Sharp Knife

If you wish to reward John McCain's foresight that put Gov. Palin on the ticket, and stop the Statism on Steroids that is the Democrat ticket, today is the day to invest in America's future and the future of the Republican Party.

Details available here


And now, Gov. Sarah Palin:

"And I thank you, Sen. McCain and Mrs. McCain, for the confidence that you have placed in me. Senator, I am honored to be chosen as your running mate. I will be honored to serve next to the next president of the United States.

I know that when Sen. McCain gave me this opportunity, he had a short list of highly qualified men and women, and to have made that list at all — it was a privilege. And to have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best that I have to give, and I promise nothing less.

First, there are a few people whom I would like you to meet. I want to start with my husband, Todd. And Todd and I are actually celebrating our 20th anniversary today, and I promised him a little surprise for the anniversary present, and hopefully he knows that I did deliver.

And then we have as — after my husband, who is a lifelong commercial fisherman, lifetime Alaskan — he's a production operator. Todd is a production operator in the oil fields up on Alaska's North Slope, and he's a proud member of the United Steelworkers Union, and he's a world champion snow machine racer. Todd and I met way back in high school, and I can tell you that he is still the man that I admire most in this world.

Along the way, Todd and I have shared many blessings, and four out of five of them are here with us today. Our oldest son, Track, though, he'll be following the presidential campaign from afar. On Sept. 11 of last year, our son enlisted in the United States Army. Track now serves in an infantry brigade. And on Sept. 11, Track will deploy to Iraq in the service of his country. And Todd and I are so proud of him and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform.

Next to Todd is our daughter Bristol; another daughter, Willow; our youngest daughter, Piper; and over in their arms is our son Trig, a beautiful baby boy. He was born just in April. His name is Trig Paxson Van Palin.

Some of life's greatest opportunities come unexpectedly, and this is certainly the case today. I never really set out to be involved in public affairs, much less to run for this office. My mom and dad both worked at the local elementary school. And my husband and I, we both grew up working with our hands.

I was just your average "hockey mom" in Alaska. We were busy raising our kids. I was serving as the team mom and coaching some basketball on the side. I got involved in the PTA and then was elected to the City Council and then elected mayor of my hometown, where my agenda was to stop wasteful spending and cut property taxes and put the people first.

I was then appointed ethics commissioner and chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and when I found corruption there, I fought it hard and I held the offenders to account. Along with fellow reformers in the great state of Alaska, as governor, I've stood up to the old politics as usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the Big Oil companies and the "good old boy" network.

When oil and gas prices went up so dramatically and the state revenues followed with that increase, I sent a large share of that revenue directly back to the people of Alaska — and we are now — we're now embarking on a $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

I signed major ethics reforms, and I appointed both Democrats and independents to serve in my administration. And I've championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, on that "bridge to nowhere." If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we'd build it ourselves.

Well, it's always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk, to just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built. Politics isn't just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons. And the right reason is to challenge the status quo and to serve the common good.

Now, no one expects us to agree on everything, whether in Juneau or in Washington. But we are expected to govern with integrity and goodwill and clear convictions and a servant's heart.

Now, no leader in America has shown these qualities so clearly or presents so clear a threat to business as usual in Washington as Sen. John S. McCain. This — this is a moment when principles and political independence matter a lot more than just the party line. And this is a man who has always been there to serve his country, not just his party.

And this is a moment that requires resolve and toughness and strength of heart in the American president. And my running mate is a man who has shown those qualities in the darkest of places and in the service of his country. A colleague once said about Sen. McCain: That man did things for this country that few people could go through; never forget that. And that speaker was former Sen. John Glenn of Ohio. And John Glenn knows something about heroism.

And I'm going to make sure nobody does forget that in his campaign. There is only one candidate who has truly fought for America, and that man is John McCain.

This is a moment — this is a moment when great causes can be won and great threats overcome, depending on the judgment of our next president. In a dangerous world, it is John McCain who will lead America's friends and allies in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

It was John McCain who cautioned long ago about the harm that Russian aggression could do to Georgia and to other small democratic neighbors and to the world oil markets.

It was Sen. McCain who refused to hedge his support for our troops in Iraq, regardless of the political costs. And you know what? As the mother of one of those troops and as the commander of Alaska's National Guard, that's the kind of man I want as our commander in chief.

Profiles in courage, they can be hard to come by these days. You know, so often we just find them in books. But next week when we nominate John McCain for president, we're putting one on the ballot!

To serve as vice president beside such a man would be the privilege of a lifetime, and it's fitting that this trust has been given to me 88 years almost to the day after the women of America first gained the right to vote.

I think as well today of two other women who came before me in national elections. I can't begin this great effort without honoring the achievements of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and, of course, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who showed such determination and grace in her presidential campaign.

It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.

So for my part, the mission is clear. The next 67 days I'm going to take our campaign to every part of our country and our message of reform to every voter of every background, in every political party, or no party at all. If you want change in Washington, if you hope for a better America, then we're asking for your vote on the 4th of November.

My fellow Americans, come join our cause. Join our cause and help our country to elect a great man the next president of the United States. And I thank you, and I — God bless you, I say, and God bless America. Thank you."

"For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, …All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."

Or, “WHAT I LURNT AT THE FEET OF THE MASTUH”

This is what I gathered from Obama's Discourse at the Temple Denver:

* We’re all victims. Everybody. It’s a miracle we can even tie our shoes in the morning. Especially veterans, who are all mentally-ill psycho-killers who deserve the best padded rooms money can buy!

* Each massive government program we already have needs to be doubled in size. And we need dozens of new programs, each more overweening and expensive than the last. The Era of Big Government is over?–it just got started, pal.

* Despite these gargantuan new expenses, I’m getting a tax cut. In fact, the Government should be paying me taxes because I’m special. Just like everyone else.

* Everything will be free. Free Food. Free Clothing. Free Rent. Free Mortgages. Free Parking. Free Cable. Free Internet. Free Health Care. Free College. Free Willy. Free Energy–”Too cheap to meter” is coming back. And Free Energy will also create trillions and trillions of new high-paying jobs. Which no one will want, cos’ hey, everything’s free, remember?

* Although government will control everything and supply your every whim and need, you will not lose any of your freedom. Indeed, you will be freer and happier than you have ever been. Or else.

* All of the world’s Bad Guys will suddenly behave themselves, correctly sensing that Obama means them no harm. It’s all just a big misunderstanding anyway, and now that the bully Bush is gone, I’m sure we can all get along–fluff your pillow, Hugo? more champagne, Bashir?

* There are no tough choices. Everything can be schmoozed-over. And if you don’t think so, you are an entrenched special interest standing in the way of change. (I don’t know if this tendency stems from some deep personal need to avoid conflict or the usual reason; liberals trying to hide their liberalism in order to get elected. Or maybe he learned it from Dr. King–no, not Martin Luther–I mean the Love Doctor Rodney “Can’t We All Just Get Along and Drive 90 mph Thru Your Neighborhood at 3 in the Morning While Hepped-Up on PCP” King.)

* And lastly, I learned that if we all stay focused and unite, that it is never too late to secure our defeat in Iraq.

That’s a sweet, sweet deal, but I’m gonna’ have to pass on this bargain.

FROM AN OLD SOURCE

"High taxes, we are told, are somehow good for us, as if, when government spends our money it isn't inflationary, but when we spend it, it is.

Those who preside over the worst energy shortage in our history tell us to use less, so that we will run out of oil, gasoline, and natural gas a little more slowly. Conservation is desirable, of course, for we must not waste energy. But conservation is not the sole answer to our energy needs.

America must get to work producing more energy. The Republican program for solving economic problems is based on growth and productivity.

Large amounts of oil and natural gas lay beneath our land and off our shores, untouched because the present administration seems to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and controls than more energy.

Coal offers great potential. So does nuclear energy produced under rigorous safety standards. It could supply electricity for thousands of industries and millions of jobs and homes. It must not be thwarted by a tiny minority opposed to economic growth which often finds friendly ears in regulatory agencies for its obstructionist campaigns.

Make no mistake. We will not permit the safety of our people or our environment heritage to be jeopardized, but we are going to reaffirm that the economic prosperity of our people is a fundamental part of our environment."--Ronald Reagan, 1980

TO OUR REGULARLY-SCHEDULED GREEK TRAGEDY

No, I don't mean this evening's "Barack Onassis--Live at Caesar's Palace!"-show.

Or even Arianna's love life.

No, I'm talking about 'The Keith 'n Chrissie Show' on the Olbermann Channel, LOLNBC.

Keith and his sidekick, 300-lb. Samoan political commentator Chris Matthews are quickly descending into Hunter S. Thompson-land, an Altered Reality vacation destination fueled by yohimbe bark, Pabst Blue Ribbon and the remnants of Ed Muskie's ibogaine stash. I think I just saw Keith licking a psychotropic toad coming out of commercial break.

Chris and Keith are the political equivalent of an O.J. low-speed Bronco chase. Their 'Fear and Loathing in Denver'-act has become Must-See TV. But for those who care about Keith, one word--"intervention". It's Not Just for Rock Stars Anymore.

By the way, when Marcus Obamis announces his plan for defeat in Iraq tonight at his Big, Fat, Greek Coronation, should we call his Iraq plan "Plato's Retreat"?

DAY THREE

Of "As the World Turns...Around the Clintons".

I don't care what anyone says, it was nice of Bill Clinton to leave his girlfriend's house and come listen to Hillary'12! give her speech.

Do we actually know where he was looking when he mouthed the words "I love you!"?

Anyway, we were able to obtain an advance copy of Bill Clinton's speech by threatening to release Buddy the Dog's memoir "If Anything Happens To Me, Call Dick Morris!", written shortly before Buddy's mysterious and untimely demise.

(President Clinton):

"Good evening.

Do you people have any idea who you're messing with--any idea at all?

You don't fire the Clintons--we fire you! In fact, we don't even have to fire you--we OWN you. You're our PROPERTY! Why do you think Hillary was quoting Harriet Tubbman last night? And we'll tell YOU when you're done with us--got it? Good.

Oh, yeah; vote for Obama. Goodnight."

(Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, David Gregory, Diane Sawyer, Andrea Mitchell, et al.):

"Uh...President Clinton did what he had to do tonight, making a strong case for electing Barack Obama..."

THE RICHARD M. DALY LIBRARY FOR READIN' WHAT'S DA MAYOR WANTS YOUSE TO READ

Librarian Rosemary Woods: "Here's your files, boys--don't mind the 14 & 1/2-minute gaps!". Richard Nixon is so proud of you librarians.

The Library today re-released the (doubtlessly santized) Obama/Ayres Files, after snatching them from the hands of researchers last week. These are files from the many years that Barack Obama and cop-killer Bill Ayres were partners at the Annenberg Challenge foundation.

Ayers has been blabbing recently, claiming his nail-bombs-for-soldiers were really acts of "hope and love". Hopey McLovebomber.

This guy disagrees:

"Obama was indeed only eight in early 1970. I was only nine then, the year Ayers’s Weathermen tried to murder me.

In February 1970, my father, a New York State Supreme Court justice, was presiding over the trial of the so-called “Panther 21,” members of the Black Panther Party indicted in a plot to bomb New York landmarks and department stores. Early on the morning of February 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car. (Today, of course, we’d call that a car bomb.) ...

Though no one was ever caught or tried for the attempt on my family’s life, there was never any doubt who was behind it. Only a few weeks after the attack, the New York contingent of the Weathermen blew themselves up making more bombs in a Greenwich Village townhouse. The same cell had bombed my house...

...Ayers interviewed in the New York Times on September 11, 2001, of all days: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” Translation: “We meant to kill that judge and his family, not just damage the porch.” When asked by the Times if he would do it all again, Ayers responded: “I don’t want to discount the possibility.”

Though never a supporter of Obama, I admired him for a time for his ability to engage our imaginations, and especially for his ability to inspire the young once again to embrace the political system. Yet his myopia in the last few months has cast a new light on his “politics of change.” Nobody should hold the junior senator from Illinois responsible for his friends’ and supporters’ violent terrorist acts. But it is fair to hold him responsible for a startling lack of judgment in his choice of mentors, associates, and friends, and for showing a callous disregard for the lives they damaged and the hatred they have demonstrated for this country."

When Ayers and Obama were partners at Annenberg, they dished out millions to the Education Blob and to radicals and communists. Maybe Obama should have considered sending a little of that money to the widows and orphans that Ayers left behind in his wake.

Instead, Obama has called for the Justice Dept. to investigate and prosecute a group for talking about his friend Ayers in commercials--but has never called for the Justice Dept. to investigate and prosecute Ayers himself!

The Obama Campaign has also ordered its lackeys to call WGN radio to smear mild-mannered author Stanley Kurtz, who is right now on the air in Chicago.

Kurtz's crime? he wanted to read a book! At the library! Imagine! This kind of vicious overkill response tells us they're hiding something.

It is an outrage that academia worships these killers--including his wife, a big Manson Family fan--and gave them prestigious jobs around other people's children. It's an outrage that Clinton pardoned some of their bomber buddies, too.

But its an even bigger outrage that Obama still defends them and lies about his relationships with them. That would disqualify anyone else from even visiting the Oval Office.

"No Bomber Left Behind"-Barack.

INDEED

"We can afford as a people to differ on the ordinary party questions; but if we are both farsighted and patriotic we can not afford to differ on the all-important question of keeping the national defenses as they should be kept; of not alone keeping up, but of going on with building up of the United States Navy, and of keeping our small Army at least at its present size and making it the most efficient for its size that there is on the globe. Remember, you here who are listening to me, that to applaud patriotic sentiments and to turn out to do honor to the dead heroes who by land or by sea won honor for our flag is only worth while if we are prepared to show that our energies do not exhaust themselves in words; if we are prepared to show that we intend to take to heart the lessons of the past and make things ready so that if ever, which heaven forbid, the need should arise, our fighting men on sea and ashore shall be able to rise to the standard established by their predecessors in our services of the past.

Those of you who are in public life have a moral right to be here at this celebration to-day only if you are prepared to do your part in building up the Navy of the present; for otherwise you have no right to claim lot or part in the glory and honor and renown of the Navy's past."--Pres. Teddy Roosevelt, 1906

AND THE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECHES

Our undercover espiono…espeanaj…spies here at Cold Fury have been strategerally-placed in Denver in order to secretly monitor Democrat communications. This afternoon, we hit paydirt, intercepting Joe Biden’s Acceptance Speech!

Senator Biden:

“Friends, Romans and Country-people, bitterly clinging to your guns and religion, lend me your hair plugs;

I have a dream, that someday you’ll ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. It seems like only yesterday when all my troubles seemed so far away that Barack America asked me to serve as his running mate. That day, which shall go down in infamy, was four score and seven years ago.

All I have to offer is blood, toil, tears and sweat, so that you shall not crucifiy mankind on a cross of Gold. In conclusion, let me say, in my very own words, both give me Liberty or give me Death and Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Thank You.”

Remember, you heard it here–and somewhere else–first!

BECAUSE

all the others pale in comparison!

If John McCain wants to win in November, he should consider Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.

She would attract women voters, yes. But beyond that, she represents the future of the Republican Party and would attract young conservative men AND women to our cause.

Gov. Palin is a lifetime NRA member. In violation of feminist dogma, she has five children, including a son whom she refused to abort even though she knew of his disabilities. She has another son in the Army and her husband is a commercial fisherman. She's for drilling responsibly in ANWR, and could help bring McCain around on the issue.

Impressively, she stood up against shifty politicians in her own party who were involved in dubious energy dealings. She did this at risk to her own career, and in the end, she triumphed. Compare this to Obama who has never stood up to the crooks in his party, whether in Chicago or Washington. Indeed, he's helped funnel money to his pals.

That kind of integrity tells me she's in it for public service.

A Palin nomination would also reaffirm the Republican Party's historical commitment to the rights and duties of women in our polity, before the issue was hijacked by radical man-haters on the Left. Women can, should, are and must be a part of the conservative movement.

However, there is one caution; Hillary Clinton is supposed to be the first female elected to the Executive Branch, so her acolytes in the Mommy Dearest Media will likely come after Gov. Palin with both ovaries blazing. But, so what? Every conservative must face the fire at some point.

If she wants the job, I say we give it to her. PALIN FOR VEEP!

UPDATE: Excerpts from Free Market champion Larry Kudlow's interviews Gov. Palin:

Kudlow: Well what do you have up there around ANWR? Is it a bunch of big fat blue flies? People say nobody goes up there. Humanoids don’t populate it. It’s just the blue flies. I mean, I want to keep blue flies healthy. Maybe you can tell us about that?

Palin: Well sure, we want to keep the blue flies healthy also. [Laughter]. But again, it’s a small portion of land up there. Alaskans understand that while we have these reserves underground, ready to be tapped, you know, we want to invite safe responsible development. We want those who can safely develop it. We want them to compete for the right to tap those resources and start feeding these hungry markets.

Kudlow: How long would it take? How long would it take? I hear so many, Senator Obama says this, and a lot of Democrats say this, some Republicans, how long will it take Governor? What’s your estimate on this? To start lifting out of ANWR?

Palin: It’s going to take at least five years. You know, and there are other areas in Alaska too, that have the reserves that need to be tapped, certainly offshore. There’s trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, and billions of barrels of oil there too that need to be tapped. We also have a natural gas pipeline that is underway now, a process to get that constructed, where we can build infrastructure and allow known reserves of natural gas up on our North Slope - it’s already there, it’s already proven – to be tapped and flow through a natural gas pipeline. Our legislature is dealing with that issue right now, getting ready to license a company to build that gas line. Again, to feed these hungry markets.

Kudlow: Alright, so now you’ve got another case where both candidates seem to be off course. Senator Obama wants a windfall profits tax on oil companies. And Senator McCain talks about obscene profits, which I regard as the near cousin to the windfall profits tax. What’s your response to these criticisms?

Palin: Well we just went through a process of making sure that the oil and gas resources that Alaskans own are properly taxed. And we just increased a tax on profits of oil companies up here, because an earlier version of Alaska’s tax formula had been corrupted by some politicians who are now in prison for the corruption. But we had to revisit the way that we were going to tax profits on oil companies. We just got through that, and it wasn’t an obscene amount of tax placed upon them. In fact, it’s driven more by a desire to explore and to develop with independent companies coming into Alaska. So you know, on a national level, they’re going to have to deal with that, but we just dealt with it on Alaska’s level. And we have a healthy valuation of our oil and gas reserves, and we’re deriving healthy revenue for our state off that.

Kudlow: Well are profits a dirty word? In energy, or other businesses?

Palin: Well no, of course not. And low taxes of course, we know spur the economy. I’m a Republican. I am for low taxes. We have to make sure though that an appropriate value is placed oil and gas resources. And that the people who own these resources are able to benefit from the development of them. But no, profit is not a dirty word.

Kudlow: Why don’t we just liberate, and decontrol, and deregulate the whole bloody energy business – whether it’s oil, gas, shale, nuclear, coal, natural gas, as well as wind and solar – why don’t we just decontrol, deregulate, go for an America first energy policy? Get independent of Saudi Arabia? America first. Create all of these millions of high paying jobs. Why isn’t anybody talking about that in this race? That’s the natural, Reaganesque thing to do. Isn’t it?

Palin: Yeah absolutely! You’re hitting the nail right on the head. That’s what so many of us normal Americans are asking. The same thing. Why aren’t the candidates talking like that? Where we can secure America and we can be more independent when we talk about energy sources if we could drill domestically.

Here we sent [Energy] Secretary Bodman overseas the other day, and our president had to visit the Saudis a few weeks ago, to ask them to ramp up development. That’s nonsense. Not when you know that we have the supplies here. You have the supplies in your sister state called Alaska, where we’re ready, willing and we’re able to pump these supplies of energy, flow them into hungry markets across the U.S. We want it to happen. It’s Congress holding us back. ......................

Kudlow: Here’s the bad news. The Congress is going to take their summer recess without a vote — not even a vote — on rolling back the moratorium on drilling onshore and offshore. Not even a vote. Nothing on ANWR. Nothing on shale. Nothing on the Outer Continental Shelf. What’s your reaction to this?

Palin: Well with all due respect to Congress, it’s pretty pathetic, that action they’ve taken. I appreciate the President’s call to lift the moratorium. I appreciate the President’s call to drill in ANWR, to do all those things for American production opportunities. Very, very disappointed in Congress though.

Kudlow: You know we talked about a month ago, or last time you were on the program, you told me you were going to persuade Senator McCain to drill in ANWR. Now actually, McCain’s come a long way on drilling Outer Continental Shelf. Have you yet talked him into ANWR?

Palin: I have not talked him into ANWR yet. But yeah, aren’t you appreciative though that his mind has evolved into being open enough to say yes to that offshore? Obama certainly hasn’t gone there. So, you know, for me it’s all the more reason to support the Republican ticket heading into the next era in American economy here. We certainly need this. We need it for American security, for energy independence. All those things we talked about last time. I think we need McCain in that White House despite, still, the close-mindedness on ANWR. I think he’s going to get there though.

Kudlow: All right, well we need you to persuade him. Now you’re fighting a battle in the state. You want to get a new natural gas pipeline, as I understand it. You’ve got to get it through your state legislature. You’re going to run that up from the North Slope down through Canada and eventually to the lower forty-eight. What’s the state of play on that? Are you winning or losing on your new gas pipeline?

Palin: We’re winning and I’m glad that you asked that question. It’s so timely because it could be today that our lawmakers vote yay or nay on the TransCanada pipeline, natural gas pipeline being built 1,700 miles. This is North America’s largest, most expensive, private sector infrastructure project in our history. It’s $30 to $40 billion dollars to deal with the energy crisis—get this safe, stable, clean domestic supply of energy and natural gas flowing from our rich reserves up in Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska, into the hungry markets in the Midwest especially.

Kudlow: Now you’re fighting with the legislature. You may get a vote this evening. Have you gone out and done a poll? Have you talked to the polar bears, and the caribou, and the large black flies? Are you sure? I want everyone on board here.

Palin: Well we do want everyone on board there. And as for the wildlife, you know, they’re doing just fine under the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline of course that has been up and running for thirty years in Alaska. So we think that even they will be on our side also, as we build this next economic lifeline for Alaska and for the rest of the U.S.

Kudlow: All right, let me go to some tougher issues up in Alaska, the so-called culture of corruption, this energy services company Veco, buying favors for state and federal contracts. I guess people linked to Veco, a couple of state legislators have been convicted, a couple more investigations, a couple more being indicted, and Senator Ted Stevens has now been caught in that loop. What can you tell us about Senator Stevens? Have you spoken to him since his seven criminal charges?

Palin: No, I haven’t spoken to him yet. And you know, it was very dismaying. It was like an earthquake that hit up here in Alaska the other day with that indictment. Very sad. Hopefully though, this won’t be a distraction and get people’s minds off what has to be done in the grand scheme of things here. And it’s like what you’re talking about all the time Larry, it is energy independence that is needed for this country. And we need folks in Congress, in the Senate, who understand that we do have to drill, that we have to unlock the lands here in Alaska, and allow, through competition, entities competing for the right to tap these resources and flow energy sources into hungry markets.

So hopefully, the Ted Stevens issues won’t be a distraction. But yeah, lots and lots of damage has been done by this oil industry service company, Veco. You know we have some local lawmakers who are serving prison time right now for their undue influence, their corruption, their bribery that was involved in this oil services company. Now Ted Stevens, as you mentioned, is embroiled in this also. Not good for Alaska. But hopefully…

Kudlow: Well what about the Republican Party in general? I mean, it seems to me the GOP has just got to cleanse itself of all the pork barrel corruption, lobbying, cash-for-favors that cost them the Congress back in November 2006. And for better or worse, Mr. Stevens has served for a very long time, I’m not here to judge him. I’m merely here to report the fact that he’s in a heap of trouble. I mean, shouldn’t he resign for example? Shouldn’t leaders like yourself and elsewhere just say, “Senator, all right, clean break, please resign?”

Palin: Well, I thought that it would be my job as governor working on the state level with those who were indicted for the corruption and bribery, to call for their stepping down. And that’s what I did. And for the most part they have stepped down. And again, some of them are facing prison terms now and are in prison. But as for Senator Stevens, still not knowing enough about that indictment yet. I think that two days later it would be premature for me to chime in and say whether he has to step down or not.

But you’re absolutely right on the cleansing that’s needed in our party, in the Republican Party. And you know I think Senator McCain is on the right track with the earmark reform that he is so adamant about. I’m right there with him. We for instance here in Alaska, our administration, we cancelled that Bridge to Nowhere. You know, we know that that earmark was not in Alaska’s, it wasn’t in the nation’s best interest. So we’re going to be a part of that reform also. It’s absolutely necessary, for the Republican agenda, which I do believe is the right agenda for Alaska and for [America]."

THE LITTLE OLD LADY

You mean Joe Biden? Senator Joe Biden? ...of Delaware?

Oh, please. Joe Biden nor anybody else will help shore up Obama's lack of foreign policy judgement as long as Obama praises Russia and China over America.

Obama on China:

"Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now in the Olympics. Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are all vastly superior to us now, which means if you're a corporation deciding where to do business, you're starting to think Beijing looks like a pretty good option."

--Dude, did you also notice how China sentenced two frail old ladies to a year in the "reeducation" labor camps because they applied for a permit to protest? Or were you too busy watching the eye-catching Potemkin ceremonies to notice? Did you also notice how China felt the need to use little girls to cheat its way into victory in gymnastics? If that's how they do business in Beijing, I'd pass.

Obama on Russia:

"We've got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies that they can't charge into other countries with impunity. Of course, it helps if we are leading by example on that front."

--You've sent a clear message to Russia, alright; "We're just as bad as you are. We have no moral standing to criticize you. You pushed an old lady into the path of an oncoming bus and we pushed an old lady out of the way of an oncoming bus, so we're both guilty of pushing old ladies." And the word 'impunity' implies the need for punishment, which you would oppose in Russia's case, but gladly inflict upon America, just like Rev. Wright teaches.

That's not the Russia and China I knew.

"In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed: Deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; Deliver me speedily: Be thou my strong rock, For an house of defense to save me."

Do you hate Bill Clinton’s guts?
Do you feel entitled to the Presidency?
Are you an Annointed One, come to lead the ignorant into the Radiant Future?

If so, you may be Al Gore. Or even Hillary Clinton, for that matter.

Or you may be Barack Obama.

We’ve put together some power points to help you discover if you are, in fact, Barack Obama. Because, let’s face it, since nobody really knows who Barack Obama is, you really could be him for all we know.

Let’s get started because you’ve got a speech to give and need to get to Denver before they take away the Democrat Gasoline Tax Exemption:

YOU MAY BE BARACK OBAMA IF…

…you think science can’t tell you when life began for a baby born yesterday…but science can tell you exactly how life began by accident a billion years ago.

…you’ll talk about the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt…but not your Muslim brother in Kenya.

…your supporters don’t believe John McCain’s POW stories…but believe every word spoken by Gitmo detainees.

…you say the Bush Administration is the most secretive in history…but you refuse to release your state legislative office records, or the files on the grants you sponsored, or a list of your law clients, or your state bar application, or records of the legal work you did for Rezko, or your medical records, or the Ayers/Obama Annenberg X-Files, which are currently under house arrest at the Censor-y Deprivation Wing of the Univ. of Illinois Library.

…your wife is paid a third of a million a year for being a pr genius… but says something outrageous and offensive every week. And you never tell her she’s “above her pay grade”!

…you want to be Chief Executive and your only executive experience is co-chairing a foundation with a Mad Commie Bomber…yet the Attack Poodle Press express absolutely no curiosity in looking at your foundation files–although they’d trample their grandmothers to get their hands on them if you were a Republican.

…your financial mentor is a convicted mobster, your political mentor is a terrorist bomber and your spiritual mentor is a Louis Farrakhan-clone.

..not only did you throw Rezko, Ayers and Wright under the bus, you inflated the tires first!

…you say Rezko, Ayers and Wright are ‘just guys who live in my neighborhood’…and still think you live in a good neighborhood!

… you think its a war crime to throw a sick, whimpering terrorist at Guantanamo into a broom closet until he dies…but its fine for a baby at Christ Hospital.

…you complain Americans don’t give enough…but your brother lives in a hut in Africa on a dollar a month.

…you will do absolutely anything the teachers unions ask…except put your own children in public school.

…you can pay reparations by moving your money clip from your right pocket into your left.

…you believe that A Streetcar Named Desire is a wonderful Mass Transit project and should be fully funded.

…you question the timing of President Bush sending Tropical Storm Fay to the drought-stricken South on the eve of an election.

…you’re giddy at the prospect of meeting with Achmadinijad and Chavez…but draw the line at meeting with right-wing fanatics like Megan Kelly and Julie Banderas.

…you think these jokes are racist…and so is the weather, the Dewey Decimal System, gravity and the Space-Time Continuum.

…you thought the Cone of Silence was an especially powerful spliff.

And finally, You May Be Barack Obama if…

…even though you’re trailing John McCain in the polls, you still have confidence the voters of Germany will put you over the top!

(It's convention time once more, and since the Clintons are still hanging around like the smell of cat urine in the carpet, let's stroll down Memory Lane with this post originally published in 2003.)

ONE PARTY WANTS TO SET US BACK 50 YEARS

Without naming any names, let's call them, oh, say,"Lemocrats".

The Year is 1947.

And Americans relax, after--once again--pulling France's chestnut souffle out of the fire. They flock to Broadway to watch "A Streetcar Named Desire" in taxis named "Bob". They laugh at Tom & Jerry cartoons in theatres, in those heady days before the stupid, futile and unconstitutional War on Animation. They listen to the late Glenn Miller--think 'Springsteen', only with musical talent. And guts.

In 1947..."Meet the Press" debuts on NBC. We've since met them and are not terribly impressed. Stamps cost three cents...and were made so sturdily, that some of those letters are still being delivered today. 'Existentialism' may or may not have been postulated by Jean-Paul Sarte, who may or may not have actually existed. Chuck Yeager breaks the Sound Barrier...yet fails to shoot down the hovering spacecraft as it deposits a fully-animatronic Al Gore in Roswell, New Mexico, before fleeing to the safety of a distant galaxy. Cowards.

Liberal Democrat Ronald Reagan battles Communists in Hollywood. They move to Malibu. And become Record Company Executives. In Europe, Greedy Imperialist American Cowboys impose the Marshall Plan, named after the great American Secretary of State, Marshall Dillon. Halloween came early that year...

...on October 26, specifically.

That fateful night, a child is born to Hugh and Dorothy Rodham in the tiny hamlet of Chicago, Illinois. Oddly, they choose the name 'Hillary Diane' for the child, instead of the more conventional names of the era, such as 'Susie', 'Jane' or 'Lucretia Druizella, Hell-Beast from the Underworld'. In later years, Hillary would claim as her namesake the Conqueror of Mt. Everest, Sir Edmund Diane. Although he was yet an unknown bee-keeper from New Zealand, the Rodhams insisted Hillary be named for him and this was the first known manifestation of the famous 'Rodham Psychic Cattle Futures' gene.

Life was good in their leafy, up-scale suburban Park Ridge ghetto, where men with their brief-cases would leave for work each day, and women were chained naked to stoves and beaten. Now, thanks to the Feminist Revolution, after a hard day's work in the Senate or writing bitchy columns for the Times, Today's Women can proudly come home to an empty mansion, curl up with a Deepak Chopra book and mutter to themselves how all the men they know are either faithless wolves or metro-sexuals, while cats lick their ankles as they cry themselves to sleep silently mouthing the words to an American Movie Classics re-run.

Oh; and don't forget to unchain the Guatemalen maid.

Yes, life was sweet for the close-knit family. Should Li'l Hill be bullied by a boy at the school debate, she would tenderly cry out to her mother: "Matriarch! File suit on my behalf!". Many were the evenings she would greet her father at the door, saying "Welcome to the community property domocile, esteemed Family Member," as per her motto: "Women, Children and their Families". Even then, she hated the word "men".

Daily mealtimes with her siblings were fun; she would sometimes sneak a pork-chop or an extra biscuit, slipping it under the table to feed the family pet, 'Hugh'. The family attended Methodist services--which Hillary still attends to this very day. Methodism is, of course, a benign & humane denomination, which avows the Christian Gospel and endeavors to help those who are less-fortunate. Except when practiced by George W. Bush, when it suddenly becomes a dangerous and deranged cult of snake-handling fundamentalists, hell-bent on establishing an Imperialist Theocracy with the help of Halliburton.

Young Hillary was instinctively drawn to politics as a way of enforcing her temper tantrums on a larger public. While the infant held back in 1948, correctly sensing that Harry Truman had a lock on the Democratic nomination that year, by 1952, the five year-old was ready to make her move. Hillary, in what would later become a Clinton tradition, climbed out of the bed-room window, caught a streetcar (named 'Mad Desire For Power', as coincidence would have it) that took her downtown to Chicago's International Amphitheater, the site of 1952's Democrat Convention.

Once there, she was a ruthless power-broker, paying off delegates with her lunch-money and cutting deals in the smoke-filled rooms. When the smoke cleared, she came away with two things; a deep-seated aversion to all things resembling a cigar, and a victory for her candidate, Adlai Ewing Stevenson, best remembered today for his role as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake on 'M.A.S.H.'. Although that role was actually played by Adlai's first cousin, McLean. Who is best remembered for playing Shirley MacLaine at dinner parties. In reality, as everyone knows, Senator Stevenson played the role of Pamela Ewing on 'Dallas'.

That campaign season there were ten Democrat candidates: Adlai Stevenson, Richard B. Russell, Russell B. Terrier, Russell Stovers, Averell Harriman, Pamela Harriman, Pamela Ewing, Estes Keefauver, Billy Sol Estes, Emillio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Bishop Sheen, Charlie Parker, Parker Brothers, Robert Kerr, Deborah Kerr, Josef Stalin and Al Sharpton. Okay; so that's more than ten. But some of them were the same person.

So what can we learn from this?

First, if you rearrange the letters in "Adlai Ewing Stevenson", it spells "Venison Ling-Wing Nut". Also "Dems Gnaw Dead Veal".

And just like 1952, there were TEN candidates, not nine. And that was the last time a presidential candidate was chosen by ballot at a deadlocked convention. Prediction: The Clintons continue to backstab the other candidates in turn, so that no one candidate arrives in Boston with a clear majority. HILLARY!'04 offers herself as the Reluctant Saviour of a divided party, not having said one bad word against anyone. in public. She clinches the nomination on the third ballot and picks Wesley Clark as her running-mate. The news anchors all spontaneously wet themselves live on national TV. And not hidden behind a desk, as is the usual practice. The media go into Full "Candidates Gone Wild!" Mode, meme-crazy with "THE FIRST-EST, SMARTEST WOMAN IN ALL OF HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Of course, this scenario depends entirely upon the willingness of the Clintons to betray all the other candidates and use every dirty trick in the book to sabotage any opposition in a blind, all-consuming frenzy of personal ambition and a blood-lust for raw political power. And the complicity of a press corps so filled with biased suck-ups that they would glady floss with Hillary's old toe-nail clippings.

Okay; maybe the fourth ballot.

(All apologies to Dave Barry--one of only four or five nationally-syndicated humorists whose name, when rearranged, spells 'Dry Ab Rave', a deodorant/shinola polish not sold in this country since 1952.

Coincidence? I think not.)

HAVE A HEART, PLEASE

Some bloggers have gone overboard with this scandal.

I don't care what the lady has done. She is quite ill, she has small children at home and her husband is out making babies with some New Age home-wrecker, depleting the family finances and ruining the family name. And all in the glare of an international spotlight.

That's more than most of us could bear.

Leave her alone.

AND RICK WARREN WAS RIGHT

When I first heard about the Saddleback event, I was concerned that it would elevate an undeserving Obama while allowing the candidates to dodge the tough questions. Upon further consideration, I needn't have been concerned.

Warren was right to invite them both. And it was enough to just let them talk, even though, because of time, there were no follow-ups; McCain got away with saying he opposed his party on torture, even though the debate was whether preventing another attack by scaring the hell out of a terrorist with waterboarding constitutes "torture" in the first place. And Obama got away with many things, such as claiming he'd support merit pay, which the unions will never allow him to do.

Still, Pastor Warren's format had a simple but brilliant integrity; by asking the exact same questions to both candidates, Warren not only provided apples-to-apples comparisons for undecided voters, he exposed the Lop-Sided Media for the frauds they've become. A balanced press wouldn't toss softballs to their favorite, while slinging hardballs at Republicans. The My-Left-Foot, Thigh, Calf, Ankle, Hip and Pinky-Media was the real loser.

But not the only one. McCain wiped the floor with Teleprompter Man. Period. It still doesn't mean Maverick is the greatest conservative ever--sadly, he's not. But, man, is that floor shiny!

And for the record, your Honor, Barack Obama isn't qualified to carry Clarence Thomas' jock strap. In fact, he's not qualified to carry the jock strap of the accountant who does the books for the auto mechanic who fixes the car of the guy who delivers Chinese take-out to Clarence Thomas' house.

But Andrew Sullivan is.

"VEE ARE ZEE DECIDERS NOW, COMRADE!"

Every year, the American Library Association celebrates "Banned Books Week" and releases a top 100 list of banned books:

"Throughout history, there always have been a few people who don’t want information to be freely available. And this is still true," said ALA President Leslie Burger. "The reason more books aren’t banned is because community residents - with librarians, teachers and journalists - stand up and speak out for their freedom to read. Banned Books Week reminds us that we must remain vigilant."

Yes, vigilant indeed. Because this year, there will be one more book on the list--but this one is a book banned by librarians themselves;

"The Obama /Ayres Papers"!

When Barack quit working for terrorist Pentagon-bomber Bill Ayres, the foundation donated his files to the University of Illinois Library. When Stanley Kurtz went to review the files, they were ripped from his hands by librarians who suddenly decided to protect a politician instead of doing their jobs.

Congratulations, gals; Richard Nixon would be proud of you! The Dewey Decimal Plumbers Unit!


Enemy of the State, dissident journalist Stanley Kurtz:

Although Obama actually launched his political career at an event at Ayers’s and [fellow bomber Bernadine] Dohrn’s home, Obama has dismissed Ayers as just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” and “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.” For his part, Ayers refuses to discuss his relationship with Obama. [...]

This country is now mere months away from a momentous presidential election in which a central issue is the political background and character of a relatively young and unknown senator. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge records almost surely contain important information on Senator Obama’s political associations, policy views, ideological leanings, and leadership ability. His role as board chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge is the most important executive experience Obama has held to date. Given this, the public has an urgent right to know what is in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records.

Mr. Kurtz goes on to detail the censor-y deprivation he received at the hands of the university librarians, because, you know, universities and libraries are all about the free exchange of ideas. Or whatever.

These are the same folks who insist Dick Cheney is politicizing libraries by pawing through your records. They insist that children should have access to porn and that terrorists should be able to send e-mails to Pakistan on library computers.

Evidently, Republican journalists have less rights than terrorists, pornographers and children.

Here's a joke for you university librarians:

Q.: "How is Obama like Osama?
A.: "They both have friends who have bombed the Pentagon!"

That's a real knee-slapper--gets me every time! Hey, here's another riddle for you:

Q: "How long until the University of Illinois Library starts acting like a library and not some Soviet-style "Ministry of Information"?
A.: "Access Denied!"

Yeah, you're right; that one's not nearly as funny.

REAGAN"S WAR

was mainly against Communists, but he took on terrorist thugs, too. So I don't like this one damn bit:

Despite 189 American lives lost in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the U.S. settled all lawsuits against Libya for terrorist killings and restored diplomatic relations with the country today – with reparations to be paid to Libya.

President Ronald Reagan ordered air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15, 1986, after Libyan terrorists planted 6 pounds of plastic explosives packed with shrapnel on the dance floor of La Belle discotheque in Berlin, killing three people – including two U.S. soldiers – and maiming 200 others. Two years later, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in a terrorist attack by a Libyan intelligence agent. The blast killed 268 people from 21 countries, including 189 Americans.

...When WND asked the State Department spokeswoman if oil companies would have any part in paying reparations, she said, "I don't have any information on that, but it has been established. I have no information on what the financial agreement will be or the financial compensation that will be paid."

While Thompson said Libyans will receive a settlement as part of the agreement, she declined to reveal the source of the money.

"None of this will be U.S. government funding," she said.

In other words, it's not "Blood for Oil!"...it's Oil for Blood!

"This is done after the murder of my innocent daughter and 270 people killed," she [Susan Cohen] said. "Gadhafi was the one who was behind the attack on that disco, and Reagan responded. Does that mean the Republican administration is saying that Ronald Reagan and Gadhafi are equivalent terrorists?"

I realize that many evil bastards have gotten away with killing Americans, including Barbary pirates, Imperial Japanese, Nazis, Communists like Castro and John Kerry's North Vietnamese pals, warlords like Mogadishu's Aidid and terrorists like Arafat--whose PLO is still inexplicably on our payroll. But this is really outrageous.

Gadhafi got his own people killed--let him pay them reparations!

Mrs. Thatcher explains it to the Morally-Retarded Community:

"My statement yesterday explained the Government's decision to support the United States military action, taken in self-defence, against terrorist targets in Libya.

Of course, when we took our decision we were aware of the wider issues and of people's fears. Terrorism attacks free societies and plays on those fears. If those tactics succeed, terrorism saps the will of free peoples to resist.

We have heard some of those arguments in this country: "Don't associate ourselves with the United States," some say; "Don't support them in fighting back; we may expose ourselves to more attacks," say others.

Terrorism has to be defeated; it cannot be tolerated or side-stepped. When other ways and other methods have failed—I am the first to wish that they had succeeded—it is right that the terrorist should know that firm steps will be taken to deter him from attacking either other peoples or his own people who have taken refuge in countries that are free. [...]

The United States' action was conducted against five specific targets directly connected with terrorism. It will, of course, be for the United States Government to publish their assessment of the results. However, we now know that there were a number of civilian casualties, some of them children. It is reported that they included members of Colonel Gaddafi's own family.

The casualties are, of course, a matter of great sorrow. We also remember with sadness all those men, women and children who have lost their lives as a result of terrorist acts over the years—so many of them performed at the Libyan Government's behest. [...]

Mr. Eric S. Heffer (Liverpool, Walton): "The right hon. Lady referred to the killing of innocent children and then to terrorist attacks on innocent people in various parts of the world. I think that she and I may have been brought up in the same Christian tradition. Does she remember that two wrongs do not make a right?"

The Prime Minister: Had the hon. Gentleman been listening, he would have realised that I was trying to tackle that argument in part, when I said that terrorism thrives on a free society. The terrorist uses the feelings in a free society to sap the will of civilisation to resist. If the terrorist succeeds, he has won and the whole of free society has lost. [...]

Indeed, one has to ask whether it has not been the failure to act in self-defence that has encouraged state-sponsored terrorism. Firm and decisive action may make those who continue to practise terrorism as a policy think again. [...]

The United States is our greatest ally. It is the foundation of the Alliance which has preserved our security and peace for more than a generation. In defence of liberty, our liberty as well as its own, the United States [881] maintains in Western Europe 330,000 service men. That is more than the whole of Britain's regular forces. The United States gave us unstinting help when we needed it in the South Atlantic four years ago.

The growing threat of international terrorism is not directed solely at the United States. We in the United Kingdom have also long been in the front line. To overcome the threat is in the vital interests of all countries founded upon freedom and the rule of law.

Terrorism exploits the natural reluctance of a free society to defend itself, in the last resort, with arms. Terrorism thrives on appeasement. Of course we shall continue to make every effort to defeat it by political means. But in this case that was not enough. The time had come for action. The United States took it. Its decision was justified, and, as friends and allies, we support it."

Me, too, Madame, me too.

"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute... and No Oil for Blood!"

SOUNDS LIKE THIS

Excerpts from 1946's "The Sinews of Peace", by Winston Churchill:

..."The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future. If you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. Opportunity is here now, clear and shining for both our countries. To reject it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of the after-time. It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement.

When American military men approach some serious situation they are wont to write at the head of their directive the words "over-all strategic concept." There is wisdom in this, as it leads to clarity of thought. What then is the over-all strategic concept which we should inscribe today? It is nothing less than the safety and welfare, the freedom and progress, of all the homes and families of all the men and women in all the lands. And here I speak particularly of the myriad cottage or apartment homes where the wage-earner strives amid the accidents and difficulties of life to guard his wife and children from privation and bring the family up in the fear of the Lord, or upon ethical conceptions which often play their potent part.

To give security to these countless homes, they must be shielded from the two giant marauders, war and tyranny. We all know the frightful disturbances in which the ordinary family is plunged when the curse of war swoops down upon the bread-winner and those for whom he works and contrives. The awful ruin of Europe, with all its vanished glories, and of large parts of Asia glares us in the eyes. When the designs of wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty States dissolve over large areas the frame of civilized society, humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they cannot cope. For them all is distorted, all is broken, even ground to pulp.

When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualize what is actually happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth. None can compute what has been called "the unestimated sum of human pain." Our supreme task and duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the horrors and miseries of another war. We are all agreed on that. [...]

Now I come to the second danger of these two marauders which threatens the cottage, the home, and the ordinary people - namely, tyranny. We cannot be blind to the fact that the liberties enjoyed by individual citizens throughout the British Empire are not valid in a considerable number of countries, some of which are very powerful. In these States control is enforced upon the common people by various kinds of all-embracing police governments. The power of the State is exercised without restraint, either by dictators or by compact oligarchies operating through a privileged party and a political police. It is not our duty at this time when difficulties are so numerous to interfere forcibly in the internal affairs of countries which we have not conquered in war. But we must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.

All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds of freedom which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practice - let us practice - what we preach. [...]

I spoke earlier of the Temple of Peace. Workmen from all countries must build that temple. If two of the workmen know each other particularly well and are old friends, if their families are inter-mingled, and if they have "faith in each other's purpose, hope in each other's future and charity towards each other's shortcomings" - to quote some good words I read here the other day - why cannot they work together at the common task as friends and partners? Why cannot they share their tools and thus increase each other's working powers? Indeed they must do so or else the temple may not be built, or, being built, it may collapse, and we shall all be proved again unteachable and have to go and try to learn again for a third time in a school of war, incomparably more rigorous than that from which we have just been released. The dark ages may return, the Stone Age may return on the gleaming wings of science, and what might now shower immeasurable material blessings upon mankind, may even bring about its total destruction. Beware, I say; time may be short. Do not let us take the course of allowing events to drift along until it is too late. If there is to be a fraternal association of the kind I have described, with all the extra strength and security which both our countries can derive from it, let us make sure that that great fact is known to the world, and that it plays its part in steadying and stabilizing the foundations of peace. There is the path of wisdom. Prevention is better than cure.

A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade, Marshal Stalin. There is deep sympathy and goodwill in Britain - and I doubt not here also - towards the peoples of all the Russias and a resolve to persevere through many differences and rebuffs in establishing lasting friendships. We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western frontiers by the removal of all possibility of German aggression. We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. Above all, we welcome constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone - Greece with its immortal glories - is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation.

The Russian-dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place. The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy. Turkey and Persia are both profoundly alarmed and disturbed at the claims which are being made upon them and at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow Government. An attempt is being made by the Russians in Berlin to build up a quasi-Communist party in their zone of Occupied Germany by showing special favors to groups of left-wing German leaders. At the end of the fighting last June, the American and British Armies withdrew westwards, in accordance with an earlier agreement, to a depth at some points of 150 miles upon a front of nearly four hundred miles, in order to allow our Russian allies to occupy this vast expanse of territory which the Western Democracies had conquered. [...]

The safety of the world requires a new unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast. It is from the quarrels of the strong parent races in Europe that the world wars we have witnessed, or which occurred in former times, have sprung. Twice in our own lifetime we have seen the United States, against their wishes and their traditions, against arguments, the force of which it is impossible not to comprehend, drawn by irresistible forces, into these wars in time to secure the victory of the good cause, but only after frightful slaughter and devastation had occurred. Twice the United States has had to send several millions of its young men across the Atlantic to find the war; but now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn. Surely we should work with conscious purpose for a grand pacification of Europe, within the structure of the United Nations and in accordance with its Charter. That I feel is an open cause of policy of very great importance . [...]

However, in a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization. These are somber facts for anyone to have to recite on the morrow of a victory gained by so much splendid comradeship in arms and in the cause of freedom and democracy; but we should be most unwise not to face them squarely while time remains. [...]

I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here to-day while time remains, is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries. Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them. They will not be removed by mere waiting to see what happens; nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement. What is needed is a settlement, and the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our dangers will become.

From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter, their influence for furthering those principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them. If however they become divided or falter in their duty and if these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all.

Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe. It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored to-day; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We surely must not let that happen again. This can only be achieved by reaching now, in 1946, a good understanding on all points with Russia under the general authority of the United Nations Organization and by the maintenance of that good understanding through many peaceful years, by the world instrument, supported by the whole strength of the English-speaking world and all its connections. There is the solution which I respectfully offer to you in this Address to which I have given the title "The Sinews of Peace."

Let no man underrate the abiding power of the British Empire and Common-wealth. Because you see the 46 millions in our island harassed about their food supply, of which they only grow one half, even in war-time, or because we have difficulty in restarting our industries and export trade after six years of passionate war effort, do not suppose that we shall not come through these dark years of privation as we have come through the glorious years of agony, or that half a century from now, you will not see 70 or 80 millions of Britons spread about the world and united in defense of our traditions, our way of life, and of the world causes which you and we espouse. If the population of the English-speaking Commonwealths be added to that of the United States with all that such co-operation implies in the air, on the sea, all over the globe and in science and in industry, and in moral force, there will be no quivering, precarious balance of power to offer its temptation to ambition or adventure. On the contrary, there will be an overwhelming assurance of security. If we...walk forward in sedate and sober strength seeking no one's land or treasure, seeking to lay no arbitrary control upon the thoughts of men; if all British moral and material forces and convictions are joined with your own in fraternal association, the high-roads of the future will be clear, not only for us but for all, not only for our time, but for a century to come."

THE GRASSY-KNOLLERS TOOK YOUR PARTY, JACK

and it don't look like you'll ever get it back.

James Taranto:

With just 82 days until the presidential election, one of the major-party candidates is being accused by his opponents of offering eloquent rhetoric that is just too high-flown and idealistic. That man, of course, is John McCain. A recent pronouncement of his prompted this bout of prissy literalism from liberal-left blogger Matthew Yglesias:

"Common sense indicates that, no, I am not a Georgian. But John McCain says "today we are all Georgians." But does he mean it? ... I hope John McCain doesn't think we should go to war with Russia. But insofar as he doesn't mean that we should go to war with Russia on Georgia's behalf, what's the meaning of the claim that "we are all Georgians"?

"On one level, it's empty political sloganeering. But on another level it's not empty--it's downright irresponsible, and an example of the sort of irresponsible behavior that got us into this. But this stuff isn't a game--Putin, Shakashvili [sic], the Ossetes and the Abkhaz are all playing for keeps. We shouldn't imply guarantees that we don't intend to keep, which means the public statements of our officials have to be driven by realistic assessments of the situation and of American interests not by mawkish sentimentality."

Leave aside for the moment the fact that had it been Obama saying "We are all Georgians", this clown would be arguing the opposite side.

The point is this: "We are all Georgians" is an explicit, deliberate echo of Jack Kennedy's phrase "I am a Berliner" ("Ich bin ein Berliner").

The Left has already forgotten the reason why their candidate just went to Germany on his "Hey, I'm a Grown-Up, Too!...No...Really!"-tour of Europe--he was hoping to inherit the JFK mantle!

Let's step back in time for a moment shall we, to June 26, 1963, and let's see what this tantrum would sound like had it been addressed to President John F. Kennedy (D., America) on that long-ago afternoon:

"Common sense indicates that, no, I am not a Berliner. But John Kennedy says "today we are all Berliners." But does he mean it? ... I hope John Kennedy doesn't think we should go to war with Russia. But insofar as he doesn't mean that we should go to war with Russia on Germany's behalf, what's the meaning of the claim that "we are all Berliners"?

"On one level, it's empty political sloganeering. But on another level it's not empty--it's downright irresponsible, and an example of the sort of irresponsible behavior that got us into this. But this stuff isn't a game--Khrushchev, Adenauer [sic], the Easterners and the Westerners are all playing for keeps. We shouldn't imply guarantees that we don't intend to keep, which means the public statements of our officials have to be driven by realistic assessments of the situation and of American interests not by mawkish sentimentality."

As lame as Republicans often are, that is exactly why I can never again be a Democrat.

John McCain's not talking about war. War? Hell, you can't even get these Lefties to defend America, let alone an ally. Unless your country is named "Pornostan"--then maybe you can get these clowns aroused. But if you're not a poor, beleaguered Pornostinian, you outta luck, Jack.

These are the most useless, bloodless, gutless, limpid, limp-wristed, impotent sitzpinklers I've ever seen. But then, I'm a Georgian. And a Darfurian. And a Tibetan. And a Chinese Christian. And I'll take one Jack Kennedy over a whole Prius-full of today's alleged "liberals":

"Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we look -- can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All -- All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin.

And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner.""

Pride. Get some. Or at least fake it. You've gotten good at that.

UPDATE: Michael Barone concurs:

"John McCain has taken a strong stand from the start. His statement, “We are all Georgians,” echoes John F. Kennedy’s Ich bin ein Berliner. Barack Obama, after a weak opening statement, has also condemned the Russian actions. But his own speech before the Prussian Victory Column in Berlin showed an incomplete appreciation of history."

"He hailed the Berlin airlift as an example of American generosity, which it was. But he didn’t note that it was an example of American military strength: The “candy bombers” were members of the U.S. Air Force. And when he celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall, he said it was supported by “the world as one.” But a lot of people — communists — built the Berlin Wall, supported the Berlin Wall and shot men who attempted to climb over the Berlin Wall to freedom." [Me: And there were a lot of members of that "world as one" (*cough* Ted Kennedy *cough*) who insisted that we make our peace with the Wall and accept its permanence.]

..."In June 1948, some said we should have withdrawn from Berlin, while others said we should have negotiated land access to Berlin in 1945. We are where we are, as we were where we were then. The question is whether we have the nerve and the ingenuity and the persistence to stay. Truman’s America did. Does ours?"

FROM MAGGIE'S FARM TO YOU

"As the former dissident Vladimir Bukovsky once remarked -- referring to the Russian proverb to the effect that you cannot make an omlette without breaking eggs -- he had seen plenty of broken eggs, but had never tasted any omlette."--Margaret Thatcher

IT'S WHAT'S FOR LUNCH!

Denis Boyles:

"Remember the French 35-hour work week? Disparu, compadres! Peace demands overtime, so French President Nicolas Sarkozy interrupted his vacation to fly to Moscow with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Why? Because France is president of the entire EU and so M. Sarkozy is president of the continent. Duty calls, so when the two Frenchmen arrived in Russia, they worked! In August! And how, according to Le Figaro:

'The French president negotiated for five hours with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, and prime minister Vladimir Putin, the specifics of the cessation of hostilities in Georgia....The working lunch which was to have lasted only an hour or less became a three and one-half hour session. There was only one topic on the luncheon menu: a cease-fire in Georgia.'

It was served cold."

[...]

"Le Monde reported Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO’s secretary general, was claiming Georgia’s ambition to join the pact is still in place. Which means very little indeed. In fact, maybe it’s a good thing they weren’t members, since if they had been, Putin would have succeeded in cutting NATO in two as easily as he did Georgia.

Georgia’s error was tactical in taking the Russian bait and moving into South Ossetia. Georgia’s sin, however, was wanting to be a part of the West, something Russia won’t easily permit. Putin obviously has been watching what was once American strength in Iraq has turned to weakness everywhere else on the planet, including especially in the U.S. itself where polarization is now so complete that a Republican president couldn’t declare War on Litter without eliciting a pacifist response from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid."

IS THE DRIVING PURPOSE

"An Open Letter to Rick Warren"

"Dear Pastor Warren,

I am writing to you to express concern about something that may get lost when you host the candidate forum with John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback Valley Community Church which is likely to receive national attention. [...]

In your news release about the candidate forum, you suggest that you will avoid "gotcha" questions. The topics highlighted in the release are poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate and human rights with a special emphasis on character and leadership rather than programmatic details.

There is much to be said for rising above partisan politics. After all, the church is on a mission from God to all the earth. It is emphatically not intended to be a tool for either one of the political parties. We are after bigger game than a balanced budget, the right kind of welfare state, or term limits. We seek redemption for a world we believe has lost its way.

However, there are certain issues that demand the church's involvement, issues of basic justice, issues of life and death. Perhaps the least ambiguous of those issues is the protection of babies throughout pregnancy and immediately after birth. We live in a culture that, strangely, acts as though unborn children are like genies that can be stuffed back into the bottle. We know that isn't true. We know that abortions end with little piles of bloody flesh and bone. Fetuses don't merely cease to exist. They experience violent physical death.

There are many doctrinal issues that divide Christians, but the protection of young life should not be one of them. Pastor Warren, as Protestants, we are part of a tradition that loves to point to the early church -- the young church so pure in our estimation -- still uncorrupted by the power of empire. That church, that persecuted church, was a tireless defender of life. Early Christians counseled against abortion and actively rescued infants exposed to the predators and the wild by Roman parents who vested few rights in human beings shortly after birth. A child of the wrong sex or one who looked weak could be abandoned. How strange it is that today a candidate claiming to be a Christian could oppose the Born Alive Infants Protection Act or a ban on partial birth abortion! To do so is to disclaim not only a major part of Christian teaching, but also a cultural advance in favor of protecting the weak and innocent.

Pastor, you know both John McCain and Barack Obama. You know where they stand on the protection of innocent human life. While it is a fine thing to allow both men to expound upon their experience, their leadership ability, and their attitudes toward challenges of the future like AIDS or climate change, I submit that you would do a disservice to your congregation and to the church at large if you host both candidates and ignore the issue that divides them more clearly than almost any other. Barack Obama has indicated a willingness to change his position on a number of issues, including drilling for oil, the way the Iraq war is conducted, and the proper understanding of gun ownership rights. But his position with regard to abortion rights is positively adamantine. Abortion on demand is non-negotiable. McCain, on the other hand, has consistently voted against a broad abortion license.

Some would respond to me, though I doubt you would, that I am emphasizing one issue unfairly. My answer is that this issue is basic. If the year were 1958, instead of 2008, do you think it would be right to host such a forum and ignore segregation, knowing one candidate was ardently in favor of the separation of the races? You and I both know that it would be wrong to gloss over a glaring breach of that kind. We both know many in the church were wrong in just that way. (It is a terrible irony of history that Mr. Obama now stands with those who favor the persistent removal of an entire class of human beings from legal protection through legal fiat. How I wish it were not so.)

My hope is that you will make no promise to leave the foundational issue of the sanctity of life untouched in this forum. If the lack of that promise means the forum may not take place, then I suggest it would be better to cancel it.

With respect,

Hunter Baker"

SCHOLAR SHIPWRECKS

William Voegeli:

"Class of 2008 graduates from the high school will also receive financial aid from the program, but they will be its final beneficiaries. The program is being terminated, according to the Center’s director, because it was always intended as a three-year pilot project. Apparently, the hypothesis being tested was that if you give poor students college scholarships, then more of them will go to college. This might seem like a theory that could have been vindicated in a matter of weeks rather than 36 months. I’m not an expert in these matters, however, so I have to assume there were compelling methodological reasons to withhold judgment until three years’ results were in. The alternative explanation – that Sen. Edwards pulled the plug on the program when he realized he wouldn’t be boasting about it in his acceptance speech or any other kind of public address at the 2008 Democratic convention – is too absurd and spiteful to be taken seriously.

“Reaction to the [Center’s] announcement was one of disappointment,” according to one news account, strongly suggesting that the intention for the program to self-destruct after three years had not been announced in advance. The students and parents of Snow Hill, NC may now be able to help scientists test another hypothesis: If people have been led on, then they’ll get pissed off. Preliminary data suggests there might be something to this theory, as well. “Many disappointed students enrolled in the program questioned whether Edwards’ promises were anything more than campaign rhetoric,” according to the story.

Sen. Edwards came to national attention as the fierce critic of our country’s division into two Americas, “one that does the work, and one that gets the reward.” Edwards logged many years in each America. As he occasionally let slip during rare moments of autobiographical revelation on the campaign trail, he was a mill worker’s son. Edwards went on to become a millionaire trial lawyer and build a house the size of Portugal, the better to accommodate unexpected guests on Father’s Day."

AND ESPECIALLY THE ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST

John McCain:

"As you know, over the past several days, we have seen that international aggression is, tragically, not a thing of the past. We thought we'd put a lot of that behind us at the end of the twentieth-century. But now we find it's rearing its ugly head in the twenty-first. The small nation of Georgia has been subject to Russian attacks that threaten its very existence.

Some Americans, when they read this news, may wonder where Georgia is or why we should care about the conflict between Georgians and the Russian army. It's after all a small, remote and obscure place. But history is often made in remote, obscure places. And it's being made in Georgia today.

Georgia itself, my friends, has a long and remarkable history. It was a fourth-century convert to Christianity, one of the first nations on Earth to convert to Christianity -- if you go to Georgia, as I have several times, you'll see churches that go back to the fourth- and fifth-century -- and it's been a part of the grand sweep that comprises Western civilization. But because of their location, their history hasn't been easy. Through the centuries, they have seen invasions and attacks from Mongols, Russians, Turks and Persians. And through it all, they maintain their language, their cultural identity, and their national pride. And as you know, they were part of the Soviet Union and were able to achieve their independence when the Soviet Union disintegrated. And they're facing terrible trials today, but they'll get through this, too.

And, my friends, and I'll talk about this more in a minute -- but they're at a strategic crossroads. There's a pipeline, an oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, which brings oil from the Caspian to points west and traverses Georgia -- that's the very pipeline that the Russians tried to bomb. And I don't have to tell you about the price of oil and disruption of oil supplies.

In this country -- it's that little country, a country whose territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty NATO countries reaffirmed at their summit in April -- terrible violence has occurred. Now let me just remind you exactly what has taken place here.

On Friday, Russian tanks and troops moved through the Roki Tunnel, across an internationally-recognized border, and into the Georgian province of South Ossetia. Two years ago, I traveled to South Ossetia, my friends, and we went through this barricade, and as soon as we got into this place, which the Russians are maintaining hundreds and now thousands of troops, there's this huge billboard and it said, 'Vladimir Putin, Our President.' Have no doubt about Russian ambitions in this area.

The Russian government stated it was acting only to protect Ossetians, and yet, on Saturday, its bombing campaign encompassed the whole of Georgia. Hundreds of innocent civilians have been wounded and killed -- possibly thousands. Military bases, apartment buildings, and other infrastructure all came under Russian fire. And the Russian Black Sea Fleet began concentrating off of the Georgian coast.

Before the weekend ended, Russian troops drove the Georgians out of South Ossetia and stepped up their offensive in the region of Abkhazia -- Abkhazia is another area that the Russians have controlled in violation of Georgian territorial integrity. And Georgia asked for a ceasefire, and Russia responded by bombing the Tbilisi Airport.

Yesterday, Russian troops advanced on one city after another. Gori, Senaki, Poti, and other cities were attacked. In 2006, I visited Senaki and reviewed the Georgian troops who had served with honor beside American soldiers in Iraq -- 2,000 of them served beside American soldiers in Iraq, and we're proud of that.

President Medvedev stated that he has halted the offensive, but reports indicate that Russian military forces have continued attacks in some areas and the situation remains fluid and dangerous. Foreign Minister Flavor announced that Russia seeks regime change in Georgia, and that it's democratically-elected president 'better go.'

In the face of this threat, the leaders of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia -- you know there's a common thread there amongst them, they all suffered under Soviet domination -- they've all announced that they'll travel to the region, and the French president is in Moscow in an attempt to help resolve the crisis. They understand that it's a responsibility of the leading nations of the world to ensure that history continues to record reform and make progress toward respecting the values and security of all free people.

This is the situation in Georgia as we meet here this morning. The impact of Russian actions goes beyond their threat to a democratic Georgia. Russia has used violence against Georgia to send a signal to any country that chooses to associate with the West and aspire to our shared political and economic values.

My friends, we learned at great cost the price of allowing aggression against free nations to go unchecked. With our allies, we must stand in united purpose to persuade the Russian government to withdraw its troops from Georgia. There must be an independent, international peacekeeping force in the separatist regions. And we should ensure that humanitarian aid can be airlifted to Georgia's capital, and stand ready to help our Georgian partners put their country back together. And we must make clear to Russia's leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability, and piece of that world.

My friends, today the killing goes on and aggression goes on. Yet, I know from speaking this morning to the President of Georgia, Misha Saakashvili, who I've known for many years, that he knows that the thoughts and the prayers and support of the American people are with that brave little nation as they struggle today for their freedom and independence. And he wanted me to say thank you to you, to give you his heartfelt thanks for the support of the American people for this tiny little democracy far away from the United States of America. And I told him that I know I speak for every American when I say to him, today, we are all Georgians."

RAH! RAH! RAH!

The Pom-Pom Press protected TeamDemocrat(tm) as long as they possibly could by covering for John Edwards.

But when it became apparent that Edwards was going to show up at the convention with his boxers around his knees, the Leaky Condom Media again protected TeamDemocrat--this time, by outing Edwards. Two opposite actions--but always the same motive. Always.

Well played, sirs, well played.

By the way, here's a hot tip for those of you in the Three-Monkey Media: every player in the Edwards affair is still lying, and they're lying about the paternity, the timeline and the hush money. I only mention this in the unlikely event any of you suddenly get the urge to do your jobs for a change.

If we had a real press instead of what is essentially a One-Party Media, it wouldn't be left to conservative advocacy journalists to report the non- "What's-You're-Favorite-Color?"-stories. Such as this story by David Freddoso. Although, in fairness, Freddoso has a super-secret source seemingly unavailable to other reporters--namely, one of Obama's many autobiograpies:

"In his book The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama tells of a “youth town hall meeting” he conducted in 2005 at Thornton Township High School, in what he describes as a predominantly black suburb of Chicago. To prepare for the visit by their newly elected and highly popular senator, students there were surveyed about the quality of their education, with the idea that they could present their concerns.

Obama writes:

'[T]heir number one issue was this: Because the school district couldn’t afford to keep teachers for a full school day, Thornton let out every day at 1:30 in the afternoon. With the abbreviated schedule, there was no time for students to take science lab or foreign language classes.

How come we’re getting shortchanged? they asked me. Seems like nobody even expects us to go to college, they said.

They wanted more school.'

Senator Obama probably did not know that the average teacher in Thornton Township District earned an impressive $83,000 that year, short days notwithstanding. ...

Obama has argued, rightly, that it is “unacceptable in a country as wealthy as ours that children every bit as special as my own children are not getting a decent shot at life.” But he quietly accepts educational failure in Chicago because — as with many issues in his career — he does not waste his political capital on reform when it might cost him something or pit him against his political allies. This is especially true of unions like CTU.

In The Audacity of Hope, he writes of CTU and the other unions whom he counts as allies: “I owe those unions. When their leaders call, I do my best to call them back right away. I don’t consider this corrupting in any way.”"

It was the union that threw those kids out on the streets at lunchtime, not any lack of funds, Obama's completely typical knee-jerk liberal reaction notwithstanding. Yet he simply can't see how he has been corrupted, even though he admits to jumping when the union says "Jump!"

It was the union membership who insisted on closing early--probably so they would have time to go get their children from the private schools where many teachers send their own kids! And guess who else sends his kids to private school? You'll have to guess, cos' the Legacy Media certainly won't tell you unless forced.

Ironically, Obama's relationship to the unions mirrors the relationship the press has with Democrats; when Democrats say "Jump!", reporters say "How high?"--and yet they never see themselves as "corrupted" either.

In any event, Obama can commiserate with those kids all he wants, but there will be no Hopey McChange until such time as the schools are run for the benefit of the kids and not the grown-ups, the customers and not the employees.

Here's another story the Spoon-Fed Media won't touch; Obama's record on babies who somehow manage to survive abortions.

He voted against protecting these "runaway slaves" and later claimed he didn't, a claim regurgitated uncritically by the Parrot-Like Press Corps. This is a position so extreme that even the prison guards at Stalag Planned Parenthood are afraid to advocate it in public. But Obama did. Until he got caught. But you'll never read about it in the Times unless they absolutely can't avoid it.

And here's still another story embargoed by the We-Know-Best Press; Obama's "Don't Ask, Don't Drill"-bill, a law that would prevent Americans from even mapping our off-shore resources--and America is named for a map-maker!:

"Obama's Don't Ask, Don't Drill policy spurns these [hi-tech] marvels and embraces outdated information gathered with obsolete instruments. This is the audacity of ignorance. Adults should not make decisions in willful oblivion. Democrats like Obama prefer not to know what riches rest off America's coasts. They resemble kindergartners who cover their ears and hum loudly to muffle their parents' unwelcome words."

Q: What do all these diverse issues have in common?

A: The Mask-the-Odor Media has decided you children don't really have a need-to-know.

Smells like TeamDemocrat spirit to me!