Redstate

Posted at 8:28pm on May 9, 2008 Oh, look. Maliki beat the Sadrists like a red-headed stepchild.

But... but... but... that doesn't fit the Media narrative!

By Moe Lane

And I can almost hear the teeth grinding of Ms. Fadel as she had to write this particular article (via Instapundit):

In big concession, militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City
By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad's Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

In return, Sadr's Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government's agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of "medium and heavy weaponry."

The agreement would end six weeks of fighting in the vast Shiite Muslim area that's home to more than 2 million residents and would mark the first time that the area would be under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. On Friday, 15 people were killed and 112 were injured in fighting, officials at the neighborhoods two major hospitals said.

There's something pleasant about watching a site like McClatchy being forced to deal with objective reality. But enough about them! I have a question each for both of the Democratic candidates for President:

For Barry: Given that, if we had listened to you when you called for our cutting and running from Iraq, this scenario would not only not have happened, but the entire country would have probably collapsed into an inchoate mess - when are you going to actually revise and extend your position on the war so that it reflects conditions in this universe?

No, you may not ask a friend. Frankly, I don't know why you even have advisers, given that they seem to have a half-life of seaborgium. At this rate, I expect that you will soon have them all fitted with explosive collars that will go off whenever the policy positions they espouse go under 50% in the polls.

For Hill: Given that you are rapidly acquiring a rogues' gallery of left-wing pundits, bloggers, activists, anarchists, Marxists, and just plain insane nutballs that any self-respecting neo-conservative would envy... have you thought about just taking the damn plunge already and rejoining the side of the angels wrt the GWOT? All of those people above are prepared to climb over broken glass rather than vote for you anyway.

Come on. You know that you want to.

Posted in Barack Obama | GWOT | Hillary Clinton | Iraq | Sadr | War — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:46pm on May 9, 2008 Unions oppose military voting bill .. because it expands private sector workforce

By Soren Dayton

Earlier this week, I wrote about a proposal by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-22) to make it easier for active duty military to vote absentee by accelerating the mail delivery process.

It turns out, surprise, surprise, that the unions are opposed. Why? Because it uses the private sector. Seriously. They are opposing making it easier for our deployed active duty soldiers on the grounds that it expands the private sector. From the letter that they sent to the House Subcommittee on Elections (full text at the end of the post):

NAPUS is deeply concerned about HR 5673, particularly the provision that sanctions private contractor conveyance of overseas and military ballots.

Note that this was the first thing that they said.

Furthermore, the Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA), the Chairman of the House Administration Committee, refused to hold a mark-up on this bill this week after the unions demanded that he pull it from the schedule.

Let's get this straight. Democrats cave to unions who oppose increased military voting if it means using the private sector.

Read on.

Posted in Elections | Military voting | unions — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:25pm on May 9, 2008 Meet Democratic Super-delegate Steven Ybarra.

A man who knows what he wants.

By Moe Lane

And a man ready to name his price:

DNC Superdelegate Puts His Vote Up For Sale
Steven Ybarra Wants $20 Million For His Vote

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS13) ― In this tight battle for the Democratic nomination we've heard a lot about the candidates courting superdelegates.

But, one superdelegate is courting the candidates. He says he'll sell his vote for a price. A very high price: $20 million.

Steven Ybarra of Sacramento says that eight-figure price is peanuts for the presidency.

This is not going to be an attack on Mr. Ybarra, by the way: he's just an example. The real problem for the Democrats are the super-delegates who are being quiet about their special needs.

Read on.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | superdelegates | The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:49am on May 9, 2008 Obama on judges

Protecting the Powerless?

By Feddie

Here is Senator Obama describing what he will look for in a judge if elected president:

[W]hat I do want is a judge who is sympathetic enough to those who are on the outside, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless, those who can't have access to political power and as a consequence can't protect themselves from being being dealt with sometimes unfairly, that the courts become a refuge for justice. That's been its historic role. That was its role in Brown v Board of Education.

Except for unborn babies, of course.

Those, you can kill with impunity (even after they're born).

UPDATE (Dan McLaughlin): San Diego Union-Tribune cartoonist Steve Breen made this same point with a cartoon worth a thousand words during the Alito hearings:

Cartoon below the fold...

Posted in Abortion | Judicial Activism | Judicial Appointments | Life Issues — Comments (25)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:14am on May 9, 2008 Harry Reid Has A Message For Warfighters And Consumers

Our goal is to stick it to all of you...equally

By haystack

[image via AZ Resistance ]

It's been a hectic few days for Harry the Dolt™, but his priorities have become abundantly clear: Soldiers are no big deal...there's no rush to help them...what matters is taxing big oil and lining the pockets of rich farmers.

As I mentioned here, our Warfighters are being held hostage over Reid and Pelosi's power struggle with the President. I also mentioned here that these clowns are willing to let Soldiers go unpaid unless and until they got all their own little shiny objects thrown in to the supplemental...which, by the way is an emergency supplemental spending bill that hasn't gotten done for over 440 days (and counting).

More below the fold...

Posted in Energy Bill | Farm Bill | Harry Reid | Iraq Funding | Liberals — Comments (31)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:58am on May 9, 2008 Economists Back McCain

By California Yankee

The Wall Street Journal's economics blog, Real Time Economics, reports Senator McCain was the clear favorite of those economists who responded to the question:

"Which of the three remaining presidential candidates offers the most responsible fiscal policy proposals in your view?"

Twenty-one economists, or 75% of the respondents, chose Senator McCain, the republican nominee to be. Obama came in second with the backing of six economists, or 21% of the respondents. Just one economist picked Hillary.

The question was asked as part of the Journal's latest forecasting survey.

In another interesting finding from the survey, 51% of the respondents said demand from China and India was the prime factor in soaring energy prices, and 41% said the demand was the chief contributor to rising food costs. Constraint in supply was cited second most often; Twenty percent blamed supply problems for higher food prices, and 15% for increasing energy prices. If these economist are right, there is little the U.S. can do to ease the pain of higher energy and food prices.

According to he survey, the price of crude is expected to fall to about $105 by the end of next month and to about $93 by the end of the year, overall inflation will continue, and gasoline prices are expected to stay high. Get use to it.

Posted in 2008 | Economy | John McCain — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:48am on May 9, 2008 Obama started with mysogyny, now attacks McCain's age

By Soren Dayton

Barack Obama is no stranger to gutter politics. He will tell you for the next 6 months that he is the victim of it. I call BS. Barack Obama plays gutter politics.

Yesterday he said that John McCain was "losing his bearings", an unsubtle attack on McCain's age. I'll get to the McCain campaign's response. But first, I want to point remind you of one of the great un(der)reported stories of the Democratic Primary, Barack Obama's sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton.

Jake Tapper first noted this when Obama said that Hillary was "taking out the claws." At the same time he noted that Obama would use "[l]anguage such as 'when she's feeling down' 'periodically' she 'launches attacks.'" Tapper noted that a number of female reporters and bloggers picked up on this. Later Obama complained that Hillary was "throwing the China" at him. Again, Tapper heard the dog whistle. Tapper noted that this "feeds into the 'harridan' caricature of Clinton."

So when Obama attacks McCain with an age-based smear, it shouldn't be surprising. Mark Salter, one of McCain's senior advisors, nailed it:

First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama's attack today: He used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning.

We have all become familiar with Senator Obama's new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama — Comments (50) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:54am on May 9, 2008 Chris Matthews: Jealous of Rush Limbaugh

The London Telegraph might want to rethink putting Matthews above Limbaugh on the list of most influential pundits

By Erick

Poor, poor Chris Matthews. He is so jealous of Rush Limbaugh he finally blew it the other day on Hardball. Matthews said

"I have to offer a Keith-style special comment on that. Anyone who voted to screw up the political system of this country with the purpose of mischief should carry that with them the rest their lives. What a ridiculous way to use the vote for which people fought and died, to use that vote to make mischief. I hope you're proud of yourself."

There are a few things to take away from that.

Matthews and his pals at MSDNC have, for months, been shilling for Barack Obama like a Quiznos junior manager in a gorilla outfit in the right of way -- obviously, obnoxiously, and with little impact on sales. For months and months we've heard Matthews describe how he nearly wets himself every time Obama sighs and has chills go down his spine and up his leg every time Obama speaks.

The whole network, save Joe Scarborough, has behaved like dogs in heat for Obama. Dan Abrams, just two weeks ago, begged and pleaded for Obama to avoid Fox News because they might actually ask the candidate substantive questions, unlike his network. Olbermann is all Obama all the time when he isn't putting Limbaugh and RedState on his "worst person in the world" list -- a list no one would be shocked to see all of the apostles except Judas show up on.

And then there is Limbaugh. After months of MSDNC shilling for Obama, begging people to vote for Obama, and slanting all their "news" coverage to favor Obama, Limbaugh just suggests that voters go vote for Hillary and they do. People went out in a coordinated effort to prolong the Democratic primary. What Matthews and all of MSDNC could not do after months of trying, Rush Limbaugh was able to do -- get people to the polls in droves.

Hell, I'd be jealous too if I spent months preaching the gospel of Obama only to have some guy on freakin' radio outdo me in one day.

Of course, there is more to it than that. Read on . . .

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Chris Matthews | Rush Limbaugh — Comments (90)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:07am on May 9, 2008 No, I Haven't Forgotten The Nightmare In Zimbabwe

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Though I very much wish that I could:

President Robert Mugabe's government on Thursday extended its crackdown on Zimbabwe's opposition with the arrest of a newspaper editor and a threat to arrest an opposition leader.

Davison Maruziva, editor of the Standard newspaper was arrested on Thursday on charges of publishing false statements prejudicial to the state and contempt of court. The charges arose from an article written by Arthur Mutambara, leader of the breakaway-wing of the Movement for Democratic Change that was published on April 20. Police said Mr Mutambara faced similar charges. The article was highly critical of President Mugabe, accusing him of intimidation and urging him to step down from the presidency.

Zimbabwe has been in limbo since disputed presidential and parliamentary elections in March. After weeks of delay - and amid claims that the ruling Zanu-PF were attempting to rig the vote - it was announced that the MDC had won the largest number of seats in parliament and that its leader Morgan Tsvangiral had won 47.9 per cent of the vote, with Mr Mugabe trailing on 43.2 per cent.

This had set the scene for a presidential run-off although the MDC has still to decide whether to contest. Reports of intimidation and violence against opposition supporters have lead many to suggest that a fair run-off would not be possible.

Mr Maruziva's arrest followed that of a South African-based Reuters photographer, Howard Burditt who has been in detention since Monday accused of using a satellite phone to transmit pictures. He had still to be charged yesterday.

Read on . . .

Posted in Begone I Say And Let Us Have Done With You | Foreign Affairs | Robert Mugabe | Zimbabwe — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:23pm on May 8, 2008 REDSTATE ROUNDTABLE #9: The McCain Veepstakes

By Jeff Emanuel

Once again, RedState presents a peek inside the minds of those who make up the site's Editorial staff. This week, the RS Contributors debate Sen. McCain's potential Vice Presidential selection.

The big question: who should McCain pick? And, to revisit a question we took on back in February, should McCain try to make his choice early, or should he wait until close to the September convention?

Dan McLaughlin: I have laid out my own rules for who I think McCain should rule out , and I'll just say here that if the choice was mine to make today, I think my preferences would be SC-GOV Mark Sanford, RI-GOV Don Carcieri, and MN-GOV Tim Pawlenty, in that order, although I'm actually leaning towards the idea that Carcieri might be electorally the best bet in helping McCain crack Pennsylvania and maybe even New Jersey.

Continued below the fold...

Posted in 2008 | Elections | John McCain | Redstate Roundtable | Republican Vice Presidential Nomination | Veepstakes — Comments (124)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:45pm on May 8, 2008 Permit me to translate this letter for you.

Just because.

By Moe Lane

It's a letter from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama regarding the Michigan and Florida delegations (via Hot Air), and like all such letters what the writer would like to say is not necessarily what it does say. Fortunately, I am in the throes of a telepathic trance (or a minor throat infection, which has roughly the same effects), so let's rectify that, shall we? The actual letter is in blockquotes: my, ah, channelings of what Senator Clinton actually wanted to say and/or include are in italics.

Senator Barack Obama

Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680

Dear Senator Obama,

[Me channeling HRC: Guess what? I'm still here. I guess Jimmy was right: give you one of mine and we'll both have two. Oh, by the way, Jimmy really appreciated the way that you just sat there and took the insult to both you and your wife not like a man at all. "Performance art?" You're from Illinois: did you really think that'd play in Peoria?]

[Read on, Barry.]

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:25pm on May 8, 2008 The GOP--On The Right Side Of The Trade Issue

And That's Not Just A Pun

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

In the event that people think the debate over free trade is smallball in this election cycle, let me note that in fact, the issue is attracting a whole lot of attention--and for all of the correct reasons; what we do in terms of formulating and implementing trade policy will have a tremendous impact on our economic growth, or lack thereof.

To that end, I want to direct reader attention to this and this, both of which show that trade policy is going to be a special focus of attention for the GOP come this fall. This is a good thing; Republicans are not backing down in the face of protectionist demagoguery. Quite the contrary, a pro-growth, pro-free market, pro-opportunity message is being spread that is in the best traditions of the Republican Party.

I don't feel like being reminded of Smoot-Hawley. I know that you don't either. And if we work hard enough in this upcoming election cycle, we won't be.

Posted in Economy | Free Trade | Protectionism — Comments (9)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:24pm on May 8, 2008 Senator McCain and Judicial Appointments

By Rep. Tom Feeney

Over the last half of this century, the United States Supreme Court has frequently elected to decide what the law should be rather than what the law actually is. Through routine applications of substantive due process and an expansive reading of the Commerce Clause, the Court has elected to form the contours of American law from the bench rather than deferring to Congress and the States.

While The Supreme Court must review legislation through the lens of constitutionality, the role of our courts is to say what the law is, not what it should be. If the Court feels that a piece of legislation does not pass constitutional muster, then it may require the originating legislative body to make a second effort to comply or render the law inoperable. The Court should not make determinations of policy or social issues that are properly left to the consideration of publicly elected officials.

When the Court strays from strictly interpreting the law and the Constitution, we are left with abortions at a whim, brutal murderers receiving reduced penalties, and private property being seized by state and local governments for private commercial gain.

Earlier this week, Senator John McCain pledged that his judicial appointments would have "a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint." As we approach the coming election, we must have leaders that are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and finding judicial nominees that are able to exercise the kind of restraint that Senator McCain promotes.

Senator McCain recognizes that the real and desired activism in our country is democratic rather than judicial. As Senator McCain mentioned, "Real activists seek to make their case democratically – to win hearts, minds, and majorities to their cause." Americans have a duty to be involved in the political process, to make their opinions heard by their elected officials, and to vote for candidates that reflect their values.

If our next President nominates activist judges to force an agenda that could not otherwise garner the approval of the people, he will betray the trust and silence the voice of the very people who put him in office.

Posted in 2008 | John McCain | Judicial Appointments — Comments (12)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:40pm on May 8, 2008 Tim Mahoney admits he has no freaking clue about the sub-prime lending crisis

By Erick

Tim Mahoney (D-FL) is upset with Republicans for blocking the "Don't Make People Deal With The Consequences of Their Own Actions" Act also known as the sub-prime mortgage bailout.

This is just too rich:

Mahoney said Republicans have it all wrong. He said because Florida’s housing prices were so high, many families turned to sub-prime mortgages as their only avenue to get into homeownership.

Pay attention to this:

Republicans have it all wrong.

In real person speak: The Republicans don't want to bail out people who decided to live beyond their means. Everyone knows taxpayers are supposed to save the irresponsible from themselves.

Florida’s housing prices were so high

In real person speak: it was difficult for some people to buy a house because, by any objective standard used in the free market, these people could not actually afford to buy their house.

many families turned to sub-prime mortgages

In real person speak: some people who had crummy credit and wanted to live in a house they couldn't afford sought out a way to make the deal happen after banking institutions questioned the financial ability of these people to actually, you know, buy a house and pay for it. So they got into sub-prime mortgages and we should feel sorry for them and let the taxpayers bail them out now.

their only avenue to get into homeownership

In real person speak: Tim Mahoney now wants taxpayers to pay for their homeownership because, you know, living beyond your means is as American as apple pie.

Brilliant, Tim.

Posted in 2008 | FL-16 | Subprime Mortgage Bailout | Tim Mahoney — Comments (9)/ Email this page » / Read More »