Let's start with Obama's story about his own conception:
Marking the anniversary of the March 1965 "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Ala., Obama, speaking at a church, he credited the those civil rights marchers of 1965 with the fact that his parents, a black African father and white Kansas mother, were inspired to fall in love and get married.
"They looked at each other and they decided, 'We know that in the world, as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across the bridge.' And so they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala.!"
Obama was born in 1961; the Selma march was four years later.
Last May, he claimed that tornadoes in Kansas killed a whopping 10,000 people: "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed." The actual death toll: 12.
In Obama's memoir, Dreams of My Father, he writes of a story in Life magazine that influenced and touched him greatly. It was about a black man trying to bleach his skin white. The Chicago Tribune researched Life magazine for the article. No such article could be found in Life. They researched Ebony as well, but found nothing.
A few weeks ago in Rush Limbaugh's hometown of all places, Obama messed up again:
Obama posited -- incorrectly -- that Arabic translators deployed in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan -- forgetting, momentarily, that Afghans don't speak Arabic. "We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then its harder for us to use them in Afghanistan," Obama said.
In a speech on Memorial Day Obama said this:
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."
Which of course led to rightwing blogs with headlines like, "Obama sees dead people."
Speaking in Oregon a few weeks ago Obama said: "I've now been to 57 states." Which prompted a new flag pin he could wear.
Now he has said this:
Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz. He said the family legend is that, upon returning from war, his uncle spent six months in an attic. “Now obviously, something had really affected him deeply, but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain,” Obama said. “That’s why this idea of making sure that every single veteran, when they are discharged, are screened for post-traumatic stress disorder and given the mental health services that they need – that’s why it’s so important.”
Auschwitz, of course, is in Poland. It was liberated by the Soviets on January 27, 1945, not by Americans. Obama's uncle was either part of the Red Army or he was told a story that he didn't think through.
Look, all Presidential candidates make gaffes and misspeak. This is why I never blogged on Obama's mistakes. Presidential campaigns are brutal and any normal person would make mistakes like this. But we all know that if McCain has made these same mistakes the pundits on TV would be frowning and asking America if McCain's "senior moments" would hurt his ability to lead.
The problem is how the media (not the bloggers) react to these mishaps when they happen to Republicans. As Jim Geraghty points out:
Dan Quayle gets defined by one foolish moment where his misspells "potato," and George W. Bush is forever mocked as a dunce for his (admittedly classic) "Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."
If the MSM would either A) be more forgiving of Republican officials who they don't like or B) be a little tougher on Democratic officials they do like, the world would be a better place. In this case, I don't think Barack Obama is deliberately lying, or trying to pull a fast one. It sounds like a family "legend" in which the specific horrors of war witnessed by his uncle are mistaken as the years go by. It happens, and Obama only deserves the lightest of metaphorical slaps on the wrist for it. But it would help if his fans in the press actually paid attention to what he says.
Even Hillary's sniper story didn't bother me because all politicans polish and embellish stories all the time. But we all know that the only reason Hillary got the same treatment by the media usually reserved for Republicans is because she is the Democrat who has the gall to not bow out gracefully to Obama, the media's love child.
I don't mind if the media gives Obama a pass on mistakes and gaffes, as long as they show the same courtesy to McCain.
Let the bloggers, on the left and right, have fun with them, but the MSM needs to be fair. Period.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Left and Right of Gaffes
McCain to Obama:
"Let's take a trip together."
That would be interesting. McCain wants Obama to visit Iraq with him since Obama hasn't been there since 2006 and so much has progressed since then:
"I go back every few months because things are changing in Iraq," he said. McCain questioned whether Obama has ever been briefed by Petraeus. "I would also seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way."
Obama will never go because things are looking much better in Iraq. That news is slowly leaking out. Obama can't possibly change his position now.
I'm back
I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend. We caught a lot fish. I will put up some pics when I get to it.
Let's start off with this article that describes the different ways the right and left deal with bad news or deaths of conservatives vs. liberals.
I know that on the net you can find vile comments everywhere, but the Ted Kennedy story had me looking closely at the blogs I read and the comments about him. I am happy to report that the comments were almost all wishing him well. When someone on the right has this kind of news that is as famous for being conservative as Kennedy is for being liberal, you never get well wishes, I can promise you that.
Take a look.
h/t BigDog
Friday, May 23, 2008
GONE FISHING
Let's celebrate good news
This may be hard for some of you who read my blog (and you know who you are) but some people are seeing *whisper* victory in Iraq. Don't say it too loud now. The mainstream media might hear. (emphasis mine)
Mileposts: As President Bush's term winds down, signs are there that the war on terror is being won. The conflict in Iraq is ebbing, and worldwide terror attacks are down. When will someone call it what it is? VICTORY.
..........
Back from the front, Gen. David Petraeus called on Congress Thursday to begin considering a drawdown of U.S. troops after five years of war. Violence in Iraq has plunged to its lowest levels since 2004, and al-Qaida is a tattered shadow of its formerself — key leaders dead, successors weak and recruiting down.
......
This is no Saigon-style exit, but a coming victorious end of a long conflict. U.S. forces have pounded al-Qaida into irrelevance.
Using highly disciplined Special Forces strikes, advanced intelligence and communications, and local allies in the right places, 155,000 U.S. troops have been crushing a vicious enemy motivated by no rational forces in a war with no precedent.
They are winning against all odds, overcoming not just terrorists, but other obstacles such as a lumbering Pentagon bureaucracy and weak-kneed Western intelligentsia whose media toadies trump every military error and harp on every isolated bad deed.
The good news doesn't stop there: (emphasis mine)
Worldwide terror attacks have fallen off 40% since 2001, according to a study by Canada's Human Security Report Project, and support for al-Qaida in the Arab world has collapsed. The study found terror attacks had been overcounted because Iraq War atrocities distorted the figures. Security gains elsewhere included even sub-Saharan Africa, where the improvement was called "extraordinary."
On this Memorial Day weekend, this is very good news indeed. Don't fight the feeling, even if you disagreed with this war. Be happy for this, ok?
God bless the men and women in uniform. We are grateful for your service and your sacrifice. You rock.
*note: I'll be out of town this weekend, so if you don't see your comments, be patient! (and try to be nice too!)
h/t BigDog
You gotta love Peggy Noonan
Hillary is such a whiney baby. Butch up and follow in the footsteps of the great women leaders that came before you.
Obama: "Barack means the one who's blessed"
Please.
Obama spoke in front of a Jewish audience in Florida on Friday. Here in part:
"My father was from Kenya and Barack actually interestingly enough means the same as Baruch. It means one who's blessed. And the reason-the reason that that's interesting is that it's the same Semitic root.
......
And it's true they called me Barry when I was young, but as I got older, I thought it was important to acknowledge this other side of my heritage and so I was called Barack,"… "You've had a prime minister named Barack in Israel. It should be pretty familiar to this audience."
He added, "Some of my best friends are Jews."
Ok, not exactly, but pretty much:
He also ticked off a few names of friends and advisors who are known to be pro-Israel. "I have to be very cautious about this, because you know, you remember the old stereotype about somebody says, 'well I'm not prejudice, some of my best friends are Jewish.' Right? Or, 'I'm not prejudice, some of my best friends are black.' So I hesitate to start listing them out," he said. But since the man asked…
He also added this tidbit in his answer to a question about his being committed to Israel:
Obama said part of his job as an elected official was to listen to different perspectives - even if he does not agree with them. "We gotta be careful about guilt by association," he warned.
Oh yeah. I'll just bet you want that.
via HotAir
Obama is in way over his head
As the latest spat between him and McCain clearly shows. Obama dares to chastise McCain on the GI funding bill (never mentioning that McCain has his own version). McCain responds:
"It is typical, but no less offensive that Sen. Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of," McCain said in the statement. "Let me say first in response to Sen. Obama, running for president is different than serving as president. The office comes with responsibilities so serious that the occupant can't always take the politically easy route without hurting the country he is sworn to defend. Unlike Sen. Obama, my admiration, respect and deep gratitude for America's veterans is something more than a convenient campaign pledge. I think I have earned the right to make that claim."
Read the whole statement here. Here is how it ends it:
"Perhaps, if Senator Obama would take the time and trouble to understand this issue he would learn to debate an honest disagreement respectfully. But, as he always does, he prefers impugning the motives of his opponent, and exploiting a thoughtful difference of opinion to advance his own ambitions. If that is how he would behave as President, the country would regret his election."
It does my heart good to see that McCain is not afraid to challenge the oh most high Obama. Not that I ever expected anything less from McCain.
Laura and Jenna Bush
Did you see them on Jay Leno last night? Jenna is simply down to earth and adorable. You can clearly see that that mother and daughter have a wonderful relationship. And when Jenna talked about her father you could tell that Jenna adored him.
If you judge a man by the people who love him, George Bush is one of the most blessed men on earth.
McCain's VP pick
Let me put this as bluntly as I can.
Crist, Romney, and Jindal.....YES.
Tom Ridge......NO.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Ding Dong, The Witch Ain't Dead...
WASHINGTON – In case there was any confusion, Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff this morning made very clear her path to the Democratic nomination.
She is taking it to the convention. No doubt.
From NRO:
"We're Just Not Even Going To Entertain The Possibility Of Anything Other Than That." Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, a few moments ago, emphasizing his faith that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination.
I have such mixed feelings about this! I mean, I want Obama to win the nomination because I think he will be easier to beat in the general, but to see Hillary snatch victory from the jaws of defeat would be political theatre that would not be repeated in my lifetime!!!!!!!!!!!!
And just imagine the Obamamanics EXPLODING!
Even better? The Obamamessiah losing it. You don't think that would happen? He is too calm, too serene, you say?
Not so fast.
When Obama was an Illinois State Senator he had a disagreement with another State Senator, Rickey Hendon. You can read the reasons here, but the interesting part of the story is here:
Soon, the two men were shouting at each other on the senate floor. They took their disagreement into a nearby room, and a witness said that Obama had to be physically restrained.
And they say McCain has temper issues! (This is confirmed by Hendon btw)
So we know that the Buddah like serenity of Obama can be broken. I'm thinking Hillary snatching this nomination from under his nose might just do that.
Heh.
Stop The Spending!
I think the biggest disappointment conservatives have with Republicans is the out of control spending they have allowed on their watch. It is beyond frustrating because where are we going to go? The Democrats are like Paris Hilton on a spending spree with our money. I think the Republicans thought it looked like fun to shop as well. Well, enough is enough!
Paul Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, is a member of the Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee. Here is his scary assessment:
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the rest of government will consume nearly 40% of the economy by the time my three young children reach my age (38). This will require more than doubling the average tax burden of the past 40 years just to keep the government afloat. Continuing down this path will eventually strangle our economy.
Read here his roadmap (real plan!) to stop this growing debt.
h/t BigDog
Sometimes they actually say what they think
Washington, D.C. — Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday."I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."
Dangerous? You know what's dangerous? Congressmen who think that having been in the military colors your thinking in such a way that it's "dangerous."
Good grief. According to this list, 31 of our Presidents served in the military. 11 did not.
h/t BigDog
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Remember the 75,000 that showed up for Obama?
Maybe not just for him.
There is always more to the story isn't there?
Not that the MSM will tell you though.
McCain on how wrong Obama really is
The entire statement is here. But I like to focus on the really good parts:
“Senator Obama has consistently offered his judgment on Iraq, and he has been consistently wrong. He said that General Petraeus’ new strategy would not reduce sectarian violence, but would worsen it. He was wrong. He said the dynamics in Iraq would not change as a result of the ’surge.’ He was wrong. One year ago, he voted to cut off all funds for our forces fighting extremists in Iraq. He was wrong. Sectarian violence has been dramatically reduced, Sunnis in Anbar province and throughout Iraq are cooperating in fighting al Qaeda in Iraq, and Shi’ite extremist militias no longer control Basra — the Maliki government and its forces do. British and Iraqi forces now move freely in areas that were controlled by Iranian-backed militias. The fight against al Qaeda in Mosul is succeeding in further weakening that deadly terrorist group, and many key leaders have been killed or captured.
......
We continue to face challenges in Iraq, and we have a lot of work ahead. Yet the American people must ask whether we are more or less likely to succeed there if Senator Obama has his way. Each of these positive developments in Iraq is the direct result of the new strategy that Senator Obama opposed. Senator Obama consistently predicted the new strategy would fail, and at every step events have demonstrated his judgment was consistently wrong.
What happened to the Democratic party?
I've asked myself that question many times.
Joe Lieberman wonders as well:
Beginning in the 1940s, the Democratic Party was forced to confront two of the most dangerous enemies our nation has ever faced: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In response, Democrats under Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy forged and conducted a foreign policy that was principled, internationalist, strong and successful.
This was the Democratic Party that I grew up in – a party that was unhesitatingly and proudly pro-American, a party that was unafraid to make moral judgments about the world beyond our borders. It was a party that understood that either the American people stood united with free nations and freedom fighters against the forces of totalitarianism, or that we would fall divided.
.........
And this was the Democratic Party of John F. Kennedy, who promised in his inaugural address that the United States would "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of freedom."
This worldview began to come apart in the late 1960s, around the war in Vietnam. In its place, a very different view of the world took root in the Democratic Party. Rather than seeing the Cold War as an ideological contest between the free nations of the West and the repressive regimes of the communist world, this rival political philosophy saw America as the aggressor – a morally bankrupt, imperialist power whose militarism and "inordinate fear of communism" represented the real threat to world peace.
........
The reversal began, like so much else in our time, on September 11, 2001. The attack on America by Islamist terrorists shook President Bush from the foreign policy course he was on. He saw September 11 for what it was: a direct ideological and military attack on us and our way of life. If the Democratic Party had stayed where it was in 2000, America could have confronted the terrorists with unity and strength in the years after 9/11.
.......
When total victory did not come quickly in Iraq, the old voices of partisanship and peace at any price saw an opportunity to reassert themselves. By considering centrism to be collaboration with the enemy – not bin Laden, but Mr. Bush – activists have successfully pulled the Democratic Party further to the left than it has been at any point in the last 20 years.
........
John also understands something else that too many Democrats seem to have become confused about lately – the difference between America's friends and America's enemies.
There are of course times when it makes sense to engage in tough diplomacy with hostile governments. Yet what Mr. Obama has proposed is not selective engagement, but a blanket policy of meeting personally as president, without preconditions, in his first year in office, with the leaders of the most vicious, anti-American regimes on the planet.
Mr. Obama has said that in proposing this, he is following in the footsteps of Reagan and JFK. But Kennedy never met with Castro, and Reagan never met with Khomeini. And can anyone imagine Presidents Kennedy or Reagan sitting down unconditionally with Ahmadinejad or Chavez? I certainly cannot.
If a president ever embraced our worst enemies in this way, he would strengthen them and undermine our most steadfast allies.
A great Democratic secretary of state, Dean Acheson, once warned "no people in history have ever survived, who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies." This is a lesson that today's Democratic Party leaders need to relearn.
I have many Democrat commenters at my Houston Chronicle blog and I am amazed almost daily by their animosity towards the United States. I am stunned by their refusal to see what the war on terror really means. To say that we have opposing worldview would be an understatement. If I write a pro-United States or a pro-military peace they immediately pile on. It's terribly sad to me, but I left the Democratic party long ago. I can only imagine how Lieberman feels.
h/t BigDog (again!)
A Staunch Democrat Defends Bush
And I couldn't have said it better myself. It's Ed Koch and here are just a few of the good parts:
Recently, President Bush went to Israel to celebrate its 60th birthday as a nation and addressed its parliament, the Knesset. He said, "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Bush's remarks were heavily criticized by leading Democrats, particularly Barack Obama, who said, "Now that's exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided our country and that alienates us from the world."
Really? Is it wrong to call the philosophy supporting negotiating at the highest levels - President to President without pre-conditions -- with the terrorists and radicals by its rightful name - appeasement?
........
The reason I believe history will redeem President George W. Bush is that he is one of the few leaders on the planet today who understands the larger picture. He has not lost his courage and vision of the future. He knows what calamities await the world if it engages in appeasement and deserts an ally in order to buy an illusory peace. We will recognize his worth long after he is gone.
This is why Bush sleeps well at night and doesn't show the weariness of his task. He never cared what people thought of him personally. He always acted graciously to even his enemies. All he cared about was keeping the American people safe and defeating the enemy. This is not to say he didn't make mistakes. He is human, after all. But he never backed down on the fight that he saw as right and necessary. He never took opinion polls. He knew that sometimes doing the right thing wasn't the popular thing.
h/t BigDog
Hillary still isn't going anywhere
From her speech last night in Kentucky:
Now, I'm told that more people have voted for me than for anyone who has ever run for the Democratic nomination. That is more than 17 million votes.
..........
Neither Senator Obama nor I have won the 2210 delegates required to secure the nomination. And because this race is so close, still separated by less than 200 delegates out of more than 4,400, neither Senator Obama nor I will have reached that magic number when the voting ends on June the 3rd.
So, our party will have a tough choice to make. Who is ready to lead our party at the top of our ticket? Who is ready to defeat Senator McCain in the swing states and among swing voters? Who is ready to rebuild the economy and the war in Iraq and protect our national security as Commander-in-Chief? Who is ready on Day One to lead?
This is basically her case, along with counting Florida and Michigan. She will claim the popular vote and hope/plan on Obama continuing to make gaffes. I think she honestly believes what she is saying. She is determined to convince superdelegates that the right thing would be to support her.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
What in the world is going on in Iraq??
Anybody know? Ralph Peters gives the mainstream media a smackdown. Oh, how they loved declaring any setback or any violence in Iraq, but it's all been so quiet on the news front now. I can't imagine why?? Ralph Peters gives us an idea:
DO we still have troops in Iraq? Is there still a conflict over there?
If you rely on the so-called mainstream media, you may have difficulty answering those questions these days. As Iraqi and Coalition forces pile up one success after another, Iraq has magically vanished from the headlines.
Want a real "inconvenient truth?" Progress in Iraq is powerful and accelerating.
But that fact isn't helpful to elite media commissars and cadres determined to decide the presidential race over our heads. How dare our troops win? Even worse, Iraqi troops are winning. Daily.
...
Today, Iraqi soldiers, not militia thugs, patrol the lanes of Sadr City, where waste has replaced roadside bombs as the greatest danger to careless footsteps. US advisers and troops support the effort, but Iraq's government has taken another giant step forward in establishing law and order.
My fellow Americans, have you read or seen a single interview with any of the millions of Iraqis in Sadr City or Basra who are thrilled that the gangster militias are gone from their neighborhoods?
Didn't think so. The basic mission of the American media between now and November is to convince you, the voter, that Iraq's still a hopeless mess.
...
Developments just keep getting grimmer for the MoveOn.org fan base in the media. Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who had supported al Qaeda and homegrown insurgents, now support their government and welcome US troops. And, in southern Iraq, the Iranians lost their bid for control to Iraq's government.
Bury those stories on Page 36.
Our troops deserve better. The Iraqis deserve better. You deserve better. The forces of freedom are winning.
Here in the Land of the Free, of course, freedom of the press means the freedom to boycott good news from Iraq. But the truth does have a way of coming out.
The surge worked. Incontestably. Iraqis grew disenchanted with extremism. Our military performed magnificently. More and more Iraqis have stepped up to fight for their own country. The Iraqi economy's taking off. And, for all its faults, the Iraqi legislature has accomplished far more than our own lobbyist-run Congress over the last 18 months.
When Iraq seemed destined to become a huge American embarrassment, our media couldn't get enough of it. Now that Iraq looks like a success in the making, there's a virtual news blackout.
via Ace
Related. White House counselor Ed Gillespie sends a scorching letter to NBC. In part:
As long as I am making this formal request, please allow me to take this opportunity to ask if your network has reconsidered its position that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war, especially in light of the fact that the unity government in Baghdad recently rooted out illegal, extremist groups in Basra and reclaimed the port there for the people of Iraq, among other significant signs of progress.
On November 27, 2006, NBC News made a decision to no longer just cover the news in Iraq, but to make an analytical and editorial judgment that Iraq was in a civil war. As you know, both the United States government and the Government of Iraq disputed your account at that time. As Matt Lauer said that morning on The Today Show: "We should mention, we didn't just wake up on a Monday morning and say, 'Let's call this a civil war.' This took careful deliberation.'"
I noticed that around September of 2007, your network quietly stopped referring to conditions in Iraq as a "civil war." Is it still NBC News's carefully deliberated opinion that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war? If not, will the network publicly declare that the civil war has ended, or that it was wrong to declare it in the first place?
Can't wait for the answer.
I would hope that the media wouldn't hide the truth about the war just because it's an election year and the news is good. Nah. Never.
via NRO
Best Wishes to Ted Kennedy
I didn't comment on this when he went into the hospital because I always find it ridiculous to go on and on about a prominent figure just because they go to the hospital. You never know if it's just minor or serious. If you were watching the news shows you would have thought he had died that day the way they were interviewing everyone who knew him and commenting on his life. I found it morbid.
Now that we know he has a malignant brain tumor, it seems appropriate for the news to comment it on it a bit more.
This family has suffered a great deal. All of their tragedies on display for the world to see. It is sadly the price of their political celebrity. I pray for strength for him and his family as he fights what may be his last battle.
Who says one blogger can't make a difference?
I'm proud to say that the woman in this NYT article is a member of The Cotillion and an online friend. Jane updates us by e-mail regularly about all things Yemeni. She is especially passionate about Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, a Yemeni journalist who is on trial for sedition charges that could bring the death penalty. To you and me she may be just a stay at home Mom, but to the Yemeni govt she is much more:
And yet Ms. Novak has become so well known in Yemen that newspaper editors say they sell more copies if her photograph — blond and smiling — is on the cover. Her blog, an outspoken news bulletin on Yemeni affairs, is banned there. The government’s allies routinely vilify her in print as an American agent, a Shiite monarchist, a member of Al Qaeda, or “the Zionist Novak.”
Go Jane.
Go visit Armies of Liberation and sign her petition!
Democrats are like rock stars
At least by the standards of their picky requests at the convention.
As a reader at NRO suggests, Mrs. McCain would do well to distribute some of that Bud Light on our convention floor and let's see who best represents America, wheat juice drinkers or beer drinkers? Heh.
h/t BigDog
Obama has it wrong
As usual Victor Davis Hanson has it right on every score regarding Obama's world view. From talking to Iran to driving our SUV's, Obama gets it wrong every time. But Hanson really hits the nail on the head when it comes to Iraq:
He needs to update his doom and gloom on Iraq, in which, as the Mosul operation suggests, the final missing pieces — the Shiite-dominated constitutional government turning on Iranian-back Shiite militias, as Sunnis rejoin government and continue to rout al Qaeda — are falling into place. Iraqis are taking more and more responsibility for their future, violence is down, our own recruitments are up, our military is beginning to promote the mavericks, and we are close to having done the impossible of securing a constitutional state in a primordial region. All that for now is the best shot we have in tempering Iran's agenda, as a democratic Iraq can become as subversive to theocratic Iran as its militias are to Iraq.
The Craziness Continues
Don't count her out yet:
Mrs. Clinton has sounded almost like a professor of political science on the trail, explaining how the popular vote should be calculated by her lights, as she did before an audience in Kentucky on Monday.
“I believe that with your help we will send a message to this country because right now more people have voted for me than have voted for my opponent,” she said. “More people have voted for me than for anybody ever running for president before. So we have a very close contest for votes, for delegates, and this is nowhere near over. None of us is going to have the number of delegates we’re going to need to get to the nomination, although I understand my opponent and his supporters are going to claim that.
“The fact is we have to include Michigan and Florida — we cannot claim that we have a nominee based on 48 states, particularly two states that are so important for us to win in the fall,” Mrs. Clinton said.
If all states with popular vote totals are counted — which would exclude four caucus states that have not released numbers — Mrs. Clinton would lead Mr. Obama by more than 26,000 votes out of more than 33 million cast. By other calculations, Mr. Obama is ahead in the popular vote.
Seriously, I have never seen anything like this. You are going to have to pry this nomination from Hillary's cold dead hands. So to speak.
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Betrayal of Vipers
The betrayal of Hillary by the NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) must have been especially painful to the Clintons. Abortion rights groups are probably the only constituency that the Clintons never let down in their eight years in the White House.
So why did they do it?
One reason that the national board of NARAL, the pro-abortion lobbying organization, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, and encouraged its state membership to do the same, was a series of behind the scenes conversations between the Obama campaign and NARAL.
"The message was, get on board or risk losing influence," says an Obama strategist. "We needed one of these [feminist or pro-abortion] groups to step up and walk away from Hillary. NARAL did it, and to its credit under great danger to its credibility with its membership."
Why would such a hardcore feminist group turn their back on a woman running for President that had always supported them? Because they could count on Obama being a bit more radical:
Obama advisers suggested that Obama was more likely to put in place key feminist and pro-abortion activists than Clinton. "The name that kept popping up was [San Francisco District Attorney] Kamala Harris. The campaign promised she'd become increasingly higher profile with Obama, and the women's groups love her," says another Obama strategist.Harris is viewed as one of the most radical local elective office holders in the country, a district attorney who has refused to seek the death penalty even against cop-killers, and who has won high praise from the homosexual and pro-abortion lobbies that have strong bases in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Obama keeps telling us who is really is. Is anyone listening?
One can't help but feel sorry for Hillary. It seems her whole life has been framed by betrayal.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Coming to Hillary's defense
Shorter video: If you are female, shame on you if vote for Obama.
Far be it from me to defend Hillary Clinton in any way or to defend modern feminism, But I have to admit that Hillary has been treated in a very sexist manner by the press during this election. Now, maybe that has to do with a general dislike for Hillary, but it doesn't excuse it. No one disagrees with Hillary on just about everything more than I do, but I have not only felt sorry for her during this primary season, but I have felt offended on her behalf at times. Just in the comments sections at places like First Read at MSNBC I have been appalled at how sexist the Democrats for Obama have been.
No one will be happier than I will be when this process is finished and Hillary is NOT the nominee. But the reasons should always have been because of her past actions, not her gender.
via Ace
Don't appease terrorists
Yeah, I'm talking to you and you know who you are.
Well, at least Obama knew who.
President Bush said this:
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
And Obama and various other Democrats took great umbrage at that. It must have made them wince when the White House came out and said that President Bush was not talking about Obama at all.
So what is wrong with the idea of sitting down with the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
This is what is wrong with it:
President Reagan talked with the Soviets while pushing ahead with the deployment of Cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe. He spoke softly – after getting himself a bigger stick. Sen. Obama is proposing to reward a man who pledges to wipe Israel off the map with a presidential photo-op to which he will bring not even a twig. No wonder he's so twitchy about it.
h/t BigDog
The Media's Crush on Obama
Where can we get one of these???
Oh yeah.
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has a son who seems to want to fall into his father's footsteps. As TimesOnline points out:
........they are falling under the spell of his son Jean, whose eye-catching initiatives in an affluent suburb of Paris have put him under the spotlight.
With his golden locks and dazzling smile, Jean Sarkozy looks like a film star - he happens to be a keen amateur actor - and has inherited his father’s political ambition. Now he is playing the leading role in a drama that they are calling “the rise of the dauphin”.
As tens of thousands of students and teachers took to the streets last week to protest at the president’s plans to cut teaching jobs and streamline the civil service, Jean, a town councillor in Neuilly, the affluent Parisian suburb in which he was born, staged his own piece of political theatre. It was designed to show that not all young people were against his father’s economic reforms.
He launched the first in a series of meetings called “jeudis jeunes” - “young Thursdays” - in a cafe where young conservatives were invited to question prominent government members and other celebrity guests.
“The idea is to show young people that you can get involved in politics,” said Jean, 21, referring to youths who did not feel attracted to the left. “It irritates me that when you are young it’s always easier to carry the banner of the left or the extreme left. But it is possible for young people to have other convictions.”
via Drudge
Saturday, May 17, 2008
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
Friday, May 16, 2008
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
Thursday, May 15, 2008
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.
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
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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."
The Lord Be With You...
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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?
Monday, May 12, 2008
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!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
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.
