Reagan! Reagan! Reagan!

via LST

Calling all liberals!

Welcome to radical Islam. Please respond.

Authorities in Afghanistan have sentenced a 23-year-old journalism student to death for having downloaded and shared copies of a report criticizing the oppressive treatment of women in some Islamic societies. Snip from Wired News Threat Level blog:

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh (at right), who is a journalism student at Balkh University and a writer for Jahan-e Naw, was sentenced last October after downloading a report from a Farsi website that criticized Islamic fundamentalists who misrepresent statements in the Koran to justify the oppression of women. Kambaksh was arrested after someone filed a complaint against him. He is accused of blasphemy for distributing the report to other students and teachers at his school.
He was tried by a sharia court (which overseas Islamic religious law) and was not allowed legal representation, according to news reports. The Afghan Senate passed a motion this week supporting the sentence, according to the British newspaper The Independent.

Good grief.

Where is our govt?

Reporters without Borders issues a plea.
via boing boing

Could Gore endorse Obama?

Joshua Green of the Atlantic thinks maybe:

A well-connected Tennesseean told me two things today that got me thinking about this. The first is that Obama and Gore have been speaking regularly, about every two weeks or so. The second is that, despite this, and despite Tennessee’s primary on Tuesday, Obama has not visited the state since June. It may be simply that he does not plan on competing there. Or it may be that he’s been waiting for a special occasion.

Now, this is all speculation, but it is SWEET to imagine. I can see it too. Bill Clinton treated Gore terribly. Say what you will about Gore, I think he was appalled beyond belief when Clinton did his Lewinsky thing and it galled Gore to have to defend Clinton through all that. I think inside he must blame the Clintons for his own presidential loss. After all, if the sex scandal hadn't happened then it would have proved to be a smoother road for Gore, and Clinton would have been much more of an asset in campaigning for Gore.

I've never noticed any warmth between Hillary and Gore either. (I suppose I've never noticed any warmth between her and anyone)

Gore doesn't want to make the same mistake he did with Howard Dean and endorse someone only to see it fall apart. He may be waiting for just the right time, like the article suggests.

Make no mistake of how big a deal this would be. Al Gore is greatly loved among the lefty masses. His leftwing star has been shining bright as of late. He has won an Oscar, been on the cover of every magazine from Vanity Fair to Time magazine, and let us not forget the Nobel Peace Prize. Oh, he's a star alright. A big one.

An endorsement from Gore could put Obama over the top.

Poor Hillary. Sometimes payback is hell.

Let it be so, Oh Lord, let it be so.

Is this a done deal?

If you are like me, even a political junkie can't keep up with all the primary stuff and who has what delegates. Here is a brief look at what is coming from NRO about McCain:

In my opinion, the nomination is now his to lose. He now has an estimated 97 delegates (per CNN). Next Tuesday, he'll win New York (101), New Jersey (52), Connecticut (30), and Arizona (53). He'll probably also win Oklahoma (41) and Missouri (58).
These are — off the top of my head — all of the winner-take-all states on Super Tuesday (except Utah). They'll leave McCain with a total of 432 delegates. That's before any of the California delegates, of which he's sure to take several. He'll get some in Illinois and some in the proportional states in the South (where Romney won't do well anyway), and some in the caucus states. My guess is he'll finish Super Tuesday with no fewer than 700 delegates, and perhaps as many as 900.
Romney will probably have about 250 at that point, maybe something like 400 if he does unexpectedly well in the caucus states. The threshold for victory is 1,191.

How is McCain winning?

Peggy Noonan, as usual, sums it up pretty well:

If you go by the Florida returns, maybe this year positions aren't everything. Republicans on the ground think the conservative is the one who suffered 5½ years in the Hanoi Hilton. Republicans on the ground think the conservative is the one who has endured a lifetime in the rounds in Washington and survived as antispending, antiabortion and pro-military. Republicans on the ground think the conservative is the old fighter jock who'll keep the country safe in a rocky time ahead. And maybe Republicans on the ground are saying: He earned it.

The conventional wisdom is Mr. Romney can't win it while Mike Huckabee's in it. If Mr. Huckabee dropped out, Mr. Romney might pick up his conservatives. But Mr. Huckabee seems very happy running, and perhaps happy thinking of his future as the Mitt slayer in the party of John.

Noonan also keys into one of McCain's main problems. He doesn't seem to care to soothe the conservative base on the issues that they disagree upon. He gets indignate at remarks on illegal immigration and campaign finance reform. This is his major flaw.

Most politicans at this point would spin a bit, smooth the ruffled feathers, assure the base of his committment to the things they care about. He would compromise on the things they disagree on or at least make it look that way. But McCain is stubborn and believes what he believes. He won't put icing on it the way most all politicans do. It's part of what I like about him and part of what I don't like.

And that is driving me crazy.

What I see so far

Both my college age kids have recently called me asking about Barack Obama. It seems Obama is creating quite a buzz among the young, who seem to feel that there is someone they can finally get excited about. To them Obama represents everything that is opposite of what they are used to in politics. I even noticed that on Facebook one of nieces had become a supporter of Obama. (Yes, I will be talking to her)

According to Time magazine young voters are voting in numbers not seen since 1972, when the voting age was lowered to 18.

If Obama wins (and I sadly do not think he will), it will be because of the youth and the minority vote.

Obama and Hillary made all nice at the debate last night. It was clear that they agreed to give the impression that one way or another it would be a Hillary/Obama or Obama/Hillary ticket. Much depends on Edwards voters. Who will they go to?

On a side note, did anyone notice this gentlemanly act from Obama last night?

I hope that I am not giving the wrong impression here regarding Obama. I want him to beat Hillary, no doubt, but he is the most liberal Senator in the Senate. You will hear much about that here if he wins.

Regarding the Republican debate the other night. It was very important for Romney to not only win the debate, but score some serious points against McCain. I don't think he was forceful enough. This is McCain's ballgame to lose.

This morning on Fox News I heard that Nancy Reagan "adores" and prefers John McCain for President, although she won't officially endorse anyone.

Another score for McCain.

Also, John Hawkins of RWN, gives you reasons to vote for McCain even if you hate him.

On the other hand, Sean Hannity endorsed Romney yesterday. Hannity is quite loved in conservative circles. Will that make a difference?

Finally, Geraldo on Fox this morning voiced a thought that I have had for a long time. If McCain selected Condi Rice for V.P. It would take away the "historic" moment for Hillary and Obama in one swoop.

I think it would be fantastic. Go Condi!!!

McCain and the word "gooks"

Will it hurt him?

Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.

"I hate the gooks,'' McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. ``I will hate them as long as I live.''
.....

McCain made no apologies yesterday.

"I was referring to my prison guards,'' McCain said, "and I will continue to refer to them in language that might offend some people because of the beating and torture of my friends.''

McCain made it clear that his anger extends only toward his captors. As a senator, he was one of the leaders of the postwar effort to normalize U.S. relations with Vietnam.

As anyone who knows me knows, I find racial slurs unacceptable. I have complained here many times how the youth of today seem to have no problem tossing around racial slurs to their friends and enemies.

McCain may have a point that he is referring to his captors who tortured him and his friends, but a man can put those kind of labels aside and still make the case for his captors being evil. There are lots of words and names one can use without using a slur associated with a certain community of people.

Do I think this is a big deal? No. Because of the circumstances and the history of it, but the more important concern to me, is one no one is mentioning.

Forgiveness.

Perhaps McCain would do well to read Corrie Ten Boom's "The Hiding Place." (this book had a profound effect on me as a teenager, I recommend it to anyone who really wants to understand the true meaning of Christianity)

This book was written by a woman whose Christian Dutch family lived in Nazi occupied Holland during World War II. When they realized what was happening to their Jewish friends, they constructed a secret room to hide the Jews. Eventually they were caught and sent to concentration camps. There, Corrie's entire family died.

The part that McCain might learn from is where years and years later, long after the camps, Corrie meets one of the prison guards. You can only imagine the feelings she experienced. He asked for her forgiveness and she did a profound and holy thing.

She forgave him.

When we forgive our enemies, we release whatever hold they may still have on us.

McCain's captors may have never asked forgiveness, but it is still McCain's to grant.

It is in forgiveness that we find peace.


Update: I could not find the link where I found this story, but I didn't realize that McCain said this back in 2000. Some blogs on the left are bringing this up, so I guess that is where I read it. I googled it in blogsearch and like me, many blogs are reading the article thinking it was recently.

Sorry for the confusion.

Anyway, it seems that McCain apologized a day later back in 2000:

“I will continue to condemn those who unfairly mistreated us,” McCain said in a statement released Feb. 21. “But out of respect to a great number of people for whom I hold in very high regard, I will no longer use the term that has caused such discomfort… I apologize and renounce all language that is bigoted and offensive, which is contrary to all that I represent and believe.”

Too good not to post...

Victor Davis Hanson:

In reaction to McCain’s own surge and the Republican windfall, the conservative base went ballistic. Soon a Republican civil war broke out over how best to lose the election.

Despite McCain’s 82-percent career ranking by the American Conservative Union, and his support for balanced budgets, an end to pork-barrel spending and earmarks, strong support for the war, and expressed regret over once supporting the Bush illegal immigration reform package, McCain was branded by the conservative media as a sellout and a near liberal. Not to mention that he was supposedly too old and hot-tempered to be the Republican nominee. The more McCain was discovered not to be a perfect conservative, the more he was accused of not even being a good one.

Even stranger, the various Republican candidates began invoking Ronald Reagan’s three-decade-old tenure as the new litmus test of the times — apparently to show how moderates like the wayward McCain fell far short of the Gipper’s true-blue conservatism.

Were conservatives supposed to forget that a maverick Reagan raised some taxes, signed an illegal-alien amnesty bill, expanded government, appointed centrist Supreme Court justices, advocated nuclear disarmament, sold arms to Iran, and pulled out of Lebanon — but to remember only that John McCain was not for the original Bush tax cuts or once supported the administration’s offer of a quasi-amnesty?

The Democratic cat-fighters are doing their best to give away a once-sure general election, but the Republicans seem to be doing even more to ensure that they forfeit the unexpected gift they’ve been given.

If Hillary Clinton does end up winning her party’s nomination, November’s vote may hinge on whether moderates and liberals are nauseated enough by the Clintons’ brawling and character assassination to cross over and vote for a decorated Republican war hero — that is, if his own flag-waving party doesn’t destroy him first.

Vote for McCain, part 2

Quote from The Club From Growth:

Over his twenty years in the Senate, he has been at the forefront of the battle to eliminate wasteful projects and inject greater discipline and transparency into the appropriations process, often by introducing a slew of cost-cutting amendments. While many of these measures did not pass, they served an important role in shining a glaring light on congressional profligacy.

I figured just listing the amendments would be a boring read. Trust me when I say PORK. But I put a pen to it and I came up with this number:

2 billion, 974 million since 1994, if you include votes against the bill listed below. And those were just the ones that had dollar amounts attached. There were so much more.

Show me a Democrat who wouldn't have just had a naked money bath in that. But McCain fought it all the way.

In addition, he voted against the 2003 Medicare prescription drug plan, against the Farm Security Bill in 2002, against the 2005 Highway Bill, one of only four senators to object to the pork-stuffed bill. He voted against providing Amtrak with an extra $550 million for the fiscal year 2007. He voted against $2 billion in milk subsidies. He was one of fifteen senators to vote for Senator Tom Coburn's (R-OK) amendment transferring $223 million for the "Bridge to Nowhere" to the repair of a Louisiana bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina.He was also one of only thirteen senators to vote for an amendment by Senator Coburn to eliminate $950,000 for a parking lot for the Joslyn Art Museum in Nebraska. And finally, most importantly, he voted for welfare reform.

The one thing you can trust McCain on without a shadow of a doubt is the veto pen to pork barrel spending.

Remember when Hillary said she had so many ideas America couldn't afford them all? What do you think she would do with those bills? Hmmmmm??????

Lesson 2 over. Tune in tomorrow for a more personal look at McCain.

Bush Still Rocks

The Anchoress reminds us of the tough guy who never surprised us. He always did what he thought was right. he always stood by his principles, not caring about popularity, but integrity. A rare thing in a politician. Mark my words, history will prove him right in so many ways.

*note-if you comment anything disrespectful to our President in the comment section, I will delete it.

via Ace

John Edwards Drops Out

Oh well, he was nice to look at.

Bringing conservatives over to McCain

I know many of you are unhappy with McCain. I told you last night I would do what I could to make you feel better about voting for McCain in the general election should he be our nominee. So here goes.

This first post I have tried to keep simple, but there will be more to come.

First--Judges are a priority to most of us. Here are some excerpts from an interview with National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru. In this answer he tells how the gang of 14 gave us not only Alito and Roberts,but a slew of conservative judges:

Ponnuru: What kind of judges would President McCain be looking for?

Sen. McCain: Strict interpreter of the Constitution. I’m proud of what the Gang of Fourteen did. I’m proud that we got two Supreme Court justices that will be the best I think, perhaps ever. I’m proud of that we got a whole flood of federal and appellate-court justices through without a single one being rejected because we framed the criteria as quote "extraordinary circumstances." And seven Democrats on our gang never saw quote "extraordinary circumstances." The proponents of the nuclear option wanted 51 votes. Suppose that the Democrats keep their Democrat majority and you get a Democrat president, do you want judges confirmed by 51 votes now? I don’t think so.

Does anyone realize how important that was? I don't believe for a moment that we could have gotten these judges without the gang of 14. It took the power of PR away from the Democrats because their colleagues were a part of it.

Ponnuru: Are there any members of the current Supreme Court that you particularly admire or regard as a model?

Sen. McCain: Eh of course, Antonin Scalia. He’s a lot of our conservative models, I admire how articulate he is, but I also from everything I’ve seen I admire Roberts as well.

Anyone who sees Scalia as a role model is the person we want appointing judges.

Feel better yet? Stay with me. We are overtaxed. No doubt. Can we count on McCain to not raise taxes for any reason? Yes. Yes we can.


Ponnuru: If you could get the Democrats to agree, or at least to come to the table on entitlements or on tax simplification, are those circumstances under which you’d be willing to accept a tax increase?

Sen. McCain: No; no.

PONNURU: No circumstances?

Sen. McCain: No. None. None.

Although McCain disappointed us with the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, his record goes far beyond that. He voted in 2006 extend the Bush tax cuts. He voted in 1997 vote to cut capital gains taxes and in 1990 and 1993 voted against President Bush's and President Clinton's tax hikes. He introduced measures that would require a sixty-vote majority to pass a tax increase.

Just looking at that, it is clear that any label of "liberal" on John McCain is absurd. Do you think any of the critically important things mentioned above from judges to taxes would happen under a Democrat?

I've got more. Much more. Stay tuned tomorrow when I look at the tremendous amount of pork barrel spending McCain has voted against in his career.

It's ok, I know you are feeling vulnerable right now. Take my hand. We will get to the voting booth together and vote for McCain...;-)

McCain wins Florida!

We had a nice chat in here about it. I'm sorry if you missed it.

It has been confirmed that Rudy will be endorsing McCain tomorrow.

When the McCain train rolls, it rolls.

McCain made a remark about his winning in a primary where all the people voting are Republican. I think he wanted to press the point that he could win with the base and he proved that tonight.

I'm going to transition some of you into the idea of McCain as our nominee. Stay with me here. Tomorrow I begin the conversion.

Fly Naked

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.
Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings from Friday for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing 499 euros ($735).
....

Naturism, or "free body culture" (FKK) as it is known in Germany, was banned by the Nazis but blossomed again after the Second World War, particularly in eastern Germany.

I suppose going through security would be easier. But who would want to sit in those seats on the next flight. You know what I mean?

I don't know much about nudists, but I do know that most people just don't look too good naked. Which is why everyone loves to look at the ones who do, but then, they aren't nudists generally. You have to pay to see them in a magazine or a movie.

I would like to start a movement of "pajamaists." I think people would be a lot happier if we could all just wear pajamas to work and school. We would be comfortable, but none of our flaws would be showing. Flying in pajamas is even a better idea.

Just a thought.

Bad idea or just stupid idea?

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A Carnival float with a pile of model dead bodies commemorating the Holocaust is causing unease before the lavish parades in Rio de Janeiro this weekend.
The Viradouro samba organization, or school, plans to feature the grim display when it marches in the Sambadrome parade strip on Sunday, despite objections from a local Jewish group.

Yeah, parades and Holocaust commemorations just don't exactly mesh. Geeze.

Tonight

I may open up a chat room here tonight as the votes come in from Florida, so we can discuss it. Maybe around 7pm central, which would be 8pm eastern.

Are your ears burning Hillary?

Now that is just too delicious.

HotAir is talking about how Obama snubbed Hillary as Ted Kennedy reaches to shake her hand. But I'm going with the idea that Obama turned away so he would not make the moment even more awkward for Hillary.

Am I giving Obama too much credit here? Or is he feeling the disgust that most of us on the right feel when we see her?

Update: Hillary cancels her TV news interviews today. Could it be she didn't want to discuss the snub and/or she is sick of the Kennedy questions.

Application For Permission To Date My Daughter

*Given my post on my daughter from yesterday, I thought this was amusing. I got it in e-mail today.

NOTE: This application will be incomplete and rejected unless accompanied by a complete financial statement, job history, lineage, and current medical report from your doctor.
NAME_____________________________________ DATE OF BIRTH_____________
HEIGHT___________ WEIGHT____________ IQ__________ GPA_____________
SOCIAL SECURITY #_________________ DRIVERS LICENSE #________________
BOY SCOUT RANK AND BADGES__________________________________________
HOME ADDRESS_______________________ CITY/STATE___________ ZIP______
Do you have parents? ___Yes ___NoIs one male and the other female? ___Yes ___NoIf No, explain: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Number of years they have been married ______________________________
If less than your age, explain____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
ACCESSORIES SECTION:
A. Do you own or have access to a van? __Yes __No
B. A truck with oversized tires? __Yes __No
C. A waterbed? __Yes __No
D. A pickup with a mattress in the back? __Yes __No
E. A tattoo? __Yes __No
F. Do you have an earring, nose ring, __Yes __Nopierced tongue, pierced cheek or a belly button ring?
(IF YOU ANSWERED 'YES' TO ANY OF THE ABOVE, DISCONTINUE APPLICATION AND LEAVE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY. I SUGGEST RUNNING.)
ESSAY SECTION:
In 50 words or less, what does 'LATE' mean to you?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
In 50 words or less, what does 'DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER' mean to you?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
In 50 words or less, what does 'ABSTINENCE' mean to you?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
REFERENCES SECTION:
Church you attend ___________________________________________________
How often you attend ________________________________________________
When would be the best time to interview your:
father? _____________
mother? _____________
pastor? _____________
SHORT-ANSWER SECTION:
Answer by filling in the blank. Please answer freely, all answersare confidential.
A: If I were shot, the last place I would want shot would be:
______________________________________________________________
B: If I were beaten, the last bone I would want broken is my:
______________________________________________________________
C: A woman's place is in the:
______________________________________________________________
D: The one thing I hope this application does not ask me about is:
______________________________________________________________
E. What do you want to do IF you grow up? ___________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
F. When I meet a girl, the thing I always notice about her first is:
______________________________________________________________
I SWEAR THAT ALL INFORMATION SUPPLIED ABOVE IS TRUE AND CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT, NATIVE AMERICAN ANT TORTURE, CRUCIFIXION, ELECTROCUTION, AND RED HOT POKERS.
_________________________________________________________Applicant's Signature (that means sign your name, moron!)
_______________________________ ________________________________Mother's Signature Father's Signature
_______________________________ ________________________________Pastor/Priest/Rabbi State Representative/Congressman
Thank you for your interest, and it had better be genuine and non-sexual.Please allow four to six years for processing.
You will be contacted in writing if you are approved. Please do not try to call or write (since you probably can't, and it would cause you injury). If your application is rejected, you will be notified by two gentleman wearing white ties carrying violin cases.

All eyes are on Florida

It's neck and neck in Florida and both McCain and Romney camps have been sending out their version of attacks on each other. Let's take a look.

Each are calling each other liberal on several issues. Romney goes after McCain on the pieces of legislation he sponsored that almost all conservatives disagree with, McCain-Lieberman, addressing climate change. McCain-Fiengold, the infamous campaign finance reform bill. And McCain-Kennedy, the so called "amnesty bill."

Romney is rightly bringing attention to all these things. Reminding Florida voters of those bills has got to hurt McCain. But McCain is bringing attention of Romney's not so conservative background as well.

McCain went after Romney for his "big government mandated health care plan for Massachusetts, which is now half a billion in the hole, is certainly not conservative." The Boston Globe reported last week that the plan would cost $400 million more than expected next year."

McCain also pointed out that "Romney had previously called McCain’s immigration stance “reasonable” and “quite different” from amnesty, that Romney had backed taxing political contributions to publicly funded campaigns and that he had supported legislation similar to McCain-Lieberman and raised the state gas tax."

Now, that is kind of important. If one is angry at McCain for his past conservative mistakes, then one has to look at Romney's past as well. Romney is saying all the right things now, but does he mean it?

But McCain does himself no favors by not admitting when he was wrong, I suppose because he doesn't think he was wrong.

There is no doubt there is a great deal of animosity towards McCain from the base. Can he overcome it? I think Florida will be a good test. Since it is open only to Republicans.

My feeling is that Romney will win Florida. But if McCain comes in a close second, then the race is hardly over. Super Tuesday will be something to see.

quotes from Politico

Rudy may be dropping out soon?

There is talk.

I guess everyone here knows that that suits me just fine. I said from the beginning that it would be ridiculous to nominate a pro-abortion, pro gay marriage candidate who cheated and humilated his wife while in office, when we condemned a Democratic President for the same thing not too long ago.

Will his dropping out benefit McCain or Romney? You tell me.

The Clintons slammed...

..by that raging rightwinger...Ralph Nader:

It might remind voters to remember or examine the real Clinton record in that peaceful decade of missed opportunities and not be swayed by the sugarcoating version that the glib former president emits at many campaign stops.
.......

He proceeded, instead, to take credit for developments with which he had very little to do with such as the economic growth propelled by the huge technology dot.com boom.

.....

Between 1996 and 2000, he drove legislation through Congress that concentrated more power in the hands of giant agribusiness, large telecommunications companies and the biggest jackpot - opening the doors to gigantic mergers in the financial industry. The latter so-called "financial modernization law" sowed the permissive seeds for taking vast financial risks with other peoples' money (ie. pensioners and investors) that is now shaking the economy to recession.

.......

Bill Clinton's presidential resume was full of favors for the rich and powerful. Corporate welfare subsidies, handouts and giveaways flourished, including subsidizing the Big Three Auto companies for a phony research partnership while indicating there would be no new fuel efficiency regulations while he was President.
His regulatory agencies were anesthetized. The veteran watchdog for Public Citizen of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, said that safety was the worst under Clinton in his twenty nine years of oversight.

.......

But during his two-term triangulating Presidency, he wasn't smart enough to avoid losing his Party's control over Congress, or many state legislatures and Governorships.
It has always been all about him, Now he sees another admission ticket to the White House through his wife, Hillary Clinton. EIGHT MORE YEARS without a mobilized, demanding participating citizenry is just that - EIGHT MORE YEARS.
......

Bragging about millions of jobs his Administration created, he neglected to note that incomes stagnated for 80% of the workers in the country and ended in 2000, under the level of 1973, adjusted for inflation.
A brainy White House assistant to Mr. Clinton told me in 1997 that the only real achievement his boss could take credit for was passage of legislation allowing 12 weeks family leave, without pay.

And if all that wasn't delicious enough, he accuses Clinton's of policies that killed 500,000 Iraqi children's lives. (I don't buy that of course, it's just to ironic to see the left accuse a lefty President of it. Now he will know how Bush feels)

Some people on the left are actually waking to the truth about the Clintons.

via Drudge

Hillary is going for the female vote...

...big time.

Clinton talked about the different perspective she would bring to the White House -- as a daughter, wife, and mother.

It seemed intended to connect with women voters. "I will bring to the White House my perspective as a daughter, as a wife, as a mother, because that's never been in the White House before," she said to applause and cheers from the crowd. "I know what it's like to have to be at work and your baby wakes up sick. I know what it's like when the babysitter calls in sick. I know what it's like when the appointment you thought would be done by time for you to pick your child up from school keeps going and going and you can't get out of it. I mean, I have lived this and I know how hard parents today are working."

And just how could she make a difference here? What government program is going to stop your baby from getting sick? What mandate on business is going to keep your meeting from going long?

It's always nice to pander to our biggest concerns when there really is nothing you can do about them.

There is no doubt that these are the kinds of concerns women have. But they can only be addressed by the marketplace and by personal choices, not government.

Heartbreak

Raising a girl is harder than a raising a boy imo. My daughter is in college now and thankfully we are past the difficult teenage years. I thought the tough things were done, but I was wrong.

Nothing is harder than trying to get your daughter through her first heartbreak. I don't think I have ever felt so helpless. It doesn't help that I tell her that every woman on the planet knows what it's like to fall in love and then discover much later what a complete jerk you fell in love with. It doesn't help that I have to hide the fact that I am glad she finally saw him for what he was, that I am so glad it's over.

I think we all learn alot from our first love gone wrong. We learn about the mistakes we make in relationships. We learn that it takes a while for someone's true colors to show. We learn how we don't ever want to be treated again (although many continue to let themselves be treated that way).

I shudder to think if I had married my first love. He was self involved and had ridiculous expectations of me. Similar to what my daughter went through, although the expectations were different. My boyfriend expected perfection in looks and behavior. Her boyfriend expected spiritual perfection that he in no way exemplified himself.

I tell her that time will heal all the pain. I tell her she will meet someone who adores her for who she is, not who he expects her to be. And all of this is true, but it doesn't help today. Today I have to hear her cry. Today I have to listen to the pain in her voice and there is little I can do.

When she was little and fell and hurt herself, I could make things better. But now, I can only stand beside her as she learns to make things better for herself.

Her heart is broken and mine is as well.

The hits keep coming...

Toni Morrison, the black writer who famously said that Bill Clinton was the "first black President" has endorsed Obama.

I am so enjoying this political season.

via Newsbusters

The Beginning of the End?

Robert Novack says that the Obama camp is letting it be known that if he is President he will appoint John Edwards as Attorney General.

This is an obvious play for Edwards support when Edwards finally drops out, and who can blame Obama there? It's an appalling thought, Edwards as Attorney General, but that isn't what struck me. It will be interesting to see if what I hope happens, happens. And that is that the Democratic party start to turn against Hillary and Bill.

Caroline Kennedy writing today in the NYT "A President Like My Father," in support of Barack Obama is astounding to me. Could this be the beginning of the end of Hillary? Is that possible?

There is a fork in the road here for the Democratic party. They can go the way of the old school corrupt bickering hateful candidate, or the refreshing inspiring history changing candidate. The latter, if chosen, will at least gain back some respect from me and many others for the Democratic party. The former will sadly not surprise me.

Is it possible to finally elevate the running of President? Can we argue the ideas and ideals instead of the personal attacks and distortions of records? With Hillary that will never happen. But with Obama, it just might.

I've never been afraid of our ideas and beliefs not winning. I've never been afraid of a honest debate. How long has it been since we had one of those in Presidential politics? Too long.

It's time.

via Powerline

Update: Ted Kennedy endorses Obama. Can you imagine what Hillary is doing tonight behind closed doors? Screaming, I suspect.

Udate 2: Hillary says I have a Kenndy of my own, so there.