Month: October 2009

It took me a frightening long time to realize…

…that the child was in bed; I did not have to keep the Thomas The Tank Engine DVD running.  This stuff is like crack cocaine for him: between that and Bob the Builder he’s mesmerized.  I’m also beginning to understand why there are so many episodes of both, and it’s not corporate greed.  It’s because parents are ready to hear a different episode after the fiftieth time that they heard the last one.

Yes, actually, I do have to blog about this.  It keeps the chanting minions at bay.

TNR confused why OFA is DOA.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) I mean, really: is this a trick question?

Disorganized
What happened to Obama’s massive network of grassroots activists?

They sold out, is what happened. They sold out and cashed in, which is why the representative of the faction that wanted to make OfA a fully-owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party is enjoying a six-figure salary and the representative of the faction that wanted the group to actually take the President’s campaign promises seriously is enjoying the balmy tropical paradise of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Did you know that the average temperature for January in that location is just under 14 degrees? Fahrenheit, of course.

All of which TNR knows, of course – except maybe the average temperature of Sioux Falls – but then again, they need to keep telling themselves that the ongoing Democratic civil war over health care rationing represents ‘momentum,’ so I suppose that their ignoring this is a relatively minor act of goodthinking in comparison.

Crossposted to RedState.

Credit where credit is due: NRSC & NRCC.

Some of their top-down decisions may be not entirely to activist likings right now, but they’re doing useful stuff on the ground level. For example, this video from the NRSC is good, PARTICULARLY at the end.

…and this interactive map from the NRCC on lost jobs appeals to me. I probably shouldn’t admit that, though.

Crossposted to RedState.

DOOMWatch: Why Creigh Deeds is losing.

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.

It’s because of this question, and the answers.

17. Can you name one good reason that someone should vote for your opponent?

DEEDS: [Long pause] You know, I can name you a thousand good reasons why they should vote for me. I’m the best-prepared person to be the next governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. … Bob is a guy that I’ve always gotten along with, but I get along with most people. I work hard to get along with people. I don’t agree with Bob on a great deal.

McDONNELL: He’s a good family man. He’s worked hard to represent his district well for 18 years. To me, he’s a good story of somebody living and accessing the American dream. You know, he tells the story about … first guy in his family to go to college with four $20 [bills] in his pocket and now he’s competing for the job held by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. To me, that’s a great story. I think there’s a hundred reasons why I’d be a better governor than him, but for the way, and this is his own personal life story, the way he has told it — it obviously happened because of tremendous hard work, tremendous perseverance to be able to get to the level that he is at, and I think that’s very admirable.

Slightly contra Jim Geraghty, it’s not that Bob McDonnell can sincerely compliment his opponent; it’s that Creigh Deeds doesn’t dare.

Moe Lane

PS: Bob McDonnell for Governor. No time to stop now.

Crossposted to RedState.

And here’s confirmation that the Speaker is banning public access.

I just got tipped on this:

(Background: the Speaker of the House is holding a press conference on the Democrats’ health care rationing bill, and shutting out the public. This video shows security confirming that the restrictions comes from the Speaker’s office.)

The utter arrogance of the Democratic party leadership is only matched by their utter ignorance of the realities of modern communication technology.

Stu Rothenberg calls the 2009 races.

Three out of four, at least, as CA-10 is not mentioned (to be fair, a GOP win there is the dark horse in this particular race).  Short version: Virginia is at how-far-the-rubble-bounces; NJ is too close to call, but the breaks favor Christie; and NY-23 is between the Democratic and the Conservative candidate, with the NRCC contenting itself with publicly whaling on the former*.  His conclusion:

Democrats could win two out of the three races, but only because multicandidate contests might allow Corzine and Owens to sneak through with a minority of the vote. A win is a win, but even if that happens, it’s not great news for Democrats for 2010.

In a sort-of-related aside, may I offer some suggestions?  If you’re a member of the grassroots, stop complaining about the national party from the outside.  If you’re a member of the national party organization, do a better job about being open and forthright about what you’re doing next time.

And, for both groups: life is not fair.

Moe Lane

*Yes, I’ve seen reports otherwise.

Crossposted to RedState.

NYT: So, they had to shoot a guy. Please don’t ask any more…

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.

I have some suggestions for the New York Times.  When you provide stories like this:

Federal agents on Wednesday fatally shot a man they described as the leader of a violent Sunni Muslim separatist group in Detroit.

The 53-year-old man, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, was killed in one of three raids conducted in and around the city, in which six followers of his were taken into custody.

…there are things that you need to mention.

Let’s be blunt: the FBI shut down a proto-cell* of radical fringe Black Muslim domestic terrorists – which is something that’s going to please everybody, with the possible exception of CAIR.  And as can be seen from the links, most news organizations are capable of reporting on this in a forthright fashion… but the New York Times takes until the second-to-last paragraph to even hint at it.  Which is problematical; after all, the idea here is for a newspaper to report on what happened.  Not to make its readers have to go out and find out what really happened…

Moe Lane

*They were still at the ‘criminal activities to fund illegal firearms purchasing’ stage.  I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t read of this particular organizational arc before.

PS: Glenn Reynolds wonders why we’re seeing more domestic counter-terrorism operations these days.  At a guess, I think that we got some very good intelligence a few years ago and started up a variety of investigations.  We are now rolling them up because the targets are starting to look like they’re ready to switch from rhetoric to action, now that Big, Scary Bush isn’t in the Oval Office any more…

Crossposted to RedState.