MONDAY,  OCTOBER 26,  2009

VIRGINIA LATEST - AT 7:31 P.M. ET:  New polling in Virginia confirms the GOP optimism we reported earlier today.  (See our 9:02 a.m. post.)  Andrew Malcolm of the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog, reports the trend:

The good news for Republicans is that heading into the last week of the closely-watched Virginia governor's campaign, their candidate, Bob McDonnell, leads his Democratic opponent by 11 points, according to a just-published poll.

Despite energetic campaign efforts by both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, plus extra spending by the Democratic National Committee, the Washington Post reports this afternoon that McDonnell has a majority of likely-voting Virginians, 55 to 44, over Democrat rival R. Creigh Deeds.

The last time McDonnell and Deeds faced each other on the ballot, in the 2005 attorney general's race, the Republican won by less than 350 votes.

COMMENTS:  The Dems hate the symbolism here.  The current governor, Tim Kaine, is the Democratic national chairman.  The state has been trending Democratic.  It borders Washington, D.C., the seat of Obamaland, and it's key to Democratic hopes of winning back the once-Democratic South.

But you can just imagine how Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi play in traditional parts of Virginia.  Obama won the state last year.  If the GOP wins next Tuesday, and can carry the momentum through next year's midterms, 2012 in Virginia will look very iffy for The One.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

CAVE-IN TO THE LEFT - AT 7:16 P.M. ET:  Senate Majority Leader Harry "Mr. Excitement" Reid, is apparently caving to the leftist ideologues in his party on the health-care "reform" bill.  From the Washington Post:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) announced Monday that he will seek to bring a health-care bill to the Senate floor that includes a government insurance plan, a major reversal from just two weeks ago, when Reid was leaning against the idea.

He also called for the bill to include a version of the so-called public option with an clause that would allow states to decide by 2014 not to participate in the government plan.

"The best way to move forward is a public option with the opt-out provision for states," Reid told reporters, adding that he "clearly" believes that such a bill would have "the support of my caucus."

It also has the support of the White House, which said that President Obama was "pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out."

COMMENT:  The problem here is that Reid could lose the support of Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, who's been counted as the one possible Republican vote, thus far, for a health-care bill.  Snowe said today that she was disappointed by Reid's decision to include a public option. 

This maneuvering could mean that Reid might have to employ the "nuclear option," slamming the bill through the Senate, affecting one sixth of the U.S. economy, with only Democratic votes. 

Nothing like bipartisanship we can believe in.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

THE DYING INDUSTRY - AT 7:04 P.M. ET:  The newspaper industry is dying before our eyes:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Circulation at newspapers shrank at an accelerated pace in the past six months, driven in part by stiff price increases imposed by publishers scrambling to offset rapidly eroding advertising sales.

Brilliant strategy.  As circulation weakens, raise prices.  That'll bring 'em in.

Average daily circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers plunged 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month stretch last year, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

They all believe it's the internet that has caused this, but it's much more.  The mainstream media has betrayed the public by pursuing, not news, but a party line, recently an Obama party line.  People have noticed.

It's the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade's steady decline in paid readership -- a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don't charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales.

The latest decline outstripped a 7.1 percent decrease in the October 2008-March 2009 period and a 4.6 percent decline in last year's April-September window.

Not every paper is suffering:

As both publications indicated earlier in the month, The Wall Street Journal surpassed USA Today as the top-selling newspaper in the United States. The Journal's average Monday-Friday circulation edged up 0.6 percent to 2.02 million -- making it the only daily newspaper in the top 25 to see an increase.

COMMENT:  Gee, I wonder why.  You don't think it has anything to do with great news coverage and a superb editorial page, do you?  Nah, that couldn't be it.  Must be the good paper they use.

October 26, 2009    Permalink

ONE WEEK AWAY - AND A GOOD CHANCE FOR A SMILE - AT 9:02 A.M. ET:  Elections will be held a week from tomorrow.  There is reason for guarded optimism:

PETERSBURG, Va. -- The Democrats' decade-long push into Virginia -- a national bragging point that they were moving into the once-solid Republican South -- may be coming to an end.

Polls suggest that the Republicans could win the governor's office on Nov. 3 for the first time in more than a decade. One of only two statewide races this year -- the other is the governor's race in New Jersey -- the Virginia contest is being watched as a referendum not only on the Democrats' appeal in the region, but also on the party's agenda next door in Washington.

But remember - the only poll that counts is the one on election day. 

President Barack Obama will campaign in the state on Tuesday to help boost fellow Democrat Creigh Deeds, a state senator from rural western Virginia.

This is after he comes back from a campaign trip to Florida.  See story just below.  Meanwhile, the centrifuges in Iran are spinning.

In a troubling sign for the Democrats, however, White House aides speaking on background already have started taking shots at Deeds as a poor candidate, lest pundits blame Obama for his defeat.

Yeah, that's the old Soviet style.  Watch Deeds get Photoshopped out of all pictures with Obama the minute he loses.

Virginia, increasingly, is seen as a bellwether:

"Virginia is the new Peoria," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, referring to the Illinois city once used as a sociological test lab because it so closely reflected the average American community.

COMMENT:  The GOP must win the race, and then move on.  No more sitting around celebrating, and settling for mediocre candidates.  The good guys can reverse the impact of the 2008 election, but only with great ideas and great people, and they don't fall out of trees.  Go searching!

October 26, 2009   Permalink

ANOTHER TRIP?  I HOPE HE HAS GOOD LUGGAGE - AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  I know this will shock readers, so please sit down.  There's unusual news this morning:  President Obama is going on a campaign trip.

Yeah, that's right.  Another one.  In that big plane.  On our dime.  And they'll take the limo too.  The one with the DVD player.   The Politico gives us the exciting details:

President Barack Obama's two-day visit to Florida beginning Monday marks his first personal outreach to Democrats there heading into 2010 and indicates how determined his White House is to compete for the state in 2012.

This trip, more than any the president has taken since January, looks like a campaign swing. The itinerary and the events are crafted to accentuate positives – health care and the economy are not on the agenda – and to squeeze the most into his time there.

I love it, I love it, I love it.  Health care and the economy are not on the agenda.  So what is on the agenda?  Getting the White House dog? 

I thought the economy was his big thing, right up there with health care and curing the world.  I must've read the wrong Obama speeches.  You know, he gives some just for practice.

That the president is staying overnight in itself is significant. Obama has only bunked overnight in the same state where he’ll hold an event the following day twice since taking office: in Arizona and California. Unlike Florida, both states geographically make for a tricky day trip. By stretching out his Florida visit over two days, Obama sends a strong signal about the state’s significance, and gets more media coverage.

I'm so excited.  Maybe he'll stay in a Holiday Inn Express and save us some cash.

Do you sometimes get the feeling that Obama doesn't like his job?  Or his new house?  Maybe he'd prefer a nice condo in Washington, near an ice cream shoppe.  Anything to get him back to work.  Although, that has its negatives also.

There are urgent matters at hand, and the president of the United States does not impress us with his sense of the moment.

October 26, 2009   Permalink 

THE FRENCH TAKE THIS MORE SERIOUSLY THAN OBAMA DOES - AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  From London's Telegraph:

Iran's nuclear ambitions have started a "race to confrontation" with Israel and the world's leading powers must break the deadlock before the Jewish state "reacts", according to France's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.

Bernard Kouchner stressed the urgency of reaching agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme and removing the risk of a pre-emptive strike by Israel.

During an official visit to Lebanon's capital, Beirut, the minister told The Daily Telegraph that time was running out.

Call the White House or send a text message.

"They [the Israelis] will not tolerate an Iranian bomb. We know that, all of us. So that is an additional risk and that is why we must decrease the tension and solve the problem. Hopefully we are going to stop this race to a confrontation," said Mr Kouchner.

"There is the time that Israel will offer us before reacting, because Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat."

COMMENT:  Well, it's good to know there are some grown-ups trying to deal with the Iranian bomb.  But we have only months before the Israelis conclude that all hope is lost.  Then they may do what a threatened nation does.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

THE GENEROSITY!  SHOWS WHAT "ENGAGEMENT" CAN DO - AT 7:56 A.M. ET: 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's foreign minister said Monday that Tehran may agree to ship part of its stockpile of low enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment in response to a U.N.-drafted plan.

Please note the "part" part.  This is not good.

Manouchehr Mottaki's comments are the first official indication that Iran may at least partly agree to a U.N.-drafted plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia for further enrichment and defuse the long running dispute over the country's nuclear program.

I love the "partly agree."  That's like Hitler partly agreeing not to bomb Britain.

Mottaki said a final decision over the plan will come ''soon.''

Iran is weighing between the U.N.-drafted plan or buying its own enriched uranium abroad and keeping its own supply.

''To supply fuel, we may purchase it like in the past, or we may deliver part of (the low enriched uranium) fuel which we currently don't need,'' Mottaki said. ''A decision will be made in the next few days.''

The U.N. plan envisioned Iran delivering up to 70 percent of its fuel abroad.

COMMENT:  When will this farce be over?  The Iranians are using us, bleeding us, and playing for time.  There is also new evidence that they are guiding some terror activities against us in Afghanistan.

And yet we "engage."  Does Obama believe in this, or is he simply building a case for further action, when he can say, "I did everything I could"?  I'd like to believe the second scenario is true, but we're getting to know this president, and we know that his foreign policy has the spine of a jellyfish.

It would be nice to be able to applaud again.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

GET USED TO SOCIALISM, WAIT YOUR TURN! - AT 7:45 A.M. ET:  Katherine the not-so-great now informs us that vaccination, like prosperity, is just around the corner:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says vaccine for the swine flu virus ''is coming out the door as fast as it comes off the production line.''

Where's this door?  My wife and I were scheduled to get our shots on Wednesday, and they ran out of vaccine.  Is there a suitable substitute, like margarine?

Sebelius said in a nationally broadcast interview Monday that it's unfortunate supplies are not where officials intended them to be at this juncture.

Yeah, yeah, I'd sure say so.  And if this were the BUSH (!!) administration, MSNBC would be blaming Dick Cheney.  I can just hear it:  "No Shot Cheney said today..."

But she also said there eventually will be enough to go around. Sebelius appeared as infections in the United States spread and roughly a thousand people have died.

What's a thousand in the new socialist republic?  You can't play with the big boys - Marx, Engels, even Gorby - unless you reach half a mil.

President Barack Obama has declared a health emergency.

That's nice.  I'm glad he took time out from writing unsigned e-mails to Fox News.

And Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Sunday that Congress would be happy to provide additional support and money on a bipartisan basis, if the need arises.

There are those Republicans, acting patriotic again.  Not trendy.

October 26,  2009   Permalink

SUNDAY,  OCTOBER 25,  2009

ANOTHER OUTRAGEOUS NOMINATION - AT 6:49 P.M. ET:  Maybe Jodie Evans - see story right below - is also vetting Obama's California court nominees.  Given the views of one nominee, that sounds logical.

The Washington Times exposes the disgraceful views of one nominee, views that clearly didn't bother the president who nominated him:

Another day, another Obama nominee who doesn't appear to love America. Another nominee who thinks the United States is inherently racist...

...In this case, the nominee is Northern California federal district court nominee Edward Chen, forwarded by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the full Senate last Friday on a party-line vote.

Presenting Eddie Chen:

Judge Chen's words speak for themselves. When the congregation sang "America the Beautiful" at a funeral, Judge Chen told the audience of his "feelings of ambivalence and cynicism when confronted with appeals to patriotism - sometimes I cannot help but feel that there are too much [sic] injustice and too many inequalities that prevent far too many Americans from enjoying the beauty extolled in that anthem."

How chic.  I wonder how this blithering idiot explains Obama's election.  There's more:

In a speech on Sept. 22, 2001, he said that among his first responses to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America was a "sickening feeling in my stomach about what might happen to race relations and religious tolerance on our own soil. ... One has to wonder whether the seemingly irresistible forces of racism, nativism and scapegoating which has [sic] recurred so often in our history can be effectively restrained."

No country, internally, responded more nobly to an attack than did the United States after 9-11.  Muslims were not targeted.  They were not hated.  They were not rounded up and shipped off to camps.  The radical leftist Chens of the world simply cannot accept the basic goodness of the United States.

The Times concludes:

You get the picture. To quote and paraphrase Sen. Charles E. Schumer from another occasion, this man's attitude "doesn't even whisper 'judge.'" Instead, it yells out that he is a biased radical willing to impose his own politics from the bench. Judge Chen should not be confirmed.

No he shouldn't, but he probably will be.  And the president of the United States will be proud.

October 25, 2009   Permalink

FINALLY, SOME FACTS - AT 6:20 P.M. ET:  One of my great frustrations with mainstream news outlets is the way most of them paper over the harsh facts about the political left.  Euphemisms like "anti-war activists" or "human rights campaigners" often are used to disguise groups that are essentially anti-American and even pro-dictator.  I recall, during the Vietnam War, observing "peace" marches in which demonstrators chanted "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!" as a tribute to North Vietnam's dictator.  Yet, when reported on the news, the marches simply became "anti-war" or "against administration policy."

Now, Andrew Breitbart's new Big Government site does a terrific story exposing the truth about Code Pink, that oh so lovable band of harmless eccentrics and "anti-war" activists who want, like, you know, to improve the world?

Last week in San Francisco, Obama headlined a three million dollar fundraiser at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. The San Francisco Chronicle reports about 160 people paid $30,400 or more per couple for a private dinner with Obama followed by a reception costing $500 to $1000 that drew over 900 attendees. Among those at the dinner was the leftist, so-called antiwar group Code Pink co-founder, Jodie Evans.

The Chronicle reports Jodie Evans had a several minutes long conversation with Obama at the fundraiser.

And the politics of Jodie Evans?

Last year, right before Jodie Evans attended another high dollar event for Obama, she gave a radio interview in which she sympathized with Osama bin Laden about his reasons for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that murdered nearly 3000 Americans and foreign nationals...

...Jodie Evans has been espousing her support for terrorists for years. In February 2003, Jodie Evans and Code Pink traveled to Baghdad as a guest of Saddam Hussein’s government where they lobbied the world to keep the state sponsor of terrorism in power...

...Jodie Evans and Code Pink delivered over $600,000 in cash and humanitarian aid to what Code Pink called “the other side” in Fallujah as the U.S. was waging a hard fought battle to clear the terrorist safe haven of al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni terrorists...

Jodie Evans and Code Pink are also allied with the anti-American governments of Venezuela and Cuba. She met with Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez in 2006 and has declared him a “sweetheart.” Jodie Evans traveled to Cuba in 2007 and worked with the Castro government to propagandize against the U.S.

In September 2008, just a couple of weeks after meeting Obama at a big money Hollywood fundraiser at the historic Greystone mansion in Beverly Hills, Jodie Evans met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York City. Afterward, Jodie Evans proclaimed him to be “really about peace and human rights and respecting justice.”

And...

Several questions are raised by Jodie Evans’ ties to Obama. Given her documented alliances with terrorists and state sponsors of terrorism, why is Jodie Evans repeatedly granted face time with Obama? Obama surely knows of her ties, as do her allies overseas like Ahmadinejad and Chavez. Is Jodie Evans acting as a go-between for Obama to our nation’s enemies? And if so, to whose benefit?

COMMENT:  She's granted face time with Obama because there's a certain wing of the Democratic Party that has no problem with Jodie Evans or her ilk.  Several years ago the head of the California Democratic Party was on TV attacking reporters who expose pro-terrorist activities in the United States.  he didn't attack terrorism.

Jodie Evans is a very rich woman who has used her wealth for the worst causes.  Yet, when she appears in the media, she's just simple Jodie, that "anti-war" activist.

In fact, she's a good friend of both reds and fascists - anyone, it seems, who's anti-American.

Harry Truman would have known how to handle her.

October 25, 2009   Permalink

GOP SPLIT IN N.Y. GOES NATIONAL - AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  Several readers have asked about the special election for Congress in New York's 23rd Congressional District, where the establishment GOP candidate, who's pretty far out in left field for a Republican, is being challenged by a Conservative Party candidate who's gaining national Republican endorsements.  This could be the first step in a major split within the Republican Party.  The Politico reports:

Some of the most prominent names in national Republican Party politics are lining up against the GOP nominee in a key upstate New York House special election, the latest being former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who weighed in Friday.

In endorsing Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in the Nov. 3 contest, Santorum joined former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, all of whom announced their backing for the conservative third-party candidate this week.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty suggested Friday that he might be the next well-known Republican to break with the party establishment and support Hoffman. When asked about the race Friday during an interview with ABC, he expressed frustration with GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava and said he will “probably” endorse in the race.

The GOP establishment didn't see this coming, and is reacting in strange ways.  Apparently, cops were called during a Scozzafava rally when a reporter dared to ask the candidate a question.

Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and has a close relationship with leading labor officials in her region, has been the target of sustained criticism from conservatives who claim that she is so liberal that they cannot in good conscience support her candidacy. As evidence, they point to her unofficial endorsement from the leading liberal blog Daily Kos.

Yes, she's that bad.  How did she get to be the Republican nominee?  Well, she has a lot of friends in the party, and they vote.  And hubby is a major labor leader.

In fairness, we should point out that she does have the support of some conservatives, including Newt Gingrich.  Other conservatives are shying away from the race entirely.

Right now, though, it appears that the split in the party may well elect the Democratic candidate.

October 25, 2009   Permalink 

MORE DYNAMIC ACTION BY THE U.N. - AT 10:12 A.M. ET:  More protection for us:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A semiofficial Iranian news agency says U.N. inspectors have visited a formerly secret uranium enrichment site that has raised Western suspicions about the extent of Iran's nuclear program.

It was the world's first look inside the heavily protected plant, which is being built inside a mountainside near the holy city of Qom south of Tehran.

The Mehr news agency says the inspectors examined the facility Sunday, more than a month after Iran disclosed the site to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

COMMENT:  Which means Iran had a full month to clean up anything that needs to be hidden.  The inspectors will find nothing, and their report of "nothing" will thrill the appeasement crowd in this administration.

The key question, of course, is how many other secret sites Iran has.  We've now found this one.  It's entirely logical to assume that there are others.  That is why we have to be extremely careful about celebrating, Chamberlain style, any "agreement" with Iran.  The mullahs' cheating is documented.  So is the leftist utopianism of the current occupant of the White House.

October 25, 2009   Permalink

YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS - AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  On the front lines of the war on terror, from the Washington Times:

Do counter-terrorism measures targeting bombers who dress as women offend the rights of transexuals? This is one of the pressing questions addressed in a new United Nations report on "Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism."

The 23-page document is the ultimate politically correct guide to combating terrorism. It is based on the work of U.N. special rapporteur Martin Scheinin, who notes that "immigration controls that focus attention on male bombers who may be dressing as females to avoid scrutiny make transgender persons susceptible to increased harassment and suspicion." The impact on transvestites (cross-dressers) and "intersex" individuals (those in the midst of a sex change) is even more dramatic.

COMMENT:  Stop the war on terror, and let's deal with this human-rights crisis.  Wait, there is no war on terror, according to the new order in Washington.  There are just "man-made disasters," itself a sexist phrase that deserves further scrutiny.

People are paid for this kind of work.

October 25, 2009   Permalink

OUTRAGE IN BAGHDAD - AT 9:37 P.M. ET:  Two suicide bombings rocked the Iraq capital today:

BAGHDAD — A pair of suicide car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in downtown Baghdad on Sunday, targeting two government buildings and killing at least 132 people and wounding 520, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The official said the toll may rise even more.

The blasts came just over two months after suicide truck bombs were exploded outside the Finance and Foreign Ministries in Baghdad, killing 122 persons, many of them ministry employees. The high death tolls then were blamed at least in part on the removal of blast-proof walls from outside the ministries.

COMMENT:  A key question here is the reaction of the Obama administration.  The reaction must be fierce and unyielding - that we will not buckle to this new terror. 

But how can the president say that convincingly when, all along, he's argued that Iraq was the wrong war?  Comments like that, and he's made many of them, give aid and comfort to the very people who pulled off this latest atrocity. 

We await Washington's reactions.  I suppose we'll get something on the Sunday talk shows.

October 25,  2009    Permalink