The General Election...A Preview

While speaking to the National Rifle Association in Louisville, McCain responded to Obama’s remarks earlier today.

“I welcome a debate about protecting America,” McCain said. “No issue is more important. Sen. Obama claimed all I had to offer was the ‘naive and irresponsible belief’ that tough talk would cause Iran to give up its nuclear program. He should know better.

“I have some news for Sen. Obama: Talking, not even with soaring rhetoric, in unconditional meetings with the man who calls Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ and arms terrorist who kill Americans will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless to suggest that unconditional meetings will advance our interests.

“It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don't have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Sen. Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment, and determination to keep us safe.”

Ouch.

When Obama and McCain start going at each other like this in the general, do you guys see what a complete rookie Obama will look like? It will be like a pro football team playing a local high school team.

via First Read

Bad Huckabee

What was he thinking???

From The Hill:

During a speech to the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky Friday, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee joked to the audience that an offstage noise was Barack Obama avoiding gunfire.

"That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak," Huckabee said. "Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."

via NRO

At least this may ensure that Huckabee does not get the V.P. nod.

"Moment of Truth in Iraq"

Michael Yon's book "Moment of Truth in Iraq: How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope " is out. I haven't gotten it yet (but I will!). I found this review from his publisher over at Cobb's and it is telling indeed:

I HAVE NEVER BEEN PROUDER TO PUBLISH A BOOK

Michael Yon changed my mind about the war in Iraq, by making me understand it for the first time.

From the very beginning I was against the war. I thought it would be a disaster, another Vietnam. And until I had the privilege of working on this book with Michael I was always for immediate pull-out: why should one more American die for a doomed effort?

Michael--who is as close to totally non-political as anyone I know--showed me two things. First, because I judged by Vietnam, the war of my youth, I had radically underestimated what American soldiers could do. I knew they could blow away any regular opponent on any battlefield. But wage a counterinsurgency against an enemy with broad support in the population? Win the "hearts and minds," to use the Vietnam era phrase that now can be used only ironically? That was asking too much, I thought.

I was 100 percent wrong. Today's American soldiers excel at counterinsurgency, because they excel at the most important thing: winning over the people by inspiring them with their own courage and compassion, discipline and determination. Reading this book is like watching the movie Apocalypse Now, but in an alternate universe in which the opposite always happens. Every time our soldiers get into an incredibly tense situation with some Iraqis who might be friends or might be enemies or murderers, some situation in which what's needed is amazing calm and courage to keep things from blowing up and ending in a blood bath, our guys pull it off!

Just wait until you read the Chapter "High Noon" (my favorite), the story of the American soldiers who have to arrest a corrupt but politically popular Iraqi police chief we had put in office in the first place because he had been a real hero in fighting the terrorists. He had to be removed by Americans to show the Iraqis we really did believe in the rule of law. The whole thing could have blown up into a one-town civil war with hundreds dead on both sides. Won't tell you how it ends, but you will be amazed and very proud.

The other thing Michael helped me understand is the difference between terrorists we just have to kill (often foreigners, or local criminals) and local insurgents we should have been working with all along. For almost five years I could not tell from watching the news--and certainly not from listening to the Administration--who the enemy was, what they wanted or why they were fighting. Not surprisingly it turns out that understanding the various people we were fighting--some of whom have since become great allies--was the key to winning the war, which we are now clearly doing.

I am convinced that everything I once thought about the war was wrong. The truth is we are doing a great thing in Iraq, most of the Iraqi people really do want to be a united democratic nation and already consider America their greatest friend and ally. It would be a crime to turn tail now and abandon them now.

I owe all that to Michael's book, which is why I believe publishing Moment of Truth in Iraq may be the best thing I have ever done for my country.

Wow.

You've been hoodwinked

In an article in The New Republic, Cinque Henderson reflects upon why he, as a black man, doesn't like Obama. It's all very interesting, but this part is what stopped me:

".... he gave speeches across South Carolina that warned against being "hoodwinked" and "bamboozled" by the Clintons. His use of the phrase is resonant. It comes from a scene in Malcolm X, where Denzel Washington warns black people about the hidden evils of "the White Man" masquerading as a smiling politician: "Every election year, these politicians are sent up here to pacify us," he says. "You've been hoodwinked. Bamboozled."

By uttering this famous phrase, Obama told his black audience everything it needed to know. He was helping to convince blacks that the first two-term Democratic president in 50 years, a man referred to as the first black president, is in fact a secret racist. As soon as I heard that Obama had quoted from Malcolm X like this, I knew that Obama would win South Carolina by a massive margin."

As I read this, I remembered the scene in Malcolm X. Could this possibly be a coincidence?? I think more than anything I have read about Obama, his liberalism and his lack of experience, this is the most disturbing thing to me. Using race to divide.

Could he possibly be using race in some sort of code words that he knew blacks would understand? Cinque Henderson thinks so.

Are we being hoodwinked by Obama?

via HotAir

China's Greatest Grief Began Long Ago

Shiho Fukada for the New York Times

I remember having conversations 25 yrs ago regarding China's one child policy. I would tell people that China forced women to have abortions if they already had one child. I would tell them that at work women were required to keep charts on the wall of their menstrual cycles and prove their periods. It was the stuff of sci-fi nightmares and people generally thought I was just going off on my usual pro-life rants.

The same thing happened when I discussed partial birth abortions back then. No one even believed me on that one either. They believe me now, but now it seems we hardly horrified by anything anymore.

As The New York Times article points out:

But now with the tragedy of the earthquake in China, the real cost of China's one child policy is there for all to see.

Yet we ignored this inhumane and grisly policy for all these years. While those on the left fought for the continued right to abort children in this country. China forced mothers who desperately wanted their children to abort.

A sad commentary on both our countries.

My heart is broken for the parents like the one's pictured above. Forced to only have one child, they now have none. China has promoted this evil for far too long and we have stood by and said nothing.

China's humanistic attempt to control it's population dismissed the reality of the greatest gift we are given on this earth...our children.

Ironically, it was just in March that China announced that it would continue it's one child policy for another decade.

For all the feminists out there who love to promote abortion rights, it might interest you to know that in China for all these years female infanticide was common given the cultural biased towards male children. There is also proof of less aggressive treatment of sick female infants.

Who would have guessed that the feminist's call to arms.....abortion, would be used to eliminate female babies in China. A sad irony to be sure.

The Chinese government has even acknowledged the disastrous social consequences of the sex imbalance of boys and girls as they grow to adults. The shortage of women has increased mental health problems and socially disruptive behavior among men and has left some men are unable to find women to marry and have a family. The scarcity of females has resulted in kidnapping and trafficking of women for marriage and increased numbers of sex workers, and a rise in STD's and human immunodeficiency virus infection.

What a wicked web we weave when don't see the blessings that children really are.

Here in the United States we can't even imagine the government telling us how many children to have, much less forcing us into abortions.

China is a lesson not only of the horror of big government, but a lesson on what the consequences are when we forget the gift that is our children.

2013

New ad by McCain. It pretty much sums up things in a Reader's Digest version. What do you think?

Let's Hear It For America

When disaster strikes around the world, who steps up to the plate to help?

We do.

Our help has started to reach Burma. Three U.S. Air Force C-130 transport planes carrying water, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting, and blankets landed in Rangoon yesterday and the day before. U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Henrietta Fore said the U.S. agency has allocated sixteen-million-two-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars in assistance.

Burma is not our friend and neither is China, but Tuesday The White House announced that the United States would provide 500,000 dollars in initial aid to China over the devastating quake.

Every time someone in the world experiences disaster we give millions of dollars, We load up with food and medical supplies, and transport planes, helicopters and floating hospitals to come to the aid of those those devastated by natural disaster.

In 2005 more than1,200 military members and 25 helicopters were deployed to Pakistan after the earthquake that struck the Kashmir region in northern Pakistan. The U.S. led the 63 nation relief effort providing food,medical care, and transportation. We flew 4000 missions and delivered 11,000 tons of supplies and transported 18,000 people in relief efforts.

And we can't forget the tsunami in Asia. As this Australian article points out: (emphasis mine)

Back in 2004, the Americans - along with the Australians - arrived within hours to help the hundreds of thousands of people left devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami in Asia. A US carrier group steamed towards Indonesia's Aceh province. A second US Marine Corps strike force made its way to Sri Lanka with water, food and medical supplies.
The Pentagon spent millions of dollars sending C-130 transport planes from Dubai to Indonesia with tents, blankets, food and water. A navy chief in charge of co-ordination efforts said the US would deliver "as much help as soon as we can, as long as we're needed".

The article chastises those who like to paint the U.S. as "The Great Satan."

The need to paint Americans as a greedy, selfish, war-mongering superpower cannot be disturbed by facts. It matters not that, in the year before the tsunami, the US provided $2.4 billion in humanitarian relief: 40per cent of all the relief aid given to the world in 2003. Never mind that development and emergency relief rose from $10 billion during the last year of Bill Clinton's administration to $24 billion under George W. Bush in 2003. Or that, according to a German study, Americans contribute to charities nearly seven times as much a head as Germans do. Or that, adjusted for population, American philanthropy is more than two-thirds more than British giving.

There is a teenaged immaturity about the rest of the world's relationship with the US. Whenever a serious crisis erupts somewhere, our dependence on the US becomes obvious, and many hate the US because of it. That the hatred is irrational is beside the point.

Indeed, why not break into a standing ovation every now and again? As more US C-130s and helicopters stand waiting on Burma's doorstep, desperate to help a shattered populace and stymied only by an appalling anti-US regime, this is one of those times.

Let's hear it for America.

Indeed.

h/t BigDog

Obama announces John Edwards as V.P.

Ok, not really.

But it is my guess that a deal was made. Edward's endorsement helps keep momentum on Obama's side as he loses big time in W. Virginia and probably Kentucky.

Even though I find it hard to believe that Obama will not give in to pressure to have an Obama/Hillary ticket, the sense I get when reading opinions on the left is that Michelle Obama is not for it, and frankly, I think Michelle gets what Michelle wants. Obama doesn't want Hillary either, but the pressure will be enormous.

But Edwards calms that a bit. He is charismatic, goodlooking, and well known on the political stage. He draws the same demographics that Hillary does without the baggage.

Two young goodlooking charismatic guys. Ebony and Ivory. It's perfect and leaves Clinton right where they want her, isolated.

It's mean, it's calculated, and it just might work.

Who says Obama doesn't know how to play the game?

Funny Freakout

My daughter showed me the Bill O'Reilly freak out video a few days ago. It was hilarious. You know Stephen Colbert couldn't let it go by. Heh.

via HotAir

How could Hillary possibly win????

Ummm....this way?

The Democratic party's "superdelegates" have every right to overturn the popular vote and choose the candidate they believe would be best equipped to defeat John McCain in a general election, according to Howard Dean, chairman of the US Democratic National Committee.

....

He said there was nothing in the DNC's rules that would prevent the party's unelected superdelegates, who make up about a fifth of the overall delegate tally and who will ultimately pick the winner, from "doing what they want".

....

"I think the race is going to come down to the perception in the last six or eight races of who the best opponent for McCain will be. I do not think in the long run it will come down to the popular vote or anything else."

Why did Obama lose W. Virginia?

Because those people are old, white, uneducated, violent, and historically "anti-slave."

The Lord Be With You...

......When it helps you politically anyway. This is one of Obama's campaign posters for Kentucky via race42008. In a related ad it says this:

"Obama forged a profound connection with the people of these communties. At their encouragement, he visited a local church one day. That day Obama felt a beckoning of the spirit and accepted Jesus Christ into his life."

Imagine a Republican putting out a poster like this. Imagine a Republican declaring that he is "doing the Lord's work" or "felt the beckoning of the spirit." The MSM would have a field day. Such is the hypocrisy of those who cover politics. Notice it says "a local church," not the name of the Church...the Rev. Wright's infamous Trinity Church.

Obama will unite us all...

How? I have no idea. This is the winner of the 30 second ad for "Obamacan" from MoveOn.org.

Give me a break. How will Obama unite Republicans with him? There isn't one issue that we even come close to agreeing with him on. He has never shown a hint of bi-partisanship in any of his votes in Congress or in Illinois. He has never voted against his base.

Unlike McCain, who goes against the base almost daily, but I love him anyway. He has his own mind and he doesn't tow the party line.

Obama, on the other hand, certainly tows his party's line. So have we come to a point where just saying something makes it so? Because this ad is nothing but words. There is no action whatsoever to back it up.

Obama's Jewish Problem

Jennifer Rubin at CommentaryMagazine.com has this on Barack Obama’s interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of Atlantic Monthly on Israel and Hamas.

The Republican Jewish Coalition did have this to say:

"Once again, Senator Obama demonstrates his questionable grasp of America’s foreign policy. Senator Obama manages to excuse the inexcusable actions of anti-American militant jihadists by putting the blame for their actions on America’s foreign policy. America stands with Israel because it is one of our strongest allies and the only democracy in the Middle East. Senator Obama naively believes that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will solve the global scourge of radical Islamic extremism. Yet Senator Obama never says how he will reign in Hamas’ daily onslaught on Israel or Iran’s scurrilous condemnations of Israel. Is it any wonder Hamas has endorsed him for president?”

"That seems to get it right: what is most disturbing is his acceptance of the perspective that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the source of all of the region and “all of our foreign policy” problems and his blasé attitude toward Hamas. He does not seem the least bit concerned that a terrorist organization would endorse him. At the very least this should demonstrate how absurd is his claim that there is no difference between his position and John McCain’s on this topic."

Obama has insisted that he is committed to the security of Israel, one has the feeling that like the Rev. Wright controversy, Obama says what he knows he has to say in order to win. How is this different from the Clintons?

Let's Talk Race

Obama Does Def Comedy Jam - Watch more free videos

(language content warning)

When I first watched this video I had no intention of posting it. I don't like comedy that is laced with curse words and sterotypes people in general. I certainly don't like women being referred as a b*tch. But I got to thinking about this video and how it illustrates something about Obama.

Everyone is talking about how Hillary said she had the support of white working class voters. Oh how shocking! I wonder where the "race rules" are? Where can we go to find out who gets to say what words when it comes to race?

What came to mind as I watched this video was that if Obama really spoke that way, we wouldn't be talking about Obama at all, would we? So is it really about race or is it about class?

Did 90% of blacks vote for Jesse Jackson when he ran? No. So blacks must have seen something in Obama that they didn't see in Jesse. I know what it was...electability. Whites voting for Obama didn't vote for Jesse either. Why? I think I am beginning to see why the question was asked at the beginning of Obama's campaign, "Is he black enough?" Because he doesn't seem to relatable to the Def Comedy Jam crowd to me. He did seem "white" enough for white supporters who didn't support Jesse Jackson. But was it "white"enough? Or was is simply more charm? Was it more demeanor than color?

Most of us don't want this election to be about race, but it is. You can't wish it away. This is exciting for the black community to have the first black man to possible be the Democratic nominee and possibly the President. It's not wrong to display happiness at that fact.

SNL made fun of Hillary this past week using racism. I think we all know that Hillary is not a racist. What many of us who pay attention wonder...is Obama? His pastor, in my opinion, certainly is. So many white Democrats wondered for the first time, did Obama shared his pastor's feelings about race and America? This is reflected in the later primaries. I think many whites thought that Obama was going to be above all that. He had so much class, after all. They wondered if they had been scammed somehow. Was there a Def Comedy Jam Obama lurking underneath the surface of the ivy league Obama?

There is nothing wrong with asking that question. Sometimes race brings up strong reactions. We need to be able to discuss it.

As John Hartigan at RCP points out:

Geraldine Ferraro is a good example. Her role in Clinton's campaign ended after she remarked, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Her assertion is debatable, but it generated little debate, largely because it was quickly repudiated by Clinton herself. However gratifying it may be to see such views denounced, consider the cost. Banishing people from the public sphere satisfies a sense of propriety, but it also makes it more difficult to talk about race. That is because people fear the high price for saying "something wrong," forestalling an open discussion of what was "wrong" about what Ferraro said.

Shock Jocks around the country say inappropriate and outrageous things on a daily basis, but Don Imus crossed the line with his denigration of black women on a basketball team. I was appalled at the line as well, but there are hundreds of lyrics in rap music that say much worse things about black women. Why is that Ok and what Imus said not Ok? Because Imus is white? Why can Dave Chappell use the "n" word freely, but Michael Richards has to do a 12 state apology tour for using the same word? Why can Jesse Jackson call Jews "Hymies" and he still stays on the political stage? But George Allen calls a dark skinned Indian man a "macaca" and he loses an election?

Like I said before, where is the race rulebook?

Here is an idea. What about we hold blacks and whites to the same standards. If you are offended by the "n" word (and I am) then be offended by every rap song that has it. Be offended by every comedian that uses it, be they black or white.

It would suit me just fine if we never mention Obama's race again. Let's focus on issues. Because there is a valley wide and deep on issues when it comes to Obama and McCain.

But the reality is that people have many different feelings about race and that isn't going away. Instead of firing every supporter that mentions it, like Hillary did with Geraldine Ferrero, we need to discuss it and open up the understanding and misunderstandings that we have with each other.

Update: While we are discussing it, we might want to discuss how it is the Democrats throwing around racist language and even destructive behavior.

"Living The Dream"

I have argued many times with lefties (mostly at my Houston Chronicle blog) about what is going on over in Iraq. They love to send me links to the MSM stories reflecting a "failure" in Iraq and all that. I always say to them that we could trade news stories all day, but who I listen to are the boots on the ground, our warriors. Their truth is in their fight. Do you wonder if the Iraqi army is ready to take it over completely from our boys? We are getting there. The first milblog I read spoke of how well the Iraqi army is doing. This one did too:

So we got a break from the 110 temps. Last night a kick in the butt sand storm hit and visibility was slim. The enemy is frustrated and can't stand that every time they turn around there is a Marine there. We thwarted a complex ambush last week as we patrolled with the Iraqi's. They are getting stronger by the day and before you know it, they will ask us to leave. They have become so much stronger since my last deployment here it would truly astonish you.

So how are his Marines doing?

They continue to put in long days, bear the difficult environment and continue to accomplish the mission. All are in good spirits because they see first hand the difference they are making. I bet you haven't heard any crap story's on the news lately have ya?? Nope because all of the armed forces are kicking butt here. Thank you for all of our support and although you may not hear it in the news, you should be proud to be an American, by witnessing these Marines kick butt, I know I am. Semper Fi-Time for a cigar.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love these guys?

Update: Sometimes these heros don't live the dream. They die so that others may live it.

Thank God we still make men such as these.

Wonderful!

In case you missed it, Laura Ingraham announced on her radio show last week that her adoption of a little girl from Guatemala finally went through. Congratulations to Laura. May God bless you and your little girl. via LST

McCain and Me!

I finally got my picture back from the fundraiser back in March. It's perfectly awful, but I am still excited about it. I had told him as I met him that I was one of the bloggers on the weekly bloggers call with him. I told him I was "Rightwingsparkle" and he said "Oh yes!" Like he was familiar with me, and it made me laugh, so I had my head still tilted back and I look retarded. And on top of that McCain looks like he's trying to wink. Heh.

Anyway, I'm still thrilled to have met him and gotten my picture made with him.

Mom and Me

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mom!

Awwww.....A Wedding.

You gotta love it. Sweet, elegant, and simple.