Moe Lane

Glenn Reynolds is a commenter in this documentary by the Knoxville News-Sentinel about the Tea Party  (The Tea Party: Brewing up a movement), and both he and it comes off well:

Short version: it concentrates on why people think that the Tea Partiers are participating and where it will end up going, and – very refreshingly – manages to do so without once regurgitating Democratic / liberal hate speech.  If you’re the sort who enjoys being told that a bunch of older folks worried about their grandkids’ future are actually secretly racist bigots, by all means, watch this video: the utter lack of such prog-porn will no doubt pop a vein.  In other words, it’s a legitimate documentary.  in fact, tt’s interesting that even the Official Voice of Dissent for this one is generally careful not to be as rude as, say, Ted Strickland* was.  Tells you a bit about how the movement is being seen in the battleground states…

Moe Lane [crosspost]

*Example picked because the fool actually thought that he could scream about them last week and still seek their support – something that even the newspapers aren’t buying, and for good reason. Of course, Ted Strickland is used to dealing with the Activist Left; I understand that this sort of thing works all the time on them.

[UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers.]

I paraphrase: the HUD actually indicated that ACORN had taken a lot of money from the government, hadn’t properly accounted for how it was spent, and that its ‘replacement’ AHCOA needs to make things right before it gets any more funding.  ACORN’s/AHCOA’s response? “Well, we took a bath from to the fallout from that underage El Salvadoran brothel sting operation thing last year, so we shouldn’t have to pay back any of that money that we spent on election fraud.  Err, low-income housing assistance.”

Uh-huh.

See The Frugal Cafe and Gateway Pundit for more.

Moe Lane

PS: If HUD is inclined to take this argument seriously, may I remind HUD that, starting next January, Rep. Darrell Issa is unlikely to be merely the Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee?

(H/T: Instapundit)  Gail Sheehy, in the middle of resolutely not thinking about the wider implications of the President’s inability to sell out tickets to bathe in his glory, even at half off (and with an open bar, no less):

When the Hillary and Obama presidential campaigns merged in July 2008, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee were anxious to know how the Clintons held most of their loyal contributors from ’92 to 2008. The Clinton people divulged the secret of long-term loyalty—feed their brains as well as their egos, continually. It now appears the Clintons’ formula has been steadily ignored by the Obama team.

Either that, or they just don’t know how to actually use the formula properly.  Even when the Obama administration was the Obama campaign, they weren’t particularly good at making people go where they actively didn’t want to go.  Take advantage of the populace’s eagerness to make a lofty political statement?  Sure, they could do that; but sweetening the reluctant and the hesitant was never anything that these people needed to do to win, so it’s not surprising to hear that they’re so bad at it.

Well, not surprising to me.

Moe Lane

PS: It’s Van Hollen, actually.  The head of the DCCC is Chris Van Hollen.  It’s a little mean-spirited of me to point out that typo, but politics ain’t beanbag.  It’s also pretty funny that the man’s so forgettable that not even his own side’s partisans can remember his name.

PPS: I will happily endorse the idea of more open bars at political functions.  Also: nothing says ‘respect for the local institutions that make this country great’ like ‘regional microbrews on tap.’

I Wanna Be Sedated, The Ramones

It’s weird what I consider a charge-em-up song, sometimes.

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.

[Oops: H/T Hot Air Headlines] In the process of whining about why a bunch of apparatchik bureaucrats and tawdry identity-politicians can’t come up with a better logo for their party than their current one – which is, by the way, one good Photoshop from looking like the overhead view of an urinal* – this guy ever-so-wistfully sighed:

Remember that glorious day on the Mall in January?

In point of fact, we do.

Really… sets the tone to what came after, doesn’t it?

Moe Lane

*Believe me, I tried. But I’m not a graphic artist.

…relax, it’s cool: he’s made a deal with the RI GOP. They’re supporting his candidacy, which is single issue: Robert Healey wants to… eliminate the position of Rhode Island Lt Governor, on the grounds that it’s an absolutely useless position that costs the taxpayers millions.  It’ll require a constitutional amendment, but (assuming he wins) Healey won’t generate a budget or staff.  As Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion notes (H/T, btw), probably nobody will even notice.  Which is kind of the point.

No, really: the Rhode Island GOP is actively supporting this. The winner of the primary (Heidi Rogers) withdrew and endorsed Healey.  Likewise, the state party refused to pick a replacement and is supporting Healey*, much to the fury of the Republican who came in second (who I will be kind to, and not name).  This immediately elevates the Rhode Island GOP to the semifinals of the Coolest State Republican Party in 2010 contest; it’s nice to see a state party actually take this ‘smaller government’ thing seriously.

Moe Lane

*As Rogers’s own press release indicates, the original plan was for the RI GOP not put up anybody at all; but, of course, there’s always somebody who doesn’t want to play nice with others, and a couple of those somebodies ran for Lt Governor.  Hence, Rogers’s run; and hence, her withdrawal.

Seriously, the way that they did this is the only way I’d sign off on it: I’m pretty hard-nosed about ‘support the Republican candidate.’  But this is pretty clearly how the local Republican candidate and group want to play things, and it’s also pretty clearly freaking out the Democrats…

Man, the Stephen Colbert thing must have been an unmitigated disaster for the Democrats: it actually shoved the Christopher Coates testimony on the New Black Panther Party situation onto the front page of the Washington Post.  And not in an uniformly favorable way to the Department of Justice.

To do a quick review: back in 2008 a couple of Black Panthers engaged in a little voter intimidation in Philadelphia on Election Day.  The Department of Justice went after that, it being against the law and everything… and then got told by the new administration in 2009 that only white people were going to be acceptable defendants of civil rights violations investigations done by the DoJ.  We will now pause while the Left pretends that they are outraged, shocked, and indignant at the above.  Well, they might be outraged: being a yellow-jacket doesn’t mean that you personally enjoy getting stung yourself.  Quite the opposite, really.

Moving along, there’s been a steadily-growing controversy over the whole situation, and Coates’s testimony yesterday was a bombshell.  Coates – who, as the WaPo itself notes, is a Clinton appointee with ties to the ACLU – essentially said everything that I did in the last paragraph, only much more formally, and with names liberally named.  Which is why the front page, and not, say, the ombudsman’s; Christopher Coates is not an easy figure to dismiss.  Although I expect that there’s a staffer over at MMfA, OfA, or the DNC with a new weekend project. (more…)

This would have been up yesterday, except that YouTube rather spectacularly melted down when it comes to updates. Vicky is running against Ike Skelton, who has been less and less successful in pretending to be a conservative over the years; Vicky is doing her best to resolve this dilemma for the incumbent.

Vicky’s site is here. The race is considered competitive, which is pretty impressive right there.

Moe Lane (Crosspost)

…to the question “Will the Republicans Win Back the House in November?”

“Maybe.”

No, really, the guy did two charts and a whole bunch of analysis to come up with a result that doesn’t tell you a darn thing. Which is not uncommon in this business, but this was impressive waffling; that’s why I’m noting it.

Or Adobe Premiere 7.  It just… stopped uploading to YouTube properly.

And YT just… stopped uploading saved videos properly.
Arrgh.

Up All Night, Slaughter

(pause)

Am I the only one that just knew the ‘Up all night / sleep all day’ part? – because I think that was the best part.

Although it may be “Arrgh, the interface between YouTube and Adobe Premiere Elements.”  Either way, lemme go find a music video and call it a night.