NV, 6/24/08)

· Barack Obama Criticized Expanding Nuclear Power. Obama: “That might make sense in Washington, but it doesn’t make sense for America. In fact, it makes about as much sense as his proposal to build 45 new nuclear reactors without a plan to store the waste some place other than, guess where? Right here in Nevada at Yucca Mountain.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Las Vegas, NV, 6/24/08)

· Barack Obama Is Proposing A Tax On Oil That Will Only Lead To Higher Prices At The Pump. “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year’s profit levels, a campaign adviser said.” (Daniel Whitten, “Obama May Levy $15 Billion Tax On Oil Company Profit,” Bloomberg News, 5/1/08)

· The Washington Post: Barack Obama’s Tax On Oil Will Only Lead To “Higher Prices At The Pump.” “But to add a five-year tax increase on top of that to pay for a one-year gift to voters would, indeed, increase the cost of doing business. That cost would be passed along in forgone investment in new production, lower dividends for pension funds and other shareholders, and higher prices at the pump – thus socking it to the consumers whom the plan is supposed to help. If oil prices fall, there might be no windfall profits to tax. Then the Obama rebate would have to be paid for through spending cuts, taxes on something else or borrowing.” (Editorial, “Tapping Tired Wells,” The Washington Post, 8/6/08)

MISLEADING CLAIM #7: Barack Obama Will Cut Taxes. OBAMA: “I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow. I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· Barack Obama Voted Twice In Favor Of The Democrats’ FY 2009 Budget Resolution. (S. Con. Res. 70, CQ Vote #85: Adopted 51-44: R 2-43; D 47-1; I 2-0, 3/14/08, Obama Voted Yea; S. Con. Res. 70, CQ Vote #142: Adopted 48- 45: R 2- 44; D 44- 1; I 2-0, 6/4/08, Obama Voted Yea)

· FactCheck.org: The Budget Resolution Would Have Allowed Most Of The Provisions Of The 2001 And 2003 Tax Cuts To Expire, Effectively Raising Taxes On Those Making $41,500 In Total Income. “What Obama voted for was a budget resolution that would have allowed most of the provisions of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire. In particular, the resolution would allow the 25 percent tax bracket to return to its pre-2001 level of 28 percent. That bracket kicks in at $32,550 for an individual or $65,100 for a married couple. … But as those of you who have filled out a 1040 know, that’s not actually how income taxes work. We don’t pay taxes on our total earnings; we pay them based on our ‘taxable income.’ The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center’s Eric Toder told FactCheck.org that ‘people with taxable income of $32,000 would have a total income greater than that.’ In 2008, anyone filing taxes with single status would be entitled to a standar d deduction of $5,450, as well as a personal exemption of $3,500. So to have a taxable income high enough to reach the 25 percent bracket, an individual would need to earn at least $41,500 in total income, while a married couple would need a combined income of at least $83,000.” (”The $32,000 Question,” FactCheck.org, http://www.factcheck.org, 7/8/08)

· FactCheck.org: “Obama’s Votes Indicate A Willingness To Raise Taxes.” “Certainly Obama’s votes indicate a willingness to raise taxes, and Obama has not been shy about saying explicitly that he will raise some taxes.” (”The $32,000 Question,” FactCheck.org, http://www.factcheck.org, 7/8/08)

· Obama Campaign: Barack Obama Voted For A Budget Resolution That Wouldn’t Have Increased Taxes For Any Taxpayers Making Less Than $41,500. ROSEN: “Campaign aides to Senator Obama today, called the charge that he voted for tax hikes on people making only $32,000 a year, quote, ‘bogus.’ They circulated an analysis stating that the resolution that Obama had voted for would not have increase taxes on single taxpayer making less than $41,500 a year in total income.” (Fox News’ “America’s Election Headquarters,” 7/30/08)

· The New York Times: Barack Obama’s “Vote Was On A Budget Resolution To Raise Taxes On People Making $41,500 A Year.” “FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan Web site, said the vote was on a budget resolution to raise taxes on people making $41,500 a year; the $32,000 figure, it said, was the amount of taxable income those people had.” (Michael Cooper, “McCain Goes Negative, Worrying Some In GOP,” The New York Times, 7/30/08)

###

It must suck to be Barack Obama. After all, he isn't qualified for the job he is seeking. He does, however, combine the failed policies of Jimmy Carter with the finger-wagging sanctimony of Bill Clinton.

Over at Patterico's Pontifications, WLS notes that eight years as president would be the longest time that Barack Obama has held the same full-time job.

After Columbia he spent a year in a New York business, a year in a NY non-profit, and then headed to Chicago where he spent 3 years as a “community organizer.”

Then he went to law school, returning to Chicago in 1991. He did some community organizing, then was an associate for a Chicago law firm for three years. After that he was to the State Senate - a part time legislature — and served as a lecturer at the Univ. of Chicago law school — another part-time gig. He was involved in a variety of community organizations during this period.

His Senate seat is the first full-time job he has had since his law firm days — but he’s only been in that job for 4 years.

So, serving 8 years at POTUS would be his longest stint in any position of full-time employment in his life.

And notice, please, that little of his work experience really prepares him to be a competent president -- no executive experience, and no significant involvement with foreign policy or defense matters.

Which is why this quote from Obama's speech at last night's Nuremberg Rally at Invesco Field is particularly amusing.

“If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.”

Record, Senator? What record? You have accomplished nothing of significance in your life except for a couple of good speeches, a pair of over-rated books, and getting yourself nominated for a job that is well above your pay grade.

Based upon what Erick Erickson is hearing from his inside sources.

I'm confident enough to put this up now, but willing to be wrong.

Right now though, every sign, signal, and background chatter indicates John McCain will pick Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota's governor, as his running mate.

UPDATE: A source close to the campaign now confirms for me that it "more likely than not" is Pawlenty. He does, however, caution me that the campaign does not actually want to leak tonight lest the Obama camp get too much of a chance to play the victim card with a sympathetic media.

Below the fold, I've compiled data on Pawlenty that you might find useful.

I've said it repeatedly in recent weeks -- Tim Pawlenty is not a bad choice in my book. And I have one friend who will be absolutely floating on air if this is true -- his family and the Pawlenty family have been friends going back as far as he can remember.

Hit the companies that employ illegal aliens and the executives who run them where they hurt.

The Shipley Do-Nut Co. president pleaded guilty today — and three current and former managers are expected to enter pleas next week — to charges stemming from an April immigration raid, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

Company President Lawrence Shipley III pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen W. Smith to a misdemeanor charge of employing undocumented workers. He was sentenced to six months' probation and a $6,000 fine.

Shipley, 41, has served as president of the Shipley Do-Nut Flour and Supply Co. since March 2005.

The criminal inquiry into the company began on April 16, with a predawn raid at the headquarters and warehouse complex on Houston's north side. Investigators reported that more than 40 percent of the company's employees were in this country illegally.

U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said this afternoon that company officials have agreed to pay $1.3 million in lieu of the federal government's confiscating various company-owned residences where undocumented workers were housed.

Others charged with hiring illegal immigrants were Christopher Halsey, 36, the company's warehouse supervisor; former warehouse manager Jimmy Rivera, 54; and current warehouse manager Julian Garcia, 38.

The three are expected to appear before a federal magistrate on Sept. 5.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of six months

Did you get that? This is going to cost the company $1.3 million in cash. That's a lot of donuts, folks. My only complaint is that it isn't more, and that the jail time and fines aren't more substantial.

Now if only we would see this done in every case where we see round-ups of the border-jumping immigration criminals who steal American jobs. After all, the employers are every bit as guilty as the aliens in most instances.

Glad to see it -- Kent is scum.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent was indicted Thursday on charges of abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse, making him the first federal judge to be charged with federal sex crimes and the first in Texas to be indicted in recent history.

The federal criminal investigation was launched in November 2007 after Kent's former case manager, Cathy McBroom, complained that the judge physically touched her under her clothing twice and and often made obscene suggestions during the six years she worked for him.

In the indictment, he is accused of various sexual contacts "with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade... "

Frankly, I don't care that he is a Republican, and that this could lead to his removal from the bench. A man with any decency or moral fiber would have already resigned -- but then again, such a man wouldn't have engaged in such behavior.

And while this could potentially lead to his replacement by a liberal Democrat if Obama were to win the election, I think that cleansing the federal bench of this stain is more important.

Just a little reminder about what McCain has sacrificed on behalf of his country.

On the other hand, what has Barry Hussein sacrificed on behalf of America?

* * *

On the other hand, Obama did get his home and an extra chunk of land in a corrupt deal involving a campaign contributor and political insider later convicted of political corruption.

Why, then, does Barack Obama begrudge John McCain the right to live the American Dream?

H/T Hot Air

UPDATE: A different perspective -- including an ugly possible motivation behind the ad -- from The Next Right.

One of the neat things at this year's state convention was our choice of three articulate under-30 delegates/alternates from CD22 to represent us at the convention. One of those, Trey Stinnett, will be blogging the convention for us.

But he's seeking some financial assistance to defray the convention costs, estimated to be some $5000 for him and his parents (traveling as his guests).

If you can, consider dropping a few bucks in the kitty to help out this fine young man, who I believe to be one of the rising stars in the GOP in our area and the state of Texas as a whole.

Here's the letter he sent out to local GOP activists.

Friends,

The time is here. The 2008 Republican National Convention is upon us. As I make final arrangements to head out to Minnesota, I find myself more excited than I have ever been about any singular event. These next days will mark some of the most significant in my life. I am proud to go to Minneapolis representing Congressional District 22 from the great state of Texas, the Houston Young Republicans, the youth of our nation, and most importantly, representing Christ.

As I promised at the RPT Convention, I have put up a blog that I will post to frequently during the events of next week: in detail, with images. You can keep up with all that is going on in the twin cities from my perspective by going to the link provided below. I’m also raising money to help defray some of the expense of the trip there as well. In addition, you may also receive updates in your email (sans some content and images.) Just follow the links below

All in all, I know this will be a great event as we gather to nominate Sen. John McCain, the next president of these United States. Thousands of like-minded, principled men and women coming together to celebrate what it means to be a Republican, and what it means to be an American.

Check out his bio here -- you'll be quite impressed at what this 23-year-old has accomplished in his life and his record of involvement.

If that's the case, every Texan has a compelling reason to oppose his candidacy for any office -- and to send him packing to some other state where his liberal views would make him more comfortable.

After all, my fellow Texans, this is what Slick Rick the Kos Diarist has to say about our state when he travels out of cash seeking the funds Texans won't give him.

Being a Texan today, Mr. Noriega said, means always having to say you're sorry.

"I immediately feel compelled to just apologize to all of you," Mr. Noriega told high-rollers who flocked to the elegant Brown Palace Hotel to hear pleas for donations from about a dozen Democratic senatorial hopefuls.

In other words, he is ready and willing to trash our state in order to get cash from out-of-state liberal donors who don't believe in the same things Texans do. Why would we want a Senator who does not love this state as much as we do? This comment is one more compelling reason for Texans to back John Cornyn.

Oh, and about that event he attended -- one of the attendees was John Edwards' bagman, Frank Baron (who is, I'm sorry to say, a Texan), the guy who is under investigation for paying hush money to Edwards' baby-mama, Rielle Hunter. Oh, and where cops assaulted and arrested an ABC reporter trying to document the trail of sleazy cash flowing into the coffers of the DSCC and DNC.

H/T Urban Grounds, JohnCornyn.com

But where, exactly?

New Orleans, maybe.

National Guard troops stood ready and batteries and water bottles sold briskly as the New Orleans area watched as a storm marched across the Caribbean on the eve of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary.

With forecasters warning that Gustav could strengthen and slam into the Gulf Coast as a major hurricane, a New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina's devastating hit drew up evacuation plans.

Since Louisiana has a competent governor this time around, it appears that the state and the city will be ready to deal with whatever comes their way.

Of course, it could still head for Houston -- so I may yet have to bug out.

Does the choice of Dayton, Ohio, for the first appearance provide any clue to the pick?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has settled on a running mate, and the pair will appear together on Friday at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, according to Republican sources outside the campaign.

McCain will notify his choice on Thursday, one source said. The decision is closely held among just a handful of the senator's top advisers.

Speculation has centered on several candidates, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Here's hoping it isn't Lieberman. I might be able to live with dark-horse Tom Ridge, but I think that would be a bad choice as well. But does the choice of Dayton make it more likely that we will see an Ohioan like Rob Portman? I'm not sure -- though I would be happy with Romney, Pawlenty, Alaska's Sarah Palin or Virginia's Eric Cantor. And as I said yesterday, I don't think that Kay Bailey Hutchison would be a bad pick -- though I find it highly unlikely.

Closing question -- can the choice be kept secret until the announcement on Friday, or will it leak earlier? And will such a leack come before or after Barack Mugabe Obama's Nuremburg rally at Invesco Field?

Now that Barack Mugabe Obama has gotten the Democrat nomination, he and his campaign are continuing an effort to silence anyone who dares criticize the newly-minted candidate -- especially over his oh-so-cozy relationship with an unrepentant terrorist.

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is organizing its supporters tonight to confront Tribune-owned WGN radio in Chicago for having a critic of the Illinois Democrat on its air.

"WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears," Obama's campaign wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "He's currently scheduled to spend a solid two-hour block from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. pushing lies, distortions, and manipulations about Barack and University of Illinois professor William Ayers."

"Lies, distortions, and manipulations"? Most folks would call them facts -- but not the neo-Stalinists in the Obama camp.

What does Kurtz have to say?

1. Obama has a long, close association with Bill Ayers.
   
2. Bill Ayers engaged in terrorism against the US and remains unrepentant.
   
3. Strenuous efforts have been and are being made to hide documents about that relationship and suppress efforts to bring it into the public eye.
   

Heck, it really hasn't been news for a couple of months now.

Barack Hussein Obama, a freshman senator who defeated the first family of Democratic Party politics with a call for a fundamentally new course in politics, was nominated by his party on Wednesday to be the 44th president of the United States.

The unanimous vote made Mr. Obama the first African-American to become a major party nominee for president. It brought to an end an often-bitter two-year political struggle for the nomination with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who, standing on a packed convention floor electric with anticipation, moved to halt the roll call in progress so that the convention could nominate Mr. Obama by acclamation. That it did with a succession of loud roars, followed by a swirl of dancing, embracing, high-fiving and chants of “Yes, we can.”

But let's be honest here -- despite the claim of unanimity, anyone who has been observing the process must acknowledge that his nomination was anything but. That is why there were such strenuous efforts to keep an actual vote on the nomination from being broadcast in prime time.

At best, Obama got 40% of the delegate votes, based upon estimates I've seen. Hillary's little "party unity" parliamentary maneuver can't obscure that fact -- though Obama's toadies in the media will try.

Oh, and one question -- is the New York Times hatemongering by calling the newly-minted candidate "Barack Hussein Obama"?

Not only will running ads critical of the Democrat candidate get you persecuted in Barack Mugabe Obama's America, so will attempting to report inconvenient stories.

Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.

Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.

* * *

During the arrest, one of the officers can be heard saying to Eslocker, "You're lucky I didn't knock the f..k out of you."

Sounds rather like Beijing, doesn't it? Let's not forget -- Barack Mugabe Obama has said he wants the US to become more like Red China.

I wonder if this is the same event that resulted in this story that is sure to have embarrassed Obama and the Democrats.

Former Senator John Edwards has stayed away from the Democratic convention in Denver, but the close friend who helped hide his one-time mistress is receiving VIP treatment here.

Fred Baron, a wealthy Texas trial lawyer and former finance chairman for Edwards' presidential campaign, was seen Tuesday at a private luncheon for top party donors and key senators.

Baron, a longtime major contributor to Democratic candidates, would not answer questions from ABC News and walked away when he saw cameras.

You know, it certainly seems like there might be a connection -- after all, it highlights one more example of how dirty the Dems are.

And as for the Denver Police, these fascist tactics against a reporter seem quite at odds at how they dealt with a situation in which an assault was committed and repeated death threats were made against at conservative member of the press by liberal protesters.

Taking photos of Democrat fat cats? Arrest and threats of violence from the police.

Assault and threats of murder by liberal thugs? Nothing to see here, just move along.

UPDATE: Anyone hear me talking about this with Hugh Hewitt this evening?

UPDATE 2: Here's some of the video -- including the one cop's attempt to further suppress the press by ordering the cameras turned off. Seems to me that Denver cops do not know crap about the First Amendment.

Also, this report from Howard Kurtz.

Remember when Anbar Province was the most out-of-control area of Iraq -- and that was cited by Democrats as evidence that "America has lost the war in Iraq"?

Well, that was before the success of the surge -- and on Monday the Iraqi government will take responsibility for security in the former al-Qaeda stronghold.

US forces will hand over control of Anbar province to Iraqi troops in the coming days, military officials said Wednesday, touting improved security in the region.

"We believe the province could turn over to Iraqi control in just a few days," Marine General James Conway said.

"The change in the Al-Anbar province is real and perceptible," Conway said of the majority-Sunni region, which is Iraq's largest province.

Remember this as the Democrats nominate cut-and-runner Barack Obama tonight in Denver -- AMERICA IS WINNING!

After all, he dared to question The Sportscaster's blatant shilling for Barack Mugabe Obama.

At a forum on Sunday, when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell called MSNBC "the official network of the Obama campaign," Brokaw said, "I think Keith has gone too far. I think Chris has gone too far."

Insiders say Olbermann is pushing to have Brokaw banned from the network and is also refusing to have centrist Time magazine columnist Mike Murphy on his show.

I'm not necessarily a fan of Tom Brokaw, but I do respect him as a journalist. To argue that his criticism of The Sportscaster should result in a ban from MSNBC is the ultimate proof of the megalomaniacal view that Olbermann has of himself and his importance -- and his slavish devotion to the Obama campaign.

Set aside the religious question raised by certain Democrat politicians who claim to be good Catholics (and I do wish that their respective bishops would excommunicate Biden and Pelosi after their recent statements, just to clarify the matter), let's consider it from a strictly scientific perspective.

And fortunately, the scientific evidence is pretty clear on the matter.

In his new book, "Embryo," [Professor Robert] George and co-author Christopher Tollefsen, associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, left religion behind and set out to establish the embryo's personhood by reviewing all the major scientific works on human embryogenesis and early intrauterine development.

Included was American medicine's most prominent human embryology text, "The Developing Human," whose authors are not imprecise on the matter of life: "Human development begins at fertilization when a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoon) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to produce a single cell -- a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual."

In other words, human life begins at conception. That is not a religious posture, but a scientific fact that the lowest paid laborer on the planet can assert without qualm. What we do with that understanding is another matter, but no one in the 21st century should pretend not to know when human life begins.

Let's take deconstruct that for those at lower pay grades.

1. Sperm meet egg.
   
2. Zygote of species is created.
   
3. Said zygote is alive, and human, ergo constitutes human life.
   
4. There is no stage after that point at which the zygote/embryo/fetus can be legitimately argued to not be human until the cessation of biological functioning.
   

But then again, Barack Obama's actions while in the Illinois Senate demonstrate that he takes the latter view -- and even extends it to include newborn infants who survive an assault in the womb at the hands of the abortionist. Sadly, he lacks the integrity to admit that this is his position, even though the record is unambiguous in that regard.

This one from former Dem Congressman Charlie Wilson of Texas -- the one who was recently lionized in the movie Charlie Wilson's War.

"We should be led by Osama bin Laden," he said, then quickly corrected himself. "I mean Obama and Biden."

What is it with Democrats that they can't tell the difference between Barry Hussein and the world's foremost terrorist? Is it the connection to Bill Ayers? The fact that both Osama and Obama want US defeat in Iraq? I just don't get it.

He still claimed his acts of terrorism were right even as he helped elect Barack Obama to the Senate in 2004.

Ayers was unrepentant about the group’s planting of bombs in the Capitol, the Pentagon, and other sites. “I think I was on the side of justice and ultimately it will be seen that way,” Ayers said. “I don’t think our move was so much towards violence.

Now that is a statement made in 2004, and was a part of an attempt to parse a difference between his group's attack on America and the attacks of Osama bin laden against this country. What Ayers fails to recognize is that Osama thinks he is on the side of justice, too -- terrorists always do.

No wonder Obama and his campaign want to jail critics who publicize his connection to Ayers.

Could you imagine a mainstream press source writing sympathetic articles about massive law-enforcement crackdowns on drug dealers, chop-shops, drunk drivers, or other illegal activity? Then why the sympathetic coverage about these law-breakers?

The largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history has caused panic among Hispanic families in this small southern Mississippi town, where federal agents rounded up nearly 600 plant workers suspected of being in the country illegally.

One worker caught in Monday's sweep at the Howard Industries transformer plant said fellow workers applauded as immigrants were taken into custody. Federal officials said a tip from a union member prompted them to start investigating several years ago.

Not until one gets to the fourth paragraph does one find the actual numbers -- that close to 600 immigration criminals were caught, that 475 were held and another 100 given humanitarian release with ankle-bracelets so that they could care for family members. That is a whole lot better than "victims" of other law enforcement crackdowns on crime get.

My only regret in all this -- that no executives or managers of this company were arrested. We need more of that to discourage their illegal activity, too.

And the most absurd quote in the press coverage of the raid? Try this on for size, from the son of the pastor of many of the detainees.

“It was like a horror story. They got handled like they were criminals.”

Heaven forbid that we treat lawbreakers like lawbreakers!

When will the press take the side of the US and its immigration laws, rather than the foreigners (and American employers) who break those laws?

Not, mind you, that I think it would be a good idea -- but if Russia is correct in recognizing breakaway areas of Georgia as independent, shouldn't the rest of the world recognize the independence of those who don't want to be under Moscow's thumb?

Russia on Tuesday recognized the independence of two enclaves that have long sought to secede from neighboring Georgia. The action deepened strains with the West over the conflict in the economically vital crossroads of the Caucasus and roiled a broader debate over how to respond to separatist movements around the world.

* * *

The Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, declared in a nationally televised address that South Ossetia and the other pro-Russian enclave, Abkhazia, would never again have to endure what he described as oppressive Georgian rule.

“This is not an easy choice, but it is the only way to save the lives of people,” Mr. Medvedev said.

Hey -- Russian actions in Chechnya have been pretty heavy-handed and oppressive. Why shouldn't the rest of the world start adopting the logic of Medvedev and Putin and recognize the independence of a part of Russia that has been fighting for independence for years -- and any other part of the country that wants to break away as well?

And after all, Russia seems to be welcoming a new Cold War.

How desperate are the Democrats to ignore the current polling numbers?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told convention-goers Tuesday morning that polls are underestimating the strength of Barack Obama, contending he will defeat John McCain with the support of new or intermittent voters, who are not generally polled.

“I’m very comfortable with those polls,” Pelosi said at a rooftop breakfast panel near the Democratic National Convention. “I think he is trouncing him. I want more of a spread, of course — I want it all.”

In other words, just ignore the numbers -- she's sure that they are wrong and that Obama is going to win by a landslide, regardless of what the polls are actually showing.

Call it faith-based interpretation of the polls. No matter what the data shows, just believe that Obama is winning.

I'm curious -- if that does happen, will Democrats complain that the disparity between polling data and election results is a sign that someone tampered with the electronic voting machines? You know, like they did in 2004.

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Indeed, the Gallup Tracking Poll covering the first three days after the Biden announcement shows John McCain ahead in the race -- though within the margin of error.

It's official: Barack Obama has received no bounce in voter support out of his selection of Sen. Joe Biden to be his vice presidential running mate.

Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Aug. 23-25, the first three-day period falling entirely after Obama's Saturday morning vice presidential announcement, shows 46% of national registered voters backing John McCain and 44% supporting Obama, not appreciably different from the previous week's standing for both candidates. This is the first time since Obama clinched the nomination in early June, though, that McCain has held any kind of advantage over Obama in Gallup Poll Daily tracking.

These results are not dissimilar from Rasmussen and Zogby, so I think it is fair to say that the race is tied right now -- though I'm sure Barry Hussein leads in the 0/11 Truther/Daily Kos Poll, which is the only one that Democrats put any faith in.

I've already noted that I'm backing her for governor in 2010 -- but I'd be glad to see kay Bailey Hutchison as our next Vice president instead.

Michael Medved makes the case for that move.

I would suggest – strongly – that the campaign reconsider the Senior Senator from Texas, the Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Okay, she’s not a dynamo of fiery charisma; in fact, as I’ve noted before, she’s a bland and sometimes boring speaker, and a pleasant if unprepossessing television presence. Nevertheless, she is a she--- and that fact in itself would allow McCain’s choice to upstage Obama’s.

Current polls show that only half of Hillary’s voters currently back The One; a full 20% already support McCain. The remaining 30% of one-time Clinton true believers are undecided or thinking of staying home, and the idea of a first female in national office would, no doubt, appeal to some of them—perhaps even many of them.

And given her record of never winning a statewide election with less than 62% of the vote, Hutchison is a proven vote getter -- something necessary this year when the race is so tight.

Best of all, Hutchison is undeniably conservative, and shores up the conservative base even as she attracts those disaffected PUMAs. When a candidate gets ACU ratings in the high 80s and low 90s, there is no other way to categorize her -- which should make those who question McCain's recent conservative bona fides much more comfortable with the ticket.

So while I've liked the thought of Romney, Palenty, Cantor and Palin as possible Veeps, I could be really happy with my state's senior senator on the ticket this year.

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Give preferential seating to Alaska and Guam, while shafting the Lone Star State.

A network television interview platform stands directly in front of some of the Texas delegates on the lower rows of the Pepsi Center.

The state banners for Guam and Alaska partially block others.

And while the view of the podium is better for the delegates seated above Row 13, there's no doubt that the Texas delegation is about as far from the center of action at the Democratic National Convention as it can be.

That makes some of the delegates from the Republican red state of Texas blue.

"I think we're being punished for being a red state," said delegate Reynaldo Trevino, of Lyttle. "The consensus is: The closer you are, the more important you are."

Keisha Smith, of Victoria, said that sitting on the bottom row of the delegation gives her the opportunity to watch famous people walk by, but not much of anything else.

"The only worse thing would be to sit outside and watch it on a big screen," she said.

Maybe smaller delegations were easier to fit onto the convention's floor than the 260-person Texas delegation, said state Rep. Joe Deshotel, of Beaumont.

"I would hope they aren't putting more emphasis on Guam and Alaska," Deshotel said.

State Rep. Aaron Peña, of Edinburg, said the delegates should be moved to the front because they work hard to promote the party despite three decades of losing presidential elections. "We're the true believers, the die-hards," he said.

I'm curious -- is it that Texas is very red? Or could it be the high number of Hillary Clinton delegates that this state sent to Denver?

Either way, the message from Obama and the Democrats is pretty clear -- Texas and its electoral votes just don't matter to them.

One more reason, my fellow Texans, to vote for John McCain.

I'm not sure how serious the threat was, but I am glad law enforcement folks are taking it seriously.

Federal and local authorities in Colorado are questioning several suspects to determine if one of the men made a threat against Sen. Barack Obama, who will be in Denver this week to accept the Democratic presidential nomination.

After pulling over Tharin Robert Gartrell, 28, for allegedly driving erratically early Sunday morning, police discovered two rifles, one of which is reportedly stolen, a scope, a bulletproof vest, ammunition, walkie-talkies and the drug methamphetamine in the rented 2008 Dodge Ram truck, Aurora Police Detective Marcus Dudley said at a Monday evening press conference.

When authorities questioned Gartrell about the findings, he pointed to an associate of his whom he claimed made a threat against Obama, officials told ABC News.

Frankly, these guys appear to be a bunch of neo-Nazi sskinheads, according to some other reports I've seen. They don't represent the mainstream of anything, and are worthy of nothing but contempt and condemnation.

The last thing this American wants is an attempt on the life of Barack Obama -- and I can say with confidence that my view is shared by every true Republican.

By the way -- where is the coverage of the street disturbances in Denver?

UPDATE: Oops -- maybe not a threat at all.

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He has appeared from on high, to speak to his people.

Isn't this the silliest thing you have ever sen?

Looks like a neon nightmare!

Tackiness and excess incarnate.

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I cried tonight, watching the tribute to Ted Kennedy and his speech.

As a teen, he represented something special about America to me -- until I came to understand what he stood for and realized I disagreed with his approach to America.

As an adult, I viewed him as a worthy adversary -- though one I have not always treated with respect.

And as a student of history, I recognize his significance over the last half century of American life.

And so I made a point of watching Ken Burns' tribute to the ailing Senator, and his speech to the convention.

And as I said, I wept.

Because I know that this is likely the end of an era -- and that in 2012, one face and voice that will likely be missing from the rough and tumble of the election season will be that of the man who has served as Senator from Massachusetts since before I was born. I recognize that one of our links to the past will have been severed by mortality. And that does sadden me as an American.

God bless you, Senator Kennedy -- and thank you for your service to our nation.

Would you believe Georgia?

No, not the one where they make Coca-Cola -- the one where the Russians continue to violate their agreement to withdraw.

It's not every aspiring First Lady whose comfort zone is a war zone, but such is the case for Cindy McCain, who left today on a mission to Georgia to assess the civilian casualties of the Russian invasion.

McCain is traveling with the U.N.'s World Food Programme, whose work she monitored in Southeast Asia and Africa this spring and summer. McCain plans to meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and to visit wounded Georgian soldiers. She would also visit representatives of the HALO Trust, which works to remove land mines and on whose board she serves.

But this shouldn't be a surprise, given her long record of humanitarian work.

Contrast that with Michelle Obama's work dumping poor people from the hospital where she works -- and steering contracts to her husband's political allies.

Democrats told us if George W. Bush were reelected in 2004, there would be attempts to use the Justice Department and the FCC to punish dissenting political speech.

And they were right.

Only it is the Obama campaign seeking to have the government punish political speech.

Sen. Barack Obama has launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire’s efforts to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative television ads.

Obama’s campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the “American Issues Project,” the vehicle through which Dallas investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements. The Obama campaign — and tens of thousands of supporters — also is pressuring television networks and affiliates to reject the ads.

As much as I've always disliked John McCain's cavalier attitude towards political speech, this attempt to criminalize such speech by Obama is much more frightening to me.

And not only that, but Barry Hussein's surrogates are threatening to revoke the broadcast licenses of any station that carries the ad -- a potent threat from a guy who will have appointment power over that agency's commissioners.

“The Obama campaign plans to punish the stations that air the ad financially, an Obama aide said, organizing his supporters to target the stations that air it and their advertisers.” … Obama’s campaign has written a pair of letters to station managers carrying the ads. The letter calls the ad’s attempt to link Obama to terrorism “an appalling lie, a disgraceful smear of the lowest kind on the senator’s patriotism and commitment to the rule of law.” Airing the ad “is inconsistent with your station’s obligations under Federal Communications Commission regulations,” the letter continues, saying Simmons’ group lacks formal incorporation.

In other words, the President of the United States (if we win) will personally argue that your airing of the ad is a violation of the terms of the broadcast license under which you operate -- a threat which could lead to a great many stations deciding to take a hardline view of any anti-Obama ad this year.

What is worst about the ad? How about the fact that everything in it is true. Barack Obama has a long association with a confessed terrorist who openly lamented not doing more to overthrow the American government. It doesn't matter that Obama was a child when the events happened -- his willingness to have such a close association with the man is a contemporary failure of moral judgment. If McCain had a close political and personal relationship with a former Kluxer who publicly lamented not doing more to save segregation, would he so easily be forgiven that association? Of course he would not -- nor would anyone with an ounce of decency suggest he should.

And in the end, that is why Barry Hussein needs to bludgeon his opponents into silence -- the truth will not set him free, but will instead cost him the election if the American public is confronted with the reality of Barack Obama's distasteful choice of friends.

H/T Patterico, Time, Belmont Club, Ben Smith, Malkin

UPDATE: Here's what Barry Hussein is afraid the American public might see.

You gonna come after me and the rest of the conservative blogosphere next?

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I've noticed a number of comments regarding Joe Biden's lengthy Senatorial career making him the ultimate insider. I've noted folks observing that Barack Obama was 11 when Biden first won election to that body (I was 9).

But there is another aspect to his Senatorial career that ought to be noted by those considering whether how out of place Biden is on the ticket of"Hope and Change" -- when Joe Biden became a US Senator, John McCain was still a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Think about it -- liberals often denigrate McCain's heroic suffering on behalf of his country because it was so long ago. If that is the case, what place does a man who has been a senator for three-and-a-half decades have being on their national ticket?

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1st place Council post: Bookworm Room – McCainiacs thinking outside of the box.

1st place non-Council post: Daniel Pipes – The West’s Islamist Infiltrators.

Congratulations to all participants on their fine writing and contribution to the blogosphere.

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I agree with Nancy Pelosi.

Well, sort of.

"You know what," said Pelosi "I'm going to tell you something: lighten up folks. We have a planet to save."

"If Sen. Biden thinks that his wife is gorgeous, that's a-okay with me," she added.

I'll agree with the second half of the comment -- to this day I refer to my Darling Democrat as "my lovely wife" or "my darling wife" in the course of routine conversation. I didn't even realize how often I do it until one of my students a couple of years back walked up to me and asked how my beautiful wife enjoyed an event at which we had seen him at school. It is just how I feel -- and the same thing can be said about the Biden comment. It was something that was very genuine -- after a really stupid comment about her educational attainment.

Maybe he meant it was that her degree was a problem for Michelle Obama -- not only is Jill Biden better looking, but she is living the "giving back to people" lifestyle that Michelle Obama preaches about -- and that her hospital employer somehow can't live up to itself -- which points out the hypocrisy of Michelle Obama.

To give maximum advantage to the GOP.

Barack Obama has chosen Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, a pick designed to shore up the Illinois senator's foreign policy credentials in advance of the November election against John McCain.

Biden's selection was confirmed by a Democratic source after an evening of speculation that centered on the Delaware senator when it was reported that the other top contenders were no longer under consideration. Biden had been considered the frontrunner for the job in recent weeks -- a position confirmed by a last-minute, unscheduled trip last weekend to meet with the president of Georgia.

News of the pick was reported in advance of the Obama campaign's planned Saturday announcement to supporters via email and text message.

First, let me say that the confused, incoherent manner in which the Obama campaign handled the announcement was disturbing in and of itself. Days kept changing, and the proposed text-message idea was just absurd. Add to it the fact that the campaign had to leak the whole thing out hours in advance of the planned Saturday morning text message and you are left wondering if these folks will be able to handle a 3:00 AM overflowing toilet in the West Wing, much less a 3:00 AM phone call regarding an international crisis.

And that is part of why they picked Biden -- the ultimate insider and "non-hope and non-change" candidate. Obama recognized he needed a grown-up on the ticket, and so went for one who merely highlights all of his weaknesses even as he helps balance some of them.

And I bet a lot of folks on the left side of the spectrum are fuming. After all, here's a guy who supported the Iraq war and a surge (until he was against them for reasons of political expediency). He's got a history of insensitive remarks of a racial nature. And, of course, there is that speech he stole from Neil Kinnock -- something that didn't get Barry Hussein in trouble when he stole one from Deval Patrick earlier this year.

But most importantly of all, he isn't Hillary Clinton. He doesn't mend fences there, and he carries with him no great constituency. In the end, I don't see him as giving the campaign the sort of electoral heft it needs -- which will make a McCain victory more likely.

Oh, and how confused and mismatched are these two?

Consider Obama's introduction of Biden in Springfield.

And Biden's introduction of Barack.

Just most of them.

But one (indeed the only one I've encountered) has written a piece criticizing John McCain and arguing against his election to the presidency. He is Phillip Butler, who served this nation honorably and spent 8 years in the same hellish conditions that John McCain endured during his time as a POW. I honor that service.

He concludes as follows.

Senator John Sidney McCain, III is a remarkable man who has made enormous personal achievements. And he is a man that I am proud to call a fellow POW who "Returned With Honor." That's our POW motto. But since many of you keep asking what I think of him, I've decided to write it out. In short, I think John Sidney McCain, III is a good man, but not someone I will vote for in the upcoming election to be our President of the United States.

There are two sets of arguments at work in this commentary. The first set goes back to McCain's time at the Naval Academy and as a POW.

• John was a bit of a wild child during his late teens and early 20s. Of course, you have to ignore that having been a half-century ago to consider it to be relevant, but hey -- what is intellectual honesty.
  
• John McCain wasn't the only guy who suffered -- but then again, that is only relevant if you consider some unique experience of suffering to be a requirement to be president. In addition, John McCain's experience as a POW was not unique -- but then again, no one has ever claimed that it was.
  

All three of those arguments are irrelevant -- and come frighteningly close to an effort to denigrate McCain's service and experience as a POW. I presume that is not Butler's intent -- but given a point I will make later, I think it is important that I note it.

But Butler's other arguments are not irrelevant -- age, temper, and ideology. Let's look at them.

1. Age -- yes, many of the POWs are dying off, some at a younger age than their contemporaries, due to their treatment in Vietnam. But any number of them are still in great health -- and McCain is clearly one of them. Besides, there is nothing to say that 47-year-old Barack Obama won't drop dead of a heart attack tomorrow -- just like a 49-year-old former colleague of mine did the other day while attending an in-service session in the district where he worked.
   
2. Temper -- yeah, McCain has a temper. He's a passionate man. But there is nothing in his character that shows his temper is not restrained by intellect and morality. He may yell, and raise his voice -- even curse -- but he has time and again demonstrated that he acts in a rational fashion.
   
3. Ideology -- for all some of us on the right might find McCain to be a bit less conservative than we like, it is clear that the Left finds him much more conservative than Barack Obama. So you have a choice -- a strong liberal or a moderate conservative. Take your pick.
   

Of course, one might consider Butler's biography beyond his time as a POW.. His biography includes his work as a "peace and justice" activist -- and member of "Veterans for Peace". yeah -- that Veteran's for Peace. You know, a group that objects to military recruiting and the Blue Angels. In other words, a group of extreme Leftists who regularly attack and insult our troops. I'm not hanging that tag on Phillip Butler -- he hung it on himself. So if you read his opinion piece and think it sounds like it belongs on Kos or DU, please recognize that its author would be welcome and comfortable on either of those two sites.

UPDATE: Looks like Obama surrogates are now using Butler against McCain. Can you say "Swiftboat"?

Here are my questions:

1. Will Obama try to get these ads pulled?
   
2. Will he seek to get those behind the ad jailed, as he has those running the Bill Ayers ad?
   
3. Will he threaten to use the FCC to punish stations that air this ad?
   
4. Given that no one on his side heeded his call to lay off Bristol Palin, is the statement by its sponsors that they will not pull the ad even if Obama asks them to simply more evidence that Obama is not even taken seriously by his supporters, much less America's enemies abroad?

On the other hand, significantly more of McCain's brothers in arms support him. Proof once more that Butler is what pollsters call an "outlier"..

H/T Hot Air, Don Surber

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One based upon measurable goals, not just an arbitrary date.

The United States has agreed to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by next June and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011 if conditions in Iraq remain relatively stable, according to Iraqi and American officials involved in negotiating a security accord governing American forces there.

And that is the difference between this agreement and the proposals of Barack Obama and the "Defeat at any cost" Democrats. While they want out immediately, consequences be damned, this proposal is based upon the security of Iraq and the stability of the region. As such, it is not a cut-and-run strategy, but instead is a plan for victory with honor.

And while that means that the goal for withdrawal is 2011, that could change depending upon the conditions on the ground. But given the consolidation of the gains made as a part of the successful surge still opposed by Barack Obama, I expect the bulk of the troops to be home by 2012.

A reasonably fair article, too.

Now for those of you who have forgotten about the fundraising campaign, I'd like to direct you back to the original piece I wrote on it, lending my support (after I contributed to the effort, putting my money where my mouth is on the issue).

Unfortunately, fundraising has been slow, as information about the effort has not gotten much coverage.

She rushed to fill the financial void, forming a California nonprofit to funnel money to the African school. With a flair for drama, she named it "Save Senator Obama Kogelo School" and held a mini fund-raiser. She's raised $3,500, so she's a long way from the $750,000 she wants to raise within two years.

This isn't just politics. It is also an opportunity to work wonders in the lives of impoverished people who need your help. Several years ago, friends from church started a ministry that has done wonders for Kenyan orphans. The effort to save this one school in one village has a similar potential to improve the lives of the people of one village. I'd like to encourage you to consider a donation to this effort to fulfill the promise made and broken by Barack Obama.

In a sane world populated by people with even a rudimentary morality, support for allowing a premature newborn to die because its mother didn't want it would be inconceivable.

That is not the view of Barack Obama, as the very words of his own mouth demonstrate.

TRANSLATION: She paid for a dead baby, so she's entitled to a dead baby by any means necessary, damn it!

How can anyone with a scrap of moral decency vote for Barry Hussein now?

And it is about damn time that his campaign released the original of the document certifying his birth in a Hawaii hospital into the hands of an objective party.

FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

The piece cited above makes pretty clear what I asserted earlier -- the image of the document released earlier was a true image of a real document. And for what it is worth, it contains more information than the document the my wife used a couple of weeks ago to get back in the US after our trip to Canada -- a document I know with 100% certainty was issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because I ordered it myself on her behalf.

I still think he ought to issue a copy of the original birth record filled out by the staff at the hospital where he was born, but I have always taken the earlier release to be legitimate. I do, however, still wonder if there might be some embarrassing information that keeps a true copy of the original document from being released.

H/T RedState, LGF, Right Angles, Hot Air

Imagine this.

Someone makes a statement that is primarily about health care for veterans, and at the end throws in an aside about reinstituting the draft.

The candidate responds "I don't disagree" -- and launches into a long answer about veterans benefits, especially as regards medical care.

Is he
A) Agreeing with the need to improve health care for veterans;
or
B) Agreeing with the need for a new draft.

Well, if you have an IQ above room temperature, context should make it clear that what the candidate agreed with was the part about health care for veterans, NOT the part about the draft, which he did not address at all.

But if you are a partisan liberal, you attempt to spread the notion that the candidate supports the draft (which is actually the position of a number of members of your own party -- including your own candidate, who supports "mandatory voluntary national service"). You post this snippet on your website to support your case.

QUESTIONER: If we don’t reenact the draft, I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

[Appaluse]

MCCAIN: Ma’am, let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said.

What you don't do is post the full answer which goes on to say this.

McCain: I'm grateful for all of our veterans. I carry with me quite often a quote from General George Washington in 1789. He said, "The willingness with which young Americans will serve their country in future wars is directly related to the treatment of those who have previously served and sacrificed in conflict." He was right in 1789 and he's right today.

All too often our veterans do not receive the care that they have earned, and the scandal of Walter Reed is a blot on the honor of the United States of America and we can never let it happen again.

Now here's what.. I'll make this as short as possible, our veterans have earned our highest priority. And yet we know that there is also routine health care needs that veterans have that in my view, they should not have to go to the VA to receive. OK?

We have tragically and unfortunately in this war a dramatic...well, we're going to have a lot of PTSD. We also have severe combat injuries. Because thank God, we're able to get the wounded from the battle field to medical treatment more quickly than any time in history. That puts an increased burden on our medical, military medical care, as well as our VA.

So, you mentioned Albuquerque VA I believe. I could take you to Albuquerque VA or the Phoenix VA quite often and the waiting room is crowded, the veterans are standing in line to stand in line to get an appointment to get an appointment. That's not the fault of the people that work there. The people that work there are some of the finest in the World. It's just that they're overloaded.

So we have to focus our attention, expand our capability to treat PTSD, combat related injuries, brain injuries, etc. that we're best at. And for a veteran with a routine health care need, why shouldn't we give that veteran a card and take it to the health care provider; or the doctor of their choice and get the routine health care that they need.

That's what...and that way we could utilize the VA and the medical, the military medical, system to it's greatest affect. And also relieve this burden. I don't ever again want to have a veteran stand in line to stand in line to get an appointment to get an appointment. That's not...that's just not acceptable in America. And again, I do praise the people that work there. They're some of the most dedicated people I've ever known in my life. The problem is that there's just not enough of them.

There is really only one term for such behavior -- intellectual dishonesty. But then again, we've seen a great deal of intellectual dishonesty from the Obama campaign and its supporters this year, so why are we even surprised.

But then again, what else is new. Even when the group is on the right side, it often espouses thoroughly wrong-headed principles to get there.

The case itself seems pretty straight-forward (sorry about the term) to me.

When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children.

He suspended some of her friends who expressed their outrage by wearing gay pride T-shirts and buttons at Ponce de Leon High School, according to court records. And he asked dozens of students whether they were gay or associated with gay students.

The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.

Let's be real honest here -- the principal was wrong in how he handled the situation. While I don't have a problem with his having the position he does on homosexuality (or even with expressing it), I do have a problem with the directive to "stay away from children. And while I don't have a problem with his telling the girl's parents (she was clearly "out" in the school setting, and it would not be unreasonable for a faculty member to discuss such public information with her parents), I do have a problem with his efforts to suppress the First Amendment rights of the students who supported her. And while I oppose "sensitivity training" as nothing less than indoctrination, I would thoroughly support a workshop on how to deal with bullying, harassment and student rights.

But I'm particularly bothered by this statement by a representative of the ACLU.

"I think a shirt that says 'I support gays' is very different from a shirt that says 'Gays are going to hell,'" said Benjamin Stevenson, an ACLU attorney. "One can be very disruptive for a child's self-esteem; the other supports other people and their ideas."

And that is where I have a problem -- the notion that schools should be censoring one side of the debate on a controversial social issue. I've seen it all too often -- support for homosexuality or abortion is OK, but support for traditional morality is banned as "hateful and intolerant". Apparently all it takes for the ACLU standard to be invoked is one student on the right (make that "left") side to be troubled by the message for it to be banned -- but if a conservative or Christian student were to object to the right (make that "left") views supported by the ACLU and d teh kid would be deemed a hate-monger and referred to a sensitivity class a brainwashing program.

For the ACLU to support such a message ban while also supporting the rights of the KKK creates the warped situation where the most extreme views are protected by the Constitution, but mainstream views are not. And for us to attempt to raise students to be responsible citizens fully aware of and prepared to exercise their rights by showing them that government actors are free to censor "unacceptable" speech at every turn is utterly absurd.

But then again, we've all been waiting for the moment when the American people recognize that the choice is between experience and image. And as that has happened, Barack Obama's lead has diminished, disappeared, and perhaps become a deficit.

John McCain leads Obama 46 percent to 41 percent among likely voters.

John McCain has overtaken Barack Obama in the presidential race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released Wednesday morning.

McCain leads Obama 46 percent to 41 percent among likely voters, which is outside the poll's margin of error. Reuters/Zogby had Obama ahead by 7 points as recently as mid-July.

McCain's resurgence comes at the doorstep of the Democratic Convention, and follows other polling that collectively indicates the presidential race has become a dead heat.

* * *

Today's Reuters/Zogby poll, conducted Aug. 14-16, by contrast, seems to follow a recent trend.

Frankly, I think this development was inevitable given Obama's naked resume and John McCain's long record of service to his country and significant accomplishments in the course of that service. While there may be many of us who disagree with some positions taken by McCain over the years, we still recognize quality and substance when we see it.

Simply put, Obama peaked too soon (not by a matter of weeks, but by about a decade) and is likely to continue to slip in the polls -- until America dismisses him back to the obscurity from which he emerged in a burst of media-driven celebrity four years ago.

I don’t know about you, but I view it as the responsibility of every person to take the time and make the effort to ensure that they and their families have health insurance. And while many Americans receive that insurance as a part of a benefit package through their employers, not everyone does. While it is possible to rely on the government programs to pay for your medical care if you have no other insurance, this is neither desirable nor ethical if one has other options – and there are any number of good plans available that are within the budget of most Americans.

If you don’t have health insurance, you really ought to check out what Kaiser Permanente has to offer at KPHealthPlans.com. And I’ll tell you right now that it doesn’t matter if you need a plan for an individual or are seeking family heath insurance. And if you are a business owner looking for an affordable group health insurance plan for your employees -- KPHealthPlans.com probably has something that will help get you (and your employees) decent insurance. In Georgia, for example, KPHealthPlans.com offers some of the lowest rates available, and has flexible and affordable plans that will go a long way in meeting your insurance goals. And this is important – after all, a serious illness without health insurance has truly frightening consequences. So take the responsible step and seek health insurance now.

And here is exactly the sort of stuff that we knew would happen in Red China during the Games, which is why freedom-lovers around the world called for the cancellation or boycott of the 2008 Tiananmen Olympics.

Two elderly Chinese women have been sentenced to a year of “re-education through labor” after they repeatedly sought a permit to demonstrate in one of the official Olympic protest areas, according to family members and human rights advocates.

The women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, had made five visits to the police this month in an effort to get permission to protest what they contended was inadequate compensation for the demolition of their homes in Beijing.

During their final visit on Monday, public security officials informed them that they had been given administrative sentences for “disturbing the public order,” according to Li Xuehui, Ms. Wu’s son.

While the women were released with an admonition that they could be sent to the camps at any time if they continued their efforts, at least half a dozen would-be protesters have been detained for the crime of seeking a protest permit.

So even though Mao's hardliners are dying out, the Maoist hard-line is not going anywhere.

H/T Malkin

UPDATE -- 7:15 PM Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones has died. May she spend all eternity in the presence of the Almighty, and may her family and all those who loved her be comforted in this time of loss.

This news story is quite sad -- though I am glad to find that reports of her death are somewhat exaggerated.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, had a brain hemorrhage and was in critical condition with limited brain function, a doctor said Wednesday.

Tubbs Jones, 58, suffered the hemorrhage while driving her car in Cleveland Heights on Tuesday, said Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital in East Cleveland. The congresswoman had been driving erratically and her vehicle crossed lanes of traffic before coming to a stop, police said.

Tubbs Jones "collapsed when she suffered a very serious brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm that burst in an inaccessible part of her brain," Kious said during a news conference. A team of doctors who evaluated her determined she has limited brain function.

I'm not a fan of the Distinguished Lady from Ohio. I disagree with her politics. But as I have said several times of late, political differences should generally be set aside when we are talking about matters of serious illness or death. After all, some things simply matter more than politics -- and chief among them is our common humanity.

Unfortunately, the last sentence of the excerpt above is rather troubling, and leads me to believe that the medical team is merely waiting for a family decision on this one before unplugging the machines and making official the erroneous reports of earlier in the day. So in addition to prayers for a miraculous act by the Almighty to heal the congresswoman, I also ask for guidance for her family to know what the best course of action in accord with God's will is in this instance.

Just when you thought he couldn't sink any lower, we get this report on classy Democrat John Edwards.

John Edwards assured his mistress that they'd be together after his cancer-stricken wife died, according to a new bombshell report.

Just before the former presidential contender confessed his adultery to ABC News on Aug. 8, he secretly flew Rielle Hunter and her 6-month-old child, Frances Quinn, from California to the US Virgin Islands, according to the National Enquirer, which first exposed their affair.

And after the interview, in which he denied loving Hunter or fathering the baby, he called her to say, "We'll be together when Elizabeth is gone," the tabloid reported.

Hence my translation in the headline -- "Just wait -- the bitch is gonna die."

Is there anyone left in America -- besides a few corrupt Democrats -- who has any respect left for this hypocrite?

And when will we get the investigation of the Baron-Edwards money trail going to Hunter and Young?

UPDATE: Maybe that explains the visit to play with the little darling.

But somehow I doubt that we will be hearing complaints from the Democrats that the network is skewed in its presentation of the issues.

Just in time for the closing rush of the presidential election, MSNBC is shaking up its prime-time programming lineup, removing the longtime host Dan Abrams — its onetime general manager — from his 9 p.m. program and replacing him with Rachel Maddow, who has emerged as a favored political commentator for the all-news cable network.

The moves, which were confirmed by MSNBC executives on Tuesday, are expected to be finalized by Wednesday, with Mr. Abrams’s last program on Thursday. After MSNBC’s extensive coverage of the two political conventions during the next two weeks, Ms. Maddow will begin her program on Sept. 8.

The scary thing is that, as skewed to the left as Abrams often was, he was at least professional in his approach most of the time. I'm not sure that we will see any such thing out of Maddow, whose time in the cesspool that is Air America should disqualify her from work in any sort of news organization.

But key to all this is that MSNBC is abandoning all pretense of ideological neutrality and balance. And in doing so, it raises serious questions about the entire NBC brand, given the cross-over work between the two networks in the NBC stable.

Are you interested in flying by private jet? Would you like to do it without the expense involved in owning your own plane or the hassle and expense associated with sharing a plane with others? If so, you need to check out the deal offered by New Flight Charters.

New Flight Charters offers Private Jet Charters to many popular destinations at a reasonable cost. They offer you various options on how to fly including the ability to charter for a one-way trip or a round-trip flight. Best of all they offer these services at a reasonable cost. Their website, http://www.newflightcharters.com, gives you price comparisons that prove that they offer the best possible deal on your flight.

Not only that, but the staff is professional. The flight crews are FAA certified, which ought to answer any questions regarding safety issues. In fact, New Flight Charters client list includes FAA officials – and you can be certain that they won’t fly with a sloppy company. They also serve music and entertainment personalities and business leaders. Even better, clients of New Flight Charters give high praise to the flight crews and other employees of the company. That is important – happy customers.

In addition, with New Flight Charters, you get a choice of aircraft, picking the size you need for your charter. You can’t do that if you own the plane yourself, so that is just one more convenience.

International kidnapping of Americans in border states -- including right here in Texas.

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - American businesswoman Veronica was stepping out of her car in California when two men forced her into the passenger seat at gunpoint, pushed her teenage daughter into the back and drove them into Mexico...

Mexican intelligence officials say Veronica is one of around 30 Americans abducted in southern California and taken to Tijuana since last November. Many of the victims are of Hispanic origin and hold double nationality.

"We have seen an increase in the number of kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Tijuana, including cross-border abductions," said FBI special agent Darrell Foxworth in San Diego.

Several Americans have also been kidnapped in Texas this year and held for ransom in Mexico, the FBI said...

It is fairly well-known that criminal gangs in Mexico make money tons of cash every year through massive kidnapping enterprises. Now it appears that they are becoming trans-national operations, grabbing Americans (and Mexican citizens in the US) for even higher stakes. Just call it one more aspect of our the failed policy that has effectively given us open borders and 15-20 million illegal aliens and their anchor babies.

But then again, maybe we should be celebrating this development as one more case of multiculturalism enriching our society.

H/T Jawa

Everybody knows about the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Now, there is one more worth considering -- RankNoodle.com. It is a new search engine that displays all web result for your search phase on one page, rather than requiring you to look at different pages for news, images, webpages, and other sources or media. RankNoodle.com is therefore a search engine that you can count on to provide accurate information for you, and which will save you time due to the single page results.

In addition, RankNoodle.com is user-friendly. While this may be true about the big search engines, the convenience offered to you by the other search engines, the easy availability of search results on a single page cannot be over-estimated as an attractive feature.

Here are the results for the most recent vote of the Watcher's Council. The end of my vacation and return to teaching duties has made me somewhat tardy in posting them, but we got the matter taken care of. And I'm pretty pleased by the results as they stand, though my votes differed somewhat from the final results tallied below.

Council:
1. Wolf Howling
“Obama, Criminalizing Politics & Thinking The Unthinkable”
2.(tie) The Glittering Eye
“Civis Americanus Sum”
2.(tie) Soccer Dad
“Not up to the standards of the national enquirer *UPDATED*”
4. Joshuapundit
“Fear And Loathing: The Psychosexual Element In Islam”
5. Done With Mirrors
“Laid to Rest”
6.(tie) Cheat-Seeking Missiles
“Edwards Fesses Up; Let The Games Begin”
6.(tie)
The Colossus of Rhodey
“Great — One More Thing for Which to Blame the Jews.”

Non-Council:
1. Slate
“The Columbia Journalism Review’s Division Over Dissent”
2.(tie) National Review Online
“An Unplanned Education”
2.(tie) Pundita
“To any and all U.S. forces in Georgia: STAND DOWN”
2.(tie) a href="http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2008/08/12/using-ridicule-as-a-weapon-could-backfire-on-mccain/" target="_blank">Right Wing Nut House
“Using Ridicule As a Weapon Could Backfire on McCain”
2. (tie) Roger’s Rules
“The crisis in Georgia, 9/11, and the lessons of gratitude”
6.(tie) The Hashmonean
“Common Denominator: Israel at Every Level is Prepared to Strike Iran”
6.(tie) Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
“It Was 20 Years Ago Today…Everything Changed”
6. (tie) Slapstick Politics
“Top Ten Ways The DNC Is Like The Beijing Olympics”
9. Discriminations
“Is It An Insult To Call Obama An Affirmative Action Candidate?”

I often agree with William Donohue on matters of religion and politics. Now that shouldn't surprise anyone, given that twenty years ago I was a candidate to head up West Coast operations of the Catholic League and was interviewed for the post by the group's founder, Father Virgil Blum, SJ at the League's original headquarters in Milwaukee.

But Donohue and the League get this one exactly wrong.

Over 120 blogs have been credentialed as members of the media for the Democratic National Convention; those who have received credentials are allowed to cover the Convention at the Pepsi Center. While most of them offer legitimate commentary, some do not.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue is protesting two of the blogs:

* * *

“Both of these blogs should be cut immediately from the list of credentialed sites. Neither functions as a responsible media outlet and both offend Catholics, as well as others. To allow them access to the Democratic National Convention sends a message to Catholics they will not forget. We look for Leah Daughtry, CEO of the Convention, to nix them ASAP.”

Now the two blogs Donohue cites, Bitch PhD. and Towleroad are both profane and offensive by any reasonable standard, not just Catholic ones. But the reality is that they both have high readership among left-wingers. The same is true of a number of other bloggers that Donohue does not choose to seek to have banned. But given the nature of the blogosphere, that isn't surprising -- after all, the left side is noted for its angry, vitriolic, and hateful rhetoric.

Rather than seeking the revokation of blogging credentials, Donohue should instead be highlighting the numerous offensive, ant-Catholic bloggers that are credentialed.

After all, if he were to win his argument as it now stands, we would have demands for similar censorship by the RNC. CAIR and Muslim groups would be well-within their rights to demand the banning of bloggers who have taken a strong line against extremist Islam. Those who oppose our immigration laws would be demanding that bloggers who oppose border-jumping immigration criminals be banned. Supporters of gay marriage would be demanding the banning of bloggers who support traditional morality.

H/T Urban Grounds

About Obama and Ayers?

What we do know is that high-ranking public employees at the University of Illinois -- Chicago are restricting access to document in their library that will likely shed light on that relationship -- but only after a conservative journalist/commentator attempted to gain access to the materials.

The Special Collections section of the Richard J. Daley Library agreed to let me read them, but just before I boarded my flight to Chicago, the top library officials mysteriously intervened to bar access. Circumstances strongly suggest the likelihood that Bill Ayers himself may have played a pivotal role in this denial. Ayers has long taught at UIC, where the Chicago Annenberg Challenge offices were housed, rent-free. Ayers likely arranged for the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to be housed in the UIC library, and may well have been consulted during my unsuccessful struggle to gain access to the documents. Let me, then, explain in greater detail what the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) records are, and how I have been blocked from seeing them.

Given that Ayers is an employee of the University, it is very possible that there is going to be an attempt to spirit the material out of the library and destroy it -- after all, remember Sandy Berger. And given that this admitted terrorist now claims that his political activity -- which includes his long-time support for Barack Obama -- is simply a continuation of his effort to achieve his terrorist goals, I would suspect that there are multiple shredders in operation at UIC.

After all, if you are willing to blow up the Pentagon or a police station -- or bomb an officer's club with the intent of killing military officers and their spouses during time of war -- then what is destroying a few inconvenient documents in the name of electing an unqualified candidate whose personal history you want to obscure?

To exercise a constitutional right.

Dick A. Heller, a security guard whose lawsuit resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling favoring gun-ownership rights, was given his handgun registration certificate at D.C. police headquarters this morning. He applied for it last month, a few weeks after the June 26 court ruling, and had been waiting for police to complete a background check.

No word on whether or not this will derail his suit challenging the District's new handgun regulations as unconstitutional.

I'm curious -- if we are going to license guns and gun owners, when will we start licensing printing presses and journalists, or houses of worship and clergy?

First, word is that Obama will make his announcement before next week's convention.

Senator Barack Obama has all but settled on his choice for a running mate and set an elaborate rollout plan for his decision, beginning with an early morning alert to supporters, perhaps as soon as Wednesday morning, aides said.

Mr. Obama’s deliberations remain remarkably closely held. Aides said perhaps a half-dozen advisers were involved in the final discussions in an effort to enforce a command that Mr. Obama issued to staff members: that his decision not leak out until supporters are notified.

Mr. Obama had not notified his choice — or any of those not selected — of his decision as of late Monday, advisers said. Going into the final days, Mr. Obama was said to be focused mainly on three candidates: Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware

Now I've seen other versions of the list from other sources, and note that the only commonality among them is Joe Biden. Does that mean he is simply being thrown out there as an also-ran, or that he is the leading candidate? Hard to say -- but my response to his potential selection is "oh please oh please ofh pleeeeeeeeeeeezzzzz!" I'd love to see a commercial of him plagiarizing Neil Kinnock and Obama plagiarizing Deval Patrick and pointing out that neither of them has had an original thought in his head in the course of his political career. The one thing I don't expect to see is Hillary Clinton -- after all, they wouldn't be placing her name in nomination for President if she were taking the #2 slot.

On the other hand, current speculation has John McCain making his announcement on his 72nd birthday the day after the Democrat Convention ends -- and in Ohio. Is this a sign of an Ohioan as the nominee? Or given that he also has major events planned in Pennsylvania and Michigan that day, could the speculation be wrong and the announcement come a different day -- or of a non-Ohioan (Michigan native Romney or Pennsylvanian Ridge)?

More info on potential McCain picks at Hot Air and Hugh Hewitt.

Robert Ferrigno has become one of my favorite authors over the last couple of years, with his two most recent books, Prayers for the Assassin and Sins of the Assassin. Now he envisions the first meeting between President Barack Obama and Justice Clarence Thomas.

‘Mr. President?” The Secret Service officer inclined his head, but kept his posture rigid. “Justice Thomas is waiting to see you.”

“Well, don’t leave the man sitting out there, bring him in,” said President Obama. He propped his feet up on the desk in the Oval Office as the Secret Service officer ushered Justice Thomas inside. “Leave us alone, would you, Jimmy?”

As the Secret Service officer passed by him, Justice Thomas said, “How’s your boy, James?”

“He’s rejoining his unit next week, sir,” said the Secret Service officer. “Thank you again for visiting him at Walter Reed — ”

“You can leave now, Jimmy,” sad President Obama.

The Secret Service officer made eye contact with Justice Thomas, held it, then excused himself, closing the door quietly behind him.

The rest is wonderfully written stuff that illustrates teh character of the dignified Supreme Court Justice and teh self-important buffoon who would be President.

Enjoy the read.

Looks like the media was really willing to help John Edwards cover up his affair -- even though John Edwards begged one editor to protect his cancer-stricken wife from an affair he had already told her about a year before!

About 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11, former Sen. Edwards reached me on my office phone.

* * *

By the time Edwards called, we had decided not to publish the story in the Friday paper. But Edwards didn't know that. I wanted to hear what he had to say. We still could have reversed our decision.

Edwards told me that the allegations were not true.

He said The N&O was the paper that arrived on his doorstep every day, the one read by friends of him and his wife, Elizabeth.

He said he'd never called before to complain or state his case. Given Elizabeth's health -- she has cancer -- he said it was especially important to him that the story not run in The N&O.

He was calling from an airport, and we spoke only a few minutes.

I made no promises.

Edwards' comments were off the record. Because he has acknowledged he lied, I feel free to report them.

Now wait -- Edwards acknowledges that he had told Elizabeth about the affair a year before, so he didn't need to protect her from the story. What's more, it is obvious that she (and many of her friends) would have already heard about the story elsewhere. And besides, John had just made a statement denying the affair that day. So there was really nothing to protect Elizabeth -- even if she hadn't known about the affair and been a party to the cover-up.

But this leads me to ask another question -- isn't a call by a presidential candidate to a newspaper begging them not to run a story that is news nationally a story in and of itself? Doesn't the act of trying to personally manipulate the coverage of such a story in his hometown paper a big story itself? After all -- he didn't want the paper to cover his public statement, not the affair itself. One would think that this would cause a reevaluation of the story's newsworthiness -- as well as any notion that the conversation in which the attempted news suppression occurred should be considered off the record.

H/T Hot Air

By engaging in an attack on Clarence Thomas as having lacked sufficient experience to serve as one of nine justices on the US Supreme Court.

After all, consider Thomas' record at the time of his nomination to the High Court.

By the time he was nominated, Clarence Thomas had worked in the Missouri Attorney General's office, served as an Assistant Secretary of Education, run the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sat for a year on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation's second most prominent court.

Oh, and what does Barack Obama have on his resume as he runs to be the President of the United States, with all of its military and foreign affairs responsibilities?

Mr. Obama isn't yet four years out of the Illinois state Senate, has never held a hearing of note of his U.S. Senate subcommittee, and had an unremarkable record as both a "community organizer" and law school lecturer.

And while both Barry Hussein and his wife, Michelle the Perpetually Angry, grew up in rather comfortable middle class environments, Thomas dragged himself up from truly impoverished circumstances to heights that could not have been imagined at the time of his birth. But somehow it is Obama who is the oppressed -- and rather than respecting the accomplishments of Clarence Thomas, he disrespects them in the same fashion that racist Democrats trashed Thurgood Marshall a generation earlier (and let's be honest -- Marshall turned out to be a rather mediocre justice, despite having been the greatest courtroom advocate of the middle third of the twentieth century during his days with the NAACP).

But back to the key point -- if Thomas was insufficiently experienced for the Supreme Court, how can Barack Obama claim to be ready for the White House?

As much as I despise the man, I'm worried about the future of Pakistan without him.

Bowing to pressure from Pakistan's newly-elected civilian government, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, once a top U.S. ally, said Monday that he will resign from office immediately, effectively ending nearly nine years of military rule in the country under his leadership.

Musharraf announced his decision to step down in a nationally televised public address 10 days after leaders of Pakistan's two ruling coalition parties called for his impeachment. Demand for his resignation became increasingly vocal last week after Pakistan's four provincial assemblies voted overwhelmingly for his ouster.

Who will succeed Musharraf? Will that successor be an ally in the war on terror, or an ally of the terrorists? And what of Pakistan's nukes? Until I see some clear answers to those questions, I'm not ready to celebrate.