Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

OUR DAILY SNIPPETS ARE HERE.

We will be live-blogging the primary and election returns tonight, starting at 7 p.m. ET.

TUESDAY,  MAY 18,  2010

11:59 P.M. ET:  The major races have been decided.  We'll be back in the morning with some reflections.

11:42 P.M. ET:  CNN is projecting that Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter has forced Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln into a runoff, hardly a vote of confidence in an incumbent senator. 

10:50 P.M. ET:  News organizations are now calling Pennsylvania's 12th. C.D. for Mark Critz, the Democrat, who is heading for a comfortable victory.  This is a major disappointment for Republicans, who thought they had a shot to take over the seat held by John Murtha.  However, the district is 2-1 Democratic, and conservative Democratic.  Critz ran far to the right of the Obama administration, making him ideologically acceptable.  By doing so, he may have provided a blueprint for other Democrats hoping to survive in November.

10:38 P.M. ET:  Other news organizations have now called the Pennsylvania Dem primary for Sestak.  Specter is retired.

No call yet in Pennsylvania's 12th, or in the Dem Senate primary in Arkansas.

10:15 P.M. ET:  Associated Press has called the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary for Sestak.  I suspect other news organizations won't be far behind. 

Now we have to get behind Pat Toomey to defeat Sestak in November, but it will not be easy.  This is a time for fighting.

10:03 P.M. ET:  It's 52-48 for Sestak in the vote count in Pennsylvania.  Sestak continues to gain.  Unless something really unusual happens, he will be the Democratic nominee for the Senate, facing Pat Toomey.  But stand by.

Big disappointment appears to be building for Republicans in Pennsylvania's 12th, where Mark Critz has a strong lead over Republican Tim Burns.  Most commentators now believe that Critz's lead will be impossible to overcome, but we won't give up just yet.  This is, of course, not a primary, but a special election to fill the seat left vacated by the death of John Murtha.

9:49 P.M. ET:  With 21% of the vote counted in Pennsylvania's 12th, the Dem, Mark Critz, leads the Republican, Tim Burns, 58-40.  Not a great start, but let's wait.

9:41 P.M. ET:  With 30% in, it's 50-50 between Specter and Sestak.  Trend is toward Sestak, one of the truly obnoxious candidates in recent history. 

No further results for Pennsylvania's 12th, but commentators are talking as if the Dem may pull it out, ending a GOP dream.  We'll see.  The night is young.

9:26 P.M. ET:  Pennsylvania tightens.  With 19% in, Specter leads 52-48.  Spot checks around the state, however, do not look good for Specter.

First results from Pennsylvania's 12th C.D. show the Dem, Mark Critz, well ahead in the race to succeed the permanently dead John Murtha.  However, these are miniscule results.  Observers expect a photo finish. 

9:15 P.M. ET:  Early returns in Pennsylvania:  With 14% of the vote in, Specter leads Sestak, 54% to 46%.  However, these results are probably heavily weighted toward Philadelphia.  They don't mean much.

Meanwhile, Pat Toomey has clinched the Republican Senate nomination, a foregone conclusion.

8:45 P.M. ET:  Rand Paul is now speaking in Kentucky.  I'm sorry to say his father, who should have stayed away, is on the platform with him.  It reminds me of the time when Jack Kennedy ran for president, and there were serious questions about how far he would distance himself from his father, who'd been a fascist sympathizer. 

Rand Paul is now praising the tea party movement.  Clearly, he sees himself as the popular head of that movement, which he is not.  We hope Paul will moderate some of his foreign-policy views, which would take the GOP back to the 1930s.  No applause from this quarter. 

8:35 P.M. ET:  Polls have just closed in Arkansas, where vulnerable Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln (no relation to the big Civil War guy) is facing a primary challenge.  Re Pennsylvania:  No results yet.

8:08 P.M. ET:  Polls are now closed in Pennsylvania.  We should be getting some early trends soon.

7:47 P.M. ET:  CNN has just, unsurprisingly, called the Kentucky GOP Senate primary for Rand Paul.  That is not good news.  In a discussion on CNN moments ago, Paul Begala correctly pointed out, as we have here, that Paul is to the left of Barack Obama on foreign policy.  This is a classic situation where a man's true views simply didn't penetrate the electorate.

7:30 P.M. ET:  With 14% of the vote in Rand Paul leads Trey Grayson, 52% to 34% in the Kentucky GOP U.S. Senate primary. 

7:02 P.M.  ET:  Rand Paul, who will probably win the Republican Senate nomination in Kentucky, has already scheduled a TV appearance for an hour from now.  Paul is not our favorite guy here (to put it mildly).  Although not as kooky as his father, Ron Paul, his foreign-policy views tend to reflect a leftist, not a conservative point of view. 

POLLS ARE NOW CLOSING IN KENTUCKY.  WE'LL GO LIVE NOW AND STAY WITH THE VOTE COUNT. 

FURTHER CONNECTICUT UPDATE – AT 3:35 P.M. ET:  It is simply amazing what a politician in trouble will say to salvage his career.  We give you the continuing saga of one Richard Blumental, formerly respected attorney general of Connecticut, a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, who has now been exposed as lying about his military record.  On many occasions, it seems, he left the distinct, incontrovertible impression that he had served in Vietnam.  From The New York Times:

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat running for the United States Senate, said he took “full responsibility” for saying he had served in Vietnam when he actually received deferments between 1965 and 1970, worked in the Nixon White House and then joined the Marine Corps Reserve.

Isn't that nice.  He takes responsibility for his own words. 

“On a few occasions I have misspoken about my service, and I regret that and I take full responsibility,” Mr. Blumenthal said at a news conference Tuesday at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in West Hartford, “but I will not allow anyone to take a few misplaced words and impugn my record of service to our country.”

Misplaced words?  How do you misplace words like that?  Is there a speech therapist in the house?

Mr. Blumenthal said he had been unaware of “those misplaced words” when he said them. He said that the errors were "totally unintentional" errors and that he had made them on only a small number of occasions in hundreds of public appearances.

Are you believing this?  This is a grown man speaking.  ("You know, honey, I'm truly sorry that, on a small number of occasions, I misplaced my pants in my secretary's apartment.  I was unaware of it.  But compare that to the many hundreds of times my pants came home.")

This guy has got to go.  The Dems will choose their Senate candidate at a convention Saturday.  Blumenthal's opponent is an unknown nonentity.

The probable Republican candidate, former Congressman Rob Simmons, served in Vietnam, where he was awarded two Bronze Stars.

May 18, 2010     Permalink

THAT ARIZONA LAW – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  Do you want the best coverage of the controversial Arizona law on illegal immigration?  Well, you won't get it from the mainstream media, which constantly distorts what the law says.

And you won't get it from the attorney general of the United States, who admits that he hasn't read the law. 

But you will get it from the website of my friend Silvio Canto Jr., on whose radio show I often appear.  Go here.  You'll read more common sense on one page than you'll get in the rest of the media.

Because Silvio knows the language, he can read the editorials in Mexican papers.  Because he's an immigrant himself (from Cuba), he knows the rights and wrongs of immigration.  You will like his perspective, which is based on actual knowledge, not political correctness.

May 18, 2010     Permalink

CONNECTICUT UPDATE – AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  We told you last night that the expected Connecticut Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, running to succeed Chris Dodd, has become enmeshed in a major scandal.  He apparently intends to fight on.

The state's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, who expected to be crowned as Dem Senate candidate at a convention this Saturday, is accused of repeatedly falsifying his military record by claiming that he served in Vietnam, which he never did.  The unmasking was done by The New York Times (to its credit), and there are reports that it received the lead from elements within the Republican Party.

Blumenthal has scheduled a "rally" with veterans for tonight, apparently to try to counter the charges, although he doesn't deny them.  (I don't know how you counter charges that you don't deny.)  Even if he fights on and gets the nomination, the blume is certainly off the rose.  He has only one opponent for the Dem nomination, a minor figure who comes out of the party's left wing and opposes the American effort in Afghanistan.  In ordinary times, this would be no problem for Blumental.  The Times have suddenly turned abnormal.

This presents an opportunity for Republicans in a usually reliable blue state.  It can be done.  Remember Scott Brown.

May 18, 2010     Permalink

OH, SWELL – AT 9:49 A.M. ET:  Another Republican who couldn't control himself.  From The Politico:

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), a former congressional staffer who was elected to the House in the Republican revolution of 1994, has told colleagues he will resign Tuesday because of an affair with a female aide, a House GOP official told POLITICO.

Souder has scheduled an announcement about his future for 10 a.m. today at his congressional office in Ft. Wayne.

Souder is married and has three children.

He informed Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) of the affair on Sunday. Boehner told the Indiana Republican he should resign, according to GOP sources.

COMMENT:  Boehner did the right thing.  You embarrass yourself and your party, you've got to go.  Unless you're Bill Clinton.

May 18, 2010    Permalink

MARCO IS BACK – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  When Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced he was dropping out of the primary for the U.S. Senate, he got an immediate bounce in the polls.  Surveys clearly showed he could win in a three-way race.

That was then, this is now.  Republican candidate Marco Rubio is gaining once more, ending Crist's bounce, and turning it into a slow roll downhill.  From Scott Rasmussen:

Charlie Crist received a bounce in the polls when he left the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. New numbers suggest that the bounce for the governor is over.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Florida finds Republican Marco Rubio with 39% support, while Crist earns 31% of the vote and Democrat Kendrick Meek trails at 18%. Twelve percent (12%) are undecided.

Two weeks ago, just after Crist announced that he was running as an independent, he held a 38% to 34% advantage over Rubio.

The latest numbers parallel the findings in April two weeks before Crist announced he was quitting the Republican Primary race.

COMMENT:  It's a long time from now 'til November, but Rubio has demonstrated his staying power once more.  Let's not get too comfortable, but we can at least be responsibly optimistic.

May 18, 2010    Permalink

BUT THERE'S SO MUCH ELSE TO DO – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  Well, politically, this president may have a pretty good instinct for cutting his losses...and he faces losses.

While he's endorsed some Dem candidates in today's races, his physical absence has been noted.  From Fox News:

The political fate of two vulnerable Senate Democrats and the race for a House seat vital to any plausible Republican plan to knock Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of power are topics that, the White House claimed Monday, are barely raising an eyebrow in the administration.

The question came up in the daily White House news briefing on the day before three key state primaries.

"How closely has the president been following the campaigns?" a reporter asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

"Not that closely," Gibbs said.

Gibbs' claim of West Wing disinterest comes after Obama endorsed party-switching Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and dispatched Vice President Biden to campaign for him. And it comes after Obama had his White House team say complimentary things about Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln's bid to have big banks shed derivatives trading despite opposition from Obama's treasury secretary and his leading outside economic adviser.

What Obama hasn't done for Specter and Lincoln is campaign for them down the stretch.

COMMENT:  Under the bus they go, joining a whole platoon of former Obama friends, allies, even grandma.  It must be a great party under there, ordering out for pizza, Chinese food, the whole thing.  There's still room, and others will be invited.

May 18, 2010    Permalink

PRIMARY AND ELECTION DAY – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  This is being called Junior Super Tuesday in some quarters.  Well, it isn't quite that, but it's a very important voting day. 

Two races in Pennsylvania are probably the most exciting:  In the 12th C.D., a Republican, Tim Burns, has a good shot at taking over the seat held by the permanently deceased John Murtha, a Democratic icon, if an unstable one.  Final polls show essentially a dead heat.

And, of course, there's the race between two men whose personalities would repel even their mothers...and that's when they were in the womb.  Sen. Arlen Specter, who has found only semi-love in the Democratic Party, to which he recently switched, is locked in a dead-heat primary race with Rep. Joe Sestak, former Navy vice admiral, whose ability to make enemies places him in the highly skilled labor force.  May the least obnoxious man win.  Well, actually, may the most obnoxious man win, so he'd be more easily beatable by GOP candidate Pat Toomey in November.

In Arkansas, Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln, who resembles a passenger on the Titanic, after it ran out of lifeboats, is in a primary race with the lieutenant governor of the state, Bill Halter, and another, distant candidate.  Lincoln must get 50% to avoid a runoff.  But, even if she survives, she is expected to be defeated in November, which would be a GOP pickup.

In Kentucky, the Republicans will engage in one of their periodic suicide attempts by nominating he-ought-be-in-a-straitjacket Rand Paul, son of certifiable Ron Paul, instead of the far more solid Trey Grayson, endorsed by former Vice President Dick Cheney and practically the entire GOP leadership.  This is an anti-establishment vote, but sometimes the establishment is right.  Sadly, Paul has the support of the tea partiers, who have apparently never examined his extreme-left foreign-policy views.  He also has the endorsement of Sarah Palin, who also didn't do her homework.  If the Democrats play it right, they can defeat Paul in November.

Stay with us tonight.

May 18, 2010    Permalink

MONDAY,  MAY 17,  2010

BULLETIN – AT 9:56 P.M. ET:  There has been a stunning development in the Connecticut Senate race to succeed Democrat Chris Dodd, who is vacating his seat.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, considered a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination, and an equal shoo-in for election in November, has apparently and consistently misreprented his military service record, even claiming that he was in Vietnam during the war, when in fact he never was.

The liberal New York Times, to its great credit, is running a major investigative piece on Blumental in tomorrow's edition, and available right now.  It's here.

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

It is difficult to know at this hour exactly what the impact of the Times story will be.  In any sane situation, Blumenthal would have to withdraw, leaving the Democrats without a strong candidate in a state almost as Democratic as Massachusetts. 

Will sanity prevail and will Blumey be bye-bye?  Connecticut is a self-proclaimed "sophisticated" state where military service, at least in the state's western precincts, may not be as important as in the heartland.  (My darlings, the man simply wanted to go to school and has given us a different narrative than may have been wise.  But, whatever.  Have some Brie.)

Republicans have not generally been seen as having a strong shot at Connecticut, but this can change everything.  Stand by. 

May 17, 2010    Permalink

THE NEW MAGIC NUMBER – AT 8:05 P.M. ET:  Have you noticed how the number "trillion" has suddenly come into fashion.  You know, after a while you get used to it.  Trillion is the new billion.

It's usually applied to money.  But, through the efforts of the first lady, we now have a new iteration of "trillion."  From ABC News:

With the goal to reduce 1 trillion calories in food sold annually by 2012, First Lady Michelle Obama announced a private-sector partnership for her Let’s Move! Childhood obesity campaign.

Mrs. Obama touted that the Partnership for a Healthier America has signed an agreement with the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) -- a partnership between 16 corporations that account for roughly 20-25% of the American food supply.

“I am thrilled to say that they have pledged to cut a total of 1 trillion calories from the food they sell annually by the year 2012, and 1.5 trillion calories by 2015,” Mrs. Obama said from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building today, “They’ve agreed to reformulate their foods in a number of ways, including by addressing fat and sugar content, by introducing lower-calorie options, and by reducing the portion sizes of existing single-serve products."

Reducing the portion size, and probably charging the same price.  I sense a racket here.

Look, we want the kids to eat right, to stay slim, etc., etc.  The problem is that we already have many low-calorie foods on the market, but the kids just won't eat them.  Or, if they do, they eat more of them because they think it's okay.

I don't know what the answer is.  But they'll have to take my cold, dead hands from around my chocolate doughnuts before I give them up.

I get the feeling that parents and peer pressure are involved here.  Maybe some of that old-time "you want to look your best for him (or her)" will work.  But we do have a problem, and if the first lady's campaign does some good, more power to her.

I'll now go off and have my Hershey dark chocolate bar.  I'm not kidding.  But I bought the small size, so I'm a responsible eater.

May 17, 2010    Permalink

WHAT A WAY TO BRING IN A NEW GOVERNMENT – The new, fresh, optimistic British government has been greeted by a little note containing a profound truth that may make the honorable ministers less fresh and less optimistic:

London – The scale of the economic challenge facing Britain's new government was laid out in a one-sentence letter, left by a minister who said: "There's no money left", it emerged on Monday.

David Laws, newly appointed chief secretary to the Treasury under Prime Minister David Cameron's new coalition government, described to reporters how he had been left the note by his predecessor Liam Byrne.

"When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as chief secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead," Laws recalled.

"Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said 'Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left', which was honest but slightly less helpful advice than I had been expecting."

COMMENT:  I always love British directness.  "There's no money left," pretty much says it.  In our politics we would have a spokesman announce that "we face financial challenges that may impact our short-term cash flow and ability to meet, to our high standard, our continuing obligations.  But the American people will be strong, as always."

No.  There's no money left.

May 17, 2010     Permalink

NOW U.S. IS SKEPTICAL:  It's perfectly clear that this morning's announcement of a "deal" on Iran's nuclear program, brokered by Iranian pals Turkey and Brazil, is no deal at all.  Following France's public expression of skepticism, the U.S. has now responded. 

TEHRAN (AP) -- Iran agreed Monday to a key big power demand, saying it was ready to ship much of its low-enriched uranium abroad -- but immediately rolled out a new obstacle to compromise on its nuclear program by insisting it would continue enriching to higher levels.

Yeah.  We send some, and then make more.  Doesn't sound too good to me.

Tehran's decision to agree to export a large amount of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey after refusing to let it leave the country for more than half a year appeared to be an attempt to stave off a new set of looming U.N. sanctions -- a doubtful endeavor, judging by initial reactions from Western nations spearheading attempts to deal with Iran's nuclear defiance.

In Washington, the White House showed deep skepticism about the deal, saying it has the chance to be "positive step" but warning that the deal still allows Iran to keep enriching uranium toward the pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

COMMENT:  To us, the deal is clearly a non-starter.  But, sadly, to other nations, wishing to do mischief and weaken our position, it may be the opening they need to slow any progress toward sanctions and urge "patience."  Russia is already talking in those terms.  You can be sure that the American and European left will follow.  China will probably say that this deal, however flawed, shows that the world can do business with Iran. 

Charles Krauthammer said this evening that this deal shatters Obama's foreign policy, his "outreach" to Iran.  Iran responded by using two other nations for cover and outmaneuvering us.  I'm afraid Krauthammer may well be right.  We have a foreign policy that goes nowhere.

May 17, 2010     Permalink

EXCITEMENT IN THE 12TH – AT 10:37 A.M. ET:  Perhaps the most exciting race to be decided tomorrow is the one to replace Congressman John Murtha, who remains deceased, in Pennsylvania's 12th C.D.  The last-minute polls show how tight this is, but there is a chance, if the voting is honest and Murtha's fellow departed can be kept from the voting booths, that the GOP can pull this off. 

The PPP poll, which generally leans Democratic, and which was taken through yesterday, has Republican Tim Burns at 48% and Democrat Mark Critz at 47%. 

John Murtha held this seat for 36 years. He was elected in 1974, also in a special election, during the Watergate affair, replacing a long-time Republican congressman.  Registration in the 12th C.D. is 2-1 Democratic, but these are conservative Democrats, and polling shows they are not happy with President Obama.  This is their chance to send a message.  Don't be surprised if the vote count goes into the night.

A GOP win would be a staggering defeat for the Dems, considering the district's recent history. 

We'll be live-blogging.  Stay with us.

May 17, 2010    Permalink

BULLETIN, AT 9:37 A.M. ET:  We reported earlier a strange deal on the Iranian nuclear program, negotiated by Little Leaguers Turkey and Brazil.  We cautioned that this was the kind of deal that had to be looked at with four or five eyes.  France has apparently taken the first look:

PARIS, May 17 (Reuters) - A Turkish-Brazilian deal to help Iran swap nuclear fuel might boost international trust in Tehran, but it would do nothing to resolve problems over Iran's nuclear programme, the French Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said France wanted to see details of the accord, announced earlier on Monday, before judging its merits.

"However, let us not deceive ourselves, a solution to the (fuel) question, if it happens, would do nothing to settle the problem posed by the Iranian nuclear programme," he said in a statement.

COMMENT:  That is a clear signal, being sent from Paris to Washington, that France expects the United States to take a tough stand, and not buckle under to an obviously inadequate deal.  The fact that France was the first major nation to take a stand reveals 1) that French President Sarkozy is a new kind of French leader, who can be trusted and,  2) that Sarkozy has little use for Obama's soft-line foreign policy and wants to preempt it.  Indeed, it's hardly a secret that Sarkozy has little regard for Obama.

We hope other nations will follow France's lead (I'm amazed I'm saying that), and continue the drive for tough sanctions on Iran.  That drive will likely fail, leaving President Obama with perhaps the most critical foreign-policy decision of his presidency.

May 17, 2010     Permalink 

WELL, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? – AT 9:17 A.M. ET:  The trendies now have a new approach to handling the personal problems of illegal immigrants – give them I.D. cards.  The newest municipality to succumb is the university town of Princeton, N.J.:

PRINCETON -- The borough and the township have agreed to a May 22 start for advocates for immigrants to issue community identification cards, according to a report in The New York Times.

The report said at least six city governments across the the U.S. endorse or issue photo identification cards to residents who are illegal immigrants. Similar programs are operating in Trenton and Asbury Park.

The cards will allow illegals to obtain local services.  The practice is spreading.  One illegal told The New York Times:

“When you don’t have a proper ID, they can humiliate you,” said Herlinda, 43, as she waited in the offices of a church where the cards were being issued. “I feel I belong in Trenton.”

That, of course, is the problem.  She doesn't belong in Trenton.  The legal immigrant, who has followed the law, belongs in Trenton and should be welcomed.

Look, we try to be humane.  These are human beings, and we are a Judeo-Christian nation.  I would never for a moment advocate denying an illegal immigrant a life-saving medical service.  We give those services, after all, to convicted murderers.  We may hate the sin but we love the sinner. 

But simply issuing an I.D. card is a feel-good solution that makes no distinction between the illegal and the legal.  This is do-goodism at work, and it encourages illegality.  It shows, once more, the need for a federal solution that upholds the law, yet recognizes the reality that we're not going to deport 12 million illegals.  This is a very difficult issue.  Simply granting more services to illegals does nothing to solve it.

May 17, 2010    Permalink

OH NASTY, NASTY – AT 8:53 A.M. ET:  The much-anticipated Pennsylvania Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate will be held tomorrow, pitting recent Dem convert Arlen Specter against super-arrogant Congressman Joe Sestak, who reportedly was thrown out of the Navy for extreme obnoxia.  What a pair.

Now Sestak is showing his usual lack of graciousness, as The Politico notes:

Just two days before an electoral showdown — the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary — that is of key interest to the White House, Sen. Arlen Specter and Rep. Joe Sestak offered one more point of difference in their campaigns: whether they’ll support the other if they lose.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Sestak refused to say he’d endorse Specter if he won the primary.

“What I know is this, that, in a war, you always know you’re going to succeed. And so I’m going to win, and I’m looking forward to Sen. Specter’s support after the 18th of May,” Sestak said.

Specter, on the other hand, said if he lost, he would endorse Sestak, accusing the two-term congressman of running from the question. “I’m going to support anybody against Pat Toomey. It’s not going to happen, but I’ll answer your question. He wouldn’t answer your question. ... One thing I’ve always been is candid, maybe a little too candid.”

COMMENT:  Here we have two genuinely unpleasant men.  Are we not blessed?  Does our cup not runneth over?  And one of them will be the Democratic candidate for the Senate.  Still one more reason for Pennsylvanians to vote for GOP candidate Pat Toomey, who has a real shot in this traditionally blue state.

May 17, 2010     Permalink

CUSTOMER BEWARE – AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  There is big news, well sorta, about Iran this morning.  This is being called a possible breakthrough in taming Iran's nuclear program.  Why don't I think so?  Well, look at some of the parties involved in the "negotiation," that's why.  From The New York Times:

CAIRO — Iran announced an agreement on Monday to ship some of its nuclear fuel to Turkey in a deal that could offer a short-term solution to its ongoing nuclear standoff with the West, or prove to be a tactic aimed at derailing efforts to bring new sanctions against Tehran.

The deal, negotiated by Turkey and Brazil, calls for Iran to ship 2,640 pounds of low enriched uranium to Turkey, where it would be stored. In exchange, after one year, Iran would have the right to receive about 265 pounds of material enriched to 20 percent from Russia and France.

Negotiated by Turkey and Brazil?  Really?  That's like John Dillinger making a deal negotiated by Bonnie and Clyde.  Turkey is an ally of Iran, and is slipping into Islamism under its current, radical government.  Brazil is run by a wannabe Marxist who suddenly sees himself as an international figure.  He should stick to bikini-watching on the beaches of Rio. 

The terms mirror a deal with the West last October that had fallen apart when Iran backtracked, but it is

far from clear that the Obama administration will agree to it now — in part because Iran has continued to enrich uranium, adding to its stockpiles.

In October, the 1,200 kilograms that Iran was supposed to ship out of the country represented about two-thirds of its stockpile of nuclear fuel, and enough that the country would not enough fuel on hand to make a weapon. But now, the same amount of fuel accounts for a smaller proportion of its declared stockpile.

And Iran continues to enrich.  Do not believe the hype.  Check the Better Business Bureau.  The West had no role in brokering this deal, and those who did are on our permanent no-buy list.   I suspect that, unless the Obamans go completely nuts, this will fizzle.

What say you, Hillary?

May 17, 2010    Permalink