Aug 30 2008

Kudos to Politico and Yahoo

Category: election 2008,Group-think,McCain,media,Palin,politics — harmonicminer @ 2:54 pm

Here is something so rare that it’s essentially a man bites dog story. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen something quite like this in political reporting. After running a story quoting various academics and political commentators bashing Gov. Palin as “too inexperienced” to be vice-president, Yahoo/Politico actually ran this update with a response from the McCain campaign.

Update: After reading this article, the McCain campaign issued the following statement: “The authors quote four scholars attacking Gov. Palin’s fitness for the office of Vice President. Among them, David Kennedy is a maxed out Obama donor, Joel Goldstein is also an Obama donor, and Doris Kearns Goodwin has donated exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Finally, Matthew Dallek is a former speech writer for Dick Gephardt. This is not a story about scholars questioning Governor Palin’s credentials so much as partisan Democrats who would find a reason to disqualify or discount any nominee put forward by Senator McCain.”

Two things, one unremarkable, one not:

Continue reading “Kudos to Politico and Yahoo”

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Aug 27 2008

She lies so casually, and so grandly, but tells the truth once… or twice

Category: election 2008,McCain,Obama,politics,White House — harmonicminer @ 9:04 am

Hillary has always had a very distant relationship with the truth, of course, all the way from the lies she told the press to protect Bill from his dalliances, to the lies she told investigators about Whitewater (“I’m sorry, Senator, I don’t recall.”) and the White House travel office firings (she masterminded FBI accusations to taint innocent people so she could install her cronies in their places), the lies she told investigators about her role in the Vince Foster coverup (she had his office “sanitized” before investigators could get there), blah, blah, blah, the list is so incredibly long that it would take a week to write it all down.

Her speech to the Democrat convention in Denver was no different, just on a grander stage.

Just to mention one of her more minor lies of the evening, did you know that John McCain is not for equal pay for equal work for women? I didn’t either. Neither does he.

Did you know that the US government “gave” the oil companies their recent large profits? Imagine that. She is either a breathtaking liar, or breathtakingly ignorant about how the economy works. I’m betting on the former.

Nearly every paragraph (sometimes every sentence) either assumed a lie, or told one outright. Again, the list of lies in her speech is so long, I just don’t want to waste the time listing it all.

But she told the truth in two ways, at least, one explicitly, the other implicitly.

She said that unless Obama is elected, the Democrats would not be able to complete their makeover and utter restructuring of American life, the economy, universal health care (meaning, if you work, that you pay for someone else), punitive taxation, new entitlements, etc. That’s absolutely true.

And while she endorsed Obama, I did not notice much about Obama’s preparation for the job in her speech. She did not praise his character, his background, his abilities, anything at all that might be positive about Obama directly. It was all about the policies she wants, and the observation that if Obama loses, they won’t happen.

In her omission of any particular praise about Obama, she told the truth, both objectively, and in terms of her “personal truth” about him, given the disdain in which she holds him, and given her previous sober assessment of Obama’s preparation for the job:

That must have been some speech he gave in 2002.

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Aug 26 2008

What’s In A Name (Caller)?

Category: Group-think,humor,politics — amuzikman @ 10:45 pm

The comments that follow are by no means based on scientific, analytical, mathematical or statistical methods. They are admittedly entirely anecdotal and personal, supported and substantiated by only my individual observation. Nevertheless…

I have read some blogs here and there. I have even left an occasional comment, but not many. Mostly I have written response comments concerning politics and political issues. I have even flown into the enemy’s lair (The Huffington Post), left a hurried comment while looking over my proverbial shoulder, and then run over to Rush Limbaugh’s website just to wash off!

Until lately most of what I’ve done that would pass for blogging is to write an occasional note on my Facebook page, usually trying to provoke thought in one or more students at the university where I teach.

But other than the aforementioned Facebook, where things generally remain civil because we all tend to know each other, I have had a fairly similar experience each time I engaged a liberal in written discussion. After trying to craft a cohesive, cogent statement about what I think and why I think it, I am rewarded with a response consisting of a couple paragraphs of name-calling, leftist pejorative cliches’ and downright hateful invective. in fact it happened tonight on good ol’ generally safe Facebook!

So, what is it with the rabid left? (And the dog metaphor really does work here) Many “hard-left” bloggers are like half-crazed dogs, having no desire to engage in even a greeting sniff or to acknowledge the presence of other breeds. They just want to mark their spot and move on. (Hey, wait a minute…move on, MoveOn.org??? Wow!, you don’t suppose… nah, it couldn’t be!)

C’mon leftist friends, what are you afraid of – facts? persuasion? truth? a differing opinion that actually makes sense? How about trying a little persuasion. Make an argument, defend your position, and try not not to be so (yep, here it comes), “dog” matic!

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Aug 26 2008

Do we want the Rookie at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two outs?

Category: election 2008,Iran,Islam,McCain,Obama,politics,White House — harmonicminer @ 9:00 am

Obama is not the heavy hitter we need to deal with this.  Neither, will all due respect, is his pinch-hitter, who has a flashy looking swing, but simply misses the ball way too often.

A senior Iranian atomic official said Sunday that Iran has chosen the site for and started designing a new 360 megawatt nuclear power plant.

Iran has yet to complete construction of its first nuclear power plant and has previously sent conflicting signals about the state of work on a planned second plant. An Iranian official said this year construction work had already begun.

Can we have a show of hands for all of you who would like Obama to be the one we depend on to navigate the treacherous waters of Iran’s nuclear armament intentions?  This is not a misused cliche…  if Iran’s nuclear facilities are attacked, they plan to close the Strait of Hormuz.  They’ve been buying Russion Kilo-class subs to do it with, along with lots of land-based ship killer missiles from both Russia and China.  We’ll reopen it, of course….  but it will take some time, and will leave huge unresolved problems.  How does $250 per barrel of oil sound to you?

Personally, I’d like to be putting at bat a player with sufficient reputation that the opposing pitcher decides to walk him instead of just throwing fastballs at his head, followed by a change-up that leaves him whiffing.

This is the big-leagues, not celebrity baseball.

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Aug 25 2008

Does Joe Biden hunt?

Category: election 2008,guns,humor,Obama,politics — sardonicwhiner @ 9:00 am

A couple of folks have pointed out that, in some ways, Joe Biden is Obama’s Dick Cheney

Joe Biden is Barack Obama’s Dick Cheney. Biden’s age and experience stand in stark contrast to Obama’s lack of both. Like Cheney, Biden is unlikely after two terms as vice president to ever seek the presidency in his own right. That will give him the freedom to be the power behind the throne. And if (God forbid) Barack Obama is elected president, he is going to need a lot of guidance. His reckless, naïve foreign policy initiatives at this crucial point in history could put the entire free world at risk.

Well. In the spirit of bi-partisanship, it’s time to ask a central question. Exactly which influential Democratic operative or donor will Joe Biden go hunting with?

Herewith, my list of hunting buddies for the wanna-be vice-prez:

William Ayers
Tony Rezko
Jeremiah Wright

George Soros
Nancy Pelosi
Harry Reid

Since they’re probably all big supporters of gun control, I hope they’ll be very careful.

Hillary or Bill, if Slo-Joe asks you to go hog huntin’, I’d suggest you just go to Vegas and sleep it off. No one knows for sure just how pliant Bitin’ Biden will be in the hands of his new boss… but prudence is indicated.  And Jesse J…  don’t even THINK about it, man.

Feel free to suggest other hunting buddies for the man who would be almost the king.

Be safe, everybody.

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Aug 24 2008

Petraeus on the war. Subtext: we REALLY need a grown-up in the White House

Category: Afghanistan,election 2008,Iraq,McCain,middle east,Obama,Petraeus,politics,terrorism,White House — harmonicminer @ 8:47 am

Q&A: Gen. David Petraeus on Leaving Iraq | Newsweek Iraq War | Newsweek.com

we have to be very careful, and we are with respect to Anbar. We know [the insurgents are] trying to come back in … and we have picked up a number of those individuals who have tried to come back in. And of course they attacked and killed several of our marines and sheiks in the attack [June 26 in Karmah, near Fallujah]. But the fact is that the level of violence in Anbar is the lowest in our recorded history, literally, the lowest of any of our data.

Read it all. Hope he enters politics someday. He seems to tell the unvarnished truth.

h/t: Michael Yon

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Aug 22 2008

Israel tries appeasing Russia, too: fruitlessly, of course

Category: appeasement,Europe,freedom,liberty,politics,Russia — harmonicminer @ 8:53 am

Israel didn’t stick to its principles in its response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia, hoping to salvage some bit of self-interest, but to no avail.

You have to give Kadima <the ruling party that is almost certain to lose the next election> credit for loyalty: As the Bush administration was destroying any remaining credibility, and undermining its country’s interests, by abandoning a loyal and strategically important ally to Russia’s tender mercies, Israel’s ruling party decided it could not allow its American friends to shoulder the disgrace alone; it, too, should betray Georgia at the expense of its country’s interests. So the minute Russia invaded – just when Georgia needed arms most – Israel, which had hitherto been a prominent Georgian supplier, halted all arms shipments.

One might legitimately ask how this undermined the national interest. After all, Israel desperately needs Russian help on several crucial issues, ranging from Iran’s nuclear program to Hizbullah’s rearmament, and Israel needs Georgian help not at all. Moreover, Russia has made its unhappiness with arms sales to Georgia clear. Thus Kadima seemingly made the correct realpolitik choice.

The problem is that, according to government officials themselves, not only did the country receive no quid pro quo for halting the shipments, but Russia has repeatedly and explicitly declared that it will continue its anti-Israel policies regardless of whether or not Jerusalem sells arms to Georgia. Thus Israel gained nothing by betraying Georgia, while undermining two secondary but still significant interests.

Read it all, and hope that future US policy doesn’t reflect the same mistakes. The motto of the US Marines, “No better friend, no worse enemy”, ought to be true for any democracy supporting another democracy. There cannot be a good end for Russia to believe they can invade neighbors without serious repercussions.

The question is not, “What kind of risks are we willing to accept to defend Georgia’s sovereignty?” The question is, “What are we willing to do to stop Russia from retaking former territory of the Soviet Union, and getting a stranglehold on crucial oil pipelines? What are we willing to do to make sure Russia does not believe another Cold War is to its advantage?”

If we do nothing, or take only symbolic action with no real effect on Russia, this will not stop with Georgia.

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Aug 21 2008

Above his pay grade?

Category: abortion,election 2008,Obama,politics — harmonicminer @ 8:56 am

Much has been made of Obama’s response to Rick Warren’s question on abortion, in which Obama said that deciding when a baby gets human rights either theologically or scientifically is “above his pay grade”.

Of course, this was not a particularly smooth evasion. The question was obviously about how Obama would govern, not so much about what was in his inner soul, interesting though that may be. And we know the answer to that question: Obama will govern as if a baby has no human rights until it is born to a mother that wants to give birth.

So even though the answer is “above his pay grade”, he will govern as if it is not. That is, he will not be able to avoid making a decision about it, even if he thinks he isn’t really able to do so (if you buy his presentation of being in great personal doubt about it).

There is a lesson here, a very important one, on the limits of agnosticism on any topic. There are decisions a person must and will make, and that society must and will make. It will almost always be a sham to take refuge in claiming not to know enough, and employing some rhetorical slight of hand to pretend not to be making a decision. It is not “deep”, or “nuanced”, or “thoughtful” to pretend to be so mired in uncertainty that no decision can be made, when in fact you’re making one. It’s simply dishonest.

Agnostics about theism make a decision about whether or not God exists by how they choose to live, whatever their self-talk.

Similarly, Obama has made the decision about when a baby should have human rights, and knows he has, regardless of his “nuanced thoughtfulness”. He has decided that no baby has human rights of any kind until it is born to a mother who wants to give birth (i.e., not an accidental survivor of an abortion, whom Obama believes has no rights, based on his voting record). He will govern that way. How much does his inner dialog on the topic matter?

Methinks he doth protest too much.

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Aug 19 2008

Clarence, Barack, Clarence, Barack….. Clarence!

Category: election 2008,judges,Obama,politics,White House — harmonicminer @ 9:32 am

At the Saddleback Civil Forum, Barack Obama let it be known that Clarence Thomas was his first choice as the Supreme Court Justice he would NOT have appointed, and cited what he considered to be Thomas’ thin record of achievement before being appointed to SCOTUS by Bush the Elder.

People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, if they want to live in the White House, anyway. The point: for Barack to refer to Thomas’ preparation as inadequate is risible, coming from him.

In the spirit of fair comparison, here is info on the careers of each man: Barack Obama and Clarence Thomas.

Thomas pre-SCOTUS career included being Assistant Attorney General of Missouri, private practice attorney, legislative assistant to a US Senator, Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education, and Chairman of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, not to mention a year already on the DC Court of Appeals, the nation’s second highest court.

Obama’s pre-Presidential campaign career included working for a couple of NGOs, being a community organizer, some work with a couple of private law firms, lecturer in a law school, state senator in the Illinois legislature, and finally about a year as US Senator before announcing his presidential bid.

At the time of appointment to the Supreme Court, Thomas was about 42. Obama is running for President at age 47.

It is not clear to me that Obama’s resume is a whit more impressive than Thomas’, though Thomas was 5 years younger than Obama the Presidential candidate, at the time of Thomas’ appointment to SCOTUS. And, in his last major pre-SCOTUS role, Thomas served for 8 years as Chairman of the EEOC, with major administrative responsibilities. Obama had been US Senator for exactly one year before deciding he was of Presidential timber.

In fact, on balance, the kind of experience Thomas had was more in keeping with the kinds of roles a President must fill than the kinds of experience Obama has had, up to now.

For that reason, for those who just can’t stand the idea of voting for McCain, let me suggest you write in Clarence Thomas. He’d be a FAR better choice than Obama. And hey… if you don’t like Thomas, that’s one way to get him off the court!

In the meantime, Obama might be well served by doing a little resume comparison, and thinking more carefully before dissing a more capable man.

Doubt this? Read Thomas’ recent book, and then read Obama’s, each autobiographical. That’ll tell you all you need to know….

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Aug 17 2008

Rick Warren, Obama and McCain, post mortem #1

Category: election 2008,McCain,Obama,politics — harmonicminer @ 9:19 am

Having expressed my concerns about how Rick Warren would handle the Obama/McCain interview, I have to express my appreciation that Warren played it all pretty straight.  I do wish he had asked more follow-up questions when he got vague answers (Obama on abortion, both on exactly what they’d do about Darfur, quite a few more, etc.), but some of that is perhaps just limitations of the format.

The follow up on abortion I wish I’d heard for Obama: “Well, can we agree that when the baby is out of the womb it gets full human rights?”  And then move it back a day, and ask again.  And then another day, and ask again.

But Warren did well, and deserves credit for doing a service.

Side note:  Obama is really afraid of directly confronting McCain in a give and take discussion, which is why he’s avoided all the townhall meetings McCain suggested.  With only three debates, Obama is obviously hoping he can somehow slide through without dealing directly with tough follow up questions, and just let his natural charm work on the audience.  So he liked this format a great deal, I’m sure…  and McCain still made him look unformed and unsure.

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