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November 30, 2004

Expiration Date

I just checked the carton - Kofi Annan is well past his Best If Used By date.

Slowly but surely, there are increasingly mainstream grumblings from within the political classes that Kofi Annan must go. In an editorial of the same name, Senator Norm Coleman argues for his removal on the basis of the oil-for-food corruption scandal alone.

But there is more - so much more - to show why Annan must be removed.

Simply put, the UN has been an abject failure under his watch - from genocide in Darfur and Rwanda, to the outright failure of the UN to lead in the Ukraine crisis, Annan embodies the vile corruption and feckless indifference to meaningful action that the UN has come to stand for.

Dick Morris argues for a more targeted act against the UN, reducing US payments to the body until the UN charts a new course - beyond simply cycling Annan out - that leads to real internal reform. Sort of a "You're on restriction and I'm reducing your allowance" action. While I can't disagree, I do think an open, and honest, discussion needs to happen regarding the UN's continued viability. We should not continue to support it out of habit or fond memory or misplaced utopian ideal. It must be an effective institution for real progress - not simply a forum to pin the world's troubles on Israel.

Posted by mchester at 07:09 PM | Comments (0) |

What's In a Name?

Paul Farhi:

Congratulations, Julia Roberts, and you, too, Mr. Julia Roberts, on the birth of your twins, little Hazel and Phinnaeus. But our joy over your Blessed Event is tempered by a couple of questions. To wit:

Hazel? And, more important, Phinnaeus?

But that's probably the point. Celebrity baby names these days are very . . . different. We say this not to pass judgment, but to point out one more way celebrities are not like the rest of us.

One would think the last thing celebrities want is another example that they are different from the rest of us.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) |

November 29, 2004

Made Men

Are lifetime judicial appointments an anachronism anymore?

A new poll shows lifetime appointments are growing a little more suspect in the eyes of the public - Judge Rehnquist's absence from the bench simply reinforcing most folks experience with their crazy old aunt Matilda.

But there is an even more important reason why lifetime judicial appointments are now unwise. The simple truth is that the judiciary has transformed itself into a policy making structure, and as such, must be accountable to the people for their actions.

Witness the battle of federal judicial appointments - most are qualified to hold the post they are nominated to, but are castigated by one side or the other. The judiciary is now a political prize worthy of party capture since it stopped simply ruling on law and started writing it.

Some will argue that a judge not given protection of a lifetime appointment will be unwilling to rule fairly and take action against the public will where the law dictates; rather, simply rubber-stamping the mob. Better stamping it than stampeding it, I argue. If judges are allowed to create law, take over supervision of school districts, overturn election law, and otherwise rule by fiat, then that power must be checked by more than the sanction of impeachment - which is only used for egregious cases of criminal misconduct.

Is there any better poster child than the Ninth Circuit Court - The folks that brought you "no pledge of allegiance"? I don't recall many cases of judges ruling against the law and for the mob, but there are reams of cases where a judge does something that just doesn't make much sense, and there is no reasonable recourse.

As part of a long overdue examination of our legal system, elimination of the lifetime tenure should merit high examination. A lifetime without accountability befits no political office, which unfortunately the judiciary has become.

Posted by mchester at 02:14 PM | Comments (0) |

Distillations on the 21st Amendment

In related commerce clause news--the other case being argued today that I find interesting is “the wine case” (Grhanholm v Heald)where out-of-state wineries, if they want to sell wine to residents in-state (here: Michigan), to adhere to a fairly extensive and, to the smallish wineries, expensive regulatory scheme.

I won’t comment nearly as extensively as I did on the pot case. But since this a related mind altering substance, I think it’s worthy of some comment (esp. since we discussed and argued the case in my seminar).

Basically the clash here is between the 21st amendment and the Commerce Clause and/or the scope of the 21st amendment.

Regarding the first clash--the question is whether the text of the 21st (stating “the transportation or importation into any State...for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited” is at all limited by the plenary power Congress has to regulate commerce among the several states.

It would seem that the very wording of the amendment would suggest that the Congress’ power over interstate commerce remains plenary, EXCEPT for liquor. The terms of the 21st (“transportation or importation into any State”) clearly are in line with the “intercourse” that Marshall was talking about in Gibbons v Ogden that interstate commerce necessarily entails. It would seem that the 21st is a clear limitation on the Commerce Clause.

I know there is an argument that the Commerce Clause is NOT limited by the 21st--but I honestly don’t see how that argument holds up when viewed against the plain text of the amendment. At the very least, you would think that the fact that the 21st was passed subsequent to the Commerce Power indicates that the amendment controls our understanding of the commerce clause and any related constitutional provisions.

On a related note, one of the more curious arguments that arose in my seminar’s discussing of the case was that even if the 21st does limit the reach of the commerce clause, it is still trumped by the doctrine of the DORMANT COMMERCE CLAUSE. This absolutely threw me for a loop when I heard it. Essentially, the argument is that the judge-made doctrine of a dormant-commerce clause must yield a constitutional amendment.

That’s just weird to me.

The other clash (depending on how it comes out), might solve the first. It involves the scope of the 21st amendment. Basically the question is what was the amendment intended to accomplish. Some argue it was intended to end federal control of liquor and grant plenary power to the states where it had previously existed with the federal gov’t. Under this reading, states could regulate (or deregulate) liquor in any way they chose.

The alternative reading of the purpose of the 21st was that it wasn’t intended to give states such a broad range of policy choices. This argument says that the 21st only gave the states the choice to be “wet” or “dry” in their permission of liquor into their borders. If they chose to be “wet”--then they were subject to all the limits that the Congress via the commerce clause might place on them. Again, this reading seems counterintuitive to the plain text of the amendment.

It seems strange to permit the states such a starkly binary choice in its decision to regulate liquor. Suppose the state wished to allow the importation of beer/wine but prohibit the importation of spirits.

Under this latter reading of 21st Amendment, they would not be permitted to do so as being a restriction on interstate commerce. But if they wanted to ban ALL liquor importation that would be permissible.

The 21st seems to implicitly recognize that states may choose to be “dry”, “wet”, or some degree of “damp”--but that the choice is ultimately theirs and it trumps Congress’ power under the commerce clause.

I notice I said I would say LESS about this case than the one I'm actually writing my paper on--and yet I said more about something I, at this point, know less about. That’s disconcerting.

(Cross posted to Legal XXX)

Posted by cxcross at 12:33 PM | Comments (0) |

The "High" Court

The High Court will hear oral argument today in a case which I find very interesting--the medical marijuana case Ashcroft v Raich. This case tickles my fancy because (a) it’s a commerce clause case; (b) Respondent’s side is being argued by Randy Barnett (of Conspiracy fame--also a LLS Fed Soc invitee); and (c) I am writing my seminar paper on this case and I had to argue the case in front of our mock Supreme Court.

The case considers the question of whether the Controlled Substances Act violates the Congress' power to regulate under the Commerce Clause in cases of purely local, non-economic activity of possession and cultivation of private, medicinal use marijuana in accordance with CA state law and with the recommendation of a physician.

I’ve had the chance to read the briefs for both sides and Respondent’s brief (PDF format) is definitely worth your time to peek through. In particular, R's brief provides a much fuller historical context to the facts of the seminal Commerce Clause case of Wickard v. Fillburn.

Wickard has become something of legend in law school Con Law classes--it's typically taught (and more typically understood) as being a case where a single, solitary, farmer, is up against the overly intrusive forces of gov't who want to regulate how much wheat the poor man can grow in order to feed his family. R’s brief does an excellent job of providing the proper scale of Roscoe Fillburn's farming operation and how the reality and the myth don’t quite match.

In short, good ol' Roscoe was running a fairly substantial commercial farming operation. The amount of wheat he was growing wasn’t just to feed his family (and hence, purely local and non-economic in nature).

Rather, Roscoe was taking the wheat he grew and was feeding it to his livestock for sale later on the market, using it to reseed his fields, and otherwise reinvesting it into his farm’s operations.

THAT was the activity that had the "substantial effect" on interstate commerce and the price of wheat--not Fillburn’s feeding some loaves of bread to his family. In fact, Fillburn was growing several TONS of wheat on his farm--far more than could reasonably be said to needed for mere home consumption.

R’s brief does a great job of laying this out and arguing that even though Wickard is at the far end of Commerce Clause jurisprudence--it is still not so broad as is commonly believed.

There is a saying that goes "If you want a conservative to betray his principles, tell him it’s an anti-crime measure." That is the dilemma the conservatives on the Court face in this case. The Court’s recent decisions in Lopez and Morrison put both sides (liberal and conservative) in a tough spot. It’s hard for the liberals on the court to support an individual rights position when doing so would greatly limit the expansionist view of the federal gov’t.

Conversely, the conservatives may have a problem supporting a law that partially legalizes pot even on Commerce Clause grounds.

I think the most predictable vote in this case will be Justice Thomas.

I’m writing my paper (which takes the form of a Court opinion) based largely on Thomas’ concurrences in Lopez and Morrison. Thomas takes a very limited view on what the Commerce Clause means and that “commerce” is limited to the original understanding of the word as being primarily “trade” and “commercial activity” and the like.

Hence, Thomas’ view rejects arguments that “commerce” includes manufacturing or production or anything that does not equal commerce “among the several states.” As manufacturing and production are inherently local activities, they fall outside of Congress’ ambit of power.

(Cross posted to Legal XXX)

Posted by cxcross at 12:28 PM | Comments (0) |

Shop Or Die!

Why does ANYONE go to the mall after Thanksgiving Day?

I think it's mere carryover from the previous days theme - abject gluttony. Lets make the biggest shopping day of the year the day after the biggest eating day of the year.

At this point, it's a vicious circle - it's become the biggest shopping day, and now the stores hold special early morning sales for the shopping-is-like-crack types, which ensures it remains the biggest day.

There is one thing, however, that has a chance to break the hold. And you are using it right now.

The Internet.

Yes, the miracle of the internet and the promise of online shopppng. All those new economy dot-bombers were right - the future of commerce is electronic via the Internet. They were just at least a decade too early - actually, they saw their pile of cash and rather than marshall it for the long haul, they bought Aeron chairs and foosball tables figuring they'd either get rich, or get bought, quick.

With companies like Amazon turning a profit, expect the same market forces that make WalMart and Target successful shopping magnets to hold true for the Internet - price and convenience will always win out.

Mind you, you can't try on clothes or quite tell that if that table linen color pattern matches over the Internet - which ensures first hand shopping for many goods. But for most other commodities, expect Christmas to be delivered by UPS, not a sleigh.

Posted by mchester at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) |

November 28, 2004

8 and Three

Posted by bubba138 at 08:32 PM | Comments (0) |

November 27, 2004

Oh Hell Yes

As problems pile up at the UN faster than bodies at a UN peacekeeping deployment, is it too soon to pick a replacement for the egregiously incompentent, feckless, corrupt, and vile anti-American Kofi Annan? New leadership candidates at the UN? The funniest and most fanciful name I've heard is Clinton - oh Hell no.

But Vaclav Havel? That's a name we can count on to fix the cesspool that is the UN.

Unfortunately, it'll never happen, because of his stance on Taiwan.

Sad.

Posted by mchester at 08:10 AM | Comments (0) |

November 26, 2004

Bloat

Mmmmm....turkey induced coma...mmmmmm...

Still rubbing my belly where my pants started to dig in at the crease due to the yearly waist expansion known as Thanksgiving dinner.

Pretty standard fare this year - a turkey that my wife can't tell if it's done, so we either overcook it or get tomain. I made the mashed potatoes - my wife adds turkey broth to it, but I told her to cut that back and use more milk, and they were mmmm-mmmm creamy good. But they had a few more tiny lumps than I like, likely because I used a little hand mixer rather than the Swedish Chef Model HAL 9000.

Add in some stuffing - Stove Top, oven crisped - which is one of those foods I hated as a child (unless it was in the Hungry Man TV-dinner, go figure) but now love. Some extra-sweet niblets corn, the wifes cranberry salad (save time - stab yourself in the pancreas and get the insulin shock over with) and ubiquitous rolls... wait a minute, I'm not sure we had enoughy starchy carbohydrates - corn, bread, stuffing, potatoes...

I just LOVE me some Thanksgiving dinner.

Which recalls to me two short funny stories related first hand by others to me.

The first was a lady I worked with in the ninth ring of hell, otherwise known as the last place I worked before starting my own business. Anyways, her family was semi-rural Texas, not too country but they raised their own chickens and other livestock, and would of course dine of the carcasses of the departed as the opportunity presented itself. Of those animals, I mean...

Anyways, this one Thanksgiving her family all gets together and decides to do the Thanksgiving bird themselves. So her mother makes dinner including their kill-it-yourself turkey with all the trimmings. Well, the table is set in a very familiar Rockwellian fashion, golden bird, a dozen family, plates of yams and every fixin' a Southern table in November should have. Having served the goods all around, grandmother takes the first bite of turkey, chews it, and then remarks aloud:

"Did you gut this bird?"

Oh my... a crucial step in do-it-yerself bird preparation is indeed removing the stinking innards of the buzzard before cooking it. One could only imagine the gamey, rank taste of a bird cooked in 400 degree heat in it's own sloughing viscera, it's inner entrails still full from it's last few meals...

Okay, second story... ever more disturbing than the first. Doubt me, do you?

Another lady I worked with from a fairly typical semi-rural Louisiana family had an even more disturbing meal experience. As the family congregated, a dozen or so members, together before the television in typical pre-meal ritual format, as those assigned the task of preparation of the meal slaved away in the kitchen, the table was slowly being set with the same assortment of tantalizing goodies we've come to expect - potatoes, yams, cranberry salad, a veritable cornucopia of food.

Well, her brother, quite the notorious prankster, walks into the dining room just before the dinner chime is rung, and then re-emerges back into the room and announces:

"Find It."

Apparently, as a reckless youth, her brother had been known on occassion to befoul a shared commodity with - yes - a booger, and announce the treasure hunt that would next ensue to make sure you weren't the lucky goldminer.

See - you didn't think it could get worse than the first story...

Posted by mchester at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) |

November 24, 2004

Here We Go Again

Shades of Florida 2000 are turning into shadows in Washington, where the race for governor has gone through two counts and is threatening to go through another.

Surprise Republican winner of both counts, Dino Rossi (shouldn't a guy with that name be pit bossing in Atlantic City?) has won a razor thin count by 261 votes and then by a mere 42 votes. Now, there is discussion of a third recount, by hand.

His Democrat challenger, Attorney General Christine Gregoire, has the same problem Al Gore did - that despite the paucity of difference between their totals, her opponent won the first count, and then the subsequent recount. At this point, it looks like counting until we get a number we like.

More than 700 previously uncounted ballots were added in King County after election workers, under the close watch of party observers, "enhanced" ballots to reflect voters' intentions. An example would be a ballot on which a voter circled the candidate's name, rather than filling in the oval for an optical scanning machine to read.

As in Florida, there were attempts to increase the vote count using interpretation of ballots. While it surely sounds like pursuit of civic duty to count a circled selection on a voting card as a vote, it is still not a legally cast ballot. State law may disagree - and it is each states right to determine what constitutes a valid vote. But to continually play games with votes in order to divine voter intent introduces far more potential for shenanigans than simply counting the votes as cast, under the rules as defined. Changing them ex post facto invites tyranny.

Imagine a third count is performed, and somehow Gregoire wins by a dozen votes. Do you think she has the stones to declare victory? Yeah, keep spinning that roulette wheel sister until your number comes up. Think about it - all you need is one vote mangled in each county to turn this election. That's not one per precinct, that's one per county. You don't think the hard core partisan hooligans don't think about how to game the recount system?

A tie in a modern election is like watching sausage being made...

Posted by mchester at 04:15 PM | Comments (0) |

Paging Richard Clarke

Your 15 minutes of fame are UP.

Well, Bryon said I should post a little something to link back to my own now-neglected blog, and I didn't see an opportunity to do so - until Richard Clarke, backstabber extraordinaire, re-emerged to provide fresh grist for my mill.

I've taken him apart here. It's a slightly long read as far as blogs go (which is why I didn't post it here) but would likely be only a page and a half in print.

Here's the payoff:

The war against the jihadists will not be easy or free of casualties. But, unless we learn from our mistakes and chart a new course, the struggle will be much longer, more costly and more painful than necessary.

Good grief, this closing reads worse than a ninth graders book report. What a trite, pointless aphorism. Allow me to close, Richard - it's about time we take those who say "Death to America" at face value. Not excuse them, prevaricate, justify, or handwring. Rather, treat those words as the threat they are. This means not making apologies for terrorism, not excusing it because it's the "wrong kind", not thinking we can simply throw pithy aphorisms and cash at the problem, nor underestimating our enemy as simply the great unwashed.

You should read the whole thing.

Posted by mchester at 06:31 AM | Comments (0) |

November 23, 2004

Boys Will Be Boys

A 13 year old Virginia boy has bypassed hand-me down nudie magazines and sneaking into R-rated movies to go for the brass ring - he apparently hijacked a stripper at gunpoint.

Ballsy.

Heck, at 13 I was finagling the old manual cable box with one hand because you could get the Playboy channel to come in clear for 2 seconds every time you clicked over just right. It never occurred to be to obtain a firearm and rustle up a date, much less plot an ambush of an exotic dancer. If it wasn't the Virginia hill country, I'd have thought it was from a John Le Carre novel...

And look at that house - I'd advise digging for bones around that premises. That house has an ill-favored look if I've ever seen one.

Posted by mchester at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) |

New Do

Sallie's blog is sporting a sexy new look. Looks good.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:40 AM | Comments (0) |

Preach It, Teach It, or Do It?

John Kerry, in his losing bid for the presidency, often preached a familiar message in churches (all while his follwers accused the President of violating separation of church and state):

Kerry's values message didn't disappear entirely. It morphed into his religious message, which emerged around the same time. "Scripture teaches us it's not enough, my brother, to say that you have faith when there are no deeds. Faith without works is dead," he told the A.M.E. Church convention in July after he picked John Edwards as his running mate. Kerry's attack on Bush was that his professions of faith weren't matched by any "works" to help the poor and sick, or heal racial division. "I am running for president because it's time to turn the words into deeds and faith into action," he said.

Yet the message fell flat, perhaps because it was built upon the false premise that "conservative" Christians were not backing up their faith with good works, as Hugh Hewitt found last weekend:

Yesterday, before returning home from Kentucky, I worshipped at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, a congregation of tens of thousands, which celebrated its 40th anniversary two years ago by providing 3000 suitcases of assistance for the homeless.

You can bet this kind of thing doesn't only happen on church anniversaries. Churches across the nation, large and small, are constantly reaching out to help the poor and downtrodden. They don't need to be told what and how to do it by the government because it is built into the culture of the church.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:29 AM | Comments (0) |

Silly People Saying Silly Stuff

Kerry Spot:

Periodically, one hears leaders on the left complaining to the American people that President George W. Bush never invited Arafat to the White House.

Silly folk. That’s why the American people like the President. No snuggling with terrorists, no matter how popular they are with the BBC.

Yep.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:48 AM | Comments (0) |

No Suitable Candidate?

It is a couple of days old (scroll down to Nov. 19th), but Kaus disagrees with Andrew Sullivan about black, female presidential appointments:

Just an excitable boy: Andrew Sullivan says:

Bill Clinton was celebrated for his progressiveness, and ease with African-Americans. But it's inconceivable that he would have given so much power and authority to a black female peer. [Emphasis added]

It is? I can conceive it quite easily, if there'd been a suitable candidate around.

The next question obviously must be: After all these years of "promoting" black and women's interests, how is it the Democrats still could not come up with a "suitable candidate?"

Posted by bubba138 at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) |

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Someone paid $28,000 for a ten year-old grilled cheese sandwich because the owner said it has the image of the Virgin Mary. In reality it was only Michelle Pfeiffer:

Boy, did they get ripped off.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:26 AM | Comments (0) |

Plus c'est change...

Emigration from France is on the rise...within certain populations, that is:

like thousands of other French Jews who have moved to Israel in the past four years, they are glad to be here. Back in France, they say, rising anti-Semitic attacks by Muslim immigrants and the anti-Israel bias of the French government and media had made life increasingly uncomfortable for them.

“We want our daughter to grow up in Israel and not France, (where) it's dangerous because of the Arabs,” says Barbara, 28. Asked if suicide bombings here by Palestinian terrorists aren't even more dangerous, she shakes her head. “Israel is ours,” she says. “We feel here that God helps us.”

Last week, Jews from 23 countries were living at the new immigrant complex in southern Jerusalem. But only the French — usually a third of the families who spend six months here adjusting to their new country — cite anti-Semitism as a prime motivator for emigrating, known here as “making Aliyah,” or “going up.”

“It's there in the air” of France, says Ahuva Volk, the center's cultural coordinator. “They all felt it at one time or another.”

Posted by bubba138 at 05:50 AM | Comments (0) |

MoveOn.org: "What's Next?"

MoveOn.org is trying to find out if it still has a purpose:

Supporters of the national progressive organization, MoveOn.org, gathered at more than 1,680 house parties across the nation Sunday night to participate in a national online conference and determine what they should do to move beyond the whining and into action after the election defeat.

"The idea of this was to get people to feel less hopeless. I'm really charged up now. Rather than sitting at home saying, I hate this and I have to move, I'd rather find ways to fight," said Brynne Duty, 27, who is studying to be a physical therapist. "I feel good about being here."

But one thing was clear, moving to the center was not the way to go.

"Moving to the center is what took the passion out of the (presidential) campaign," said Mari Eliza, 54.

They could do do just about anything, but it looks like it will be more of the same. One thing I am certain they won't do: move on.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:45 AM | Comments (0) |

November 22, 2004

Real Tomato Ketchup Eddie?

Nothin' but the best...but not right now.

If you've ordered a burger lately and thought it tasted a little different, it might have been missing something - tomatoes. Tomatoes are in desperately short supply due to the 2004 Florida Hurricane Convention, pestilence in Mexico, and high rains in California.

I've witnessed this first hand in the Dallas, Texas area. Taco Bueno restaurants have gone so far as to post a professionally created (and hence - widely distributed I'm sure) sign that indicated that tomatoes would not be served on their menu items. Yesterday, a couple items I ordered from Wendy's emerged from the bag sans tomato - in fact, all the sandwiches did, though it would've been nice if they'd have told us this before the fact.

The matter was really brought home when I went to Uncle Julio's (best chicken fajitas on the planet, bar none), and their homemade salsa tasted different - sure enough, the tomato shortage has hit the Uncle especially hard, forcing them to change their salsa recipe until further notice. Oh the humanity!

An interesting thing to think about when an entire crop becomes priced out of the market - just imagine a long term problem with food supplies. This is one reason I've long turned a blind eye towards farm subsidies - payment to grow food that is never consumed, merely plowed under, or paid to keep farm area unfarmed to keep prices high and hence the market healthy. I want an abundance of food producers, with an orgy of food or food growing capacity that we do not consume. Food is one of those things that is a commodity - but really isn't. Like serious medical care, it's one of those things you just HAVE to have, regardless of cost. Thinking of passing on that heart procedure because it's out of season? Think again. Same thing with food. We are used to supersizing it and taking home 1500 calories for five bucks. But if push came to shove, there is only so much downward pressure on the price curve that the consumer can produce - man's gotta eat.

This story is remarkable because we have a nation of plenty, but it's important to realize just how finely tuned the feeding of the United States and the world has become, and how susceptible it can be to unexpected events. Next time you hear someone bemoaning a grain subsidy, think of that buck-fifty loaf of bread at the store, and the law of unintended consequences...

P.S. In case you don't get the title reference...a refresher here (PG rated, hide the youngens...)

Posted by mchester at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Arafat's Death a Zionist Plot

Can you believe it? It turns out Israel killed Arafat:

Nasser al-Kidwa, who is also the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said the files are inconclusive on the cause of Arafat's death, but "I believe the Israeli authorities are largely responsible for what happened."

Posted by bubba138 at 12:28 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerry Won the Cities?

Umm, not quite:

So not only did Bush win ½ of the major cities, he also won the more appealing ones.

While the average Kerry city had a higher median income ($43440 vs. $40655), the cost of living was significantly higher (134.84 to 105.07), crime was much worse (276.5 to 181.5), air pollution was worse (108.4 to 94.3), it rained more (35.47 to 29.08), and property taxes (with the exception of Oklahoma City) were higher. Not only that, violent crimes per 100,000, murder per 100,000, property prices, % single mothers, number of homeless, % of renters, % commute time, and avg. lifespan were also worse in Kerry cities.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:37 AM | Comments (0) |

YEAH BABY!

Oh, that's gotta hurt.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:03 AM | Comments (0) |

November 21, 2004

Kofi Annan Is Killing American Troops

Think this is farfetched?

Where do you think the oil for food money went - the billions skimmed off the top for Saddam - just to cars and hookers? Without a doubt, some of that cash is sustaining the Iraqi insurgency in the Sunni triangle, where Saddam loyalists and Baathist hardasses are using it to fund their insurgency.

If the UN Oil-For-Food scam had been run by a government, that government would have fallen by now - it's treasonous to allow a foreign interest to buy you off. But the UN keeps on chugging, and there has been surprising little interest in the main media for pursuing this story. Do they not understand that the UN through it's vile corruption and utter mismanagement has helped finance the operations that are killing young American men? Helped fund the beheading of innocents, foreigners, and women?

Blood for oil? You bet, but don't look at the White House, look at the UN Building.

Posted by mchester at 09:09 AM | Comments (0) |

How The Midwest Was Won

Two good articles, one short, one long, on the strategies employed by both sides in the 2004 election battle for votes in Ohio.

I admit to having a grudging respect for the efforts of the ACT group in Ohio - perhaps it's easy in victory to be magnanimous toward the efforts of your opponent. Regardless, one has to respect the dedication and heart of anyone involved in the political process, espcially in the area of turnout, where the rubber meets the road.

Reinforced in each article is how despite the Democrats meeting their turnout goals, it wasn't enough. 2004 should be remembered for many things, and one of them has to be the turnout of the Broken Glass Republican.

Posted by mchester at 06:19 AM | Comments (0) |

November 20, 2004

Knife Fight

Up close and personal, this is the best account of the Fallujah operation I've read.

One thing that is often overlooked in examining the US action in Iraq is that the United States will have the only battle-hardened modern army on the face of the earth, save the Israelis. This isn't simply US armed forces using technology and firepower at standoff range, as in the first Gulf War. This is knife range, up close and personal, urban combat and counterinsurgency warfare that is on the widest scale likely Viet Nam or Korea, and as far as urban warfare, since the Second World War.

US combat in Iraq and Afghanistan has, in addition to accomplishing it's policy goals, blooded US forces and given combat leader NCO's invaluable experience for what could be a protacted and difficult war against protaganist states who employ and support terror. This inarguably defines two of Iraq's neighbors, Syria and Iran. The removal of Hussein has interrupted the land support bridge that existed between militants in Lebanon and their facilitators in Iran, and it's possible that this has partly helped reduce the number of attacks Israel has faced. But Iran and Syria are both havens for terror and anti-American jihad, and it is hard to imagine a lasting peace between the United States and strident Islamism that doesn't include removal of the dictator in Damascus and the Mullahs of Tehran. Both nations are surrounded, Syria by coalition forces in Iraq and an unfriendly Turkey, Iran by coalition forces on each border in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Bush Administration policy has been to support internal change in Tehran. There cannot be two ways about US policy there - either the states that sponsor terror are as culpable as the terrorists, or they are not. The world will either act on it's refusal to allow Iran to nuclearize, or it will not. If diplomacy fails to exert a change in Tehran's nuclear ambitions and internal pressure fails to create needed change, the boys of Operation Phantom Fury have acquired the experience that may help convince an intransigent adversary that diplomatic flexibility is more desirable than more undiplomatic methods.

Posted by mchester at 09:59 PM | Comments (0) |

November 19, 2004

The NBA - Queensbury Rules

We're reaping what was sown...

Quite a spectacle at tonights Pacers/Pistons game. A very Rodney Dangerfield one liner - I went to see some basketball and a hockey game broke out.

ESPN has some stills and is showing video on it's networks of the incident.

Is anyone REALLY surprised by this? The biggest thug in the biggest thug sport gets involved in some thuggish hooliganism. We've bred this streetball mentality in the NBA, personified by Artest and his badboy B.S. and installed it league wide.

A word on the fans - I feel for none of them. You throw a drink on someone, you might as well poke a bear with a stick.

The difference is, the bear doesn't know better.

This episode started with on-the-floor fisticuffs after another thuggish, foolish act by Ron Artest, who needs to have a year-off without pay from the sport. A ridiculous foul with just seconds remaining, this ignited the alocohol-fed tinderbox in the stands.

Quite a week for sports - we have soft-core-porn lead-ins on Monday Night Football in the NFL, and cage-matches in the stands in the NBA. Too bad the NHL is striking, we could have had Death On Ice or some other specatcular entry in the Museum of Modern Social Decay.

One more note - Artest hits like he shoots: weak, off-target, and all over the place. I haven't seen this many missed connections since a snow-in at O'Hare (rimshot). Thanks folks, I'm here all week, try the veal...

UPDATE: Video can be download here. More here. Nice full five minutes of video that shows how it started here.

Posted by mchester at 09:35 PM | Comments (0) |

Baby You're No Good

Linda Ronstadt sounding like a broken record...

In case you missed it, or in case you just like a devilishly funny read, I chalked up Linda Ronstadt's last outburst (don't miss the link at the end - whoa Captain Ahab, we found your white whale) when she decided the folks who came to her concert really wanted to attend a reading of her political manifesto. Seems Linda still thinks someone out there gives a rat's kiester about her political analysis.

The gem from this interview:

"People don't realize that by voting Republican, they voted against themselves"

Really? Is she implying that somehow, George W. got to each of us and like a bullying big brother forced us into our selection with some type of rhetorical "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

This kind of hubris is endemic in much of the rhetoric of the left - that you don't know what's in your interest, but Linda Ronstadt somehow does. Note to Ms. Ronstadt - they weren't voting against themselves, they were voting against people like YOU, Linda. Against people who've become so enamored with their own clever outlook and perspicacity that they not only share their keen insight with all comers...

"I worry that some people are entertained by the idea of this war. They don't know anything about the Iraqis, but they're angry and frustrated in their own lives. It's like Germany, before Hitler took over. The economy was bad and people felt kicked around. They looked for a scapegoat. Now we've got a new bunch of Hitlers."

...but they can't formulate a political opinion that doesn't equate their opponents with the Third Reich. Then again, that does at least have the advantage for her of turning what otherwise would seem like a petulant, whiny political bleat into a heroic struggle against the forces of darkness. Why be a vapid prima donna sputtering political naivetes when you can be a warrior against Nazi tyranny! At least in her own mind...

Linda reminds us of this axiom - A Republican knows what's best for him. A Democrat knows what's best for you.

Posted by mchester at 07:45 AM | Comments (0) |

November 18, 2004

Pave Fallujah, Put Up A Parking Lot

Ooooh, bop bop bop...

In convenient flash format (Hat tip, Polipundit).

In somewhat deeper format, here.

Posted by mchester at 10:38 PM | Comments (0) |

Soundbites

Every President has one...

This struck me while watching that rare, good episode of Hardball that reminds you why you watch. What was so good about it? Well every once in a while, Matthews reels me back in to loving the show. Today it was when, talking about Clinton's remarks at his library opening, he exclaimed "Clinton was decrying the red state, blue state divide, as if he had nothing to do with it". That's GENIUS.

Anyways, in the midst of their discussions Matthews asked about what we remember of each President, such as scandals, or images, or quotes - and of course, some WaPo sycophant couldn't hit this hanging pitch, instead blathering about how history will remember Clinton for something besides scandal.

But let me hit it. We do remember our Presidents with a few short soundbites that were seminal in their Presidency, something that captured what they stood for, or strived for. Or, at times, what they became not famous, but infamous, for.

Think about it - for most modern Presidents, there are immediate clarions which come to mind.

For FDR, "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself" and "Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy".
For Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you..."
For Nixon, "...I am not a crook."
For Reagan, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" and "There you go again..."
For Bush 41, "Read my lips..."

Which brings us to Clinton. Had he been able to avoid scandal, the enduring image and quote might be "I feel your pain", which fits his empathic political style to a tee. But alas, Clinton will always be immortalized with the words "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky". The finger wagging watershed that was his Lewinsky denial will forever be the image that recalls his tenure.

This begs the following question then - what will we remember about George W. Bush when all is said and done? He is still writing his history, but the one thing people will most likely associate Bush with is his Ground Zero speech, atop the rubble, with the megaphone and the fireman. Few times do you have everyone's attention, captive, rapt and around something of such grave and total magnitude. In that moment, Bush likely set in stone his moment, his memory, that which will always be shown or remembered when discussing his time in office.

Beats a cigar and a dress now doesn't it?

Posted by mchester at 08:50 PM | Comments (0) |

Memo to Democrats: Get Over It

Tina Brown is still whining about the election:

Everyone is too tired now to want to yammer about how much the legacy of Colin Powell has been bruised or work up appropriate bipartisan admiration for Condi's career climb. From race-torn Alabama to Thomas Jefferson's seat of global influence is a great American journey, okay? Now please turn the light off.

In the Democrat mind, the problem is not (as they would have us believe) that the disenchanted, disenfranchised minorities cannot achieve success, but that they are doing so under the influence and mentorship of the wrong party.

On the media:

News anchors who had to spend a heroic year as the only mortals on the planet who couldn't voice an opinion are sullen now with their perceived irrelevance. They refuse to sing for their suppers when guests at media gatherings ask them for a political update. As one of them burst out the other day when I inquired about the Cabinet shakeup: "We analyzed it! We parsed it. We psychoanalyzed it! We did their wives, their aides, their psychographics! We did the effect of prep school and their fathers! And none of it mattered! All I want to talk about now is the new diet pill."

This says something about the press, does it not? They tried and tried and tried and yet none of it mattered. Such a statement emphatically implies that their goal, their purpose, their very reason for being was not to report objectively but to shape the election in their own image. They failed.

And for a does of hyperbole, Tina says the reelection of George Bush feels the same as 9/11, only worse:

What's eerie is that the feeling of drift and distraction in New York has an uneasy millennial echo. This is just how it felt on the eve of 9/11 -- except that now the drift is overlaid with a deep, unignorable anxiety.

It says something that Tina Brown and her comrades did not feel a "deep, unignorable anxiety" in the wake of 9/11. Like their fearless leader John Kerry, that day may not have changed them. There is little hope this election will either.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:01 AM | Comments (0) |

Still Fighting the Old War

There may yet be still one more battle fought in the Vietnam war:

LIBERAL loser John Kerry might be planning to strike back at John O'Neill, the "Unfit for Command" author who claims some of the credit for Kerry's defeat, sources say.

Now, "the Kerry camp is thinking about filing a libel lawsuit against Regnery and O'Neill," a source close to the candidate's inner circle tells PAGE SIX. "I don't know if they will actually go forward, but consideration is serious. If Kerry plans on running again in 2008 — and I'm hearing he will — it would make sense that he'd file the suit."

Kerry's rep, David Wade, said he hadn't heard about any proposed lawsuit, but promised to look into it.

Perhaps this is his first campaign move for 2008? If so, I know where he might get the cash for the legal fees.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:43 AM | Comments (0) |

November 17, 2004

No Vacancy

Every once in a while, you run across a Canadian that gets it...

I've had this article open in a browser window for days, wondering what direction to take it in. But it needs no direction - it's just a fun little read and reminds us that not all thought north of the border is frozen.

For those who were thinking of going to Canada to escape the second term of W - think again.

The title says it all: Stay home, you pathetic whining maggots.

So much for a sugar coat...

Posted by mchester at 07:44 PM | Comments (0) |

Why The Marine Shooting Won't be Another Abu Grahib

...because the election is over.

Posted by cxcross at 07:37 PM | Comments (0) |

The "Proper" Role of the Sec. of State?

With the nomination of Rice to Sec. of State and the resignation of Colin Powell, the MSM is all a-twitter over what the "proper role" of the SOS is. (this analysis applies equally to the CIA under Goss)

The Conventional Wisdom is that the SOS is there to be a "check" on the Administration. Though this CW seems to only apply when there is a Republican named Bush in the White House. I have a sneaking suspicion that calls for such "independence" by the SOS would not have been welcome if Madeline Albright called for a far more aggressive stance towards North Korea for example.

So apparently the SOS is a check only when the Administration pursues a policy that the MSM doesn't really like. But that raises another question--under what possible theory does a branch of the executive (the Dept. of State) work to counter another branch of the executive (the White House)?

The Sec. of State, like it or not, IS part of the Executive. Basic separation of powers principles combined with the notion of a unitary executive branch should dictate that the Executive, headed by the President, dictates what US policy is and the various cabinets, State Department included, all work to effectuate that policy.

Again, I can't help but think that the MSM would be none too happy with a Kerry White House and a NeoCon State Department. I can hear the cries for "Unity!" and how the President must have the support of the Cabinet and its agencies.

Of course, all this would require consistency and intellectual honesty among the chattering classes, so my discussing this is utterly futile.

(cross-posted to Legal XXX)

Posted by cxcross at 07:34 PM | Comments (0) |

Clinton Presidential Library & Adult Book Store

Be honest, you know that behind the glass displays, at night... some young woman is dancing.

The new Clinton Presidential Library opens Thursday, and a media preview is providing an insight into the man and his Presidency - much like a telescope aimed into a septic tank.

To the surprise of some, there is a section dealing with Clinton's true legacy - crotch-high wardrobe malfunction involving a Presidential intern. Sure, we might have expected some things to be included in the display section - maybe a blue dress, a cigar, Kathleen Willey's love notes, Jennifer Flowers stockings, the Bible he swore on when he committed perjury, a dictionary opened to the entry defining the word 'is', Denise Rich's quid-pro-quo parole bedsheets. But no.

Instead, there are two pieces of wood to represent the cross Clinton had to bear during his persecution/Presidency.

Drudge has reportedly obtained the text from the display:

In the 1990s, it became common right-wing practice not just to attack Democrats' ideas, but also to question their motives, morals, and patriotism. The civility that once prevailed on Capitol Hill gave way to character assassination. The "politics of personal destruction" was central to the Republican strategy.

Indeed, the rhetorical Reichstag had been burned. Read the rest for yourself, repeating it in print here gives the words more dignity that they deserve. Suffice it to say that Clinton was merely the victim of Republican smears and vitriol, blamelessly suffering the injustice of partisanship, persecuted by Republican plans to overturn the 1996 election result in an attempt to get Al Gore into power...

Honesty time - I did not feel that what Clinton did rose to the level of removal from office. Censure? Sure. But the idea of using the removal power of the legislative branch to remove the fairly elected chief executive seemed to be far more egregious than lying under oath to protect yourself from embarassment. I'd rather keep the bar for impeachment fairly high.

But to this day, the Library reflects the truth of the man - he cannot come to terms with his own inability to control himself or his objectification of women, and he cannot take responsibility for his actions in this regard, rather once again taking the path of most scoundrels - accusing the accusers.

Posted by mchester at 04:06 PM | Comments (0) |

November 16, 2004

Bring Me The Head Of Terry McAuliffe

Since he clearly hasn't been using it for anything...

When McAuliffe steps down from his post as DNC head in January, he will have overseen a trail of electoral wreckage for the Democrat party. Having been annointed in the wake of the 2000 election, McAuliffe was determined to get payback - against Jeb Bush in Florida, against the Republican gains in the Congress, and most of all against George W. Bush for stealing the election.

He failed miserably in all three endeavors.

While the bile from the DNC against Jeb Bush as proxy for his brother was palpable, Democrats failed to mount even a close campaign against Jeb despite massive interest and money poured into the state by McAuliffe, as well as alot of rhetorical capital. Jeb was going to be dumped as a down payment on the final debt owed to the Democrat Party and the nation by his brother. But when the smoke cleared, Jeb cruised to victory, along with fellow Florida 2000 target Katherine Harris, though by running in a friendly district she had far more cover from the precisionless McAuliffe.

Having failed to deliver retribution to Jeb, and having lost control of the Senate in 2002 and delivering the weakest mid-term eletion performance in memory, McAuliffe somehow survived to go after his great white whale - W. Having been further buffeted by the PR disaster that was the California Recall of Gray Davis and the redistricting of Texas, McAuliffe was sure to deliver something - anything - to the Democrat party this election cycle.

Yet for all of his payback time rhetoric, McAuliffe presided over another national election disaster for his party. Seats lost in the House, the Senate, and perhaps even a governorship (Washington was still counting at last check). Folks calling for McAuliffe's scalp in 2002 had to be apoplectic over another boondoggle.

Now, in the aftermath, names from Shaheen to Brazille to Dean to Vilsack have been floated about to succeed him. Luckily for whoever follows, the bar has been set low, kicked down and left on the floor - there simply is no room to do worse.

Many considered the appointment of McAuliffe to be a Clinton machination designed to prep the path for Hillary to run for President. While I tend to be dismissive of specualtion of grand schemes like this as being too clever by half, it certainly is indisputable that McAuliffe has created a vacuum of results in the party that a Hillary candidacy will likely be considered to fill. It could not possibly have been set up better...

Posted by mchester at 04:42 PM | Comments (0) |

Pass The Tartar Sauce

Those wacky folks at PETA are at it again.

Not content trying to take away my sirloin strip, these buffet killjoys are now embarking on a Piscean rescue effort to somehow get us to put down our Filet-O-Fish in the name of decency:

"No one would ever put a hook through a dog's or cat's mouth," said Bruce Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan outreach. "Once people start to understand that fish, although they come in different packaging, are just as intelligent, they'll stop eating them."

When fish stop tasting so good with some lemon butter, THEN we'll stop eating them.

"Chris Glass of the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in Massachusetts led another recent study, showing how North Sea haddock developed abilities to avoid trawlers' nets."

Well I guess those fish don't have to worry about being eaten then, do they? Think of it as Darwinism in action - humans are helping rid the seas of stupid fish.

Perhaps the radical PETA activists would be assuaged if they just considered these fish aborted in the 24th trimester...

Posted by mchester at 03:44 PM | Comments (0) |

Powell for Senate?

Hillary Rodham Clinton vs. Colin Powell in 2006?

That's the political heavyweight matchup envisioned by a Republican congressman who is urging the outgoing secretary of State to return to New York and challenge the first-term senator.

Rep. Vito Fossella of New York said he spoke to Powell on Tuesday and made the case for the retired four-star general to enlist in the Republican Party's effort to defeat Clinton, a standard-bearer for the Democrats.

"His roots and heart have always been in New York. I think he'd make a great representative and I urge him strongly to consider running," Fossella said.

It would be an interesting race. The left has however successfully painted Colin Powell as a man with no, umm, cajones (unable to stand up to Bush) and that would not play well for him. Still, a popular black Republican moderate just might have a chance in New York, and Hilary might not be overly motivated to run for a seat she plans to give up in 2008 anyway.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:50 PM | Comments (0) |

Job Recruiting On the Rise

AP:

The recovering economy and looming retirement of the baby boomers are making this a very good year to be a college senior looking for a job after graduation. Recruiters, career counselors and students say the fall recruiting season has been the most active since the dot.com boom.

Accountants are again finding increased demand for their services - thanks to the wave of post-Enron regulations - but theirs is just one of several hot fields. Technology companies, investment banks and consulting firms appear to be picking up the pace, as do some defense contractors and even smaller businesses that haven't traditionally recruited on campus.

College hiring is expected to increase 13 percent over last year, according to a new survey from National Association of Colleges and Employers. Seven out of 10 employers said they expected to increase salary offers to new college grads, according to the survey released late last week, with an average increase of 3.7 percent.

It is interesting how such rosy economic outlooks were not seen until after the election.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) |

Hell Hath No Fury...

My friend Sallie is, ummm, perturbed. Go see why (and help out if you can).

This Brainard guy reminds me of Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazard. Ain't local politics fun?

Than again, who am I to talk. We here in San Diego can't even choose a mayor.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) |

The Gopel According to Carville

James Carville on meet the press:

Nobody becomes a Democrat because they want to ban gay marriage. It's just not--and you can't--Kerry's position was he was against gay marriage, he was against amendment for civil unions. That's about where you can go. I think what happens here is that a lot of Democrats feel like that--this whole definition is about somebody, a particular branch of Christianity's view of what it is. I mean, I think you can make a very good argument--in fact, there's a much better argument--that Jesus was very sympathetic; in fact, he never said a word about the gay--and in the whole New Testament, Jesus Christ himself was so concerned about the issue he never uttered a single word about it.

Granted, Democrats have been taken aback by what the press is reporting as a "morals vote," but one would think they would be wise enough not to tread where they have no knowledge.

Carville's false assertion is dissected here, but overriding all of Jesus' statements on specific issue was (is) His call for all men and women to live righteous lives. The Bible is clear on the unrighteousness of homosexuality, as it is on a host of other sins. (It should be pointed out these other sins are no less heinous than the sin of homosexuality, and no more worthy of His grace.) Pursuing that which is unrighteous, regardless of which particular sin, is by definition against God's will.

"Fine," you say. "Keep your Biblical morals but leave them out of your voting. What you believe should have nothing to do with the laws of our land."

That is an understandable sentiment, but completely inaccurate. It goes without argument (although some have tried) that our nation was founded on Biblical principles by beleiving Christians who were largely here so they could freely practice their form of the Christian religion in peace. The basis for our country's stalwart value of freedom in religion is found not in secularity (absense of belief) but in plurality of belief.

Further, the Bible is also clear that while God holds us accountable as individuals, He also holds nations collectively accountable. Many times Israel was disciplined because it had turned its back on God. If even Israel is not immune to God's judgement, how can we expect to survive His wrath?

Of course, the reason this is being discussed at all is due to the Democrat's complete ignorance of Christianity and Christian teaching. They have set up in their minds a Christian straw man, made up of hate, condemnation and vitriol. Hence their complete astonishment at the number of people who actively hold a Christian worldview. What they have not seen is the love of Christ as expressed by His body, the church. In part the Democrats, with one hand over the left eye and the right all but covered, are to blame for their own ignorance. But on the other hand, has the church really done its job if half the country is not familiar with God's grace?

I think not.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:56 AM | Comments (0) |

Thanks, Frenchy

Jacques Chirac has once again spelled out in no uncertain terms that his government is no friend of the United States.

“Well, Britain gave its support but I did not see anything in return. I’m not sure it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favours systematically.”

Chirac is all about palm-greasing - indeed, this is how he determines the value of diplomatic relationships. Britain received nothing in return, at least to Chirac, because he only seems to count oil contracts and corrupt business dealings as the quid pro quo in diplomatic relationships.

Is it any wonder he went to the mat for Hussein, but cannot lift a finger (except his middle one) for the efforts to establish a fit government in Iraq?

Posted by mchester at 06:33 AM | Comments (0) |

Happy Birthday Dr. Strangelove

I never saw the movie, Dr. Strangelove, which is odd because I love movies -- especially weird ones. James Earl Jones is one of the few surviving cast members, and his reminiscences in today's Wall Street Journal are quite entertaining.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:41 AM | Comments (0) |

November 15, 2004

It's like The Onion! Only different! And funny!

While reading Jayson Stark's ESPN.com column, I came across Sports Pickle.

It's basically The Onion for sports fans. Best quick headline?

RED SOX FANS COMPLAIN THEY HAVEN'T WON A CHAMPIONSHIP SINCE OCT. 27TH

Of course, Bush's push for a new Constitutional amendment has my full support as well:

Buoyed by the support he received from voters claiming moral values as the issue that concerned them most on Election Day, President Bush announced today his plans to push for a constitutional amendment banning soccer and male figure skating in the United States.

(cross posted to Legal XXX)

Posted by cxcross at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Everyone Knows It's Condi

The Bush administration wasted no time, making clear it's choice to succeed Colin Powell after his well-anticipated resignation.

While Powell will leave office to great accolades and many sanguine regrets from Europe, his tenure at State must be seen through the eyes of reality. And reality says - Powell was a driving force to steer Bush's Iraq policy into the UN, and was singularly unsuccessful in getting results there, unless the desired result was to frame the entire rationale for removing the Hussein regime around a single issue - WMD.

In a spectacular bit of irony, it is Bush's second term where Powell might have been most effective. With the passing of Arafat, there will be a great amount of renewed diplomatic activity in the Mideast peace process. Powell's high profile gravitas might have been tailor-made for this upcoming challenge (and he should consider, and be considered for, special envoy status in this area).

As the White House choice as Powell's successor, Condoleeza Rice has a singular task - and it isn't what one might think. Her greatest difficulty will be in taming an at times intransigent diplomatic corps, who have poorly represented American interests and arguments in foreign capitals. Rather than aggressively make the sale on US policy, many seem more inclined to demur on defending American policy interests in foreign media or public policy forums. Rice, to her credit, seems the kind equal to such a task, to tackle a system and reshape it to reflect Administration policy.

This is not a task for the weak-kneed. But the next four years have clear cut diplomatic challenges that Rice can make a name for herself confronting - and cut her teeth further for high elected office if she can find some semblence of success.

Posted by mchester at 09:34 PM | Comments (0) |

Guest Bloggers

I'll be only lightly blogging the rest of the month, but I have invited some excellent comrades to help pick up the slack around here for a couple of weeks.

So far the very able Michael Chester of the Art of Politics has come aboard. I hope to have a couple others join in, but until then, welcome Mike!

UPDATE: Welcome also to Christopher of Legal XXX.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Old Mother Hubbard

The Bush cabinet is beginning to become bare indeed, with resignations now of a solid half-dozen members. Looks like the Vacancy sign is now posted at:

Agriculture
Commerce
DoJ
Education
State
Energy
HHS

We should have gone with those staying, it's a shorter list. Most of these were expected - none in fact comes as any great surprise. Of those positions who've not announced a change, it's all eyes on Defense - whether or not Donald Rumsfeld decides to hang it up.

I see Rumsfeld as a Pine Box sort of guy - the only way he's leaving the cabinet is in a pine box. Unless Rumsfeld has a greener pasture somewhere, he's got the iron gut to handle the iron skillet of being a wartime head of the DoD. One would expect the chatter about his resignation in a second Bush term to simply steel his resolve to stay on through it, at Bush's pleasure of course. Having weathered Abu Ghraib and the withering campaign season criticism of Iraq, leaving now would seem most anti-climactic.

Posted by mchester at 04:00 PM | Comments (0) |

More Busy Days

Projects are piling up here at Slings & Arrows central, so posting will be light for the next couple of days.

I did force myself to get outside this weekend and enjoyed something I haven't spent time doing in years.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:29 AM | Comments (0) |

November 12, 2004

Iraq Insurgency All But Destroyed

That's a bold assertion, I know, but here is my evidence:

An audiotape purportedly made by al-Qaeda-linked terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi encouraged his fighters in Fallujah and said victory was near.

"As for you heroes of Islam in Fallujah, praise for your Jihad, praise for your nation, praise for your religion. (Have) one hour's patience, and then you will see the results," the speaker said after identifying himself as al-Zarqawi.

"Rejoice my nation. There is no doubt that God's victory is on the horizon," the speaker said, adding a challenge to "the Americans to show the truth of what goes on on the battleground."

Such talk is strangely reminiscent of Baghdad Bob who continued to declare victory even as U.S. tanks were rolling up in the city behind him. With U.S. forces taking more and more of Fallujah, it sounds like al-Zarqawi is using the same, flawed reasoning.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:35 PM | Comments (0) |

Guilty

Scott Peterson is guilty of first degree murder for his wife and second degree for killing his unborn child.

Sometimes the court system works. This was one of those times.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) |

Same-Sex Marriage: The Battle Cools Off

The battle for same-sex marriage has taken a turn. Advocates are backing off their previously agressive posture and are now taking a more measured tack:

Fearful that aggressive action could backfire and generate public hostility, gay rights groups are planning to limit the scope of their legal challenges to the constitutional amendments banning gay marriage that were passed by 11 states last week.

Matthew Coles, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's lesbian and gay rights project, said that groups like his would adopt a measured pace in filing lawsuits.

"The consequences — the risks — of losing are great," Coles said. "And we're unprepared for the consequences of winning." In his eyes, he said, winning in court too soon could mean losing in the court of public opinion, in Congress and under the U.S. Constitution.

The challenge now, gay rights leaders said, is to change public attitudes.

This should have been the challenge for same-sex advocates from the beginning. The gay voting bloc is barely 4%, and they vote in higher proportion than straights. People get defensive when such a small bloc of interest is determined to push values upon them. The better strategy is to turn public opinion in their favor.

Right now, although no one wants to be labeled a bigot, state definition of marriage proposals are passing by 2 to 1 margins nation wide. In an atmosphere like that, pressing for new rights in the courts is viewed as offensive. When public sentiment is closer to 50%/50% such judicial actions will be more effective and not have the baggage of backlash.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Veteran's Day

Yesterday was busy, busy, busy with (gasp) real life so I did not blog. Citizen Smash did, and his Veteran's Day tribute is remarkable.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:54 AM | Comments (0) |

Show Me the Money!

It is all about the cash:

Suha agreed to a settlement with the Palestinian Authority that will reportedly pay her as much as $22 million a year for divulging the secrets of her husband's fortune.

The 41-year-old wife of Arafat had been demanding half his billions in hidden assets and threatening to withhold details about where to find them from the new Palestinian leadership, according to newspapers in Italy and Israel.

French sources said yesterday that earlier this week, Suha turned down a $2 million offer. That settlement would have allowed doctors to complete medical tests to determine what illness proved fatal to the 75-year-old Palestinian leader.

Palestinian officials would not discuss the negotiations in detail yesterday.

But Arafat's longtime financial adviser, Mohammed Rashid, said earlier this week that the Palestinian Authority would consider any "reasonable" proposal from Suha.

Rashid and Suha, dubbed by the Palestinian press as "Miss Moneybags," are regarded as two of the few people who know where Arafat's fortune is hidden.

Estimates of Arafat's hidden assets, stashed in secret accounts around the world, reach at least $4 billion.

One wonders if Arafat was kept alive (or the news of his death suppressed) only for the purpose of completing these negotiations. One also wonders how such a man became a billionaire. Those wouldn't be U.N. funds he was tucking away for himself, would they?

Posted by bubba138 at 06:04 AM | Comments (0) |

Bellicose Democrats

Illinois is asserting its second amendment rights:

Second Amendment supporters are pleased that the Illinois State Senate has voted 40-18 to override the governor's veto of a self-defense bill.

The bill, SB 2161, would exempt citizens from prosecution under local gun ordinances, in cases where they use a firearm to defend themselves or their families.

The bill was inspired by the case of Hale DeMar, a Wilmette resident charged with violating a Wilmette handgun ban after he shot and wounded a man who broke into his house.

The state of Illinois chose John Kerry over George W. Bush by double digits. I think it is safe to say Democrat voters are firm supporters of the second amendment. I wonder when their leadership will follow suit?

Posted by bubba138 at 05:56 AM | Comments (0) |

November 11, 2004

Don't Believe the News

Arafat is still alive.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:41 AM | Comments (0) |

November 10, 2004

Religion: A Problem for Democrats

Jonah Goldberg:

The larger problem for the Democrats is that liberalism itself, or what we erroneously call liberalism today, is in a crisis. It recognizes that politics must have an underlying morality to it, but it is antagonistic to traditional morality. This is foolish since our greatest political movements — abolitionism, civil rights, etc. — were religious before they were political. Moreover, attempts to construct new, secular, moralities have been failures, even at the seminar level. At the national level (think feminism, Hillary Clinton's “Politics of Meaning,” socialism, etc.), they've been non-starters.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:36 PM | Comments (0) |

The Real Issue

Kevin Drum is coming around:

In other words, [the economy and moral values] are nits. If Democrats are going to engage in navel gazing, our gaze really ought to be directed toward the one topic we continue to avoid like the plague: becoming more credible on national security. That's where Kerry and the Dems lost the election. Like it or not — and I can almost hear the outrage brewing already in the comment section over the mere fact that I'm mentioning this — fighting terrorism is the major swing issue of the day, and perceived Democratic weakness toward terrorism is likely to remain our biggest electoral albatross for quite a while.

Kevin is the first left-of-center commentator I have seen actually reject the "values" argument for the rubbish that it is. Both sides have motivation for pushing the myth (the religious right think it gives them more pull with the administration, the outraged left think it helps marginalize all Republicans) but when the facts are examined it is still a myth.

Kevin remains a little confused on one point, though:

John Kerry made significant inroads when he spoke plainly about hunting down terrorists and killing them, as he did in the first debate, but he was never really willing to much further than that.

Why? Why didn't he make a bigger deal out of his plan to increase the size of the Army by 40,000 troops? Why didn't he make a bigger deal out of his desire to get tougher with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan? Why didn't he make a bigger deal about George Bush's unwillingness to confront the Arab world over their continued funding of radical madrassas?

The answer to this is obvious. John Kerry did not concentrate on these things because he never really meant to do them. His plan for Iraq, and terrorism in general, was to pull our troops home as quickly as possible. That was the stated goal of his foriegn policy. Therefore, when he spoke of standing strong, increasing military enlistment, etc. no one believed him.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:55 PM | Comments (0) |

We're So Sorry

Unfortunately, SorryEverybody.com is not accepting any more submissions. This is what I had in mind.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:13 PM | Comments (0) |

Religion of Peace Update

The Dutch are knee-deep in Islamic terrorism:

The confrontation in the Dutch capital erupted at about 2:45 a.m. when anti-terror police raided a house near a train station in a crackdown on Islamic extremist networks launched after last week's murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh.

The suspects held off police by hurling a hand grenade that hurt the officers — two seriously — then barricaded themselves in the home shouting: "We will decapitate you!"

Posted by bubba138 at 11:32 AM | Comments (0) |

Ashcroft Replaced

That did not take long:

White House counsel Alberto Gonzales has been chosen by President Bush to be the next attorney general, U.S. officials confirmed to FOX News on Wednesday. An announcement from the White House could come later Wednesday.

ABC News has background here.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) |

Election '04 Epiphanies

Goerge Will has had a series of epiphanies since the election:

In 2000, Americans were reminded that electoral votes select presidents. In 2004, Democrats were reminded that Bruce Springsteen does not.

In 1984, Walter Mondale's running mate was Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, a Catholic woman from New York. Ronald Reagan carried Catholics, women, New York -- and even Ferraro's district. Vice presidential nominees rarely sway this or that national demographic group. However, a running mate should help carry his or her state. But last week Bush carried North Carolina, getting 295,026 more votes than in 2000, and carried John Edwards' home county, as he did four years ago. Edwards was supposed to cut Bush's appeal in rural America. He did not.

Republicans should send a thank-you note to San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom -- liberalism's George Wallace, apostle of ``progressive'' lawlessness.

He has several more, read them all.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:01 AM | Comments (0) |

The Myth of Jesus Land

The Democrats and their cooperative press have spent the last few days propagating a myth that purports great division across our country. In their analysis, we are facing a battle of blues states vs. red states. In the more extreme interpretations of this view, the red states are portrayed as little more than areas populated by bigotted ignoramouses no better than the slave holders of the 1800's.

Such analysis may make the Democrats feel better about themselves, but in it they are practicing suicidal monkey behavior, "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil." A closer look at the electoral map shows not only are the Republicans gaining in red states, but the Democrats are losing ground in their own. This truth is graphically illustrated in the map to the right, which flashes between the county results of the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Looking state by state it is clear to see that the entire country is trending toward the Republicans. Real Clear Politics shows that Bush did better in just about every state, but that can be attributed to higher voter turnout across the board. Kerry improved on Gore's in the same manner. What is important to note is that Bush's margin of victory increased in a majority of states, and his margin of loss decreased in many of the states he did not win.

Changing Colors
Only three states switched colors from 2000 to 2004, Iowa, New Mexico, and New Hampshire. Bush clearly won this battle, picking up two of these three, and eleven electoral votes to four.

Darker Colors
The Democrats increased their hold in only seven states representing a measely 48 electoral votes. The Republicans, bettered their 2000 showing in nineteen states, tightening their grip on a whopping 209 electoral votes.

Lighter Colors
The Democrats were weakened in eleven states and the Republicans in eight. These weakened states account for 145 electoral votes for the Democrats and 62 for the Republicans.

All in all, the Republicans increased their strength in 32 states while the Democrats only beefed up in 16. This translates into Republican strengthing in states that total 363 electoral votes against Democrat states totalling 114. Regardless of what the Democrats and mainstream media want us to believe, the United States is getting redder. Democrats can make excuses, they can blame this on pig-ignorance and neanderthal chauvinism, but the ignore it at their own peril.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) |

Genius Chimp?

"Moron." "Chimp." Such were (and by and large still are) the characterizations the Democrats assigned to the President. But after winning two terms, some are forced to conclude he ain't too dim after all:

I write all of this not to rubber-stamp the president's political tactics or policies, but to say that if you are a serious observer of politics, it is worth your time recognizing a rare political talent when it is in your midst. Indeed, such talents do not come along very often -- Bill Clinton in 1992, 1996 and again in 1998-99; Reagan -- not just from 1980-88 but also from 1976-80 (his years in the wilderness between presidential campaigns); JFK as a candidate during his 1960 campaign; and LBJ for his legislative successes from 1963-66.

That's a pretty distinguished list.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:22 AM | Comments (0) |

November 09, 2004

Missing Man Found

Andy Borowitz is the only journalist who has been able to actually see Terry McAuliffe face to face since the election:

"Everyone here is very well aware that we have a losing streak to protect," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe. "We are going to do everything in our power to keep that streak alive."

In order to find the right nominee to take the party down in flames four years from now, the DNC has already begun their quadrennial talent search in Massachusetts, McAuliffe confirmed. "In order to lose, it's very important that we allow the Republicans to brand us as Northeastern liberals," he said. "Choosing a nominee from Massachusetts would help us help them make that case."

Posted by bubba138 at 10:30 PM | Comments (0) |

Finally, He is Gone

This time I think it is real:

Several political sources said Arafat, 75, in a coma for the past six days, had succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris from the West Bank on Oct. 29, thrusting his Palestinian Authority into crisis.

"He is dead. It is possible they will delay the announcement," one Palestinian source said. "He died after bleeding in the brain began last night. His bodyguards started hugging and kissing and telling each other to be strong."

Posted by bubba138 at 08:29 AM | Comments (0) |

Howard Dean vs. James Carville

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean is considering a bid to become chairman of the national Democratic Party.

Steve Grossman, himself a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Dean had told him he was thinking about it.

Dean was traveling today in New York and unavailable for comment. His spokeswoman, Laura Gross, said "it was far too early to be speculating on that."

This would be bad for the Democrats. The more Deanish Kerry got, the more his base loved him, but that made the rest of the country nervous. Dean has passion, there is no doubting that, but he isn't a particularly grand strategist, as his own failed bid for president showed.

The Democrats need someone who is going to understand the red states. East coast Dean just is not capable of that. I thought I would never agree with James Carville, but to my complete surprise he has displayed the clearest thinking of any high-profile Democrat since election eve. Even before the networks had called the race for Bush, he had already resigned the election to Bush and saw the writing on the wall in the Senate and House races. He is not looking for quick fixes and people to blame. He realizes the party needs an overhaul:

"The underlying problem here is, there is no call to arms that the Democratic Party is making to the country," said Mr. Carville, the architect of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign win. "We've got to reassess ourselves. We've got to be born again."

"We can deny this crap, but I'm out of the denial. I'm about reality here," Mr. Carville told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "We are an opposition party, and as of right now, not a particularly effective one. You can't deny reality here."

He said the party is desperately in need of a compelling narrative to tell voters, rather than the "litany of issues" the party stands for now.

I am not suggesting Carville for the job of DNC head-honcho, but the Democrats do need someone who is thinking along the same lines and strong enough to deal with reality.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:47 AM | Comments (0) |

November 08, 2004

A Coalition of Conviction

Democrats would do well to give some attention to Kate O'Beirne:

The election was won because neither Bush nor his party pretended to be something they're not. George Bush was the Real Deal running against the Great Pretender.

Republicans find themselves on the majority's side of the cultural divide because they don't display the Democrats' condescension and hostility to the moral sentiments and concerns of most Americans. Bush's deeply held religious faith sometimes finds awkward expression but never seems insincere. His habits of heart and mind mark him as a man of faith. Kerry, on the other hand, glibly declared in the final debate, "My faith affects everything I do and choose. . . . And I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way to other people." Had Bush made such a declaration, it would have signaled to liberals an underlying intention to usher in a theocracy; but secularists were unconcerned about Kerry's pledge because they knew he didn't mean it.

(Hat tip)

Posted by bubba138 at 12:57 PM | Comments (0) |

Setting the Stake

William Mann says liberalism is all but dead. He has some suggestions on how to hasten it to its final end. Here's my favorite:

10. Send Terry McAuliffe a digital recording of the Beatle Classic: “Nowhere Man” and wish him Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Job Hunting.

On that note, the Concord Monitor has a suggestion:

How about a slightly raffish, smooth-talking Southerner, a statesman with a strategic mind who delights in outsmarting his opponents? Someone who can go into a black church and rouse the congregation. Someone with a proven track record, an astute political analyst admired for his ability to split political differences and make it sound like a good thing.

That narrows it down to the last Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to win two terms: Bill Clinton.

Dale McFeatters has advice for how Bush can prevent Clinton from taking over the party, "Word is that Clinton might like to be the next secretary-general of the United Nations. Try to make it happen. It would serve the U.N. right."

Ouch.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:31 AM | Comments (0) |

Know Your Enemy

Knowing your enemy is one of the basic principles of victory. In this election, and especially in the post-mortem, the Democrats have displayed the biggest reason they are losing America is their failure to understand their opposition. Katha Pollitt gives a prime example:

And if a crucial subtext of Republicanism is—and I believe it is—the preservation of white privilege, whole swathes of the country are a lost cause for the Democrats.

Large and influential sectors of the Democrat party see Republicans as nothing but racist, bigotted, mysoginistic, unthinking (which is their view of faith), selfish brutes. Therefore, their campaigns are designed not to offer more, clearer, forward looking policies, but to point out to the electorate what numbskulls their opponents are. Because Republicans by and large are none of these things the Democrats see them as, their campaigns fail.

When Democrats appropriate a more realistic view of Republicans, they will then be able to craft a thoughtful opposition, based on revision of policy, not revulsion of personality. At that moment, and not before, will voters again grace them with support.

Update: Maureen Dowd provides another example:

MR. RUSSERT: But do you think that the president ran a Jihad?

MS. DOWD: Yeah, I think that if you look at the quotes from evangelicals today they're talking about how we're on the eve of destruction and God gave us a reprieve. You know, we got Satan, you know, away from the White House by defeating Kerry. I mean, it's very--I think the evangelicals think they're in a holy war now.

Who said any of these things? Nick Barlow did. Other than that, no one really. Democrats are bent on seeing Republicans only as they want to see them. When they begin to see Republicans as people with a different view, Democrats will finally become effective again.

Update II: Sean is noticing the same thing.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) |

Swift Justice

Bold John sailed forth in his faux scow,
Till the Swiftees fired across his bow;
And legions of irate attorneys,
Could not defend Cambodian journeys,
Nor stories of his fabled hat,
So voters sensed they smelled a rat.
And while the networks denied them prime,
The Swiftees surely got their time.

While John screamed it was all a smear,
O’Neill came across sincere,
And forced Big John to duck the press,
To run, to hide from his specious mess.
But relentless those old Swiftee guys,
They bit, hung on, exposed his lies.
These brave old warriors once again
Stood for their country, for their kin.

They made us all look one more time
At the traitor who’d charged them with crime,
And gave false witness to their deeds
For nothing more than political needs.
It’s a smear proclaimed the New York Times
Those liars all committed crimes.
Chris Matthews raged, foamed at the mouth,
Still the turncoat’s campaign headed south.

So the Swiftboat Veterans’ charges stuck
And made poor John a sitting duck.
He had no answers, no glib replies,
To cover up his treasonous lies;
That made us think, our minds aware,
The Swiftees had some truth in there;
What if he’d faked his combat valor,
Were all those medals tinged with pallor?

Dan Rather would not pay them heed,
But still the Swiftees made John bleed.
The mainstream pundits called them liars;
But no lefty slant could staunch these fires.
The blazes that these Swiftees set
Were burning John Boy’s ass you bet;
And those Swiftboat fires just burned away
Till they fried John’s ass on election day.

Now all you heroes on that Wall
Take solace seeing Kerry fall.
This scheming pol who stained your name
Has been denied his claim to fame.
The Swiftees stood and did their best,
Denied the traitor his life’s quest.
You can rest in peace our honored kin
Your honor restored by honorable men.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Posted by bubba138 at 09:42 AM | Comments (0) |

A Final Another Look at the Polls

This is interesting:

Fifty-four percent (54%) of American voters Approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Saturday was the first time since January that the President's Job Approval rating had reached 55%.

The day before the election the President's rating was 50%. In six days the absence of anti-Bush rhetoric has resulted in a ten percent improvement in his rating.

UPDATE: As long as we are looking at polls, PoliPundit has evaluated the all pre-election polls. I was surprised at the ones that got it right. (Hint: It was neither Zogby nor Gallup)

Posted by bubba138 at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) |

Triumph of Hope

Words of wisdom from former Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Anzar:

Over the last few months we have witnessed numerous attempts to introduce and exploit issues that have the greatest capacity to create divisions. Power has been abused, and a damaging sense of polarization has set in. Hatred has been promoted in the place of understanding. Unity has been replaced with division. It is comforting to see that this strategy has simply mobilized many more millions of Americans, millions of Americans who went to the polls in order to do exactly the opposite. They have voted for a policy based on principles. They have voted for a sincere policy, for a leadership based on convictions. This policy does not shy away from unpleasant realities, but faces up to them, because it knows that this is the only way of overcoming them. This is the lesson that we can all learn: Attempts to create division can be opposed with a policy based on principles. And this policy can be a triumphant one.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) |

Condescending Dems Still Don't Get It

Mark Steyn is one smart man. Two elections, one column, two paychecks:

I'm reluctant to intrude on family grief, especially as the Dems are doing such a sterling job all by themselves. But, when big shot Democrats look at Tuesday's results and instantly announce the reason they flopped out was because . . .

Whoa, hang on a minute, my apologies. There's been a clerical error here: That was my post-election column from 2002. My post-election column from 2004 goes like . . . well, actually, it goes pretty much the same...

Posted by bubba138 at 08:03 AM | Comments (0) |

Flu Blues

Kerry tried to make the flu-vaccine shortage a campaign issue, but it looks like (as is the case with so many of Kerry's rhetoric) the thing he wanted us to fear just will not pan out:

The flu season appears to be starting slowly this year, Gerberding said.

Several states are reporting a few cases, including Texas and two New York nursing homes. Many states, however, have not recorded a single flu case. Not one is reporting widespread flu activity.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:44 AM | Comments (0) |

Can I Get a Bubba Burger?

The Clinton library is due to open soon, and vistors can plan on a Disneyland experience:

The library is the key piece in anchoring what officials hope will be a larger tourist industry in Central Arkansas.

Clinton Library foundation president Skip Rutherford said the center anticipates having 300,000 visitors in 2005 and he predicts those guests will lead to more people making trips to the city.

City officials for years have said they want the library to be a long-term anchor for tourism. When Clinton chose the site east of downtown Little Rock -- bypassing Fayetteville and Hot Springs -- development began to blossom in long-vacant warehouses and other properties. What 10 years ago was a largely stagnant downtown has been transformed.

Dailey quickly ran through the numerous attraction visitors will find once they visit the library -- restaurants, museums, nightspots, a 14-mile foot-and bicycle-loop trail that will include a bridge at the library property and more.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:40 AM | Comments (0) |

Message to Democrats: It is Going To Be OK

Granted, your guy did not win. Still, this is not neccessary.

Update: In a similar story, another protester proves that radioactive waste really does kill.

Update: And then there is this:

Penny Greenberg, who feels as if she does not belong in her own country anymore, offered, "My only consolation is that someday this planet will be a dead cinder in the universe and all the stupidity, greed, and intolerance and their sad, sad consequences will be lost to all memory."

And we Christians are called apocalyptic?

Posted by bubba138 at 07:34 AM | Comments (0) |

Why is Arafat Dying?

Just One Minute is exploring the mysterious circumstances of Arafat's illness. Was he poisoned, and if so, by whom? Does he have AIDS?

Ummm, isn't this guy around 75 years old? Could it be he's dying because he's ancient?

Posted by bubba138 at 07:02 AM | Comments (0) |

The Values Voters

I know, I know, I keep coming back to this. I was listening to the guys on KLSD (yes, it is San Diego's Air America outlet) once again get absolutley flabbergasted that Bush was elected on "values." Suddenly, I was struck by the thought that the very same exit polling that declared values to be the top issue also projected Kerry the winner. Is it possible there is a correlation?

It seems to me the data more clearly suggests the number one issue of Kerry voters was values, but in the end their values were in the minority.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:52 AM | Comments (0) |

November 06, 2004

He's Back

Terry emailed me today:

Dear Bryon,

I want to thank you for everything you've done over the course of this campaign. Time and time again we asked for your help, and you were always there for us.

Even though we didn't win back the White House, you created something historic. Our grassroots campaign of hope and optimism was unprecedented in American politics. More than 1 million volunteers made 11 million person-to-person, door-to-door contacts, and made 38 million phone calls to voter in battleground states.

If you were involved in these grassroots activities, we want to hear from you about your experience. What did you do? Did you feel the action you took was effective? Was it a good experience for you? How would you make it better?

Tell us your thoughts.

http://www.democrats.org/feedback/

We plan to use your feedback to help develop our strategy in 2005. As always, you will continue to play a critical role in the future of the Democratic Party. What we created together will be the backbone for Democratic victories in the future.

You and I know that this fight is not over. We will never waver when it comes to defending our values and fighting for what we know is right.

Again, thank you for helping create something special.

Sincerely,

Terry McAuliffe
Chairman

You're welcome, Terry. It was my pleasure.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) |

Quagmire Alert

Violence, which is the prime indicator of failure according to the Western press, is escalating against the French led U.N. effort in the Ivory Coast:

Ivory Coast warplanes killed eight French soldiers and wounded 23 when they bombed a French base in the rebel-held north on Saturday.

The French military retaliated by destroying the two Ivorian Sukhoi fighter jets when they returned to the airport in the capital Yamoussoukro, military officials said.

In the northwestern town of Man about a thousand protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at French forces, venting anger at what they saw as France's slowness to intervene in the government offensive.

Aid workers in the rebel-held western town of Danane, just 27 km (17 miles) from the border with Liberia, said they were preparing for an imminent attack. Rebels said the army had already burst through the buffer zone near the town, but this could not be confirmed.

The air raids have so far targeted Bouake and at least three towns to the east and west, the first major hostilities since a truce signed in May last year ended fighting which killed thousands and uprooted over a million.

One town in Iraq (Fallujah) makes the entire operation a failure, but when the French are involved four towns under attack is not.

Update: Pirate Teach has more:

Jaques Chirac apparently went into the Ivory Coast with no plan, and no exit strategy. And, while there are UN idiots Peacekeepers there (hiding under their beds), looks like the French have been going it alone. Where's the outrage? Is there oil in the Ivory Coast? Diamonds? Was this a personal vendetta by Chirac? How much more can we take?

So the people hate the French? They aren't rebels, they are Freedom Fighters. The people of France need to wake up and DO SOMETHING! We cannot let this quagmire continue! It is Ivorynam!

Check the guys at Powerline too.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) |

The "Values" Canard

David Brooks explodes the "values" canard the press has been drumming upon us. He also nails the real problem:

But the same insularity that caused many liberals to lose touch with the rest of the country now causes them to simplify, misunderstand and condescend to the people who voted for Bush. If you want to understand why Democrats keep losing elections, just listen to some coastal and university town liberals talk about how conformist and intolerant people in Red America are. It makes you wonder: why is it that people who are completely closed-minded talk endlessly about how open-minded they are?

Those who voted against Bush often derided him for his apparent inability to admit mistakes. Yet in the aftermath of the election, they are blaming everyone but themselves for the loss.

That is telling.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:38 AM | Comments (0) |

Good Advice for Democrats

Jonah Goldberg has some advice for the Democrats. They should take it:

"A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks," George Orwell wrote.

Democrats should keep that in mind.

For example, the Daily Kos, an Internet blog which largely serves as the chief cheerleader and bulletin board for Democrats, thinks the party should fire DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe and replace him with Howard Dean.

Now, the first part of that advice could not be more obvious...

But replacing Terry with Howard Dean would be a disaster.

There is a reason this country has only elected two Democrat presidents in the last 36 years. Good advice only works if it is taken.

Perhaps the party is planning to take a more, um, Clintonian shape.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) |

A Little Too Excited

Let us all keep the celebrations under control, shall we:

Excited by George Bush's victory, Richard Derrico exited his store and fired several celebratory rounds from an assault rifle into the air, police allege.

Nobody was injured, and it did not appear that any property was damaged. But Derrico, 42, of the Bronx, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge that could land him in jail for up to a year.

"In different countries, that may be accepted but I don't know what made him think he could do that here," said Greenburgh police Lt. Vincent LoGiudice. "What goes up from one of those comes down at the same speed."

Posted by bubba138 at 08:14 AM | Comments (0) |

November 05, 2004

Blue State Blues

CNN reports some Kerry supporters are emotionally limp after Tuesday's election. Perhaps they should move to California and take a walk.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) |

Fence Mending

Here is a little reality check for those who think Bush should be reaching across the aisle:

Amid calls for a national reconciliation after George W. Bush's election victory, I immediately began to wonder what Democrats would have been saying had Bush lost.

It would not have been pretty.

Michael Moore would have appeared on every talk show in the world congratulating himself, and Terry McAuliffe would have been grinning from ear to ear bragging about the country's new direction. Democrats would have claimed a Bush defeat was a repudiation of everything he represented. They would have demanded all vestiges of the Republican Party platform be swept away, irrespective of the narrowness of the win.

Yes, regardless of how many votes Bush received -- say the 55 million Kerry got -- not one prominent Democrat would have been suggesting a time of national renewal. No, they would have been trumpeting the notion that all things must return to the days of higher taxes and less personal accountability.

"Bush lost, deal with it" would probably be a common refrain in my e-mail box over the next four years.

But no, Kerry lost and now the vanquished are demanding that Bush mend the fences. Let me get this straight, the most awful lies have been told about Bush during campaign speeches and nightly talk show appearances and they want him to bridge the gulf? They expect the president to come across the aisle, shake hands, congratulate them on a "spirited contest" and move on (dot-org)?

Well, to the president's credit that is precisely what you will see him try to do. He will be magnanimous in victory and take steps to heal the divide. Why? Because of the very thing some of his opponents deride him for: His Christian nature.

But he has to be met halfway. It has been said Bush has no mandate and must work with the opposition and try to understand their wishes. He attempted that in 2001 and got little accomplished before the derision and rhetoric began to fly.

During these requests for reconciliation, however, I haven't heard many Democrats say they are willing to come across the aisle toward President Bush. I've not heard one liberal voice say they are looking forward to working with Bush in the coming four years. They seem, again, like they want it all one way and that will not do.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:42 PM | Comments (0) |

Oh, THAT Liberal Media

Matthew Hoy: "Well, today's paper reveals that to be the farce that it is. In addition to a couple of whiny columns by Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert, we have two other pieces. One entitled "Why we lost," and another entitled "Why they won." Geez, it kinda makes you think that maybe this is a Democrat paper. If you can find the Repubilcan point of view on the op-ed page -- good luck."

Posted by bubba138 at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) |

Throw More Money At It

One commonly held conservative belief is that liberals are unwise when they try to solve problems by merely throwing money at them. But money alone does not make our problems go away, and the recently completed presidential campaign bears this out.

Democrat based 527 organizations and the Kerry campaign spent more than $555.5 million to elect their man. By contrast, the Bush campaign and supporting 527 organizations spent $381.5 million to give the President four more years. A little math shows that the Democrats spent $10 for each vote compared to $6 spent by Republicans. In other words, Democrats spent 66% more per voter than the Republicans and still lost.

(Spreadsheet) (Source)

Posted by bubba138 at 01:18 PM | Comments (0) |

Democrats: Party of the Poor?

Not in California:

In Marin County, where the average home price is $750,000, 73 percent of the votes went for Kerry. In Alameda County, where Berkeley is located, it was 74 percent Kerry. San Francisco, with the highest rents of any major city in the country, gave 83 percent of its votes to Kerry.

Out where ordinary people live, it was a different story. Thirty-six counties went for Bush versus 22 counties for Kerry, and usually by more balanced vote totals, though Bush went over 70 percent in less fashionable places like Lassen County and Modoc County. If you have never heard of them, there's a reason.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:17 PM | Comments (0) |

Those Crazy Christians

Boortz is noticing the canard, too:

The left is fighting back with several different tactics. First we have the "Evangelical Christian" charge. Democrats want this country to believe that if it were not for the Evangelicals who went to the polls Kerry would be the President-elect right now. The left would have us believe that these Evangelicals are a bunch of wild-eyed nut-cases and, therefore, neither them nor the president they elected are worthy of any respect. Nut-cases? Hardly. Sure, every religion has it's share of whackos, but these people the left want you to fear are nothing more than traditional American families who have adopted and who live by a set of values that should be admired, not feared.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:55 AM | Comments (0) |

Beam Me Up, Scotty

Did we really pay $7.5 million (corrected) for "psychic teleportation" research?

Yes. We did.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) |

D.C. Going to the Dogs

Perhaps this is why D.C. voted overwhelmingly Democrat.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:49 AM | Comments (0) |

The Keyes to Defeat

Alan Keyes is full of fingerpointing today:

Republican Alan Keyes blamed the media and "Republicans in name only" Thursday for his lopsided loss to Democrat Barack Obama in Illinois' U.S. Senate race.

Keyes also said he didn't congratulate Obama after the race was called, a tradition among politicians, because doing so would have been a "false gesture" because he believes Obama's views on issues like abortion are wicked.

I am overjoyed this guy was defeated, and soundly. He has less class than Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Keyes lost because he is crass, out of touch and without compassion. No one is to blame but himself. His refusal to congratulate his opponent is a testimony to the fact that he is not a gentleman. If the Republican party is lucky this will be the last we hear of him.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:46 AM | Comments (0) |

Embracing Diversity

It is not what Republicans talk about. It is just something we do:

Their overwhelming consensus is that Ashcroft's former deputy attorney general, Larry D. Thompson, can have the job if he is willing to walk away from a position as a senior vice president at PepsiCo. Thompson, a former US attorney in Atlanta, would become the first African-American attorney general, if nominated by Bush and confirmed by the Senate.

Thompson also been mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee, but many said Bush will move first to put the first Hispanic on the court, suggesting that White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, would be his choice.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:39 AM | Comments (0) |

Not. Over. Yet.

Count ALL the votes.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) |

More Good News

I would have liked to see this a month ago, but no matter. The economy continues to hum along nicely, and it is creating jobs, jobs, jobs. Here are some of the highlights from today's report:

• During the month of October, 337,000 new payroll jobs were created. Since August 2003, 2.3 million new payroll jobs have been created. Payroll employment has now increased for 14 consecutive months.
• Employment gains for August and September were revised upward by a total of 113,000 jobs.
• The unemployment rate edged up to 5.5 percent in October. However, the unemployment rate is well below last year’s peak of 6.3 percent, and below the average unemployment rates of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) |

What They Didn't Tell Us

Mike Chester points out what the press didn't tell us before the election:

And the real question is - why wasn't it publicized when it first occurred? If the information on Kerry's pursuit of McCain is accurate, that's huge news. As is the news that Bill Clinton advised Kerry to endorse local initiatives to ban gay marriage. To his credit, Kerry refused to take a cheap political tactical turn, but to his detriment, he campaigned as opposed to gay marriage, which frankly is not an honest disclosure of his own thinking on the topic.

Update: More of what we missed here. Looks like John Kerry had a SNL moment during the campaign:

Kerry was baffled. He said with a sigh to one top staffer, "I can't believe I'm losing to this idiot."

More than anything else I think this is why the Democrats were defeated, not just in this presidential election, but in the House and the Senate, in 2004, 2002, 2000, and 1996. It is completely inconceivable to them that their opponent's position holds any intellegence. In their world view, not only are the Republican candidates crazy, greddy, immoral, morons, but so are their voters. Need proof? How's this:

The election results reflect tdecision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry.

Here is how ignorance works: First, they put the fear of God into you-if you don't believe in the literal word of the Bible, you will burn in hell. Of course, the literal word of the Bible is tremendously contradictory, and so you must abdicate all critical thinking, and accept a simple but logical system of belief that is dangerous to question. A corollary to this point is that they make sure you understand that Satan resides in the toils and snares of complex thought and so it is best not try it.

In otherwords, Jane Smiley tells us, Republicans are bleating, unthinking sheep who vote their unreasonable religious ideology because that is what they are told to do. Dowd does no better:

The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.

With the exception Bill Clinton's eight year stay, the Democrats have been experiencing a decline in every elected Federal position in the land for the last sixteen years. In other words, there is a political trend occurring in America, and it is not going the way of the Democrats. Blaming this trend on a growing population of stupid people is nothing but a prescription for decreasing relevance.

Fortunately, some are starting to get it:

In offices across Seattle, conservatives say they've been forced to listen to the lamentations of colleagues suffering from blue-state blues, who say the world is shot. Some of the Kerry faithful talk, half jokingly, about fleeing the country. Others blast those who voted for Bush, calling them "idiots."

But even if you loathe what Bush stands for, can 59 million Americans be categorically and cavalierly labeled as dumb? That's ignorant...

If people dismiss conservatives as rednecks or religious numbskulls from "Jesus-land," they do so to the collective peril of democracy. This election season shows that there is a march of the right under way. And as a country, we can't afford to remain entrenched in warring camps where people on both sides scream across the divide without trying to get beyond stereotypes or snap judgments.

Update II: Add Brian McGrory to the list of those who just don't get it.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:46 AM | Comments (0) |

November 04, 2004

Reaching Out - Part II

Speaking of healing the divide, our friends to the North seem like likely targets for reconcilliation...or not:

The Prime Minister, whose Liberal caucus has been viewed as anti-Bush, warned members in a private session yesterday they must "work with" the U.S. administration and show restraint in their reaction to the President's re-election.

Despite the admonishment, outspoken MP Liberal Carolyn Parrish, who stirred up a storm in February for calling Americans "bastards," said afterward that U.S. voters showed they are "completely out of step with most of the free world."

Ya see that? Here I was thinking the rest of the world was "out of step" with us. I stand corrected.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:47 PM | Comments (0) |

Reaching Out

This opinion piece from the Atlanta Journal Constitution voices a meme oft heard in the last forty-eight hours:

Bush must reach out
In second term, the president needs to be uniter he promised to be before he was first elected

A country this divided cannot hope to handle all that and whatever else fate may hold in store. The president's primary goal as he begins his second term must be to heal that wound, even if it means sacrificing, postponing or compromising some of his own ambitious objectives.

The problem I have with most of those expressing this opinion is their assumption of universal agreement that George W. Bush is the reason for the country's division. Here is my quesiton: is George Bush really obligated to reach out to this?

...or this?

...or this? (Richard Cohen says yes)

...or this?

...or this?

Posted by bubba138 at 03:22 PM | Comments (0) |

Scary Thoughts

The Washington Post sponsored an online chat with "Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh" earlier today. Here are some key parts:

Germantown, Md.: Do you believe the president will strive for unity? Or will he skew more hard right?

Seymour Hersh: in my view, he's got his mandate and he's going to carry on with his mantra -- bringing democracy to the middle east. pretty scary.

When moving to Canada is not an option:

Washington, D.C.: I'm wondering why we have to keep living with these backwards southern and middle-Western states. Is there a process for secession?

Seymour Hersh: the other side tried it and it didn't work. but you're not the first to raise it with me in the past day or so. we have to stick it out because right now george bush is responsible for cleaning up his own mess. and it can't be done, without some changes he will not make.

On the draft:

Ann Arbor, Mich.:Do you foresee a resumption of the draft? Yes yes yes the official answer is no-no-no, but still ... one has to wonder ...

Seymour Hersh: the draft will be unlikely, because it would trigger civil disobedience such as we haven't seen since vietnam. even bush would not want to risk that.

Really? So Hersh was just scare mongering when, in speaking to the American Society of Magazine Editors, he "predicted that President Bush would be forced to reinstate the draft in a hypothetical second term."

Posted by bubba138 at 02:40 PM | Comments (0) |

It Has Already Begun

The race for 2008 is underway.

Update: And certain people seem to be missing.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:21 PM | Comments (0) |

Moral Values

A great majority of commentators are now convinced (or are trying to convince the public) that Bush's victory came about because the "religious right" (who ever they are) were making a statement on "moral values."

First let me state that I think this analysis is hogwash. Glenn points out exactly what I have been yelling at the radio for the last two days: if the exit polling was so horribly wrong about the outcome of the election, how is it we trust it as gospel truth when it comes to the motivation of the voters? This election was all about Iraq and its place in the war on terrorism. Every pre-election poll bears this out. Trust me, people did not change their minds overnight.

There is an agenda in convincing the nation that the last election was about values. It is important to progressives that Bush's base, and the base of the Republican party be viewed as uneducated, unthinking, led-by-blind-faith acolytes of an judgemental, angry God.

Thomas Friedman puts it like this:

Is it a country that does not intrude into people's sexual preferences and the marriage unions they want to make? Is it a country that allows a woman to have control over her body? Is it a country where the line between church and state bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers should be inviolate? Is it a country where religion doesn't trump science? And, most important, is it a country whose president mobilizes its deep moral energies to unite us - instead of dividing us from one another and from the world?

By framing those on other side as religious nuts, the media discounts not only arguments for moral values, but also dismiss any and all arguments regardless of the issue, be it economy, foriegn affairs, domestic policy, etc. For instance, in a time when our young men and women are fighting and dying for freedom's sake halfway around the world, asserting that moral values are the most important issue makes it easy to demonize Republicans. After all, Isn't it immoral to make suppressing gay rights your main issue when our soldiers are coming home in wooden boxes?

In order to do so, however, it is imperitive for the left to be the victim of actions imposed upon them by those promoting moral values. In other words, the argument must be framed in such a way that it looks as if the religious right is changing what is into something more oppressive, gaining power where it had none. Joseph Dolman states:

And while the South is more solidly Republican than ever, the troubles of the Democrats don't stop there. Why? Because on matters of cultural values, Southern attitudes since the 1960s have filtered into the mainstream.

Have Southern values really filtered into the mainstream? Was there a time in the last fifty years when gay marriage was more likely to be accepted? just when was it in our past that adoption of children by gay couples was more accepted? Were late term abortions acceptable at the time of Roe v. Wade? the answer of course, to each of the questions is a resounding "No."

Those whose vote was based on moral values were expressing the values that are classic in American culture, not revolutionary. Revolutionary values are those that assert we can legislate rights from our courts instead of taking issues to our legislatures and voters. Revoultionary values are those in which the mayor of a city can mandate gay marriages in defiance voter's expressed will.

Kevin Drum examplifies victim status while pushing revolutionary causes:

With that in mind, I'll plump for the Massachusett's Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage. The result was nearly a dozen initiatives across the country to ban gay marriage and a perfect wedge issue for Republicans. For the second election in a row, it looks like the president was chosen by the courts.

Somehow the idea that those bulldozing classic family values in the courts "selected" Bush for a second term makes sense to Drum and those that think like him. The truth of the matter is the values argument comes down to those who beleive what we have had for hundreds of years works, and those who want to change the accepted meaning of the word "values."

Posted by bubba138 at 11:54 AM | Comments (0) |

Heart Warming Stories From Europe

Some things just touch my heart in a special way:

Running on enthusiasm, concern and a good deal of caffeine, hundreds of Germans and US ex-pats in Berlin stayed up all night Tuesday, following the US election results in real time.

At about 2:30, when the results from the northeastern states started rolling in and Kerry pulled ahead of Bush in the electoral college vote count, the mood skyrocketed. But about an hour later, as the states in the Midwest tallied their votes and large swaths of the country began turning red on CNN’s large map, the conversations began quieting down. Some began putting on their jackets and leaving.

Others just stared at the screen, silently sipping their beers, succumbing either to fatigue or to a growing sense of resignation.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) |

From the Dempartment of "DUH!"

From CNN's analysis of after the vote attitudes:

Just over half -- 51 percent -- of respondents said they were pleased with the outcome of the presidential election; 38 percent said they were upset.

They had to cunduct a survey to figure this out? That Bush won by 51% had nothing to do with this, I am sure.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:57 AM | Comments (0) |

Morning Reads

Stuff you gotta read today:

John Podhoretz:

On Tuesday, 9 million more votes were cast than in 2000. On Tuesday, Bush received 8.3 million votes more than he did in 2000. If those 8.3 million Bush voters who weren’t there for Dubya in 2000 all came from the big pool of new voters, then Democrats should start getting ready to pack it up and move to France. Why? Because a Republican president has increased his ballot total by 15 percent simply by creating new Republican voters who didn’t exist before. This is potentially catastrophic for the Democratic Party.

Peggy Noonan (who, I am overjoyed to see, writing for the WSJ again):

George W. Bush is the first president to win more than 50% of the popular vote since 1988. (Bill Clinton failed to twice; Mr. Bush failed to last time and fell short of a plurality by half a million.) The president received more than 59 million votes, breaking Ronald Reagan's old record of 54.5 million. Mr. Bush increased his personal percentages in almost every state in the union. He carried the Catholic vote and won 42% of the Hispanic vote and 24% of the Jewish vote (up from 19% in 2000.)

As much as anyone, the POW wives of Vietnam, who stood against the Democratic nominee for president and for the Republican, can claim credit for the Bush victory. Everyone with a computer in America, and a lot of people with TVs, saw their testimony about the 1970s, and their husbands, and John Kerry. You could not come away from their white-haired, soft-faced, big-eyeglasses visages without thinking: He should not be commander in chief.

Bob Novak:

Democrats confront a grim future. Bush's 3.5-million-vote edge in the popular vote reflects a party out of touch with the country on social issues, the role of government and the war against terrorism. Democrats face the bitter reality of minority party status and what to do about it.

Facing reality is difficult because of unjustified confidence among high-level Democrats. All year long I was told by them that Kerry would win comfortably. They dismissed Republican inroads on normal Democratic voters by the same-sex marriage issue. They laughed off warnings from defecting Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia that the party had lost rural America.

George Will:

John Kerry's liberalism had something to do with his defeat. Hence so did this: By Jan. 20, 2009, all the elected presidents for 44 consecutive years will have come from three Southern states -- Texas, Arkansas, Georgia -- and Southern California.

Never in this marathon did Kerry himself do anything to change the campaign's dynamics. He counted on events in Iraq and on the power of his party's unconcealed belief that George Bush is an imbecile. But Democrats cannot disguise from the people their bewilderment about how to appeal to a country that is so backward, they think, that it finds Bush appealing.

David Broder:

And he did it the right way -- the old-fashioned way -- by galvanizing more of his supporters than Kerry managed to. This was not, as some embittered Democrats had forecast, the result of voter intimidation or suppression. Democrats and their allies in labor and liberal organizations did their best job ever of mobilizing their base, only to see the Republicans match and exceed that effort.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:43 AM | Comments (0) |

November 03, 2004

Winners and Losers

Michael sets 'em up.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:21 PM | Comments (0) |

Veteran's Day

Some said let you apologize
But that wouldn’t do it in our eyes.

A man astride of each position
Could we believe your true contrition?

And on deaf ears your words would fall
To those whose names are on that Wall

The vindication they now accept
In settling up this long-held debt,

Is that for them we gave our best
And denied you, John, your lifelong quest.

We fought for them, fought for our own,
To make you reap what you had sown.

Listen carefully John to what we say,
November 2d was their Veterans’ Day.

Russ Vaughn

2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Posted by bubba138 at 10:05 PM | Comments (0) |

Campaign Finance Reform

With the truck-loads of cash given to 527 organizations it is a slam dunk conclusion that the McCain-Feingold stab at campaign finance reform was just terrible. I don't condemn the Senators for trying, because I agree whole-heartedly that we need to fix campaign finance, but I have absolutely no idea what to do.

Fortunately, there are smarter people than me working on the problem.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:14 PM | Comments (0) |

Zogby in the Tank

Kerry Spot has done a post-election analysis of Zogby's numbers. They don't look too good:

Arizona Zogby: +6% Bush Final: +11% Bush Arkansas Zogby: +3% Bush Final: +9% Bush Colorado Zogby: too close to call Final: +7% Bush Florida Trending Kerry Zogby: +.1% Kerry Final: +5% Bush Iowa Zogby: +5% Kerry Final: +1% Bush Michigan Zogby: +6% Kerry Final: +3% Kerry Minnesota Zogby: +6% Kerry Final: +3% Kerry

Missouri Zogby: +3% Bush Final: +8% Bush Nevada Zogby: too close to call Final: +3% Bush New Hampshire Zogby: +5% Kerry Final: +1% Kerry New Mexico Zogby: +3% Kerry Final: +1% Bush North Carolina Zogby: +3% Bush Final: +13% Bush Oregon Zogby: +10% Kerry Final: +5% Kerry Ohio trending Kerry Zogby: +2% Bush Final: TBD

Pennsylvania Zogby: trending Kerry Final: +3% Kerry Tennessee Zogby: +4% Bush Final: +14% Bush Virginia Zogby: slight edge Bush Final: +8% Bush Washington Zogby: +10% Kerry Final: +7% Kerry West Virginia Zogby: +4% Bush Final: +14% Bush Wisconsin Zogby: +6% Kerry Final: +1% Kerry

Posted by bubba138 at 04:25 PM | Comments (0) |

First the Elections and Now This...

The good news keeps coming:

Speaking from France, Palestinian officials say leader Yasser Arafat took a turn for the worse late Wednesday.

Citing officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, The Associated Press reports that Arafat's health has "deteriorated significantly" in the course of the last 24 hours.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:53 PM | Comments (0) |

A Little Gloat?

Please?

"This is the best election night in history," says Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman and designated carnival barker. McAuliffe is bounding into the lobby of the Fairmont Copley Plaza, home to the Kerry-Edwards "victory" celebration and a mob of Kerry lovers -- or, more to the point, Bush haters. They are ecstatic, even though no network has called any battleground state for anyone...

By 11:15 p.m. at the party, a majority of rallygoers are predicting the third scenario -- deadlock. The rain has given way to cold, the earlier giddiness has succumbed to nerves, resignation and shivers. "I'm very scared at this point," says Molly Shaffer, milling around a grassy area near a row of riot police and portable toilets.

At 12:30 a.m. it is raining again, a chilled, pelting drizzle. Florida is gone, and so are several hundred Kerryphiles, who are gridlocked at the exits, trying to leave.

"It's a bummer if Bush wins," says April Duckworth, of Brighton, Mass. She is holding an umbrella, looking prepared for a bummer, if not resigned to one. She has questions about Ohio. Everyone does. Provisional ballots, absentee ballots, recount scenarios. She's confused, frankly. But not leaving. "This is the place to be for a party," she says. "In case Kerry wins."

There are lines at the portable toilets and grass has turned to mud. It's like Woodstock after the novelty wore off. Several people look as though they're crying, but it could be the rain.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:38 PM | Comments (0) |

Random Thoughts

Now that Bush has won, will George Soros really move to a monestary?

Did anyone else notice Katie Couric wore black this morning? In the same clip, Chris Matthews asserts we are culturally divided "in the same way India and Pakistan are."

He does however conceed that Bush's 51% gives him a mandate.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:52 PM | Comments (0) |

Take It Back

For the last four years the Democrats have ranted about "taking back" the country. DailyKos says that's not enough:

We need to retake the language. We need to reframe the notion of "value"...

The wedges: gays, abortion, and guns.

Democrats have abandoned guns as an issue, and over the next three or four cycles it will prove an increasingly ineffective wedge. The NRA won. Good for them.

That leaves the two "faith based" wedges -- gays and abortion. And with great skill, the Republicans have equated those two issues with the word "value".

That's going to have to change.

The Democrats have been soundly slapped down and Kos thinks they need to "retake the language." This speaks volumes. It says there are some who still identify with Clinton's assertion that it "depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." The problem is not with the language, it is with the ideas.

Kos is right that they have lost on guns. What Kos refuses to see is that they are also losing on (as he puts it) "gays:"

In a resounding, coast-to-coast rejection of gay marriage, voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments Tuesday limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

The amendments won, often by huge margins, in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon - the one state where gay-rights activists hoped to prevail. The bans won by a 3-to-1 ratio in Kentucky and Georgia, 3-to-2 in Ohio, and 6-to-1 in Mississippi.

This is as much a rejection to the tactics that the GLBT lobby has used to advance their cause as it is an affirmation of traditional marriage. If GLBT couples want to increase their privileges, they are going to have to do it not in the courts, but by popular consensus, something of which they are now woefully short.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) |

A Crushing Defeat

Christopher Hitchens says Kerry is not the only one soundly defeated:

Well, I hate to sound banal, but to me what it means is a crushing defeat for the racket that is formed by the media and the opinion poll industry, who have for weeks, months, been telling us it's a cliffhanger, purely in order as far as I can see to attract attention to themselves and the enormous tranche of campaign money that goes into their pockets the closer it is.

If this wasn't being done by the American press and poll industry, it would be being reported by the American press.

All I wanted, I have to say, is a result that made the pollsters look stupid and it well exceeded my expectations in this respect.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) |

Two Elections Down, One to Go

Democracy has triumphed in Afghanistan and the United States, and will soon rise to victory in Iraq:

Election officials on Monday launched an aggressive voter registration program to prepare for January's balloting, handing out forms to Iraqis at markets across this war-torn nation.

Officials began distributing about 14 million forms to people who turned in their food-ration cards for subsidized baskets of rice, flour, tea and other staples.

Officials reported that the registration process began without incident and that there were no reports of violence.

Of course there are some who would love to stop elections in Iraq:

On an Islamist website, Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi warned that any Iraqis involved in the vote "will feel our sword slaughter their head."

In the northern city of Mosul, election workers said they were threatened for passing out educational materials. "Of course there is fear," said Rifat Adnan, 35, who was hired to help register voters.

Potential voters said they were also fearful that militants might launch election-day attacks.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:36 PM | Comments (0) |

Bush Victory Speech

I am watching it live via video feed.

Energy is (as expected) high, the crowd is chanting "FOUR MORE YEARS, FOUR MORE YEARS!"

Cheney: "Once again I have delivered the state of Wyoming for the Bush/Cheney ticket".

"Thanks to you..." Mentions victories in the House and Senate and Bush's popular vote count being the largest in U.S. history.

"The nation responded by giving him a mandate." [The anti-bushies are going to LOVE that line.]

George W. Bush, President of these United States:

"It was a long night, and a great night." Bush promotes John Kerry's graciousness, says he and his supporters ran a good campaign and should be proud of their efforts. The crowd barely gives a polite applause.

Thanks his family and everyone else alive. Including the dreaded Karl Rove.

"Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks."

Tasks for this term:
1. Updated tax code.
2. Reform Social Security.
3. Help emerging democracies of Iraq and Afghanistan. THEN our men and women will come home to the honor they have earned.
4. Fight terrorism so our children will live in freedom and peace.

To those who voted for Kerry:
"I need your support and I will work to earn it."
"One country, one constitution, and one future that binds us."

---

Short and sweet. Now let's get down to business.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:02 PM | Comments (0) |

Media Shaking in Their Boots

Last night it was obvious the media was snake-bitten from their 2000 experiences. Florida was a slam-dunk for Bush almost an hour and a half before any of the networks called it. None of them had the logic to call Ohio for Bush until Kerry formally conceeded it, even though it was all-but mathematically impossible for Kerry to win regardless of the size of the provisional ballot. Even now CNN refuses to call New Mexico and Iowa.

The media has been neutered, and by midnight it grew tiresome. Tom Shales sums it up nicely:

CNN's pompous Aaron Brown, meanwhile, had told anchor Wolf Blitzer, "I enjoy how much I have heard 'we don't know' [tonight]." Surely he was the only one. Or maybe the laws of journalism are changing so much that some day soon a network newscast might begin, "In the news tonight -- we don't know." It really wasn't "we don't know," though. It was more, "We're afraid to tell you."

Posted by bubba138 at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) |

A New Jim Jeffords

Rhode Island's Senator Lincoln Chafee might switch parties:

Sen. Lincoln Chafee made good on his pledge yesterday: As a form of "symbolic protest," he cast a write-in ballot for former President George H.W. Bush instead of voting for his son, President George W. Bush. He also did not rule out the prospect of changing parties if the incumbent president is reelected.

Asked if he planned to change parties and become a Democrat if Mr. Bush were reelected, Chafee said, "No, I don't at this minute," but then added, "I'm not ruling it out."

"I'll have to look and see what happens tonight, the makeup of everything" locally and nationally, said the senator, who in 1999 assumed the seat of his late father, John H. Chafee, the Republican icon.

That last sentence is telling. If Chafee is waiting for the results to make his decision one would have to bet he is not going to switch. With the Republicans gaining four seats, Chafee's defection would not help the Democrats nor hurt the Republicans. The only thing it would do is hurt Chafee's future.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) |

What It Takes

Kevin Drum is in full reassessment mode:

I sure hope all the liberal energy that came together this year doesn't dissipate. After all, the real problem has never been George Bush, the problem has been that a bare majority of Americans agree with George Bush. That's not an academic distinction, either: just as movement conservatives built up their machine in the ashes of Barry Goldwater's loss in 1964, liberals need to continue building a long-term machine dedicated to changing popular opinion. And it's hardly a herculean task: a switch of only 3 or 4 points in public opinion is a virtual landslide, and if we can pull it off it means that guys like George Bush can't get elected anymore, even if they are the kind of people you'd like to have a beer with. It can be done.

But it takes money, energy, and coordination. Despite last night's loss, liberals did a pretty good of pulling themselves together this year. If we keep it up for another four there's no reason we can't turn things around.

In other words, Kevin says more of the same. The Democrats had more money, more energy, and much more coordination than ever before in this election, and they still lost.

This election was not won or lost on strategy [Let's not discount strategy OK. OK.], but on issues. I think that is where the Democrats need to focus their attention.

Update: Josh Marshall, who was partisan but at least somewhat reasonable before the election, seems to have a clearer view:

Whatever happens tonight a lot of thought and study will go into just what happened. Was it a mirage? Was it a problem with the GOTV operation? It can't simply be the later. Even the best ground operation can only amplify a demographic trend or spike that has some deeper socio-political basis.

Update II:Then again, maybe not:

The country is bitterly divided. And as much as anyone President Bush has divided it. But president Bush got 51% and if there's anything I've learned from watching him for the last four years-plus, it is that his team will take this as a popular mandate for an aggressive push for their agenda -- notwithstanding the profound division in the country or what has happened over the previous four years.

If Bush were really to blamce for the "bitter division" of the country, it would bear out in smaller numbers for him. Instead the President increased his percentage. In other words, he pulled Gore voters onto his side of the fence. If a bitter division exists (which I do not belive it does) it is because of the rantings of Dean Howard, Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle, Michael Moore, and our former Vice President Al Gore.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) |

Republican Mandate, Democrat Rejection

Many on the left, and the liberal leaning press will try to convince us that, because the race was close, George Bush still has no mandate. But this election was more than just a slight vote of confidence for the President, it was a referendum of support for the Repubilcan party and of rejection for the Democrats.

What the left and the Democrats won't mention is that George Bush won this election with a majority of the vote. That is a feat that has not been accomplished since 1988. If Bill Clinton had a mandate at less than 50%, then George W. Bush certainly has one at better than half the electorate.

Further, the Democrats were soundly defeated in the Federal legislature. Republicans have increased their majority in the Senate by four seats (Martinez has won Bob Graham's seat). In the House, the Republicans have spanked their opponents to the tune of at least three and probably five seats.

This must be seen as a huge, flashing, howling signal to the Democrats that they have lost America and they need to reassess who they are and what they stand for. James Carville gets it, but the question is will the Democrat party?

Will the Democrats finally see that their "big-tent" is full of holes? Will they see that it is impossible to reconcile faith and abortion, impossible to marry pro-family minorities with fiscal liberalism, impossible for the rich East coast elite to appeal to the down in the dirt, work-it-to-the bone, blue collar Joe, impossible to simultaneously talk about creating jobs while supporting measures that threaten to shut down the very businesses that create employment? Will they look to themselves and make the changes they need to bring their party closer to the center and less in love with the likes of Ted Rall, Michael Moore, and Barbra Streisand?

I certainly hope they do. I am a Republican, but I do not like the fact that my party controls two of the three branches of the government (soon to be all three, I am sure). As one who voted for Clinton (once), I believe in parity, in checks and balances. But the Democrat party right now is so far off center they cannot be trusted with power.

In the last four years the Democrat party has turned over more and more control over to the the Kennedys and Pelosis (who live safely ensconced in their liberal bubbles in Massechusetts and San Francisco), and relied less upon more moderate voices such as Lieberman. The Democrats need to take a lesson in Barak Obama's centrism. He was by far the most well received speaker at Kerry's convention, and not coincedently, the most conservative.

The Democrats have a choice. They can slam the brakes on their leftward drift lurch and seek to center their party, or they can mash the accelerator and bet everything on unchecked "progressive" movement. With the defeat of Senate minority leader Tom Daschle (the prime obstructionist to Bush's judicial appointments, by the way), the Democrats are forced to make their choice soon. The next Senate minority leader will be a clear sign to the American public what the Democrats intend for the future.

Update: Check out some of the other interesting results noted By Citizen Smash.

Update II: Larry Sabato puts a fine point on the Bush mandate:

"It may have been a narrow victory for Bush nationally, but everyone in these key Senate races benefited from his coattails," says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. "Now, Republicans are bound to be very aggressive in pushing their agenda."

Posted by bubba138 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Money Can't Buy You Love

The Democrats and their supporters spent an unprecedented amount this cycle to defeat Bush and failed. They placed their hope in their fortunes and poured astounding riches into 527 organizations. In the top ten 527 organizations Democrats outspent Republicans by almost 500% ($243 million to $54 million). And they still lost.

The Kerry campaign was outspent by the Bush camp, but not by much. The Democrat party also outspent the Republicans by $70 thousand and lost not only the Presidency, but seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) |

It's Over

ABCNews RadioMSNBC has just reported that John Kerry has called the President and conceeded the election. The Democrats have wisely chosen an alternative to hari kari.

Ann Althouse says, "Those of us who are happy with the outcome would do well to resist gloating. There is a lot of pain out there, and perhaps setting an example of graceful winning can help inspire some graceful acceptance of loss."

She's right.

But can't we gloat a little? Please?

Update: Perhaps CNN, MSNBC and others will have the cajones to call New Mexico and Iowa for Bush now.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:17 AM | Comments (0) |

Thune Claims Victory

John Thune is now claiming victory and it sure looks as if Daschle has lost his job. With 99% reporting, Daschle is down almost 9k votes.

Somehow, Osama bin Laden's buddy, Patty Murray won handily in Washington. Still the Republicans have picked up three seats in the Senate and five seats in the House.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:19 AM | Comments (0) |

Nevada is Bush Country

CNN has finally called Nevada for Bush. Since they have not yet awarded Bush Ohio he stands at 254 electorals. As soon as Kerry concedes what everyone else in the nation knows we can send Bush back to the White House to do his job and send John Kerry packing back to the Senate.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:14 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry Win Even Less Likely Now

Bush has increased his lead to more than 144 thousand in Ohio. Even hyper-partisan Kevin Drum sees little chance for Kerry:

Last I heard, the Ohio secretary of state estimated that they would end up with about 175,000 provisional ballots. At best for Kerry — making some fairly heroic assumptions about the bulk of the provisionals being the result of Republican challenges and so forth — they might split in his favor 65%-35%. That would break down to 113,000 for Kerry vs. 61,000 for Bush, a difference of 52,000 votes.

In other words, Kerry needs to be within about 50,000 votes in order for the provisional ballots to have any chance of tipping Ohio in his direction. Right now, he's behind by 140,000 with 99% of the precincts reporting, so getting within 50,000 seems like a rather forlorn hope.

Now, these numbers might be wrong. Maybe there are more provisional ballots. Maybe they'll break even more sharply in Kerry's favor. Maybe once the regular count is finished he'll be closer than 140,000. But that's a lot maybes, and it's pretty unlikely they're all going to happen.

It is especially unlikely when one realizes that assuming that provisional ballots breaking for Kerry by 65% is beyon unlikely. If there are 175k provisional ballots, Kerry needs to win 158k (or 90%) of them to win. Unlikely is is too weak a word. Impossible is closer to reality.

Update: The spread keeps growing. It is up to 147k now. Here are the counties that have not completed counting:

Hamilton: 95% complete, 53% for Bush, almost 400k votes cast
Knox: 98% complete, 66% for Bush, 25k votes cast
Lucas: 95% complete, 60% for Kerry, 180k total votes cast

Given this, the more counting done means Bush is only going to pick up more votes.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:53 AM | Comments (0) |

November 02, 2004

Edwards Speaks

In essence Edwards is telling his supporters, "Go home, it won't be over tonight."

Smash sums it up right:

JOHN EDWARDS is coming to the stage in Boston.

"We've waited four years for this victory, we can wait one more night... We will fight for every vote -- you deserve no less."

Oh, crap.

All the networks are now talking about the hundreds of lawyers that are flying into Ohio. I guess they have decided their fate.

Update: Meanwhile, Bush's margin is growing. It is now up to 139 thousand.

Bush has also taken the lead in Nevada with 82% reporting.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:33 PM | Comments (0) |

Iowa Goes Bush

Iowa has Bush up by 10 thousand votes and the outstanding counties are all Bush country. He's only going to pick up votes here. Iowa is Red.

Bush's margin in Ohio is growing, now at 125 thousand.

Smash says, "It is all over but the crying." He's right.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:23 PM | Comments (0) |

Political Suicide

If Ohio's count ends up with Bush up by 90 thousand votes and the Democrats take this to the court it will be political suicide. In 2000, the margin in Florida was less than a couple of thousand. The country won't put up with dragging this out when the margin is six digits.

Da Goddess brought a red pen with her and she says (in a voice husky enough to pull a dog sled) she's just going color in the states herself.

Update: The margin in Ohio just increased to 120 thousand. Da Goddess remarks, "Bush just won Ohio again."

An inside Kerry source reports Kerry just said, "I actually won Ohio before I lost it. Oh, and Iowa too."

Posted by bubba138 at 11:04 PM | Comments (0) |

Draw a Target on This Guy

J. Kenneth Blackwell is the Ohio Sec. of State. He's a Republican. And an African American, too.

You think the Democrats gave Clarence Thomas a hard time? They are going to have a field day with Blackwell. Count on it being REEEEALLY nasty.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:42 PM | Comments (0) |

More Ohio

The Kerry camp is now betting on winning in the provisional ballot race. They assert there are as many as 180 thousand valid provisional ballots and that if they can pick up 50 thousand votes in that they could win. This makes no sense. In order to get these 50 thousand votes, kerry would have to win 115 thousand of the 180 thousand provisional votes.

That amounts to gaining 63% of the provisional ballot in a state that he only carried 49% of the balance of the votes.

Not likely.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:22 PM | Comments (0) |

Ohio Is Bush Country

Fox News, who took forever to call Florida, has now called Ohio for Bush. His vote count is at 266, Alaska puts it at 269, any other state puts him over the top.

REELECTED BABY!

Update: Carville on CNN: "I have talked to people in Ohio who would like to give me good news, and they're not."

Keving Drum is hanging his hopes on the courts:

LAWYERS CONVERGING ON OHIO....It sounds like Ohio is about to become ground zero for the legal profession of America. I think we're about to find out how many lawyers can dance on the head of a ballot marker.

However, I still think Wisconsin is a dark horse candidate for "Florida of 2004"...

CNN is doing the autopsy on the entire election now. Carville says it is time for the entire Democrat party to reassess. He is right and one of the first things they should do is minimize the advice of people like him.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:45 PM | Comments (0) |

Colorado is Bush Country

ABC just called Colorado. Bush is at 246. Add Alaska (3), Nevada (5) and/or New Mexico (5) and Ohio (20) and Bush is the next President.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:27 PM | Comments (0) |

Republican Victory

The Republican victory tonight is HUGE. Republicans have taken multiple House seats, two (with Thune looking strong maybe three) Senate seats, and Bush is going to win both the electoral and popular votes.

2004 has been a huge referendum for Republican policies and against the Howard Dean, Michael Moore, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy do anything, say anything politics.

They are looking MIGHTY HAPPY at Republican headquarters. Someone here just said that Halliburton is catering the event. Classic.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:01 PM | Comments (0) |

ABC News Calls Florida

It was obvious an hour and a half ago, but ABC just called Florida for Bush. Ohio will put him over the top.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:49 PM | Comments (0) |

Estrich is the Biggest Hack

She just called Ohio for Kerry even though it is showing 52-48, Bush.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:45 PM | Comments (0) |

New Hampshire is a Race

70% reporting and it is 50% to 49%, Kerry.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:39 PM | Comments (0) |

Arizona Goes for Bush

No surprize here, but it is 10 more electorals.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:17 PM | Comments (0) |

Daschle v. Thune

Thune has built a 800 vote lead over Daschle with 44% reporting.

If Thune wins, the Democrats will be short one minority leader in the Senate. Of course, since Kerry has still not resigned, he could take up the mantle.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:54 PM | Comments (0) |

Bearflag South Blogger Bash

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Posted by bubba138 at 07:44 PM | Comments (0) |

We Got Florida

85% reporting and Bush is up 52% to 47%. It is looking like a win there.

Update: 93% reporting now, Bush still up by same margin.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:29 PM | Comments (0) |

Missouri a Battleground

Missouri, which should have gone easily to Bush, is in play. Only 7% of precincts are reporting, but so far the vote is 51% Bush, 49% Kerry.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Big Polls Closing Soon

Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, etc closing withing minutes.

Bush gets Texas, Kerry gets New York. No surprise. Daschle/Thune race is still too close to call.

BREAKING: Bush is up in Florida 52% to 46% with 41% of precincts reporting. Fox is reporting higher Republican turnouts than last election in many of the Florida counties.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Election Night Mob-Blog

In not too long, I plan to head down to Citizen Smash's place and take part in an election night blog gathering. Joining us will be Joe Gandelman, Da Goddess, Mad Mikey and possibly Kevin.

Update: CNN is also blogging the election. The 8:54pm entry hints that this election may be the Y2K of 2004:

So far, the big story is the dog that didn't bark, the lawyers who didn't bite, the litigation that hasn't taken place. We thought the presence of so many lawyers would lead to so many lawsuits. We're not seeing zero lawsuits, but the activity so far seems manageable -- even in Ohio.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:47 PM | Comments (0) |

More Democrat Dirty Tricks

In New Hampshire the Democrats are putting out fake campaign signs:

Some Bush-Cheney signs look real but were actually placed by the state's Democratic Party. One reads, "A sales tax is a fair tax." Another one states, "The courage to ban stem cell research."

The Republican Party said both statements are false. The signs were found in Merrimack, Derry, Pelham and Hudson.

Kathleen Strand, of the state Democratic Party, said Democrats got the idea from the Republicans, who she said used similar tactics in the governor's race in 2002. One sign from that campaign that appeared to support Democrat Jeanne Shaheen read, "The courage to raise taxes."

Posted by bubba138 at 05:41 PM | Comments (0) |

Texas in Play?

Mark Steyn says so.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:59 PM | Comments (0) |

Election Violence

For all the press fears of an al Qa'eda attack just before or on election day, it has been a very peaceful process. This in itself should be an argument for Bush/Cheney. If this is the worst we have to deal with in an election, we have to be happy about the world:

Republicans reportedly plan to file a formal complaint about an apparent effort to keep Bush supporters away from Milwaukee-area polls. Wire reports said someone slashed the tires of 30 vans Republicans had rented as part of their get-out-the-vote effort. The vandalism happened outside Republican headquarters in downtown Milwaukee, press reports said.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:54 PM | Comments (0) |

International Muslim Vote

We already know that Islamic terrorists prefer Kerry over Bush, but this was a bit of a surprise:

The Arab satellite network asked its viewers, "If you had the right to vote, whom would you elect?" Call-in voting began an hour before the first polls opened on the east coast of the United States. Two hours into the calling, Bush had the early lead: 53 percent to 47 percent for Kerry in the unscientific gauge of viewer interest.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:09 PM | Comments (0) |

Bad News Watch

On a day full of optimism, we can always count on CNN to report bad news:

"Pathology tests have shown an improvement in his white blood cell count," she said, as well as "persistent abnormalities" in his digestion.

"President Arafat's condition has improved sufficiently for him to undergo tests that could not be performed upon admission."

He's geting better. Bummer.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:08 AM | Comments (0) |

Fun With Polls

Gallup is reporting an even race, both Bush and Kerry getting 49%, yet their chart really shows 49% Bush and 47% Kerry. How do they call it 49-49? Here is how:

In the final USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll before the election, President Bush held a 49-47 edge over Sen. John Kerry when the undecided voters were not allocated to a particular candidate. When Gallup, using a statistical model that assumes that 9 of 10 of those voters would support Kerry, allocated the voters, the poll ended as a dead heat with each candidate garnering 49%. The Gallup allocation formula is based on analyses of previous presidential races involving an incumbent.

Well, that sure sounds accurate to me.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Daschle's Sharp Elbows

Voter intimidation is in high gear in Daschle's South Dakota:

At the McLaughlin Community Center on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, a Daschle operative (a male lawyer in his 50s) has taken over part of the election table and is interfering with the election workers' duties in violation of SDCL 12-18-3, 9.1 (9.2 gives authority to have the person removed and arrested). The election worker feels intimidated by the Daschle operative and feels that the man is interfering with the process. When told this was illegal, he responded "F--k you, do something about it." These sorts of reports are coming in regularly. It's a nice summary of the Daschle campaign's attitude toward the election process.

UPDATE: The auditor has just sent the sheriff out to the polling location.

Update: The sheriff arrived and did "do something about it."

Posted by bubba138 at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) |

Valuable Election Links

What time do each state's polls close? John Fund has an hour-by-hour guide for today's election.

Dick Morris says the bin Laden tape seals the victory for Bush. Given how often Morris has been wrong in the last two years, this does not bode well. On the other hand, Larry Kudlow says Bush's campaign was too slow on the draw in responding to Kerry's "outsourcing bin Laden" rhetoric.

Even before the voting had begun, foriegn campaign observers had already observed election bias.

As if this election needed any more reasons for controversy, a shortage of poll workers is bound to cause problems.

With the race close, Kerry's campaign is leaning more on luck.

MoveOn.org in Minneapolis is illegally campaigning inside the non-partisan 100ft polling perimeter, and "causing disruptions at precincts in communities scattered across the state" in Michigan, New Hampshire, Iowa.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) |

Dead People Voting

AP:

With millions of voters taking advantage of new, in-person early voting in at least 30 states this year, it's even more likely that such "ghost" votes will be counted because, in most cases, those ballots are impossible to retrieve. Besides, it could be days or weeks after the election before local officials get word someone has died.

Earlier this month, in what would be her last conscious act, 90-year-old Trixie Porter gripped a pen in her weak, trembling hand, checked the candidates of her choice and scrawled a squiggled signature on her absentee ballot.

Within an hour, the petite woman who had been suffering from heart problems lay back in her hospital bed, closed her eyes and never woke up. Her ballot arrived at her local elections board two days later, Oct. 5 the day she died.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:11 AM | Comments (0) |

November 01, 2004

The Voice ofAmerica?

Walter Cronkite was once the most respected voice in America. Now he spouts stuff like this:

CRONKITE: What we just heard. So now the question is basically right now, how will this affect the election? And I have a feeling that it could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing.

Of course, since Bush and Rove have had bin Laden in hidden custody for the past two years, making this tape probably was not too hard to do. No wonder the CIA so quickly verified it as authentic.

Even though I think Cronkite was probably making the comment in tounge-in-cheek fashion, with his well known bias to the Democrats it was irresponsible for him to voice that meme. Many won't "get it," instead embracing it as tacit endorsement of fever-swamp conspiracy theories from a (once) voice of reason.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) |

Call 'Em Like You See 'Em

Glenn comments on Sullivan's lack of support for Bush's Iraq plan, "I think that [Andrew's previous] analysis is spot-on, and I don't see what has changed in the interim that would account for Andrew's rather dramatic shift in tone."

Glenn ignores (purposefully?) what is obvious to any who once read Sullivan on a regular basis. What has changed for Andrew had nothing to do with Bush's plan in Iraq, the war on terror or anything at all to do with foriegn policy. Andrew Sullivan's support for the President's foriegn policy reversed precisely at the moment GW Bush came out in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment. At that time Sullivan declared himself a single issue voter, and his issue had nothing to do with the security of the country.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:38 AM | Comments (0) |

Polling bin Laden

Dick Cheney this weekend accused John Kerry of polling for a response to the newest bin Laden tape before deciding how to handle it:

"The thing that I find amazing about it is that John Kerry's first response was to go conduct a poll," Cheney told supporters in Iowa. "He went into the field ... to find out what he should say about this tape of Osama bin Laden."

"It's as though he doesn't know what he believes until he has to go and check the polls, his finger in the air, to see which way the wind is blowing and then he'll make a decision," said the vice president, who offered no evidence to back up his claim. "George Bush doesn't need a poll to know what he believes, especially about Osama bin Laden."

"I don't think that's a man who is up to the task of being commander in chief," Cheney said of Kerry.

Matthew Dowd, the Bush campaign's strategist, denied asking about the videotape.

"We have not asked any questions related to bin Laden, this tape, or any other tape in our polling," Dowd said. "The president stands on principle and so does the campaign."

Lockhart said Cheney was referring to a Democracy Corps poll and inaccurately linked it to the Kerry campaign's private polling. Democracy Corps is a Democratic organization and not part of the Kerry campaign, though its management has worked closely with Kerry's team.

Notice the article points out that Cheney "offered no evidence to back up his claim." Yet the Kerry campaign team knew exactly to which poll Cheney was referring, the one put on by the Democracy Corps.

The Democracy Corp was "founded in 1999 by James Carville, Stanley Greenberg, and Bob Shrum." Bob Shrum is now on a leave of absense from the Democracy Corp because he is working for the Kerry campaign. While Lockhart's claim that the campaign itself has "not asked any questions related to bin Laden, this tape, or any other tape in our polling," they are less than an arm's reach away from the organization that did do the poll. It is unbelievable to assume there was no communication between these organizations.

Tell me again, who is politicizing 9/11?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:51 AM | Comments (0) |

One More Day

In less than twenty four hours voting day will finally be here, and I can say none too soon. As evidenced by my ramblings and rants on this electronic media it is no mystery that I love watching and commenting on politics. But this election cycle has been long -- very long -- and in these last two weeks many days of blog posting has been more tedious than inspired. Regardless of the outcome I will be relieved when this election has completed. (And, Lord, let this election be over on Wednesday.)

I am astounded that the election is as close as it is. The Democrats have had the advantage in both time and money. They have bashed the president relentlessly for two years. They have outraised and outspent Republican leaning organizations by orders of magnitude. They have relied on hyperbole, inuendo, and blatant outright unbelievably false lies. Very little of it is an accurate reflection of the real Bush record, but it has had its effect.

Michael Moore has made his impact and party identity has become more important than the security of this nation. One needs no more evidence of this than the fact that Osama bin Laden himself is part of the Michael Moore crowd. The day after Kerry's boy, Wesley Clark, mocked the President for reading "My Pet Goat," bin Laden did the same. It should say something to all Americans to all Americans that the talking points of bin Laden and the Democrats are virtually identical. I am amazed more do not see this similarity.

No matter what happens we have not seen the last of John Kerry. The man who so courageously rammed his boat on the beach in the face of enemy fire has not had the courage to give up his Senate seat during his campaign for president. We stand less than a day away and John Kerry, who has been all but missing from from his Senate seat since being reelected in 2002, has still not resigned. An overwhelming majority of people (49% to 33% according to the latest CBS poll) believe that George Bush will win this election. Apparently, John Kerry is one of them. It amazes me that so many can believe in a man who does not believe in himself.

In four years this President has turned around a recession (which he inherited from the previous administration), dealt with Enron and Global Crossing scandals (which the Democrats tried to blame on him but got no traction because the infractions happened on Clinton's watch), withstood the worst attack on American soil in history (and grew into his Presidency in the process), changed a repressive, despotic regime in Afghanistan into a burgeoning democracy (where women made an impact in what they never before were allowed), and liberated the Iraqi people from an evil dictator and placed them also on the path to democracy.

In short, George Bush deserves to be reelected. Make it so.

Update: Then I read stuff like this and hope is once again sparked:

When the metrosexual chap standing next to me confides that urban sophisticates prefer Kerry because "you have to have a low IQ to appreciate Bush", I know I am making the right decision. "The guy is an idiot," he continued snobbishly. "I don't know what the rest of the country is thinking." Perhaps I can enlighten him. I will be one of the millions voting for Bush because I trust the President's judgment on the war on terror more than Kerry's.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:22 AM | Comments (0) |