Moe Lane

Too young to go, but you can say that about just about anybody.

Back in the High Life Again, Warren Zevon

Ever get the feeling that the Left secretly thinks that we’re all gods in disguise over here?

The Seattle Times (bolding mine):

Protesters have been demonstrating at Driehaus’ Ohio home, said Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the anti-abortion Democrat who joined Stupak in voting for the health bill. A rock was thrown through the window of Driehaus’ Cincinnati office Sunday, and a death threat was phoned in to his Washington office a day later, Mulvey said.

Instapundit:

Justin Binik-Thomas emails from Cincinnati that Rep. Driehaus’ office “is on the 30th floor of a skyscraper downtown.”

Seriously.  It is:

The only way you’re going to get a rock up that high is via Federal Express. On the other hand, maybe they’re worried about their profits taking a, ahem, header from this health care monstrosity. Everybody else is, after all.

Moe Lane

[UPDATE]: As can be seen in comments here, they are correcting this aspect of their story (a print correction is likewise promised).  I nag print media enough times when they sanitize an oopsie that I should also note when they own up to something.

Crossposted to RedState.

Funny how events happening today tick me off immensely while events on Sunday and Tuesday didn’t really tick me off all that much at all.  Probably means that I’ve got something wrong in my head, no doubt.

Or maybe I should play more Tetris.

(pause)

Man, there are a lot of Tetris-based scams out there on the Internet.

Otherwise known as a ‘buy me stuff‘ page.  Why?  Well, because… LOOK! A SQUIRREL!

[UPDATE: via Glenn Reynolds I see that Politico has updated the story, and that it was even worse before I noticed it.  I'm making corrections.]

Let us start by watching what happened SUNDAY. This is via Gateway Pundit – who, by the way, was there and who was a spokesman:

Got it? Low-key prayer vigil, coffin brought in for staged funeral of Constitution [future victims of abortion.  See, this is how you do it, Politico - ML], old people crying, coffin then removed. Now let’s see how Politico referenced it:

A coffin was placed on a Missouri Democrat’s lawn, another in a string of incidents against lawmakers after their vote Sunday on a health care overhaul.

Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) had a coffin placed “near his home,” a spokesman said Wednesday evening.

The coffin was from a prayer vigil.

…and then they went on to equate this with (alleged) incidents or threats of physical violence. Without bothering to check, of course.

Guys? Unquestionably and uncritically reprinting Democratic party press releases like this is not going to be a viable business model, come January 2011. Russ Carnahan and his people can’t help themselves – in more ways than one – but you over at the Politico can.

Moe Lane

PS: I’ll feel obligated to disavow acts of political violence when credible evidence appears that an organization that I belong to organized, initiated, or willfully incited one. Until then, I recommend that people wanting me to do that just save their screeds to their hard drive, preferably in a subfolder of the folder that they have for all those drawings of Sarah Palin being beaten.

Crossposted to RedState.

Mind you, I haven’t actually read The BIG Black Lie: How I Learned The Truth About The Democrat Party*: but as Smitty of The Other McCain (who did read it) notes, this was a bravura performance.

‘The BIG Black Lie’ Author Debates MSNBC’s Shuster on Tea Pa
Uploaded by burghnews. – News videos from around the world.

One must reward bravura performances.

Moe Lane

PS: Looking for Democratic own-goals on campaign offices, David Shuster? Here you go…

*I don’t like to buy partisan political books, and nobody sends me copies for free.

Crossposted to RedState.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds does some more of the research that Shuster apparently can’t.

Stop laughing: these people don’t get out much.

(Via the Corner) I am not really going to get into the meat of this WaPo article about Alabama candidate for Governor Artur Davis.  If the man is going to run on the admittedly sensible notion that being for health care rationing is political suicide in Alabama, then presumably Rep. Davis was already aware that he’d be more or less called a race traitor for doing so*.  My sympathies are, as they say, muted.

But I wanted to highlight this one throwaway line, because it reveals a certain problem for the Washington Post.

Davis has played down the impact of race in his run but acknowledged that being a Democrat is a challenge in Alabama.

Um.  No, it’s not.  It’s actually fairly easy to be a Democrat in Alabama: Democrats have powerful if not super-majorities in both houses of their state legislature, the current Lt. Governor of Alabama is a Democrat, and up to the point where Parker Griffith flipped they had a 4-3 GOP-Dem ratio in the House.  The reason why that ratio could be 6-1 after the next election is because being a liberal is a challenge in Alabama – which, by the way, accurately describes Artur Davis, Washington Post or no.

This may seem a minor problem, but it’s actually one of the reasons why the newspaper business is in such horrific shape these days: a basic lack of knowledge outside of a very narrow comfort zone.  An editor who happened to know these details about Alabama, or who had thought to look them up (like I did, for some of this), could have easily flipped this story back to the reporter for a quick rewrite.  But the editor was as ignorant of Alabamn politics as the reporter was.  So why are they writing stories on the topic?

Bless their hearts.

Moe Lane

*Artur Davis happens to be African-American.

Crossposted to RedState.

Werewolves Of London, Warren Zevon

Come on, it was in your head too after the last post.

I picked The Wolf Man because I get to go see a movie this weekend – this weekend being my birthday – and guess which one I’m going to go see?

And so, adieu to Toy Story. Which really has nothing to do with werewolves.

Moe Lane

PS: There are a lot of crappy werewolf flicks out there. Just saying.

Well, this is gratifyingly not 2012-related:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will miss a major Republican gathering next month of possible 2012 GOP presidential contenders and instead will attend a welcome home ceremony for troops returning from Iraq, a Pawlenty spokesman tells CNN.

The two-term Minnesota governor, who is considering a bid for his party’s presidential nomination in the next election, was scheduled to attend the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

[snip]

Instead of going to New Orleans, Pawlenty will appear at the April 10 welcome home ceremony for the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Red Bull Infantry Division. The approximate 1,200 troops are finishing a long deployment to Iraq. Pawlenty was also at the unit’s sendoff.

I was contemplating going to SRLC myself, but my excuse for not going is much more prosaic: I can’t afford to. Which is life.

Anyway, as you may remember, I had a chance to utterly ignore time limits and ask him a couple of questions at CPAC; he’s stereotypically Minnesota Nice.  It’s also gratifying for this story about him picking greeting his state’s troops over a political meet-and-greeting to be not put out as a partisan political issue.

After all, that’s my job.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Don’t ask where the Members of Congress will be.

Really.  Don’t.

This says it all, really:

President Barack Obama will sign the executive order Wednesday that prohibits federal funding of abortion surrounded by members of Congress who oppose abortion rights — but he won’t do it for the cameras.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) Actually, not quite all.  Politico was kind enough to give us a list of those Members of Congress who can safely be said to have flunked the intelligence test you need to stay in Congress: (more…)