(Blame @baseballcrank) It’s a tossup between this one and the Paris Hilton energy proposal for the most memorable campaign ad of 2008.
…and, unlike Paris Hilton, I still don’t know what the hell Ralph Nader was trying to do there. That being said, remember:
(Via AoSHQ Headlines) I know that I’ve made some pointed comments about Ailuropoda melanoleuca’s collective will to live, but I never dared take it to the next step. Chris Packham, on the other hand…
Giant pandas should be allowed to die out as they are stuck in an ‘evolutionary cul-de-sac’, according to BBC presenter Chris Packham.
The conservationist, 48, said the species was not strong enough to survive on its own and it would be better to let nature take its course.
This got a response from the WWF, once they could find a spokesman who didn’t have an aneurysm on the spot at the thought of letting their logo go extinct. Said response more or less boils down to this:
“See The Panda. It’s Our Fault. Love The Panda. We’re Taking Their Mountains Away. Protect The Panda. Give Us Money. Money For The Pandas.”
Well, at least they aren’t taking NEA payola.
Probably.
Moe Lane
PS: I wasn’t joking about the dignity thing, although I thought that I was. Packham, again:
‘I reckon we should pull the plug. Let them go, with a degree of dignity.’
These people are hard to parody, sometimes.
Bluntly? Because they say stupid things like this.
When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.
Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
“The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.” (In that case, the Energy Department has a few renegade teens of its own.)
Continue reading Why scientists are under-represented in politics.
Do you believe that this exists?
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Congratulations: you’re a ‘Tenther,’ which is liberal Democrat for ‘annoyingly tiresome about us ignoring Constitutional clauses that we don’t like.’ The attempt here is equate federalism with conspiracy theorists* – but like Radley Balko and Glenn Reynolds, I would like to note for the record that yes, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution actually exists. I have even seen it, with my own two eyes. In Washington, DC. Admittedly, I didn’t take a picture of it at the time.
On the bright side, this attempted sneer, or smear, is about as likely to shut up the growing populist movement in this country as anything else did; which is to say, not at all.
Moe Lane
*Like, say, the approximately one-third of the Democratic party that believes that the US government was behind 9/11.
Crossposted to RedState.
Background information available here: the executive summary is that the Inspector General of Americorps was fired earlier this year, under circumstances that appear at best to be part of a whitewash of an administration crony. Senator Grassley (R) of Iowa has taken an interest in the case, and is making it clear that he’s not going away:
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley has blocked the ambassadorial nomination of Alan Solomont, currently chairman of the board of the government agency that oversees AmeriCorps, in retaliation for what Grassley says is the administration’s stonewalling of Congress over documents relating to the firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin. Specifically, Grassley has sought, and been denied, information relating to the White House’s role in the decision to fire Walpin.
Solomont, a major Democratic donor, is chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which includes AmeriCorps. His term ends in October, and President Obama has nominated him to be U.S. ambassador to Spain. The nomination was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week and now moves to the Senate floor — except that Grassley has placed a hold on it, meaning it will go nowhere until the senator’s objections are resolved.
Continue reading Update of IG-Gate: Grassley holding up nomination until answers given.
With all of the delicacy, charm and raw political skill that they showed in trying to get Gov. David Paterson of NY to quit.
White House Is Taking a More Aggressive Role in State Races
WASHINGTON — The White House’s intervention in the race for New York governor is the latest evidence of how President Obama and his top advisers are taking an increasingly direct role in contests across the country, but their assertiveness has bruised some Democrats who suggest it could undercut Mr. Obama’s appeal with voters tired of partisan politics.
[snip]
More than anything, though, the interventions reflect a controlling style of this White House and of Mr. Emanuel, who employed similar hard-ball tactics to recruit candidates when he was running the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In addition to Mr. Emanuel, the White House political director, Patrick Gaspard, and deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina, keep close watch on all political races.
Via @PatrickRuffini: bolding mine, and reflective of Erick Erickson’s recent first look at ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis’s Rolodex. One may be forgiven for wondering whether… input on this was sought.
Moving along, disapproving quotes from affected Democrats like Joe Sestak (running against the untrustworthy opportunist Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania), Andrew Romanoff (running against the rather uninteresting appointee Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania (who may or may not have to run away from eventually being named as ‘Governor X’) show up in the article, for all the good that it’ll do them. The President simply must micromanage, you understand; and, given that he’s been told time and again by his own party that his is a political genius not seen since FDR, Otto von Bismarck, and Martin van Buren there’s little incentive for him to stop. Besides, this all comes back to what’s best for the White House, not the individual state Democratic parties. Having Paterson on the ballot guarantees a politically embarrassing loss in New York in 2010; and the White House’s primary interest in Pennsylvania and Colorado is keeping their Senate seats in Democratic hands. If that means signing off on a turncoat and a nonentity, so be it.
I would be sympathetic, but then this is what the Democratic party signed up for. Well, sort of: it was probably expected that the President would be better at it.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
“Fire,” Bruce Springsteen
Although I have to admit that I kind of like the Elmer Fudd cover better.
Yeah, sorry about that.
Moe Lane
She was reportedly adamantly against giving the VP slot to then-Senator Clinton.
(pause)
Damned if I know how to score that one.
Crossposted to RedState.
Via @baseballcrank, promises, promises:
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.
Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.
“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) today in Greenville, Delaware.
Giffords, Giffords, Giffords: where have we heard that name before? Right: she was one of the Democrats who ran and hid from her constituents during the August town halls. As I recall, she was so scared of them that she only felt safe on a military base – which was an impressive display of cowardice, even for a Blue-in-Red Democratic Member of Congress.
Yes, definitely, she needs to be one of the Thirty-Five. I’m thinking that it’s going to be Jesse Kelly for this one: his website is here and you can contribute here.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
