WEDNESDAY,  OCTOBER 28,  2009

JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN - AT 7:17 P.M. ET:  It appears that the wicked witch of the West will have an announcement:

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats reached agreement Wednesday on key elements of a health care bill that would vastly alter America's medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and establishing a new government-run insurance option for millions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned a formal announcement Thursday morning, but details were still being finalized, lawmakers and aides said. Officials said the legislation could be up for a vote on the House floor next week.

The rollout would cap months of arduous negotiations to bridge differences between liberal and moderate Democrats and blend health care overhaul bills passed by three separate committees over the summer. The developments in the House came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to round up support among moderate Democrats for his bill, which includes a modified government insurance option that states could opt out of.

COMMENT:  Imagine.  This bill, affecting every family, changing a sixth of the nation's economy, could come up for a vote next week.  Not much time to read, to consider, to get public reaction.

But who needs the opinions of those uneducated fools out there, the American people?  Do they eat correctly?  Get 700s on their College Boards?  Have graduate degrees from Ivy League schools?  What kind of people are these?  These peasants who cling to their guns and their religion.

And that's the way things are.  This is the age of Obama.  And we have little say in the matter.

October 28, 2009   Permalink

LATEST ON THE TERROR BEAT - AT 7:07 P.M. ET:  This happened today, and is getting very little publicity:

Detroit -- The leader of a Detroit mosque was shot and killed Wednesday during a series of FBI raids that resulted in charges against 11 and the death of an FBI dog.

At least six of those charged were in federal custody late Wednesday afternoon.

The case involves the Joint Terrorism Task Force and prosecutors from the national security unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit names Luqman Ameen Abullah, imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group." He was killed in the raid, according to a joint statement by federal officials.

More than three people were arrested on charges including conspiracy to commit federal crimes, receipt of stolen goods, providing firearms to felons and changing vehicle identification numbers, said Special Agent Sandra Berchtold, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Detroit. Berchtold also confirmed that an FBI dog was shot and killed in one of the raids.

The operation involved locations in Detroit and Dearborn.

COMMENT:  This is the latest in a remarkable series of raids and arrests recently in the United States.  Yet, there seems disturbingly little interest by the mainstream media in the implications.  You can be sure that if some prisoner complained of abuse, or if an FBI form wasn't filled out correctly, an element of the press would be in an uproar, and Rachel Maddow would faint dead away.

October 28, 2009    Permalink

ELECTION RUNUP - AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  Michael Barone, who probably knows more about American politics than any journalist, gives us a preview of next Tuesday's elections, and their possible significance:

Six days from now the voters of New Jersey and Virginia will elect governors. Voters in the 23rd district of New York and the 10th district of California will elect new members of the House of Representatives to replace incumbents, a Republican and a Democrat, who were appointed to positions in the Obama Defense and State departments.

All four of these constituencies voted for Barack Obama 51 weeks ago...

...Yet all of this territory was once Republican.

In other words, the 2009 contests are a reasonably fair test of the strength and durability of the Democratic majority that Obama and his ticketmates assembled in 2008, a majority that was only made possible by gains in hitherto Republican territory. It is also a test of the capacity of Republicans to regain turf they have lost.

And something of an indicator for 2010, although, of course, conditions can change.

The result in Virginia is not much in doubt. Republican Bob McDonnell has campaigned on transportation, education and taxes and holds a wide lead in polls...

...In New Jersey things are murkier. Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's approval numbers are stuck around 40 percent, but he has used his wealth to pummel Republican Chris Christie with negative ads and hopes that Independent Chris Daggett will steal anti-Corzine votes from the Republican. If Corzine wins because he is perceived to be the lesser of three evils, it will hardly be an endorsement of Democratic policies.

I suspect that Corzine will in fact win, although I hope otherwise.  New Jersey is one of those states that tempts Republicans with favorable polls until the last days of a campaign, then usually returns to familiar Democratic patterns. 

The situation in New York 23 is simply bizarre. Local Republican leaders nominated an assemblywoman who has been endorsed by the ACORN-allied Working Families party and who backs the unions' card check bill. One of the Republicans passed over was nominated by the Conservative party and has picked up endorsements from Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty. He has raised money on the Internet and from the anti-tax Club for Growth. He's now leading in two polls commissioned by his supporters.

All of which highlights, in exaggerated form, the distrust of tea party protesters for Republican insiders and could result in a plurality for the Democrat. 

And the most predictable...

The California 10 results will come in last, and just about everyone will be astonished if the Democrat, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, doesn't win in this San Francisco Bay area district.

If he doesn't, Nancy Pelosi will wind up on Elba, but in an energy-efficient house.

Both parties will try to spin the results seven days from now. But one thing seems clear. None of the Democrats seems likely to equal Barack Obama's 2008 percentages in these states or districts. None may even come close. But Republicans may find it difficult to convert the increasing unease with Democratic policies into Republican (or Conservative) victories across the board.

COMMENT:  Good analysis.  The GOP remains unpopular, and only the GOP can change that.  There was a time when the party simply accepted being a minority in Congress, almost seemed to enjoy it.  Those days must never return. 

We have a year to the 2010 midterms, the most critical midterm elections of our lifetime.  If the Obama machine is not stopped, this country can be changed forever, and not for the better.

October 28, 2009   Permalink 

MORE CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN - AT 9:27 A.M. ET:  For a president who made special appeals to idealistic young people and asked for their trust, Barack Obama certainly repays that trust in strange ways.  From the Washington Times:

During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.

High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times.

And...

One top donor described in an interview with The Times being given a birthday visit to the Oval Office. Another was allowed use of a White House-complex bowling alley for his family. Bundlers closest to the president were invited to watch a movie in the red-walled theater in the basement of the presidential mansion.

And...

...the donor access raises questions about the fervor of Mr. Obama's stated commitment to clean up what he once called the "muddy waters" of Washington, where political cash is exchanged for access, ethics experts said.

"Once you start trading money for access, you set up a situation where donors eventually say, 'Well, actually I have another favor to ask,'" said Scott Thomas, a former Democratic appointee to the Federal Election Commission.

"It starts setting up that relationship. If you help with the money, we'll do something nice for you. And that is a slippery slope."

COMMENT:  It's been widely reported that the young, including many who went to the wall for Obama during the 2008 campaign, are showing little interest in the programs of his administration.  Stories like this won't bring them back to the arena.

Barack Obama is a small-time Chicago politician with a silver voice.  There is nothing terribly enlightened about his administration, and this latest revelation simply reinforces the image of, well, the image.  And that's all there may be. 

We hope, of course, that the president "grows" in office - a political catch-word that means we hope he moves in our direction.  At what point will he learn that the fashion plates of the left who did so much to put him in power, in between their trips to Aspen, are doing him no good as he struggles to survive?

October 28, 2009   Permalink

MAYBE OBAMA COULD FLY DOWN FOR A BOOSTER SPEECH - AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  It seems that one of the left's favorite thugs is having some political trouble.  If he fizzles out, who will the Hollywood stars embrace?  This is a crisis.  From AP:

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez's popularity has slipped and a majority of Venezuelans view the situation in their country negatively, according to a poll published Tuesday.

The survey by the Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis found that 46 percent responded positively when asked how they view Chavez's presidency, down from 53 percent a month earlier.

The survey, published by the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, also found that 59 percent said they saw the situation in the country as negative.

The results are based on the responses of 1,300 randomly selected Venezuelans questioned between Sept. 23 and Oct. 8. The poll had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Pro-Chavez congressman Alberto Castelar said he believes Datanalisis underestimated Chavez's popularity. But the polling firm's past findings have been close to election results.

COMMENT:  Let's not pop the corks yet.  The pollster noted that Chavez remains the most popular politician in the country, boosting his standing, in part, by pressure on the press for favorable news reports. 

And control of the government means control of the election machinery. 

I suspect the buffoon will be around for a time, but his decline in popularity should allow us at least one cheer.

October 28, 2009   Permalink

THOSE DANES, WHAT A THREAT - AT 8:27 A.M. ET:  There have been two more terror arrests in the United States.  In fact, there have been a raft of terror arrests here in recent weeks, reminding us once again of the ongoing threat and the statistically high chance that some plot will make it to detonation.

Ironically, Denmark, a great threat to Islam, was the target on this one, as The New York Times reports:

WASHINGTON — Two Chicago men have been charged in what officials said was a plot to attack employees of a Danish newspaper that in 2005 published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that offended many Muslims, according to criminal complaints unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Chicago.

The most serious charges, conspiracy to murder and maim in a foreign country, were filed against David Coleman Headley, who was born in the United States, lived in Pakistan and now resides in Chicago.

The federal authorities said Mr. Headley told agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he had initially targeted a building occupied by the Danish newspaper, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen, but later proposed killing the paper’s cartoonist and cultural editor instead.

The arrests were the latest in what federal officials acknowledged was a surprising surge of unrelated terrorism arrests in recent weeks, highlighted by last month’s indictment of Najibullah Zazi, a Denver airport shuttle bus driver who has been accused of conspiring to detonate improvised explosives in an attack against an undetermined target, possibly in New York.

COMMENT:  Once again the arrest in Chicago targeted an American who went overseas for terrorist training.  We don't know how many of this profile are among us, but the ability of these people to melt back into our population is chilling.  Expect more like this.

October 28, 2009   Permalink

WELCOME, MADAME SECRETARY - AT 8:03 A.M. ET:  Secretary of State Clinton landed in Pakistan this morning.  The welcoming committee was active.  From AP:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A car bomb tore through a market popular with women in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 86 people hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the country to show American support for its campaign against Islamist militants.

More than 200 people were wounded in the blast in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, the deadliest in a surge of attacks this month. The government blamed militants seeking to avenge an army offensive launched this month against al-Qaida and Taliban in their stronghold close to the Afghan border.

And...

Three bombs have exploded in Peshawar this month, including another one that killed more than 50 people, part of a barrage of at least 10 major attacks across the country that have killed some 250 people. Most have targeted security forces, but some bombs have gone off in public places, apparently to sow fear and expose the weakness of the government.

The Taliban have warned Pakistan that they would stage more attacks if the army does not end a new ground offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region, where the military has dispatched some 30,000 troops to flush out insurgents. South Waziristan is a major base for the Pakistani Taliban and other foreign militants.

COMMENT:  As we saw last weekend, there is renewed terror activity in Iraq, where Baghdad was subjected to two suicide bombings. 

Pakistan is unstable, it has nuclear weapons, and the forces that threaten its government are aligned with terror groups.  We have a long struggle ahead in south Asia, a struggle that directly affects our own security and the lives of Americans.  The threat will escalate geometrically if the Taliban or Al Qaeda get their hands on the Pakistani nukes, or even a few of them.

It would help of the president showed some sense of urgency.  It's fine to dispatch the secretary of state, but decisions on troop strength in the region must be made, and they are overdue.

October 28,  2009   Permalink

TUESDAY,  OCTOBER 27,  2009

 TROUBLE ON THE LEFT - AT 8:34 P.M. ET:  Even the New Republic, a responsible liberal publication, is noticing the political collapse on the left.  The Republican Party may not be winning the Miss Congeniality contest, but the right is resurgent: 

...there are hard-to-ignore signs of a conservative resurgence. A 15,000-person Gallup survey out today shows that 40 percent of Americans now identify themselves as conservative (up from 37 percent at the time of Obama’s election), while only 20 percent regard themselves as liberal (down from 22 percent). Far more independents (35 percent) consider themselves conservative than was the case a year ago (only 29 percent).

These findings would be less compelling if they were not linked to conservative shifts on specific issues--but they are, and the Gallup organization enumerates a considerable list. Among them: increasing opposition to government regulation of business and gun ownership; an uneasy feeling about the influence of labor unions; increasing support for immigration restrictions and government promotion of traditional values; and diminished support for strong action on climate change. The percentage of Americans who believe that government is trying to do too much stands at its highest level (57 percent) in many years. Trust in government is near all-time lows, and Americans believe that 50 cents of every federal tax dollar is wasted--the highest level ever.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that unified Democratic government has sparked a conservative counter-mobilization. Because we cannot rerun history as a controlled experiment, we will never know whether this could have been avoided had the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats adopted a different strategy. In any case, it’s too late to reverse it.

COMMENT:  Very well said.  But, again, we argue that overconfidence on the right, a refusal to do the daily building of a voter base, or to write an effective program, or to recruit candidates with going heartbeats and pulses, will undo any potential gains.

October 27, 2009   Permalink 

THIS IS ALMOST HILARIOUS - AT 8:10 P.M. ET:  There are few voices more irresponsible on foreign policy than Juan Cole, a professor of something or other at the University of Michigan, and a member in good standing of the left-wing firmament.  He constantly tormented President Bush, and seemed to regard Islamic terrorists as minor inconveniences helped along by the Israel lobby.

Now King Cole is out with his assessment of the Obama foreign policy.  And what does the brilliant scholar say?  Well, he's angry.  Is he angry at Obama?  Of course not.  He's angry at - get this - the mainstream media for not highlighting the great accomplishments of Dear Leader.  This is what our college students are being taught, at least in some select places:

Why can't the administration of President Barack Obama get the word out about its policy successes? President Obama campaigned on an ambitious platform of withdrawing from Iraq, engaging Iran on its nuclear program and persuading the Pakistani government to take on the Taliban and al-Qaida. Despite the charge by critics from both the right and the left in the wake of his winning the Nobel Peace Prize that he has accomplished little so far, in fact he has already set in motion significant change on several of these fronts -- despite the enormous domestic tasks that have inevitably preoccupied his administration. Yet you'd never hear about these successes from the mainstream media.

COMMENT:  Yeah.  Those right-wing nuts at MSNBC and CNN just won't give the man a break.  And The New York Times?  Forget about it.  They're Cheneyites. 

Sure.  And I'm Cary Grant and Angelina Jolie wrapped into one.

Can you believe Cole?  Here we are, in a day when the French are running to the right of us on Iran, and Cole, his Neville Chamberlain locket around his neck, is extolling the virtues of Obama the Wise.

Maybe home schooling your kids, through graduate school, isn't such a bad idea.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

IRAN SAYS YES, BUT, AND BUT, AND BUT - AT 7:18 P.M. ET:  Iran seems to be edging closer to a general, very general acceptance of some kind of restriction on its nuclear program, with all kinds of caveats and if-buts.  Nothing to see here, folks.  Nothing to see:

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A high-ranking Iranian official said Tuesday that even if the country agreed to a United Nations-sponsored plan to ship its enriched uranium abroad for further processing, it would not ship it all at once, Iranian news media reported.

That position, if maintained, could undermine the entire plan. The French government, a party to the deal, has made clear that the uranium must be shipped out all at once before the end of the year.

The French are tougher than we are.  The question is whether Obama, who desperately needs some kind of piece of paper to show to the American public, will cave to Iranian demands.

Iran has said it will formally respond on Friday to the proposal, which is intended to delay the country’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon for about a year and buy time for a broader diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff.

On Tuesday, Alaeddin Borujerdi, the head of the Parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, said that if Iran agrees to ship its uranium abroad, “this must not happen in one go,” and that the fuel must be shipped in installments, according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency.

Shipping on the installment plan is unacceptable to sane people.  It's a time waster, a stall tactic, allowing Iran to replace, through production, the very uranium it is shipping abroad.

We'll wait for Friday's Iranian announcement, but don't get out the "peace in our time" signs just yet.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

PUBLIC OPTION DIVIDES SENATE DEMS - AT 6:22 P.M. ET:  The trendies in the Democratic Party may have bitten off more organically grown Belgian endive than they can chew in demanding a public option for health-care "reform."  Some in the party aren't buying, threatening the entire bill.  The New York Times reports:

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats voiced deep disagreements on Tuesday over the idea of a government-run health insurance plan, suggesting that the decision by the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, to include a public plan in major health care legislation had failed, at least initially, to unite his caucus.

Simply to get the Senate to take up the legislation, Mr. Reid has said he needs 60 votes — effectively all 58 Democrats and the 2 independents who caucus with them. Senator Olympia J. Snowe, the one Republican open to supporting the bill, said Tuesday that she would oppose the legislation because it now includes the public plan.

But while some senators who oppose a public plan said they would be willing to let Mr. Reid bring the legislation to the floor, the continuing apprehension of several others indicated enormous uncertainty.

COMMENT:  The Dems say they are determined to bring some form of health legislation to a vote, and pass it.  But right now the public option is holding things up.  What's shocking is that virtually no other aspect of the 1,500-page bill is even being debated.  There are provisions that go all the way to admission to medical school, and yet there is, essentially, silence. 

One tactic of the left, especially since the 1960s, is to overwhelm the system.  That's what's being done with this huge health bill.  It is simply impossible to have a considered debate on something this huge, and packaged in 1,500 pages.  This is a radical device, and the radicals may get their way.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

HEALTH-CARE WARNING - AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  One of the most stunning aspects to the current debate over health-care "reform" is the callousness of many on the left toward the elderly.  It mirrors their cold attitude toward the unborn.  These are self-appointed protectors of the public good, who believe they know what's best for families, to the degree that they approve of families. 

Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York, is an authority on health policy.  Although often denounced as an eccentric - the usual charge of mental inadequacy made by some leftists toward anyone who dissents from their perfect vision - she's performed invaluable service in pointing out the flaws in proposed legislation.  Now she does it again:

Everyone knows that if you don't pay to maintain and repair your car, you limit its life. The same is true as human beings age. We need medical care to avoid becoming clunkers -- disabled, worn out, parked in wheelchairs or nursing homes.

For nearly a half century, Medicare has enabled seniors to get that care. But ObamaCare is about to change that, by limiting what doctors can provide their aging patients.

The Senate Finance Committee health bill released last week controls doctors by cutting their pay if they give older patients more care than the government deems appropriate. Section 3003(b) (p. 683) punishes doctors who land in the 90th percentile or above on what they provide for seniors on Medicare by withholding 5 percent of their compensation.

This withhold provision forces doctors to choose between treating their patients and avoiding government penalties. HMOs used the same cost-cutting device in the early '90s until it was deemed dangerous to patients and outlawed. Now, lawmakers want to use it against the most vulnerable patients, the elderly. This bill and four others under negotiation also would slash about $500 billion from future Medicare funding.

COMMENT:  This is from the wonderful guys who give us these periodic "anti-war" and "human rights" movements.  Whether one likes or dislikes Medicare, several generations have planned their later years around its provisions - for which they've partially paid in the form of Medicare premiums.

Frankly, I'm not surprised at the behavior of some liberals toward the elderly.  The elderly are more conservative, are often veterans (uhg!), aren't too beautiful, don't vacation in Aspen, and don't necessarily take Obama as a deity.  Who needs 'em?  Oh, and they're generally in America legally.

The GOP should attack the anti-elderly provisions in the proposed legislation, and peel off some of the support that many elderly people have given the Democratic Party, thinking it's looking out for them.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

IS AMERICA BEING DISMANTLED? - AT 5:55 A.M. ET:   The great Tom Sowell, who deserves a Pulitzer Prize for commentary, but won't get it because he's a black conservative, raises the chilling notion that the Obama administration really is out to dismantle what most Americans consider the building blocks of their country.  This is must reading:

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers-- that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?

And the list goes on. 

How about a federal agency giving school children material to enlist them on the side of the president? Merely being assigned to sing his praises in class is apparently not enough.

And the heart of the matter:

Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country...

...Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.

Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?

Finally...

Nothing so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first year-- each bill more than a thousand pages long-- too fast for either of them to be read, much less discussed. That he succeeded only the first time says that some people are starting to wake up. Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is another question-- and the biggest question for this generation.

COMMENT:  It's safe to say that Tom Sowell won't be getting the NAACP Man of the Year Award.  But he has said what needs saying - that this president is fundamentally different from all the others who preceded him.  One pundit called him the first "post-American" president.  He accepts and embraces the idea of contempt for the very nation he leads.  Sowell is right that those radicals he's hired merely reflect his own background. 

And Sowell is also right when he says that the issue of whether Americans wake up to what's happening is the biggest question for this generation.  There are signs of an awakening, but there are powerful forces rushing in with sleeping pills - the mainstream media, the academic world, the special interests who will make millions from Obama's "progressivism."  It's our job to keep the people awake, and to get them, awakened and angry, to the polls.

October 27, 2009   Permalink  

A WARNING - AT 5:19 A.M. ET:  From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Al Qaeda's umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad that killed at least 155 people, including 24 children trapped in a bus leaving a day care center.

The Al Qaeda branch, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a statement posted on the Internet late Monday that its "martyrs ... targeted the dens of infidelity."

Massive car bombs have been the hallmark of Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents seeking to overthrow the country's Shiite-dominated government in Iraq.

COMMENT:  We are regularly told that Al Qaeda is really just a small organization, kind of like the Girl Scouts with suicide belts.  But the fact is that radical Islamic organizations are highly active, and are no doubt drawing comfort from the weakness projected by President Obama.  We had a right to expect that Obama would respond to this latest outrage with a statement of support for the Iraqi government and of defiance toward the terrorists. We're still waiting, just as we're waiting for the president's decision on truth strength in Afghanistan.  We seem to do a lot of waiting with this new deity.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

AMERICANS FIGURE IT OUT - AT 4:42 A.M. ET:  Political trends, as measured by Gallup, are ominous for the Dems, as Americans figure out just what the "in" party has been doing since moving in.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

Let's face it, Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank can drive anyone with a pulse to the right. 

This is key:

Changes among political independents appear to be the main reason the percentage of conservatives has increased nationally over the past year: the 35% of independents describing their views as conservative in 2009 is up from 29% in 2008. By contrast, among Republicans and Democrats, the percentage who are "conservative" has increased by one point each.

COMMENT:  Winning the independents is critical to any electoral campaign.  So far this year, our side is winning.  There is a great shot at substantially denting the Dem hold on both houses of Congress next year, unless ACORN is counting the votes.  And, of course, that might happen. 

Clearly, the growth in the conservative vote did not come out of the air.  It reflects the rapid disillusionment with The One and his many disciples.  There is nothing on the horizon to end that growth of disillusionment.

October 27, 2009   Permalink   

THE FIELD MARSHAL SPEAKS OUT - AT 4:30 A.M. ET:  Top military strategist John Kerry, known to military historians for his opposition to anything that works, has now given us the benefit of his wisdom on the Afghan war.  Please make sure to take notes.  In ink:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Senator John Kerry on Monday accused former president George W. Bush's administration of "gross mishandling" of the Afghan war, and of leaving a terrible inheritance to President Barack Obama.

"On day one, this administration assumed responsibility for a war heading from strategic drift to a dangerous decline," Bush's rival in the 2004 US presidential election told the Council of Foreign Relations think-tank in Washington.

"Now it falls to all of us to get this right. You cannot understate the degree to which the Bush administration turned its back on Afghanistan completely," Kerry said.

"Because of the gross mishandling of this war by past civilian leadership, there are no great options for its handling today," said the chairman of the influential Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

COMMENT:  What moves me about Kerry is his commitment to maintaining the morale of American troops.  That's just what they wanted to hear.  You can be sure that on every battle flag flown by our soldiers in Iraq there will soon be printed the fighting motto, "There are no great options." 

Do you feel a tear in the eye, an extra beat of the heart?  How thrilling it is to be living in this era, when inspiring fighters like John Kerry walk across the landscape. 

And remember:  If it rains a little harder in Afghanistan this year, if the winds are a little stronger, the nights a little colder, it's BUSH'S (!!) fault.

October 27,  2009   Permalink