In a November 23, blog entry for the Jesuit’s America Magazine, Michael Sean Winters argued that law professor Douglas Kmiec would be the “perfect person” to represent the Obama Administration as the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican.
Bad Doug. No Diplomatic Bone.
Winters' argument fails to impress
No wonder the GOP is on its knees
RNC member's e-mail to Steele is insulting
If Curly Haugland is typical of his fellow RNC members, that would go a long way toward explaining why the Republican Party is in such a mess. Haugland recently sent an e-mail to former Lt. Governor Michael Steele of Maryland asking Steele to give up his quest for the RNC’s chairmanship. The Washington Times printed portions of the e-mail in a story by Ralph Hallow in today’s edition, excerpts of which follow, with my comments:
PACs 4 Palin
Sarah's supporters turn to radio and TV
Sarah Palin has some new blessings to be thankful for over the Thanksgiving holidays.
Earlier this week, the America Deserves Better PAC uveiled its promised television ad saying “thank you” to Alaska’s governor. Basically, its a video thank-you note, with a number or ordinary-looking folks offering their thanks to Palin for all she’s done. Nice sentiments, but not very imaginative production techniques. It comes in both thirty second and one minute versions.
Sarah to campaign for Saxby
Can she still draw the crowds?
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will take time off from her work of preparing the operating and general FY09 budgets for her state (due December 10) and travel to Georgia to campaign with Saxby Chambliss, according to the incumbent Senator.
Bankruptcy, now!
The opinion of a car crazy .
I’m a car guy. Always have been. I’ve lived, breathed and dreamed about things automotive for almost all of my life. Years before I even reached the legal age to get a learner’s permit, I was digesting car books from cover to cover, building scale-model cars from kits and lusting after a ‘49 Mercury coupe just like the one James Dean drove in “Rebel Without A Cause.” That car, which is now at home in Reno, NV at the National Automobile Museum, was the essence of cool for a car-crazy kid growing up in the 1950s.
Gallup: Republicans Prefer Palin for 2012
But who will lead in 2010?
In a survey of Republicans and political independents who “lean” toward the GOP to determine which prospective candidates they would and would not like to see run for president in 2012, Governor Sarah Palin tops the list of those receiving positive responses. Gallup conducted the poll Nov. 5-16.
David Letterman is a jerk
And a creepy one, too
Okay, you knew that already, right? Call me Captain Obvious. So where’s the news? It seems that the overpayed late night host had See-BS anchor Katie Couric as a guest Thursday night, and in the conversation between these two media giants Sarah Palin’s name came up. Letterman couln’t resist sharing:
Essentially out of nowhere, here she is, can’t name a newspaper, wants to be vice president, the first vice-presidential candidate that I found myself being aroused about.
In that one sentence, The Jerk (Dave, not Katie. See-BS has so many jerks that it’s work to keep them sorted out) proved himself wrong in three ways:
Quote of the day
It comes from joeclearke.net:
Democrats have a god in Obama; conservatives only have a friend in Palin.
- JP
The Palin-Reagan connection
Reincarnation or emulation?
I’m one of those who refuses to proclaim Sarah Palin as “the next Reagan.” To do so would be to open myself to all sorts of attacks from Reagan admirers and detractors alike, but that’s not why I refrain from equating the two. I truly believe that Ronald Reagan was a rare and unique leader, a giant of the conservative movement who pushed it ahead as much as did Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley. I do admire and support Gov. Palin, and I think she has her own brand of uniqueness. Rather than cast her as “another” Reagan, I see Palin as one of Reagan’s disciples, as is Fred Thompson. Sarah and Fred both preach the Gipper gospel of fiscal restraint, national security, smaller government and traditional values.
Obama begins healing planet
Receding ocean levels to follow?
For those pundits who assured us that Barack Obama would postpone rewarding his supporters in the powerful environmental lobby, at least until the nation’s ailing economy can be taken off of life support, guess again. From his triage center known as the Office of the President-Elect, Doc Obama has determined that the planet’s condition is more critically in need of attention than the nation’s economic health.
Palin, the Anti-Crist
She's also the Un-Pawlenty
The Tampa Tribune’s William Marsh writes today that governors Sarah Palin of Alaska and Charlie Crist of Florida part company on how the Republican Party can best find its way back to success.
Media 101: How to distort news in 5 easy steps
Dissing Palin for Democrats and Vichy Republicans
Distorting the news is child’s play. Here’s how it’s done…
1. Take a quote from a well-know authority figure, such as Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker, one of the authors of the GOP’s Contract With America and frequent guest on cable news programs where he comments on all matters political. This one from Gingrich’s appearance on today’s edition of “Face the Nation” on CBS will do nicely:
“I think that she is going to be a significant player, but she’s going to be one of 20 or 30 significant players. She’s not going to be the de facto leader.”
2. Wrap it up in a story which, by itself, is more or less straightforward.
3. Copy a part of the quote intact. In this case:
“She’s not going to be the de facto leader.”
4. Remove a key word or phrase will will change the meaning of the quote entirely and rephrase. In this case, delete “de facto”
5. Voila! Now you have a headline which distorts what the direct quote said and gives a whole new meaning to the story:
Gingrich says Palin will not be the future GOP leader
Congratulations, you now have a headline which distorts the meaning of the quote. You will have readers believing that Gingrich said Palin will not be the leader of her party in the future, when what he actually said is she will not be the de facto leader, i.e., she won’t automatically just be handed the leadership. He never said that she could not work for it and earn it.
You’re now qualified to be part of the anti-Palin, drive-by media. How does it feel to be a liar for the Democrats and Vichy Republicans?
- JP
Cross-posted at Gov. Sarah Palin for President
God save us from the WaPo editors
They want to raise our gasoline taxes... again.
It’s been a rocky few months for John Q. and Jane Public. First, it was the high gasoline prices and even higher diesel prices, the latter of which made the price of groceries and everything else shipped by 18-wheeler go up. Then came the financial meltdown, the mortgage fiasco, the tanking 401Ks and stocks, layoffs, etc. But then one little bright spot appeared as crude prices began to fall. Now with pump prices under $2 a gallon in many parts of the country, the Publics can fill up the family car’s tank without going into the bank account’s overdraft protection zone.
Boy, do they have a deal for Sarah Palin!
She could get $7 Million to write a book
She failed to save John McCain from presidential election doom, but Sarah Palin, the Republican senator’s controversial running mate, may yet emerge as the saviour of the American publishing industry. Literary agents are queueing up to sign her to a book deal that could earn her up to $7m…
Palin’s personal account of her tumultuous introduction to national politics is widely regarded as the book most likely to repay a multi-million-dollar advance.
“She’s poised to make a ton of money,” said Howard Rubenstein, New York’s best-known public relations adviser.
“Every publisher and a lot of literary agents have been going after her,” added Jeff Klein of Folio Literary management.
Palin’s profile showed no sign of diminishing last week, despite McCain’s defeat and embittered Republicans seeking a scapegoat for the party’s collapse.
It will be interesting to see how Gov. Palin will respond to the offers. If she accepts, I’ll wager that she will give a considerable chunk of her share to charity - possibly NADS, the National Association for Downs Syndrome. Yes, she’s that kind of person.
- JP
Cross-posted at Sarah Palin for President
Who in the GOP is really targeting Palin?
I seriously doubt that it's Barbour or Romney
In a guest post on The Moderate Voice, Floyd and Mary Beth Brown argue:
Those knifing Palin are the old-guard Republicans who don’t want to see her as the nominee in 2012. The old-guard GOP candidates are likely Gov. Haley Barbour or former Gov. Mitt Romney.
I disagree. I haven’t seen any compelling evidence that either Gov. Barbour or former Gov. Romney want to take Sarah Palin out of the political picture, and the authors don’t offer any.
Pawlenty’s Way
Leader of the mods?
Jack Thompson, commenting on the RGA conference he covered for Human Events, paints a picture of Tim Pawlenty which is not very flattering. He also says the Minnesota governor seemed to be positioning himself not only to lead the “reformer” wing of the party, but to make a run for its 2012 presidential nomination:
Pawlenty used his time at yesterday’s roundtable discussion to cast himself as the “modern” Republican while casting aspersions on the traditional conservative message, calling for outreach to the “new demographics,” deriding the GOP for allegedly being 15 years behind in the use of the Internet, and calling for the party not to be led by “a crank.” Pawlenty appears to have John McCain’s penchant for attacking conservatives rather than those in the other party.
Pawlenty in Miami was publicly angry, agitated, and even cranky, possibly because he found himself at odds with the far more conservative tone of every other speaker here. Hundreds of RGA members, who paid thousands of dollars to attend this Conference, wildly applauded “red meat” conservative pronouncements by speakers and not the more moderate and conservative-jabbing words by Pawlenty…
I don’t like the “reformist” and “traditionalist” labels currently being applied to the more conservative and moderate factions, repectively, that are fighting over the wheel to determine who gets to steer the future course of the U.S.S. GOP. IMO, those who want to return the party to its Reagan roots are the real reformers, so off the charts have been the Republicans ever since the Contract With America got lost in the rush to outspend the Democrats using the taxpayers’ dollars and grow the size of the federal government more than they. But that’s another debate.
If Pawlenty does, in fact, become the leader of the moderates, who will carry the banner for the conservatives?
- JP
Important energy find in Palin’s Alaska
Can she sell it?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, it’s gas hydrate, natural gas in a frozen state. And it’s under the North Slope in abundance - 85.4 trillion cubic feet of frozen natural gas crystals. To put the new find in perspective, the total estimated U.S. reserves of conventional (gaseous) natural gas sources is just 30 trillion cubic feet. We’re talking about a domestic energy bonanza here, enough to heat 100 million homes for ten years!
Palin envy at the governor’s conference
More anonymous sources grumbling about Sarah
From the we-haven’t-hit-Palin-enough CNN News Ticker:
