Could Osama be commenting on your blog?

From Think Progress:

Last night on PBS’ The NewsHour, New York Times columnist David Brooks compared 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden’s latest video message to “lefty blogs,” saying the al Qaeda head is like “one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom of the page.” He then went to describe why he drew such a comparison:

You read this thing, and it’s like he’s been sitting around reading lefty blogs,and he’s one of these childish people posting rants at the bottom the page, you know, Noam Chomsky and all this stuff.
You can’t help read it and not laugh at it, occasionally, because it is just absurd. It’s flying this way, and that way, weird conspiracy theories, and mortgages, global warming. He throws it all in there.

The clip of that is here.

I know we have been having a lot of fun with Osama sounding like certain Democrats we know, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Brooks might be on to something. I joked earlier that Osama sounded like Nancy Pelosi, but I was really kidding. But with Cindy Sheehan and Murtha, I was serious, because they DO say those kinds of things. And we all know those commenter's and some far left wacko blogs where all the things bin Laden mentioned is ranted about ad nauseam.

Everyone has said how "western" bin Laden sounded and then there was his bringing up Vietnam and Rumsfeld and Cheney's past. We have all read those things here in the blogosphere. So I'm wondering if bin Laden, with nothing else to do in those caves, is hooked up to a computer and has become a blogosphere junkie like the rest of us here.

This is your last warning...

Good grief this is creepy. It doesn't help that they used a kid dressed and looking like Satan in "The Passion Of The Christ."

It sounds to me like GreenPeace isn't about peace anymore.

via Primordial Slack and Joan of Argghh at Aces.

Osama speaks.

But first let's hear from Nancy Pelosi:

“You permitted Bush to complete his first term, and stranger still, chose him for a second term, which gave him a clear mandate from you — with your full knowledge and consent — to continue to murder our people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then you claim to be innocent!

Oh wait. That WAS Osama bin Laden. Sorry. I get confused. He even calls Cheney and Rumsfeld neoconservatives, so it's kind a spooky.

Ok, seriously. ABC has the details. But Jeff at PW's account is pretty good. Osama berates Americans:

“you made one of your greatest mistakes, in that you neither brought to account nor punished those who waged this war, not even the most violent of its murderers, [former Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld…”

Like I said, spooky. Tell me that couldn't be Cindy Sheehan or Murtha. I know I'm being mean, but good grief. If my party was sounding like Osama bin Laden, then I would be reconsidering my party. Sorry. That is just the way I feel and you can get mad about it all you wish.

But in the Democrats defense, he chastises them too:

"for people have recently come to know that, after several years of tragedies of this war, the vast majority of you want it stopped. Thus, you elected the Democratic Party for this purpose, but the Democrats haven’t made a move worth mentioning. On the contrary, they continue to agree to the spending of tens of billions to continue the killing and war."

You see Democrats, you just aren't doing your job well.

Osama says there are two ways to end this war:

“The first is from our side, and it is to continue to escalate the killing and fighting against you.” (ummm... and about the killing of all the Iraqi's?)

Jeff points out the second:

"The second is to do away with the American democratic system of government. “It has now become clear to you and the entire world the impotence of the democratic system and how it plays with the interests of the peoples and their blood by sacrificing soldiers and populations to achieve the interests of the major corporations.”

Jeff then points out these gems:

"He goes on to call Noam Chomsky “among one of the most capable of those from your own side,” and mentions global warming and “the Kyoto accord.”

Wouldn't you LOVE to be praised by Bin Laden and have him agree with your causes??

"He also speaks to recent issues grabbing headlines in the United States, referring to “the reeling of many of you under the burden of interest-related debts, insane taxes and real estate mortgages; global warming and its woes…“

Because we all know our crumbling cities in no way compare to the grandeur that is the middle east.

I just got this part from the WaPo:

"Osama bin Laden appeared for the first time in three years in a video Friday released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they want the war in Iraq to end."

So I guess there is that part of the second way to end the war.


To be honest, I don't like even listening to what this monster has to say. I understand it's news and must be reported, but it's only attention he wants and craves. I hate that we have to give it to him.

HotAir has some of the video. It's worth it to go over there and read Allah.

The "O" factor.

Tomorrow night is the night for the Oprah big party bash for Barack Obama. Oh, it will be sweet. Stars and money falling from the sky. 2000 guests will pay $2,300 a head to attend. Guests will be dropped of at a "greeting center" eight miles away from Oprah's 50 million dollar estate and then bused over. I have a "greeting center." It's called my kitchen, but anyway, guests will include Halle Barry, Jamie Foxx, George Clooney, Halle Berry, and John Travolta. And you know this has GOT to have Hillary seething.

Remember the question Time Magazine put out there in Feb asking if Barack was "black enough?" According to this article ,the Oprah factor isn't helping since it seems Oprah isn't black enough either.

If you don't recall the Time piece, here are the juicy parts:

"Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan," Stanley Crouch recently sniffed in a New York Daily News column entitled "What Obama Isn't: Black Like Me." "Black, in our political and social vocabulary, means those descended from West African slaves," wrote Debra Dickerson on the liberal website Salon. Writers like TIME and New Republic columnist Peter Beinart have argued that Obama is seen as a "good black," and thus has less of following among black people. Meanwhile, agitators like Al Sharpton are seen as the authentic "bad blacks."

I have to admit that I haven't noticed alot of excitment among the black community regarding Obama. I thought it may be the loyalty they feel toward Bill Clinton and so I went looking. Searching Ebony magazine I found only one article on Obama. One. Can you believe that? This man is running second for the Democratic nomination for President and he doesn't get but one article? And it wasn't just about him either. It was about both he and Hillary. The article discussed them equally. But I found this nugget interesting:

The senator from New York – in no small part because of her husband – is popular with African Americans. Many of us are divided between voting for her or one of our own, fearing that America is not yet ready for a black man as president.

They are afraid that if they support a black man he won't win? I find that amazing. But it does explain a lot.

I find many liberal blacks that describe themselves a certain way end up insulting themselves without even knowing it. See this last paragraph of the Time piece: (emphasis mine)

Back in the real world, Obama is married to a black woman. He goes to a black church. He's worked with poor people on the South Side of Chicago, and still lives there. That someone given the escape valve of biraciality would choose to be black, would see some beauty in his darker self and still care more about health care and public education than reparations and Confederate flags is just too much for many small-minded racists, both black and white, to comprehend.

Escape valve??? Blackness is something that one is lucky to be able to escape? And it is some kind of honorable thing to not do so?

I'm rooting for Obama on the Democratic side, I admit. Hillary is just too frightening to me. Obama seems to be everything Hillary is not. He is honest, down to earth, charismatic, has a good marriage, and honestly believes in what he says (although he is completely wrong on most issues)

I'd never vote for him, but I think that if our guy was running against him instead of Hillary, I wouldn't feel such a deep down sick feeling that the Democrats might win.

Oprah has turned everything to gold that she touches. We will see if that is enough to fight and win against the Hillary machine.

Girl Stupidity

In case you missed it yesterday, "High School Musical” star Vanessa Hudgens has a nude photo making it's way around the net. (the link is the story, not the photo, so don't bother) If you don't have a "tween" then you might not be familiar with the phenomenon that is "High School Musical." The musical really is good and it was nice to have something on TV that my 10 yr could watch. In the first one the two leading romantic characters don't even kiss.

The story is that Vanessa took these photos privately on her cell phone for her boyfriend, the actor that plays her boyfriend in the musical. She is 18. WHAT THE HECK IS SHE THINKING??? Is this generation so sexualized that they think that taking nude photos of themselves is just normal behavior?? And this isn't just a Hollywood thing. Sadly, this is common.

I saw the picture and it occurred to me that it is quite easy to see this kind of photo at the click of your mouse. So why all the buzz? Because I think people (uhh... men) want to see nude photos of young women that they aren't suppose to. In other words, those women who freely take off their clothes for the camera aren't nearly as tantalizing as the ones who don't.

Hsu arrested

via HotAir:

"Authorities said Hsu was taken into custody at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction at 7 p.m. local time. He had been on the lam for almost two days after failing to appear in a Redwood City courtroom Wednesday to surrender his passport."

It seems he was on an Amtrack train and became ill or was injured, not sure which. A botched Clinton job maybe?? Ok, just kidding.

Smell the Sulphur

Poor Hugo Chavez, the favorite socialist of the far left and Hollyweird. He thought he smelled sulphur at the UN, but it was really his economy going up in smoke.

The Venezuelan economy, under the direction of President Hugo Chávez, is starting to unravel in the currency market.

While Venezuela earns record proceeds from oil exports, consumers face shortages of meat, flour and cooking oil. Annual inflation has risen to 16 percent, the highest in Latin America, as Chávez tripled government spending in four years.

What? No more free heating oil for poor poor Americans?

This has been the worst-managed oil boom in Venezuela's history," said Ricardo Hausmann, a former government planning minister who now teaches economics at Harvard University. "A devaluation is a foregone conclusion. The only question is when."

He nationalized Venezuela's biggest private electric and telephone utilities and took majority stakes in oil projects owned by Exxon and ConocoPhillips. Foreign direct investment was a negative $881 million in the first half as foreign companies pulled out money.

Chávez terminated the broadcast license of the country's most-watched television network in May, sparking weeks of student protests. He has threatened to take over cement makers, hospitals, banks, supermarkets and butcher shops, saying they were not obeying price controls.

Back in 2005 Chavez bragged about his "free eye operations to people in all of the American continents, north and south."

The plan to provide free eye operations is part of the “Mission Miracle,” which is one of the many new social programs that Chavez government has instituted in the past two years in Venezuela. By the end of December, 150,000 Venezuelans will have received eye operations. These operations involved operations for cataracts, myopia, pigmentary retinosis, and many others.

Maybe these operations helped Venezuelans see that socialism never works.

via Grouchy Old Cripple

The language of war.

You may have heard on the news today about an internet jihadist site known to post messages from Al-Qaeda. The site seems to be down, but Stop The ACLU has some quotes. The quote you are seeing on the news is this:

“there will be a special gift coming on the day of the blessed invasion of Manhattan.”

My Pet Jawa always has the best scoop on stuff like this.

Here is the news: (via Stop The ACLU)

Egypt (AP) - Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden plans a new video addressing the American people regarding the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, terror monitoring groups said Thursday.SITE Intelligence Group said an Internet announcement of the plan included a photo of the al-Qaida leader from the upcoming video—his beard, which in previous messages had been streaked with gray, was entirely dark.

The creepy thing to me is the phrase "invasion of Manhatten." There may be many (ahem) who don't think that Al Qaeda declared war on us on Sept. 11th. Many who think it was just an act of a madman. But make no mistake about it, they saw it as an invasion.

"One Vote Under God"

Wow. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Presidential candidate's religious views at the click of your mouse. Amazing format and you can even go into the compare and contrast mode. Religious high tech cool. Who knew?

via CAR

Whoa...

Matt Sanchez has a biting essay at RightWing News on the "Taliban of Tolerance" (the activist gay community).

Here is just a taste:

"Senator Larry Craig is caught playing footsies with an undercover police officer in a public restroom, but that's not what has progressives in an outrage. The Taliban of tolerance are angry the Idaho senator doesn't support same-sex marriage. According to gay activists, if you're willing to get physical before you flush, you should also be willing to support the idea of changing the definition of marriage so that aspiring couples can share more than a bathroom stall.

For homosexuals, cruising is a sacred pastime right up there with re-runs of Will and Grace, circuit parties and lip-syncing drag queens. Public sex is supposed to be "hot," and I have some knowledge of this having co-starred in the high-end fantasy film Tijuana Toilet Tramps. In reality, for gays, a subset that defines itself by bodily function, it is no secret that the way to a homosexual's heart is somewhere beneath the stomach. These are people who can't separate who they "are" from what they "do."

To protect the inalienable right to loiter in latrines with impunity, LAMDA, a gay rights advocate group, publishes "The Little Black Book," a guide for "safely engaging in public sex." This book is filled with ideal locations, many in malls and amusement parks where children are present. It seems that all those complaints about keeping the government out of the bedroom, also apply to public restrooms, highway rest stops, alleys, theatres, arcades, public beaches, city parks…et al."

Ouch.

If you aren't familiar with Matt Sanchez, let's just say his past is interesting. Being a Marine and former gay and bi-sexual adult entertainer isn't usually a combined career past. He is now an "embedded blogger" with an American military unit, first in Iraq and now Afghanistan. His life is about redemption and change.

Bomb plot in Germany.

Slate has all the details of the various stories. But if you want a summary, here it is.

The leader of the cell is a 28 yr old German born Muslim convert. He and the other suspects trained with a Uzbek militant group affiliated with Al Qaeda. The U.S. intelligence took notice and started monitoring their cell phone conversations. (you know, the monitoring the Democrats don't want us to do)

Back in Germany the suspects started "acquiring 200 gallons of concentrated hydrogen peroxide, enough to make several crude but powerful car bombs. In July, the German police secretly managed to break into the cell's storage space and switch in canisters of harmless diluted peroxide. According to the LAT, investigators had planned to let the plot play out for a little while longer, but a routine traffic stop spooked the alleged conspirators, and police learned through "undercover methods" that an attack attempt was imminent."

The Washington Post says they "were aiming at American facilities or sites likely to result in American casualties but that it was unclear whether they had settled on a target. Security officials said evidence indicated that Ramstein Air Base, a major U.S. and NATO installation, and Frankfurt's international airport ranked high on the list of sites under consideration."

Debate thoughts.

Clearly McCain won. The most awkward moment was when the "citizen" asked Rudy about his family life. Rudy basically said that having a terrible personal life didn't keep him from running New York well. And if you didn't know what he did while Mayor of New York, you sure as heck knew after last night since he mentioned it about a dozen times.

Huckabee was impressive too. I wish he had more of a chance. I am liking Romney more and more. Last night wasn't his best night, but he is a Presidential figure. He really does have it all. Executive experience, conservative values (at least now he does), he is goodlooking and smart and has a great family life.

After last night, I'm thinking my old crush McCain might still have a fighting chance. After all, this guy knows how to survive and come out on top now, doesn't he?

Fred announces on Leno

I must say....yawn.

Law and Order and the Presidency.

I just can't stop thinking that Fred's announcement ad looks like a promo for his show "Law and Order." And guess what? I never saw one episode of "Law and Order," so I can only imagine what the average American who has watched it feels like. Tonight Fred skips the debate and announces on Jay Leno. It's just a bit too "Entertainment Tonight!" for me.

I have always said that our candidate needs to have star power to beat Hillary, but I wasn't thinking TV and movie star power.

I'm giving Fred my attention. He's saying the right things. But does he really want this? Or is the opportunity of riding the wave of his celebrity making him feel he can't pass this up?

The main things that trouble me is the fact that his campaign staff keeps quitting and his health. Having non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is no small thing. He doesn't look exactly robust and campaigning for President isn't for the weak or weary.

I'm ready to be convinced. I am. I am just not there yet.

Now that's an endorsement Fred Thompson..

My favorite line? "Did you know that Fred Thompson likes smoking, drinking, and slutting it up? But there are also some bad things about Fred Thompson."

Heh.

via LonestarTimes

The Hsu scandal just might stick.

Amazing really. The Hillary machine usually has a way of making these things seem trivial and the media accommodates. But since Hsu has jumped bail, the story has some legs.

Let's summarize for all of you needing to catch up on this story. Stephen Spruiell wraps it up nicely:

"Last week the Los Angeles Times reported that a major Democratic fundraiser named Norman Hsu was a wanted fugitive in California (he pleaded guilty to grand-theft charges in 1992 and subsequently disappeared). Hsu has since returned to California to face sentencing, and Hillary has given the nearly $23,000 she received in contributions from Hsu to charity. Unfortunately for her, that’s not the end of the story. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Hsu might have been involved in an illegal plot to reimburse a Bay Area family for tens of thousands of dollars in donations he “bundled” for them and gave to Clinton’s campaign. The FBI is reportedly investigating the matter, but so far her campaign has not divested these funds. Her husband told reporters in New Hampshire Sunday, “If the other people say they gave the money of their own accord then I think she should keep it.”

But....as The Campaign Spot reports, Hsu skipping bail might mean a reminder to America of all the shady fundraising deals of the Clinton's (renting the Lincoln bedroom out and the like):

"If Team Hillary was hoping for the story of Norman Hsu and the fundraising shenanigans to go away... they won't. Not with developments like this:

Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu failed to appear Wednesday for a bail hearing and a judge issued a new warrant for his arrest.

Hsu forfeits the $2 million bail he posted last week.

Hsu's lawyer said he doesn't know where his client is.

UPDATE: Some awesome gumshoe (gumHsu? Wearing out the Hsu leather?) reporting from Phil Klein, who notes:

In campaign finance reports, Hsu's companies are listed as: Next Components Ltd., Cool Planets Ltd., Because Men's Clothes, and Dilini Management. But none of the companies have online footprints or appear in fashion industry directories that I have searched. The only official recognition of any of these companies that I have found is Next Components, in the form of a filing for a certificate of corporation with the New York Department of State, Division of Corporations — but even that doesn't hold up to closer scrutiny. The filing was from May 6, 2005, and when I called the Division of Corporations, a representative there told me that the filing needed to be renewed every two years for a fee of $9, but Next Components never responded to the renewal notice.

The filing lists 561 Seventh Ave., Suite 1301 as the address for Next Components, but I called Handro Properties, the management company that runs the building, and was told that not only have they never heard of Next Components, but "Suite 1301" doesn't even exist.

Klein finds that Hsu's listed home addresses in FEC forms don't check out, either. Something here stinks to high heaven.

Could Hsu have bolted to Hong Kong? Well, I know one thing. One shouldn't hang around with the Clinton's mad at you. The long arm of the law isn't nearly as brutal as the long arm of Hillary.

Bill Clinton sees his near future.

From Politico.com:

"Bill Clinton's talk with Letterman about the vice presidency got a lot of attention yesterday, but my favorite part of the exchange came when Letterman asked Bill about his recent African safari:

WJC: I saw female lions go after warthogs while the male just laid there and watched. Which I thought was good preparation for my future, given this campaign, you know. Just sort of lay there and watch, you know."

Hmmm...lay there and watch and ask whoever is laying next to him to hand him a cigar, I suppose.

Sometimes he gets a call from Hillary on the road and he's on the golf course. Riiight.

Fred Thompson's announcement ad.

Here. Short and sweet.

Who could be blocking "The Path to 9-11" DVD release?

Hillary. Of course.

Sorry, this seems to be bash Hillary week, but she makes it so easy.

Terror plot in Germany on U.S. Air Base.

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Three terror suspects held in Germany planned to carry out "imminent" and "massive" bombs attacks on a U.S. air base and Frankfurt's international airport, according to officials.

An unidentified man, left, believed to be a terror suspect, is led away at the German Federal Court in Karlsruhe.

"They were planning massive attacks," Federal Prosecutor Monika Harms said.
"As possible targets ... the suspects named discotheques and pubs and airports frequented by Americans with a view to detonating explosives loaded in cars and killing or injuring many people," Harms told a news conference on Wednesday.

The suspects, two Germans aged 22 and 29 and a 29-year-old Turk, received terrorist training in Pakistan and had close ties to al Qaeda, according to Jorg Ziercke, president of Germany's Federal Criminal Investigation Office.

Read the whole thing here.

The NY Times Joins The Hillary Campaign.

It seems.

Also, if Hillary is elected and you are old enough to be reading this, you will never ever see any of your social security money.

In her remarks to the AARP she praises Social Security:

"This is the most successful domestic program in the history of the United States," Clinton said to applause from seniors gathered in Washington to push their policy agenda. "When I'm president, privatization is off the table because it's not the answer to anything."

via The Captain

Couric praises progess in Iraq.

Now she will really be in trouble with the left:

"We hear so much about things going bad, but real progress has been made there in terms of security and stability," Couric said Tuesday. "I mean, obviously, infrastructure problems abound, but Sunnis and U.S. forces are working together. They banded together because they had a common enemy: al Qaeda."

More:

"Now Fallujah is "considered a real role model of something working right in Iraq," Couric said."

via Drudge

"2008 was a dark year.."

Heh.

via HotAir

The Most Feared Man in Washingston??

Try the most disgusting man in Washington. At least to me.

"For Gay Blogger, Craig's Resignation Is Just the Latest on His List."

The Washington Post is reporting on Mike Rogers of BlogActive, who goal in life is to out gay Republicans.

"For three years now, he's been a feared one-man machine, "outing," he says, nearly three dozen senior political and congressional staffers, White House aides and, most damagingly, Congress members on his blog."

I don't have a problem with behavior, such as exhibited by Sen. Craig, becoming public knowledge (although Rogers did "out" Craig a while back, it didn't stick. The bathroom episode was given to Roll Call by a anonymous tip, Rogers maybe?) There have been rumors for years about Hillary's sexuality. I wonder if Rogers has looked into that? I doubt it.

As you can see here with Hillary on the Ellen Degeneres Show, Hillary, the one who is leading for the Democratic nomination, is AGAINST gay marriage. So if being against gay marriage makes one unacceptable to gay bloggers like Mike Rogers, then I hope to see him and the other gay bloggers come out against Hillary Clinton soon.

What is so reprehensible about this to me is the assumption that if one is gay then he must be for gay marriage. There are blacks who are against affirmative action. There are women against abortion. If a gay man who is a politician is against gay marriage, then in Roger's mind, he is a hypocrite. But what does it mean to be against gay marriage? Because it seems to me that he only targets Republicans against it, not Democrats. And almost all the Democrat Candidates, and all of the top tier ones, are against gay marriage. So let's not pretend, as Rogers tries to, that this is a bi-partisan fairy hunt. It isn't it. It's all about getting Republicans.

So that is where Rogers becomes the hypocrite, for only calling out Republicans, instead of calling out Hillary and the rest who are against gay marriage, yet have the continued support of gays like Rogers.

This could be the future.

Mark Hemingway over at NRO has managed to ruin my day.

Who can keep up?

When Controversy Follows Cash
Some Fundraisers With Legal Issues Slip Through Campaigns' Vetting

By John Solomon and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 3, 2007; Page A01

Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents to escape bankruptcy and millions of dollars in tax liens.

The founder of the Bombay Palace restaurant chain, Chatwal is one of a growing number of fundraisers in the 2008 presidential campaign whose backgrounds have prompted questions about how much screening the candidates devote to their "bundlers" while they press to raise record amounts.

There is more on similiare donations to the Edwards and Barack campaigns.

From GatewayPundit:

The latest Hillary illegal donor is a Japanese businessman named Tendo Oto.

Doug Ross is posting on the latest foreigner to donate to the Hillary Clinton campaign illegally- Japanese citizen Tendo Oto.

Plenty of Bill and Hillary’s pals know Tendo Oto. After all, they met him at the gala Hollywood fundraiser in 2000. Here he is, sitting right behind the Clintons at the Peter Paul concert.Doug from Upland has more on the illegal donations from Tendo Oto:IntroEpisode 1Episode 2Episode 3

Here's the short version from Free Republic:

...It is illegal for a foreign national to be at a candidate’s fundraiser. Oto gave 27 grand to help pay the expenses of the big event. He, of course, has no Social Security number, which is what the Secret Service begins with in the vetting process. They don't know much about him. There is no time to check the guy out.Peter Paul tells Bill of the problem. Well, shazaam, that’s not a problem. If he pays, he plays. Let the guy have a good time. It's not like he's some shady character who sold missile technology to the ChiComs or was part of the Russian Mafia dealing in black market nuclear technology. Tendo Oto, come on down. How nervous do you think the Secret Service was?But there are more people coming to the party. Oto has a camera crew from Japan that he wants to use to memorialize his exploits on film. The rules were that no outside news crews were allowed. Again, no problem. The exiting president told the Secret Service to stand down on those folks also.


Check out this by Doug from Upland, he posted this fax to Hillary at Free Republic

Still not convinced this kind of scandal will go anywhere. But we shall see.

Bush in Iraq.

via HotAir

I'm exhausted.

I spent the weekend in New Orleans and Biloxi/Gulfport Ms. area. The devastation that is still there would just break your heart. But I knew that you guys had heard all about post Katrina stuff this past week, so I got with my Cotillion sister (see in picture above), Greta at Kiss My Gumbo, and my best friend, and we went to the French Quarter for some fun video blogging. And it was fun. Too much fun. There was a "Southern Decadence" (see a gay) party going on in New Orleans and we thought it might be interesting to ask the gays what they thought about Senator Craig scandal. It was......interesting, and when I say interesting, I mean hilarious. My surprise was the video-blog, but I gave the tape to Greta who had a friend who could transfer it and do some fun things with it and she tells me she thinks the tape is corrupted. (such a bummer!) Anyway, I told her to send it back to me and I could see if that really is the case. Maybe a miracle will happen and I'll get it to working. I'll let you know this week.

Thanks for the patience guys.

Have a great labor day!

I'll be gone for the weekend. Probably won't have access to a computer. But be sure and check back Tues. I may have a surprise.

Attack of The Clones!

From Berimbau speak view hear (well, yeah, that's the blog's name)

"With reverse engineering, chinese manufacturers have come up with a replica of the iphone that is amazingly exact; and, it may actually be better that the original because it can run popular software, is open to any cellphone carrier network and it costs half as much!

This article in Popular Science talks about China's cloning industry. It's not just shoes, bags and jeans anymore. Now they can copy anything from an ipod to a Ford or Mercedes Benz, to a whole manufacturing plant off the original blueprints! Check out this gallery of a cloned Ford, Benz, PSP, Addidas, and see if you can tell them apart."

I don't get this. Wouldn't i-pod and Ford be a bit ticked off about this? Do we not sue companies in China?

Making Fun of Craig.

Spokesman Review does a "knock three times" parody. Pretty funny.

The Idaho Statesman has a roundup of late night jokes and more:

"Sen. Craig said he made a mistake by pleading guilty. And I was thinking, maybe that was your second mistake. ... The way I look at it, anyone who spends more than two minutes in an airport men's room is guilty of something."David Letterman"


"The police report says he tapped his foot, which means 'I want gay sex.' And also means I'll never wear my iPod to the bathroom again." Jimmy Kimmel"


via Slate Magazine

More from About.com:

"How about that poor Senator Craig from Idaho? ... So he gets arrested in a men's room there at the airport in Minneapolis. And here's the deal now. He's now in Stage One of a political sex scandal: defiance. Stage Two: stepping down to spend more time with his family. Stage Three: 'I'm gay and I'm proud!'" --David Letterman

"Don't kid yourself, this Craig is in a tough spot. When you're up for re-election, you don't want to be known as 'The Restroom Don Juan.'" --David Letterman

"The guy was arrested for lewd behavior in the men's room, and I'm thinking, 'Well, hell. I'm lucky if I can get a hand dryer to blow'" --David Letterman*

"Senator Larry Craig declared he won't quit and he's not gay. And then Craig said 'I'm sorry. I meant to say I won't quit being gay.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Now there's more trouble for Senator Craig. First he's accused of soliciting gay sex at an airport. Now he's accused of soliciting gay sex at a train station. Craig denied the charges and said if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for a big night at the bus terminal." --Conan O'Brien

"Idaho Senator Larry Craig is now being called the hole from Idaho." --Jay Leno

"A lot of people are calling Senator Craig a hypocrite because he was a very vocal opponent of same-sex marriages. ... But to be fair, he has never come out publicly against anonymous gay bathroom sex." --Jay Leno"

This whole thing has to be very frustrating for the Republican Party. All these gay sex scandals and they still can't get any support from Hollywood." --Jay Leno

"Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, a married, very anti-guy conservative Republican, was arrested by a plainclothes police officer for lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport men's room. Today the senator's office said it was all a big misunderstanding. Apparently what happened was when the senator went in to use the restroom, he accidentally grabbed the wrong penis." --Jay Leno*

"Larry Craig, the conservative senator and hardcore heterosexual from Idaho, insists that he is not gay. In fact, he's anti-gay marriage and anti-gays in the military. He's anti-gay everything but sex." --Jimmy Kimmel"

There's a very simple explanation for all of this. Larry Craig is gayer than a barrel of Andy Dicks." --Jimmy Kimmel

Slate magazine also has "Bathroom Sex FAQ" It's disturbing because it reads like a parody, but you realize that it isn't one.

*Funniest ones.

Fred is IN!

From Real Clear Politics:

"Randy Enright, the national political director for Fred Thompson, just announced on a conference call with supporters that, "next Thursday on September 6 Senator Thompson will officially become a candidate for President of the United States.

Enright said the announcement will come via webcast on Thompson's site and will be immediately followed by a two-part grassroots tour that will begin in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and eventually get to Florida before winding up on September 15 with a "welcome home" rally in Thompson's home town of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

Now things will get more interesting.

The New Mitt Romney Ad

Here.

"I'm not an old geezer like the rest of them." Heh.

(I had to delete the video embed because it was messing up on firefox)

Tucker Carlson beats up gay man

He remembers fondly.

Carlson said that in high school he was accosted by a man in the bathroom. He went and got a friend and they went back and he slammed the guy's head against the stall and then waited for the police, who arrested the man. Dan Abrams and Joe Scarborough yuk it up while he tells the story.

GLAAD is having none of it. And neither are many leftwing and gay blogs.

Carlson responded with this e-mail:

"Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men's room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men's room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.

Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That's absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn't angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me."

These people who attacking Carlson should consider that they are not defending a guy who is gay and got assaulted, but a predator. It's an insult to gay people who are upstanding citizens to call this gay bashing. This is PREDATOR bashing, which I am all for. This didn't happen last year. He was a high school kid and it was an adult male.

Good grief.

Why you might not want to use Criagslist to date

Women Do Not Search For Sex On Craigslist

Some lonely fellow answered 100 Craiglist Casual Encounters ads, presumably posted by women. Of the 81 responses he got:

"-4 seems to be legitmate (or person at least): 1 successful online
conversation / 3 email conversation (2 dudes)

-58 immediat (within 2 hours) automatic fake responses (porn sites)

-19 delayed responses: the fake sites are getiing smarter, they are sending
out reply after a day

-19 non-reply (i even got rejected from porn sites!)

So yeah: Of the 4% of straight ads sampled that turned out to be real people, half of them are guys pretending to be women. Have fun out there!

The Fundraising Scandal.....that wasn't.

"For the last 15 years, California authorities have been trying to figure out what happened to a businessman named Norman Hsu, who pleaded no contest to grand theft, agreed to serve up to three years in prison and then seemed to vanish."

But he's been around the whole time raising big cash for Democrats, especially Hillary:

"Since 2004, one Norman Hsu has been carving out a prominent place of honor among Democratic fundraisers. He has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into party coffers, much of it earmarked for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton of New York."

I know this seems just juicy as it can be, but the truth is the public does not care about things like this. I don't know the legal aspect of this from a campaigning point of view, but I don't think Americans think a candidate should be responsible for the background of a donor, unless it is obvious from the beginning.

via WSJ and Redstate

Well, you can always ask I suppose......

"Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a labor group he would ask Americans to make a big sacrifice: their sport utility vehicles.

The former North Carolina senator told a forum by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, yesterday he thinks Americans are willing to sacrifice.

Edwards says Americans should be asked to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. He says he would ask them to give up SUVs."

via Redstate

The Reaper.

The Air Force next month will deploy a new generation of pilotless airplane with the bombing power of an F-16 to help stop the stubborn Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.The Reaper is an upgraded version of the Predator, which has become one of the military’s most sought-after planes since it first appeared in Afghanistan in 2001. The Reaper can fly three times as fast as a Predator and carry eight times more weaponry, such as Hellfire missiles
via Stop the ACLU and PW.

Elizabeth Edward"s smack down of a fellow feminist.

Look, I know Elizabeth and John Edwards are the worst of the leftwing elite. But you have got to love Elizabeth's passion and the fact that she isn't taking any crap from anyone. Including a smug self serving delusional leftwing feminist.

From ABC News via HotAir:

Blogger "Rebecca" wrote a fiery tirade on the site Monday morning attacking Mrs. Edwards choice to bring her two small children, Jack and Emma Claire, on the campaign trail with her while her husband, John Edwards runs for president. (The blog is called Silicon Valley Moms Blog)

"…. you are being a terrible mother, forcing your young children, who should be in SCHOOL, to ride in buses and talk to the press when they obviously don't want to. This election is NOT ABOUT THEM, " blogger Rebecca writes.

The rant continues:

Mrs. Edwards comments about Hillary Clinton in a recent Salon.com interview were also criticized on the blog, "What resonated in my mind was the way that she (Elizabeth Edwards) dissed Hillary Clinton, decrying the "choices" that Hillary has made. The implication, of course, was that Hillary chose to work rather than spend time with her child. But it took all of my self control not to ask her, ‘Was it Hillary's work for the Children's Defense Fund, where she saved millions of lives of poor children, that you thought was a poor choice? Or was it when she went to China and announced, possibly for the first time ever, that women's rights are human rights? Or perhaps was it the way that insisted on being taken seriously, since she too was an accomplished attorney like her husband?’"

No, the poor choice is that you only have a few years with your child when he or she is young. It may not even be the child who loses the most when her mom is always off to work, It is the mom who loses the precious short time she has with her small child. Precious time that Elizabeth Edwards understands all too well. Since she may well have little of it left to spend with her children. How dare this woman judge Elizabeth for wanting to be with her kids. Good grief.

But I don't need to defend Elizabeth, she does very well all by herself:

Posting in the comments section of the website, Elizabeth Edwards responded with an equally fiery post, "…what I said about Hillary's choices is that I had made the same choices she had made as a parent, and when I changed my choices I was happier. Just like you don't get to decide what makes me happier, I don't get to decide what makes Hillary happier."
And the mother-of-three wrote at length about her choices as a mother, electing to bring along her children on the campaign trail, "….you have no idea what the quality or amount of the time I spend with my children is….You don't get to say I am a terrible mother because you think you wouldn't make my choices in my situation…You don't get to judge me because you think you know exactly what you would do if you had my disease. I want to be really clear: you don't know. And if the sun always shines on you -- and I pray it does -- you will never know."

Take that you Naomi Wolf wanna be.

No White House Wedding.

Too bad. That would have been lovely.

Guess that will quiet the lefties who saw this as a way to bump up approval ratings before the elections.

Thank God for Fox News.

Yes, it's opinion programs sway to the right, but that's not why I love it. The hard news is as "fair and balanced" as it gets no matter what lefties tell you. But more importantly, as this excellent article from Brent Bozell points out, the mainstream news outlets (ABC, NBC, CBS, who still garner 9 times the viewing audience of cable!) overwhelming favor Democrats in their news coverage: (emphasis mine)

Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center assessed all morning-show coverage on the Big Three from Jan. 1 through July 31. In those 517 campaign segments, the networks offered nearly twice as many segments to Democrats as Republicans, a margin of 284 to 152. (Another 66 stories focused on both parties.) When the sample is narrowed down just to interviews with the candidates or their spouses and staffers, the morning shows gave out nearly three times as much free airtime to Democrats (4 hours, 35 minutes) as they gave to Republicans (1 hour and 44 minutes).

ABC's "Good Morning America" was the worst, with 119 segments on the Democrats to just 51 for the Republicans. And try this for impartiality, ABC-style: The network offered sprawling, positive "town hall" segments to only two presidential candidates so far this year: 38 minutes for John Edwards and 26 minutes for Hillary Clinton.

More:

All three Democratic frontrunners received more individual attention than any of the top Republican candidates, with Hillary unsurprisingly receiving the most coverage of anyone, at 61 adoring minutes. The leading Republican was former liberal media darling John McCain, who attracted 31 minutes of coverage, much of it assessing how his campaign was falling apart.

Oh, it's a "love Hillary" fest on the main networks, and this is only the beginning.

Rudy Giuliani drew only 26 minutes, and Mitt Romney attracted even less, 19 minutes. Worse still, the Republican segments highlighted problems and controversies, like Romney's Mormonism and Giuliani's messy, fractious private life.

By comparison, the babble about Democrats was, and continues to be, embarrassingly giddy. Take ABC's Claire Shipman describing Hillary and Barack as both "white hot," a diversity-enhanced clash of the titans. Hillary was an "unparalleled star," with a "hot factor" boosted by "her ever-popular husband." But wait, Obama, "with his fairy-tale family, has personal charisma to spare!" Someone needed to urge Shipman to come down off her puffy cloud of hype.

Bozell points out that in all the coverage of the Democratic Presidential hopefuls, the word "liberal" was never used. The only time it was uttered was to describe....Rudy Giuliani.

"Thomas More Law Center Agrees to Represent Haditha Marine"

From Let Freedom Ring via The Gateway Pundit:

"According to this article the Thomas More Law Center has agreed to represent Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani in a civil suit against Rep. John Murtha if/when the charges against him are dropped."

Murtha may get what he deserves.

More Matt Drudge..

The international man of mystery.

NY Magazine has a interesting detailed piece on Matt, although they didn't get to interview him because he is obsessive about his privacy. I find him fascinating because he opened up this whole new world of blogging and blending the news with everyday man's opinion. But you don't have to read the long article. I did that for you. Here are the good parts:

"The Drudge Report is an institution, the seventh-most-visited news Website, ahead of the New York Times, Fox News, and the Washington Post. Getting linked on Drudge can unleash a tsunami of public mentions and e-mails, and journalists cater to Drudge to gain those links, alerting him when their stories have nasty anecdotes."

And of course the big green eyed monster raises it's ugly head:

“He is the center of personality-obsessed, attack-based politics. That is the content Drudge looks for,” Glenn Greenwald says. “He’s a right-wing hack.” Greenwald is a leader among the phalanx of left-wing Internet groups and voices, from Salon to Media Matters to Talking Points Memo"

But Drudge seems to believe that Hillary will be our next President:

“That House is going pink,” says Drudge."

What is Drudge like personally? Ohh... the mystery. But usually if your enemy has something nice to say about you, that is, at least, a bit of who you are:

"Donna Brazile describes her first meeting with the Webmaster: “What I remember is the graciousness of a Southern gentleman in him."

The author of the article paints a picture of a sad troubled childhood filled with parental rejection. I'm not talking just a nasty divorce. There was mental illness of a creative powerful woman, a father who was more interested in his new family than a strange son, and then being sent away. Then the turning point:

"After high school, the boy tried New York and Europe, then drifted to his father’s hometown, Los Angeles, where he worked for years in the gift shop at CBS studios. Worried about his son’s aimlessness, Bob Drudge insisted on buying him a Packard-Bell computer in 1994. The Drudge Report began as an e-mail sent out to a few friends."

Then came the moment of fame:

"Drudge filed a breathless report claiming that Newsweek had, that week, held a story reporting that Bill Clinton had had a sexual affair with a 23-year-old White House intern."

Could Drudge have seen how the Clintons would change his life? Even today it seems the Clintons will continue bankroll Drudge's life:

"Drudge said, “I need Hillary Clinton. You don’t get it. I need to be part of her world. That’s my bank. Like Leo DiCaprio has the environment and Al Gore has the environment and Jimmy Carter has anti-Americanism … I have Hillary.”

But what good NY Magazine article on anyone with even the whiff of rightwing about them, be without an outing?:

"Sheff’s metaphor touches on the left’s assertion that Drudge is gay and closeted. In high school, Drudge was already in a gay scene, dating men, Jeannette Walls reported in Dish. And in his memoir, Blinded by the Right, conservative-turned-liberal David Brock, who is gay, described Drudge coming on to him sexually in 1997, including e-mailing Brock the suggestion that they be “f*ck buddies.” Michaelangelo Signorile, a journalist who has broken down many a closet door, calls Drudge “a nasty faggot.”

Isn't that sweet? You have to love the loyalty and decency of "friends" like Brock, don't you? My question is, why does it matter? Why is Drudge's sexuality even an issue or even interesting? He isn't a politican. And no matter what they say, he links negative rightwing stuff as often as he does leftwing. He isn't registered with any party and he doesn't even vote.

What Drudge does is take what is interesting and show it to us. The stuff that the media wouldn't even look at. The $400 haircut of Edwards, the swift boat veterans attack on Kerry, and of course what was obviously boring and should have been of no concern to us, Newsweek's blocked story of a young woman named Monica and the President of the United States.

His magic is knowing what we want to know.

h/t BigDog

Mitt hits it out of the park

Regarding Sen. Larry Craig and his lewd conduct:

"Once again, we've found people in Washington have not lived up to the level of respect and dignity that we would expect for somebody that gets elected to a position of high influence. Very disappointing. He's no longer associated with my campaign, as you can imagine... I'm sorry to see that he has fallen short."

And Romney also included this jab at Bill Clinton as he continued to talk about Craig: "I think it reminds us of Mark Foley and Bill Clinton. I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we'll just forgive and forget. And the truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from elected--an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, `Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you're someone like that person.' And we've seen disappointment in the White House, we've seen it in the Senate, we've seen it in Congress. And frankly, it's disgusting."

Something I did not know about Fred Thompson.

From the NY Times:

"Mr. Thompson rose to national prominence in the mid-1970s. As chief counsel to the Republicans on the Senate Watergate committee, he famously asked the question that revealed the existence of the White House taping system that ultimately led to President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation."

It's a small political world.

Changes.

I've changed back to haloscan comments. It's just easier to manage. Sorry about the comments disappearing again!

John Edwards

I caught this through the media blog at NRO. They seem to think that this video montage by the NY Times makes Edwards seem weak, but I disagree. I think it makes him seem like a parent.

We make fun of Edwards for his prettiness, but I think he would have this nomination if it weren't for the Hillary Machine. I think Edwards could take on Obama pretty easily but he's so busy trying to figure out how to take down Hillary without seeming mean, that he can't do it.

I disagree with everything he stands for, but like Obama, there is something very likable about him. I think the video gives us a glimpse of how hard it is to be a Presidential candidate. Especially when you are trying to keep your kids with you. It's very hard.

Don't live a lie.

You have probably heard by now about Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) being arrested for lewd conduct in a men's public restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

I will never understand this kind of depraved behavior. Having sex with strangers in a public bathroom is simply depraved. And you cannot blame it on his having to hide his homosexuality. I mean, look at George Michael the singer. He did this sort of thing and he is in an industry that could not care less if one is gay or not. Both of these men could have "relationships" easily without having to resort to this disgusting behavior.

But no, there is something that drives them more than sex. It's some kind of sick thrill I suppose. But that is not my point anyway.

Perhaps Craig and others like him, do not want to admit to their desires because they think it is wrong. But it is much more wrong to lie to all those who love you. It is much more wrong to portray yourself as something you are not. Craig betrayed his family, his friends, and his party. Democrats may not care or look the other way with this kind of thing, but clearly the Republicans do not.

Craig will have to come to terms with who he is and how he wants to live his life. I wish him the best, but just not in the Republican party.

Meeting Fred

John at Powerline got to meet with Fred Thompson last night:

"My own impression of Thompson was similar to the image I already had of him. He's good; he has a nice, folksy manner, some good lines, a sincere, fatherly demeanor, and comes across as a solid conservative of the border-state variety.
Yet I still think there is something missing. Thompson gives long answers to questions, and a point often comes where his folksiness gives way to ennui. He rarely shows much--any--intensity."

That has been my concern with Fred too, I wonder if he has the "fire in the belly" to run for President. Plus I worry about the rumors about his health. But I am rooting for him.

There are things I like about all the top tier candidates (except Rudy) so I"m hoping for the best for all of them.

Michael Vick has found God.

That's nice. I hope it's true. I know all the skeptics out there are rolling their eyes on that one. But sometimes these "jailhouse conversions" are real. The problem is that if Vick's conversion is real, you won't be hearing much about it from the MSM. They only have scorn and derision for born again athletes.

Just recently Michael Irvin was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He had recently "found Jesus" as well. His speech was one of the most moving speeches I have ever heard come from an athlete. Here is final bit:

"You know the Bible speaks of a healing place. It’s called a threshing floor. The threshing floor is where you take your greatest fear and you pray for help from your great God. I want to share something with you today. I have two sons. Michael, he’s 10, and Elijah, he’s 8. Michael and Elijah, could you guys stand up for me. That’s my heart right there. That’s my heart. When I am on that threshing floor, I pray. I say, God, I have my struggles and I made some bad decisions, but whatever you do, whatever you do, don’t let me mess this up.

I say, Please, help me raise them for some young lady so that they can be a better husband than I. Help me raise them for their kids so that they could be a better father than I. And I tell you guys to always do the right thing so you can be a better role model than dad. I sat right here where you are last year and I watched the Class of 2006: Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Harry Carson, Rayfield Wright, John Madden, and the late great Reggie White represented by his wife Sara White. And I said, Wow, that’s what a Hall of Famer is.

Certainly I am not that. I doubted I would ever have the chance to stand before you today. So when I returned home, I spoke with Michael and Elijah . I said, That’s how you do it, son. You do it like they did it. Michael asked, he said, Dad, do you ever think we will be there? And I didn’t know how to answer that. And it returned me to that threshing floor. This time I was voiceless, but my heart cried out. God, why must I go through so many peaks and valleys?
I wanted to stand in front of my boys and say, Do it like your dad, like any proud dad would want to. Why must I go through so much?

At that moment a voice came over me and said, Look up, get up, and don’t ever give up. You tell everyone or anyone that has ever doubted, thought they did not measure up or wanted to quit, you tell them to look up, get up and don’t ever give up.

Thank you and may God bless you."

There was no doubt in my mind that he was sincere. It was quite beautiful. When I was living in Dallas in the 90's and the Cowboys were superbowl superstars, I never liked Irvin. He was a pompous self absorbed criminal in my mind. When I happened upon his speech on ESPN, I didn't even know he had become a Christian. The media loved reporting his criminal exploits, but they didn't give quite the same coverage to his redemption.

Irvin did some terrible things. Just as Vick has. Is Vick sincere as Irvin seems to be? Time will tell. Time will tell.

I'm always ready to forgive. Because, you know, that is how we are forgiven. And who among us is perfect?

Michael Yon has a new post up.

Fascinating as always.

"People at home want to know what our Soldiers and Marines are doing in Iraq, and the only way to tell their story is to follow them. So deep inside the culvert, crawling on all fours, using my camera as a walking chalk (it’s pretty tough), I crawled behind SSG Lee who was using his rifle as a walking chalk. The day was hot. The body armor made it hotter.
I said, “I only met you for the first time like 20 minutes ago. What’s your name Staff Sergeant?”“Staff Sergeant Lee, Sir,” he answered while crawling forward.“United States Marine Corps,” I said.“Semper Fi,” he answered, and kept clearing the tunnel."

God bless our troops.

*Click on the "Support The Next Dispatch" at Michael's site. He can always use the donations.

Alberto Gonzales. Classy to the end.

His speech was completely non political. It was about public service and his family. Unlike my buddies on the right (there is a list of links at HotAir) I think that Gonzales is an upstanding intelligent loyal public servant. Out of the thousands and thousands of documents the Democrats have requested and countless witnesses, (see witch hunt) there has not been one shred of evidence that proves any wrongdoing.

So why has the right abandoned him? First and foremost, imo, is illegal immigration. If Gonzales had been a champion of eliminating illegal immigration, then you would be seeing very different headlines on the blogs from the right.

I understand the emotions here. I don't disagree with my friends on the right on illegal immigration. But I am not going to let Democrats smear an honest man because I disagree with him.

Shame on the right for doing so.

Will Matt Drudge help elect the next President?

So says TIME Magazine’s editor-at-large and senior political analyst Mark Halperin. This is from an interview David Brody recently filmed with Halperin. (emphasis mine)

"Take what happen the other day as a perfect example. Michelle Obama said, "Our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House".(some say it was a swipe at Hillary Clinton) Well, the story didn't get much play until Drudge featured it on his website. Watch Halperin's take above:

"Once Matt Drudge decided, for whatever reason, he wanted to highlight those remarks, they dominated cable news, they dominated talk radio. They produced a whole new round of interest. That's the power Matt Drudge had four years ago, clearly the power he will have in 2008. The campaign that figures out how to deal with Matt Drudge from both an offensive and a defensive point of view will probably elect the next President of the United States."

Vietnam. Let's remember history correctly.

William Kristol has an excellent article on the real history lesson of Vietnam. The lesson Bush was referring to in his speech before the VFW. All this braying of the left on how Iraq is like Vietnam, just not in the way Bush meant it, is hogwash.

"Like a pig in muck, the left loves to wallow in Vietnam. But only in their "Vietnam." Not in the real Vietnam war.

Not in the Vietnam war of 1963-68, the disastrous years where policy was shaped by the best and brightest of American liberalism. Not in the Vietnam war of 1969-73, when Richard Nixon and General Creighton Abrams managed to adjust our strategy, defeat the enemy, and draw down American troops all at once--an achievement affirmed and rewarded by the American electorate in November 1972. Not in the Vietnam of early 1975, when the Democratic Congress insisted on cutting off assistance to our allies in South Vietnam and Cambodia, thereby inviting the armies of the North and the Khmer Rouge to attack."

But what really brings home our biggest mistake to me in Vietnam is this letter that Kristol reprints from Phnom Penh former Cambodian prime minister Sirik Matak that he wrote to John Gunther Dean, the American ambassador, turning down his offer of evacuation: (emphasis mine)

"Dear Excellency and Friend:

I thank you very sincerely for your letter and for your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion. As for you, and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection, and we can do nothing about it. You leave, and my wish is that you and your country will find happiness under this sky. But, mark it well, that if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is no matter, because we all are born and must die. I have only committed this mistake of believing in you [the Americans].

Please accept, Excellency and dear friend, my faithful and friendly sentiments.

S/Sirik Matak"

As Kristol writes, Matak was executed by Khmer Rouge soon after, shot in the stomach and left to die. It took three days for him to do so. He was one of between 1 and 2 million Cambodians slaughtered and one of thousands of Vietnamese. His final words to us break my heart.

The old saying that if we do not learn from the mistakes of our history, then we are bound to repeat them, certainly rings true here.

Many could make the legitimate argument that our mistake of ever going into Vietnam in the first place is the mistake that we are repeating. But the time for that argument is past. We are in Iraq. And now we can choose to abandon them as we did Vietnam.

I promise you, the result will not be any prettier.

Related and must read from TimesOnline: "Why Democrats dread hearing the V-word
Vietnam: a lesson in fouling up the endgame

h/t BigDog

You have got to love...

...how Michelle and Obama handled this little "If you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House" bit. Of course they denied that she meant Hillary. So the story keeps being "Michelle Obama denies that she meant Hillary couldn't take care of her own man, how can she can take of our country?"

It's the insult that keeps on giving, even when Michelle says she didn't give it.

Maybe it's my complete and utter fear of another Clinton Presidency, but I am liking the Obama campaign. I really am rooting for him for the Democratic nomination.

via The Kevin and Patrick Blog

Goth Day At Disney?

Now I've heard everything.

The LA Weekly says "When the Happiest Place on Earth plays host to the saddest people on Earth ­ and the line for the Haunted Mansion is longer than ever." (photo via LA Weekly too)

via Boing Boing.

Is your neighbor anti-gay?

Well, if you live in Oregon, you are about to find out. Know Thy Neighbor is an activist gay group that "plans to add Oregon to the list of states in which it's taking action. The group says it will publish names of those signing petitions to overturn gay rights bills passed in the state earlier this year, according to the Statesman Journal:

"A coalition of conservative Christians is circulating petitions to put the two measures before voters in the November 2008 election. That would enable Oregon voters to decide whether to grant marriage-style rights to same-sex couples via domestic partnerships, and whether to ban discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. Know Thy Neighbor pledged to launch a new Web site that will list the petition signers' names and addresses."

via Towleroad

Gay activists do love outing people, don't they? I don't really see the harm here. I mean, if I sign a petition for something that I believe in, then I don't care who knows about it. But I wonder how the activists would feel if say....someone posted the names and addresses of people in their organization that are...I don't know... members of NAMBLA, or the names of the gay porn sites they frequent?

I'm just saying that if you don't respect one's privacy, then don't expect your privacy to be respected either.