Moe Lane

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.

Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, in the process of telling the Democrats that they need to damn the torpedoes and go full speed ahead, drops this gem:

Charles Kraut-hammer doesn’t represent any swing voters.

Not having the print edition of Newsweek handy – like pretty much the rest of America – I don’t know if this is reproduced there. But I’m curious: is the ethnic sneer there Alter’s, or his editor’s?  I suspect it’s the latter, actually, but you never know.

Moe Lane

PS:  What?  No, actually, the Democrats should totally listen to Alter.  Really.  Please.

Crossposted to RedState.

Fair’s fair: if the previous administration had to take the heat for refusing to flush the American economy down the toilet for the sake of that nonsensical treaty, then so can this one.  This one goes out to every voter whose primary motivation for voting Democratic was climate change:

The United States never ratified the agreement because it doesn’t require any action from the developing world, including China, the world’s largest emitter. The Bush administration considered that a fatal flaw. And so does the Obama White House.

“The notion that we should have an agreement which looks explicitly and exclusively at a handful of countries, doesn’t seem right. The whole purpose of this is to move the world to a better place, not to move one set of countries down that road,” said Jonathan Pershing, a top U.S. negotiator.

Odd how this never came up during the campaign; in fact, quite the opposite.  Of course, now that the President’s in charge he has to actually do something besides pander to religious extremists like the Greens; so a more… nuanced stance becomes necessary.  Besides, it’s not like “It’s Bush’s fault” isn’t this administration’s handy-dandy, one size fits all excuse anyway.

Via Ronald Bailey of Reason Hit & Run (via Instapundit), who wants to know when Waxman-Markey’s going to go away now.  I assume that he’s being sarcastic: there’s too much money earmarked towards Democratic allies in that monstrosity to make it disappear right away.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

When the trailing candidate’s campaign starts talking about GOTV as the primary strategy for victory, it’s over.

…the question that remains unanswered is whether they can prevail in a campaign in which Virginia’s many independent voters have turned against the national Democratic brand and with a nominee who many in the party privately believe has run a mediocre race.

The answer will be revealed on Election Night when the returns come in from northern Virginia, and particularly Fairfax County, the commonwealth’s largest jurisdiction. The Deeds campaign believes it needs to carry the region with at least 55 percent to win the election and at least approach the 60 percent threshold that recent Democratic candidates have captured in populous Fairfax.

As for turnout, the hope is to push the percentage of northern Virginia’s vote from 33 percent of the statewide electorate to above 35 percent.

I am a little surprised that this post can be written now, though: I had it scheduled for some time around the 29th.  Obviously, turnout is very important; but it’s usually not until about a week or so before the actual election that losing campaigns start using it as a tool to backstop eroding enthusiasm.  Seeing this happen this early suggests that Virginia Democrats are worrying about the downticket races.

Moe Lane

PS: Bob McDonnell for Governor. Because it’s not over until it’s over.

PPS: The big question for Chris Christie in NJ isn’t turnout for him; it’s whether Daggett’s going to break double-digits on Election Day (at this moment, this question makes the difference between a 1-point win for Christie, and probably a 3-point one).  Which I’ll believe when I see it.

Crossposted to RedState.

Well, this was probably inevitable. Via Hot Air Headlines:

Suicide bomber kills 30 in attack on Iran’s Guards

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting of the elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran Sunday, killing at least 30 people including top commanders and tribal leaders, a senior official said.

The attack took place in the city of Pisheen near the border with Pakistan in restive Sistan-Baluchestan province, which hosts a substantial Sunni population, local news agencies said.

Do enough digging into the various accusations of who was responsible and you’ll discover that they’re actually all claiming that the CIA did it; because, of course, the American government is eager to wreck a regional meeting in a country that we’re trying to engage with diplomatically, using tactics that would guarantee impeachment proceedings being initiated against the President once we caught him doing it*.  I mention this because the Iranian regime is happily blaming the US for this attack anyway, which should (but won’t) demonstrate the futility of our actually negotiating with said regime with any hope of good faith on their part…

Moe Lane

*Seriously.  Name a Democrat willing to defend the USA using suicide bombers.  And name a CIA agent willing to carry out an operation like this without a signed pardon from the President.

Crossposted to RedState.

In the middle of complaining about the President’s curiously limited visit to New Orleans, Washington Post opinion columnist Eugene Robinson wrote:

It was stunning that he would spend only a few hours on the ground and that he wouldn’t set foot in Mississippi or Alabama at all.

Well…

• Mississippi, 2008 result: 56% McCain, 43% Obama
• Alabama, 2008 result: 60% McCain, [39]% Obama [My glitch, folks: sorry.]

Not really, no.

Moe Lane

PS: Louisiana is part of a critical bit of Democratic mythology (How the Right Wing Left Black People to Die), so it needs to get at least a little attention.  Provided that it can be also used to push something truly important, such as pushing the Democratic health care rationing bill.

Crossposted to RedState.

There is no reason to be surprised at this, by the way. This administration doesn’t keep its campaign promises.

Obama Drops Plan to Isolate Sudan Leaders

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has formulated a new policy for Sudan that proposes working with that country’s government, rather than isolating it as President Obama had pledged to do during his campaign.

Succinct, that. (Via Ben Smith.) The Washington Post has more, with an emphasis on the ‘modulated’ tack being taken by this administration: (more…)

Barracuda, Heart

I am carefully not thinking about how old this band is.

Admittedly, nobody actually watches this stuff anymore, but it’s still just the smallest bit distressing to see the President threaten an entire industry.

The President doesn’t handle opposition to his will all that well, does he? Even the New York Times is forced to admit that this was ‘unusually harsh;’ Instapundit was harsh himself, but mostly just accurate when he called this ‘desperate.’ See also Business Week, particularly for some actual fact-checking of some of the claims made by the President (I’ll do one right now: that ‘bipartisan’ support he’s claiming is ONE Republican Senator who went along with ONE bill that was going to advance to the floor anyway).  Monday’s going to be a fascinating day, really.

Exit question, as Allahpundit would have it: how much of this is just pique over the administration having to drop the Humana probe?  I’m guessing at least a third.

Moe Lane

PS: I think that we may safely assume that the $21 million that the insurance industry gave to Democrats in 2008 will represent the high-water mark of that particular section of the economy.  I hope nobody at the DSCC, DCCC, or DNC was actually counting on that particular revenue stream…

As a ending to his link to Wizbang’s “Beware the echo chamber” post (good advice for Republicans, by the way), Glenn writes:

Related: Harris Poll Puts Obama Approval at 45%. But remember, Obama won’t be on the ballot in 2010.

That is a thing of beauty, in its way.  It almost deserves to be framed and put on a wall somewhere.

Crossposted to RedState.

Done by my RS colleague Caleb Howe. Fairly surreal, and short about it.

http://www.amazon.com/

And remember:

For defamation.

Rev. Al Sharpton threatens to sue Rush Limbaugh over Wall Street Journal op-ed

Say you’re sorry, Rush – or the the Rev. Al Sharpton is suing.

The civil rights activist, angered by a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece written by Rush Limbaugh, threatened a defamation lawsuit Saturday against the conversative talk radio host.

“Unless Mr. Limbaugh apologizes and clarifies his statements, attorneys for Rev. Sharpton will move forward with a lawsuit,” said a statement from Sharpton.

(H/T: AoSHQ) What a horrid thought.  I mean, I don’t see how that could possibly work out for Rush Limbaugh at all.  I mean, it’s not like Limbaugh’s both rich and motivated right now, that Sharpton’s spent decades building Limbaugh’s ‘truth’ defense for him, that the ‘public figure’ defense covers what parts the ‘truth’ defense doesn’t, that there aren’t hordes of lawyers who’d love to play discovery on Sharpton, or that there are not more than a few liberals/Democrats out there that would enjoy watching Sharpton get eviscerated in the courts (especially if they can legitimately claim that they had nothing to do with it).  No.  Nothing of the sort would apply, here.

So I hope that this doesn’t go any further.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

I think. Via The New Ledger:

Then again, maybe it is real. No reason that the company couldn’t hire one.