The Corner 'Pub

O Those Crazy Senate Dems!

2005-11-01T22:23:00.000-06:00

Today Harry Reid, with a second from Dick "Turban" Durbin, forced the Senate into closed session to supposedly figure out something having to do with pre-war Iraq intelligence and the Fitz investigation, however unrelated the two may be.
Apparently Reid wants "answers" about the Libby indictment, which is ridiculous because the charges against him took place during the investigation, and Fitz has found that no crime was committed in the first place.
The whole thing was obviously a publicity stunt, but yet a very poor one, because it's not easy to spread your propaganda in a speech not released to the public. The Powerline guys seem to think that the Dems wouldn't want the voters to hear what they said.
I think the whole thing is backfiring majorly on Reid, because the video clip of him making the motion is getting a lot of airplay, and I must say his demeanor is so overblown and blatantly fake that few will take him seriously. He has a scary face that you can tell is masking a smile, as he thought he was executing some sort of coup.

The MSM tries desperately to snap defeat from the jaws of victory.

2005-10-25T18:44:00.000-05:00

This MSNBC story is an interesting profile in the twisted mindset of the mainstream media today. While it is significant that the MSN front page displays a coffin and a large headline proclaiming the '2000 deaths' milestone while putting the news about the passage of the Iraqi constitution at the bottom, the content of the constitution article is also disturbing.
Right from the get-go, the news is negative and defeatist. NBC makes no secret of promoting the view that the election was some sort of scam.

Iraq’s constitution was adopted by a majority in a fair vote during the Oct. 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it, election officials said Tuesday. A prominent Sunni politician called the balloting “a farce.”

"A prominent Sunni politician"? Please. But now it gets better! Completely ignoring the subject at hand, NBC realizes that this one story, however biased, might just be too much good news for the uneducated masses to digest all at once. So the second paragraph is totally seperate from the rest of the story, and has no relation to the headline other than the fact that the event takes place in the same country.

The U.S. military announced the deaths of two Marines in fighting with insurgents last week in Baghdad, bringing to 1,999 the number of American service members killed since the war started in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The third paragraph continues to insinuate that the elections are a fraud and refuses to utter a single sentence on the subject without going negative in some way.

The referendum results, announced after a 10-day audit following allegations of fraud, confirmed previous indications that Sunni Arabs failed to produce the two-thirds “no” vote they would have needed in at least three of Iraq’s 18 provinces to defeat the constitution.

Finally we get a neutral part, quickly followed by an odd statement that tries to somehow twist the passage of the Constitution as a bad thing.

The charter is considered a major step in Iraq’s democratic reforms, clearing the way for the election of a new, full-term parliament on Dec. 15. Such steps are important in any decision about the future withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

However, some fear the victory, which came despite a large turnout by Sunni Arabs to try to defeat it, could enrage many members of the minority and fuel their support for the country’s Sunni-led insurgency.

That seems pretty silly to me. It almost seems to be saying: "Hey, let's not pass the constitution because if we do, the people who opposed it in the first place will be even more angry." That line of thinking passes for news these days? The rest of the article devotes about 3 paragraphs to the positive interpretation of the vote by the American and British governments, and the UN elections chief. But then it ends with two sections devoted to the protests of one Sunni politician and the details of the provinces that rejected the constitution.
Altogether, it's hard to believe this biased trash is considered journalism.

Finally a new Governor poll!

2005-10-17T17:42:00.000-05:00

The Chicago Tribune has a new poll out testing both Blagojevich's support (or lack thereof) and the potential of various GOP primary candidates. I'd like to see some more polls on head to head matchups, but the info given will suffice for now.

On the Blago side, only 35% of voters said they would like to see him reelected, and under 40% are satisfied with the job he has done. Since the conventional wisdom is that a candidate with ratings below 50% is vulnerable, these numbers bode well for Republicans. Unfortunately Blago already has $14 million to spend attacking his opponent and defending himself.

On the GOP side, the poll indicates Judy Baar Topinka would have a run-away win in the primary. Unfortunately, it's not at all certain that she will run, and my sense is that she doesn't really want the governor's job. Oberweis comes in 2nd, and would be the front runner if Baar Topinka opted out. I don't know what it is, but I get bad vibes from him, and the rich, fiery brand of conservatism doesn't strike me as sellable in a general election. The two conservatives I like, State Sens. Bill Brady and Rauschenberger seem to be splitting the conservative primary vote. Topinka's lead may be insurmountable, but without her I think Bill Brady needs to drop out and run for Lt. Gov. to help Rauschenberger defeat Oberweis in a primary. I think Rauschenberger could win, and it would be no harder for him to win than Oberweis. Joe Birkett and Ron Gidwitz are meaningless, money-wasting sideshows, polling less than 5%. Both need to drop out and consider runs for other state offices.

Merkel to take over as German Chancellor

2005-10-10T14:37:00.000-05:00

Angela Merkel of the more conservative Christian Democrat Party in Germany will become chancellor after a tight election, nudging out Gerhard Schroeder. She campaigned on free-market economic reform, which Germany (a big welfare state) desperately needs. She has been compared to Margaret Thatcher, but unfortunately her party didn't get an outright majority in the election, so the CDU is making major concessions to make sure Merkel becomes the leader.

So this certainly leads to the thought, if the the US acted so unilaterally in Iraq, and most of the people in other countries hate us, how is it that Shroeder (and soon to be Jacques Chirac), leaders of the antiwar sentiment, can't win relection? How come supposedly anti-US populations continue to elect pro-US leaders like Tony Blair, John Howard, and Merkel?

Shelley Capito throws away the WV Senate Race

2005-10-04T17:03:00.000-05:00

Shelly Capito has decided she will not run for Senate against 87 year old Robert Byrd, meaning that the WV seat will be safely held by him. Read the story for the details. Apparently she is waiting for the seat to be open 6 years down the road, when the race will be much easier.

While Byrd might have won anyways, the race needed to be tight to keep the Dems spending in incumbent held races. Now they are free to spend more money on offense, something the likes of Santorum and Jim Talent don't need.

And Mrs. Dole, how could your recruiting possibly get worse? And how come Chuck Schumer is out-fundraising you?

At this point, the GOP is looking at losing Santorum, fighting hard for Talent in MO and Chaffee in RI, and probably winning in MN, with fighting chances in MD, and to a lesser extent, MI. Suddenly, a +2/3 situation is looking like a +0/1. Not good, Liz, not good.

No go for Hoeven

2005-10-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

Looks like Kent Conrad is going to win reelection in ND. Republican Governor Hoeven could have won, and was heavily recruited by Karl Rove, but in the end decided not too. Why can't the GOP win just ONE FRIGGIN RECRUIT? I don't know but if Steele doesn't run in MD my head is going to implode, and at that point I really would be worried about the GOP losing seats in 2006.

Can't say I didn't see it coming

2005-09-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

Edgar has officially declined to run for governor. I don't blame the guy, but I wish he'd stop appearing to consider races that he invariably declines to enter. Well I don't really know who my next choice is, I'll need to see some more polling numbers. And I'm gonna throw out this idea, to continue the cycle, how about Edgar for Senate vs. Durbin in '08?

Shed a tear, hope for the best.

2005-09-29T21:33:00.000-05:00

The Draft Jim Edgar folks are putting out the word that Jim will decline to run tomorrow at noon. Whatever his decision, it will be made tomorrow at noon. After I was convinced he was seriously considering a run, I was very enthusiastic for his candidacy, given that he had a suberb chance of winning and a good record to run on. Alas, all is not lost, but just the same, I don't suspect 5th period is going to be a happy time tomorrow.

Maybe this is paranoid and I'm thinking a little too much, but...

2005-09-22T17:47:00.000-05:00

When the NBC nightly news reviews the stock markets, why do they use orange instead of green for the color on days where the markets gain? The background is dark blue, so it's not a matching issue. Is the MSM going that far to keep the people from realizing how the good the economy really is?

A quick look at where the 2006 Senate races are headed

2005-09-20T17:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a good thread on Free Republic about the 2006 Senate races as a whole. Here was my post in response to the questions posed in the thread:

Will Hoeven run in ND?

I don't know, but I hope so.

Can the GOP actually take one from the Great Lakes states?

Kennedy will most likely take Minnesota. Butler in Michigan is a long shot against Stabenow, he needs fundraising. No way GOP can win Wisconsin

Is Ohio REALLY in play?

No.

Is Santorum already dead and buried?

No, he can be saved, but it will will cost a lot of money, and I personally would like to see Rove take over his campaign.

Is Florida trending GOP, and can we pick-up Nelson's seat?

I don't know about trending, but I would say it's doubtful that Harris could beat him. Rep. Foley maybe could win if he wasn't forced to spend all his money to beat Harris in a primary.

Can the GOP win back Jefford's seat? Who could do it?

Not sure, but probably not. I think the Lt. Governor of Vermont (R) just declared like yesterday, but I haven't seen any polling. But I think a well funded candidate has a chance seeing as how Sanders is independent.

Is Byrd an inevitable winner in a state that might be renamed after him in the next ten years?

No, but it is going to be harder than it should be. Capito is a good candidate and one would think that the more WV really knows about Byrd, the less they will want to vote for him.

Is there a true dark horse race out there where the GOP can pull an unexpected upset?

I think Steele in MD is too good to be called a dark horse, but Cardin is a worthy challenge. Butler in Michigan perhaps, or maybe even a challenger to Cantwell in WA. The real dark horse would be the guy running against Chaffee in the GOP primary beating him and then winning the general election, but that horse is so dark I can't see it happening.

What will the final tally be?

Worst case: GOP loses PA, MT, TN (Frist's seat now) and one of MO, RI, or WY. All dems hold GOP -4 (less than 10% chance of this). GOP STILL HAS MAJORITY.

Best Case: Santorum pulls the miracle off, GOP gains MN, WV, MD, ND and one of WA, MI, VT, or FL. GOP +5 (Making the Rinos more irrelevant)

Most likely case: Santorum goes down, Chaffee wins in RI, Kennedy takes MN for pubs, Burns holds on in MT, Nelson wins in FL, Stabenow holds MI, Cantwell reelected in WA, Byrd wins in WV, Pub candidate holds TN, Hoeven wins ND, Socialist Bernie wins VT (we'll count him as a dem), Nelson keeps NE, and Steele beats Cardin for the MD seat, giving us: GOP +2

I don't see the GOP gaining more than 3 seats or losing seats in 2006.

Edgar: 50-50 Chance

2005-09-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

I never like to hear that there is a 50-50 chance of things. Because especilly in politics, it always seem to go against me. This kind of makes me think that he is leaning against running, but who knows? The Republicans have failed miserably in Senate candidate recruiting, I'd at least like to see a good guy like Edgar make a come back in one of the hot governor races.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist Dies

2005-09-03T22:26:00.000-05:00

I never saw this coming. Apparently it was quite sudden. RIP.

LaHood playing the money game

2005-08-31T19:53:00.000-05:00

It all starts to make sense now. It was somewhat unexplained why Rep. Ray LaHood dropped out of the governor's race., but this article helps us see the logic. LaHood made a substantial amount of money in fundraising even while being doused with rumors that he wasn't serious about winning the mansion back. He dropped out very soon, and since I believed him to be a possible primary winner, I couldn't work it out until now. It appears LaHood had meetings with Jim Edgar about a possible run, and LaHood encouraged him to run. LaHood raised money in order to spend it. He will give his donors a refund if they wish, but will spend the rest on support of other races, including what he says would be "a big check" to Edgar if he runs. From this perspective it appears that LaHood may be looking for higher office, but not the governor's seat. He probably figured that he couldn't win against a well-funded Blago, then set his sights on Dick Durbin's Senate seat up for reelection in '08. He figured he could help Edgar win the governors mansion back, then have a strong duo of Governor Edgar and Speaker Hastert to help him defeat Durbin, whose poll numbers are sliding. Of course, LaHood could just be doing to do his best to defeat Blago, and maybe he just has fun campaigning across the state. But I personally don't think that is a career politician's thinking.

Sidenote: In the article, LaHood says that he thinks Edgar will run, while a spokesperson for Rauschenberger complains that donors are holding back until Edgar makes up his mind. I can't decide whether that is for real, or just Rauschenberger's excuse for poor early fundraising.

This one is self explanatory.

2005-08-26T19:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not agreeing or endorsing this little chart here, but I must say those guys over at Free Republic can be a hoot. Sorry for the pixelation. If I try to make it any bigger it pushes it down the page to below where the links are. If you are having trouble reading it though, go here. You'll have to blow it up with the right bottom corner button, but that should be needed only for people who are too blind to be using the internet anyways.

LaHood drops out, Oberweis attacks Kjellander

2005-08-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

Mostly bad news here. I thought LaHood was looking strong. The article explains the Oberweis bit, which I really don't have anything to say about, other than that the act was quite tasteless and helps to authenticate a negative feeling I had about Oberweis. O'Malley, Bill Brady, and Birkett need to drop out now, they are going nowhere. The GOP needs to fill out a ticket for other offices than governor, and Brady, Rauschenberger, and Birkett can fill those roles. Judy Baar Topinka needs to get her butt in gear and stop acting like she has the whole thing nailed down, because she needs to have money to fend off Oberweis and Gidwitz. Jim Edgar needs to make a decision soon. Baar Topinka has said she would drop out if Edgar entered the race. I can't see Oberweis overtaking Edgar in a primary, but you never know. So in conclusion (from polls numbers, current campaigning, and fundraising numbers), I have belatedly come to the same conclusion Karl Rove did months ago: A Edgar-Baar Topinka ticket is our best hope. Judy would face a very uphill battle against Blagojevich, but with Edgar the odds are much better. I've become quite sure that Oberweis would fall flat on his face if he won the primary.

Climate change sceptics bet $10,000 on cooler world

2005-08-20T11:33:00.000-05:00

We need more of this gambling and Ansari X-Prize type stuff in the science world. It certainly would stop all the crazy, unproven studies out there if they had to put money on whether their conclusion was true. I bet the Russians win!

I love it: John Roberts hates Michael Jackson as much as I do!

2005-08-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

Since the Washington Post doesn't have anything else to do, and since they are desperate to get some dirt on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, they have published an article about 3 of his memos while working for the Reagan administration that condemn the presidential act of giving an award to Michael Jackson for his work against drunk driving. I love this part in particular:

"If one wants the youth of America and the world sashaying around in garish sequined costumes, hair dripping with pomade, body shot full of female hormones to prevent voice change, mono-gloved, well, then, I suppose 'Michael,' as he is affectionately known in the trade, is in fact a good example. Quite apart from the problem of appearing to endorse Jackson's androgynous life style, a Presidential award would be perceived as a shallow effort by the President to share in the constant publicity surrounding Jackson. . . . The whole episode would, in my view, be demeaning to the President."

Rasmussen gets really bored

2005-08-19T14:22:00.000-05:00

Rasmussen has done a poll on Cindy Sheehan. She is found to have a favoribility rating of 35% (much lower than even, *gasp*, President Bush!). It would be even lower if the MSM ever bothered to report what Drudge does.

Cindy goes totally insane!

2005-08-18T14:51:00.000-05:00

The Drudge Report has brought to my attention some very outrageous statements made by that wacko anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan. Cindy's son was killed in Iraq, and she got to meet with president Bush. Though she said then that she was against the war, she made clear at the time that her opinion of the President was very high, and that she was pleased with his sentiments during the meeting. A while ago, she did a total 180, making absurd insults at the President, then began an anti-war protest outside his Crawford, TX ranch. Her family has practically disowned her for her actions, and her husband has filed divorce papers over the matter. Cindy disgusts me in the usual way of vulgar, irrational leftists, but also because of the dishonor and downright exploitation of invoking her son's death. Her comments today and in the past are so crazy that I really have no comment, because if you can't understand what is wrong with them, then you are beyond help:

"We are not waging a war on terror in this country. We’re waging a war of terror. The biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush!"

So declared Cindy Sheehan earlier this year during a rally at San Francisco State University.

Sheehan, who is demanding a second meeting with Bush, stated: "We are waging a nuclear war in Iraq right now. That country is contaminated. It will be contaminated for practically eternity now."

Sheehan unleashed a foul-mouth tirade on April 27, 2005:

"They’re a bunch of fucking hypocrites! And we need to, we just need to rise up..." Sheehan said of the Bush administration.

"If George Bush believes his rhetoric and his bullshit, that this is a war for freedom and democracy, that he is spreading freedom and democracy, does he think every person he kills makes Iraq more free?"

"The whole world is damaged. Our humanity is damaged. If he thinks that it’s so important for Iraq to have a U.S.-imposed sense of freedom and democracy, then he needs to sign up his two little party-animal girls. They need to go to this war."

"We want our country back and, if we have to impeach everybody from George Bush down to the person who picks up dog shit in Washington, we will impeach all those people."

Ahhhh! The glories of Reaganomics!

2005-08-15T13:26:00.000-05:00

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is predictly a sharply lower deficit for the current fiscal year. The Bush economic policy is similar to Reaganomics: Increase spending by making tax cuts. The increased deficit forces Congress to cut spending. Final result: the deficit comes down, the economy goes up, and the size of government becomes smaller.
I for one am not quite ready to buy the line of all those who say that Bush is an out of control spender. Sure that transportation bill was filled with pork, but if Bush hadn't threatened to veto it, it would have been even more expensive. I think I've come to the conclusion that the nature of Congress is to spend, spend, spend, no matter which party is in control. It is the duty of the president and the small group of true small govenment conservatives in Congress to stop it. Reaganomics basically was a way around the roadblocks of a porking, spend-happy Democratic controlled Congress. Unfortunately Bush has had to do the same to the Republican controlled Congress.

The Howard Dean Quote-A-Thon

2005-08-15T13:16:00.000-05:00

The next round up here got a short mention by the Washington Times. Since it is relatively brief, I will just post the whole thing here.

"Dean's latest
Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman who was the hero of his party's anti-war wing before his gaffe-prone 2004 presidential candidacy crashed and burned in Iowa, still doesn't think the Iraqis are better off with dictator Saddam Hussein out of power and in prison.
Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" yesterday, the fiery former Vermont governor said, "It looks like today, and this could change, as of today it looks like women will be worse off in Iraq than they were when Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq."
Mr. Dean was the guy who said right after Saddam was found hiding in a "spider hole" that his capture by U.S. troops "has not made America safer," a statement ridiculed and condemned by most of his Democratic rivals at the time.
In a brief statement yesterday, the Republican National Committee said, "Dean's wild assertion that Iraqi women would be better off living under Saddam Hussein than democracy is not only counterproductive to meaningful debate, it demeans the hard work of American servicemen and women serving in Iraq."

TheDrudge Report also picked up on this.

The most fun I've ever had at College Confidential

2005-08-14T20:07:00.000-05:00

I feel like a dweeb posting a link to a thread on a discussion forum, but I'm very proud of my work there. I'm not proud of highjacking the poor person's thread, but these six pages basically sum up the argument over affirmative action. This illustrates the principles of liberal indoctrination I just read in the newest D'Souza book. The people on the forum defending AA didn't counteract anything I said. As D'Souza siad: If you ask a liberal professor about the Communist contras in Nicaragua, they wouldn't tell you that the contras weren't Communist. They wouldn't argue with you. They just stare at you as if to say "Are you from Iowa?". If you persist, they might call you an uneducated racist and then ignore you. No matter what, the result is that they don't even have to defend their position, but eventually you are conditioned not to question their liberal authority. Matt 1, liberal elite 0.

The least noticed of the UN related scandals

2005-08-13T21:22:00.000-05:00

The link is to an article called "The Theology of Global Warming" by James Schlesinger in the Wall Street Journal is a good overview of the current situation of the debate around global warming. I now pause to recommend State of Fear by Michael Crichton both as an excellent read and an accurate source of information on the subject. Schlesinger notes the scientific data behind global warming, the incredibly biases MSM reporting, and the most important biased source, the UN itself. We have discovered on the foreign policy front that the UN is corrupt and undependable for good actions and solutions, and in my opinion, that is increasingly the same situation the rest of the UN is in.

The best site ever! Watch ALL the old campaign commercials!

2005-08-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

I love this site! Watch every TV commercial for the all the presidential campaigns since 1952. I reccommend the musical ones for Adlai Stevenson and Eisenhower in '52, and the two most famous ones of all time, the '64 Lyndon Johnson nuclear blast/girl with flower ad, and the '84 Reagan bear ad. They are all good. Also, look at how much younger W. looked in his 2000 ads.

Gubernatorial update

2005-08-04T20:54:00.000-05:00

Well I'm back from the whiskey-filled wilderness called the Upper Peninsula. And there is a plethora of news articles about the 2006 governor's race. It seems the leading GOP fundraisers are so far: Gidwitz, Baar Topinka, and LaHood. Gidwitz has over $3 million, and Topinka and LaHood are over a million. Oberweis is midpack with about $800,000, and Rauschenberger and Brady lag behind with greater than $500,000 a piece. It doesn't bode well for Rauschenberger, he is virtually tied with necomer and lightweight Bill Brady. On the other hand, Judy Baar Topinka hasn't even begun anything resembling a campaign right now, yet has lots of money. I don't know much about Gidwitz, but something tells me that despite the cash, he would flop in a general election.