August 7, 2008
NO, IT'S MINE!:
Neocon Resurgence (ADAM KIRSCH, August 7, 2008, NY Sun)
Why...is it so hard for respectable foreign-policy thinkers to discard the basic principles of neoconservatism? The best answer I have found comes in the Spring issue of World Affairs, in Robert Kagan's essay "Neocon Nation: Neoconservatism, c. 1776." Mr. Kagan lays out a powerful case that neoconservative innovations in foreign policy are as old as America.If we define neoconservatism, in Mr. Kagan's words, as "potent moralism and idealism in world affairs, a belief in America's exceptional role as a promoter of the principles of liberty and democracy," then it was a doctrine held by Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay, and Theodore Roosevelt. "The effort to explain the [Iraq] war as the product of manipulation by a handful of 'neoconservatives,'" Mr. Kagan writes, "is an effort to escape what for many may be a more troubling reality: that there is something in the American character which leads it in this direction."
Reading World Affairs underscores the truth of Mr. Kagan's observation. The magazine, edited by Lawrence Kaplan, is not open to the extremes of left or right — neither Noam Chomsky nor Pat Buchanan. But that still leaves a pretty broad swath of opinion, from Mr. Kagan on the right to Todd Gitlin on the left. And the remarkable thing is that almost none of its contributors can or would challenge the "belief in America's exceptional role as a promoter of the principles of liberty and democracy."
What is defined there is instead America's traditional theoconservatism. The "neo" was a function of urban intellectuals, mainly leftwing Jews, hitching their wagons to that tradition, even though they didn't ground their adherence in the Judeo-Christianity that has historically been the basis for our Crusading.
The neocons also had some objections to the social engineering that was occurring most extravagantly in American cities so they continued to drift Right. The Decent Left, on the other hand, while it too accepts America's role as the leader of the march of liberty abroad, stayed more socialist on domestic policy. Because both of these groups are secular they have only a tenuous grasp of the principles in question, so it's little wonder they quarrel so much amongst themselves. They know they believe in the principles but don't understand why and object to the guys who they disagree with about so much else believing in that one same thing. It's kind of cute.
SISYPHUS PLUS A HANDICAP:
Exxon [Hearts] Obama (Jake Tapper, August 07, 2008, ABC NEWS: Political Punch)
As we close up a week wherein Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, on the stump and in a TV ad accused rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., of being "in the pocket of big oil," and doing the industry's bidding -- not to mention a week during which the Democratic National Committee launched an Exxon-McCain '08 website to drive home this Democratic talking point -- the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics points out that the issue is a bit more complicated than it first would appear.McCain has received three times more money from the oil industry in general -- $1.3 million for McCain compared to approximately $394,000 for Obama. But that said, Obama has received more campaign cash than McCain has from the employees of some of the biggest oil companies -- Exxon, Chevron and BP.
This might seem to complicate Obama's continual use of Exxon-Mobil on the stump.
He wasn't going to be able to make the argument that Senator McCain-Feingold is the candidate of special interests even if it was a straightforward case.
SAME OLD, SAME OLD:
Obama's Weak Current (MICHAEL GERSON, August 7, 2008, Washington Post)
[M]r. Obama's tactics are undermining the unifying theory of his campaign. During the primaries, Mr. Obama presented himself as someone different, better, and special. He would not only improve the economy and the health care system, he would transcend old divisions and heal a broken land. Supporters embraced him as inspirational; detractors criticized him as messianic. Few doubt he set the highest rhetorical goals since the New Frontier.Since the primaries, Mr. Obama has made a tactical decision: He refuses to be painted as a liberal. America may be a discontented country, but it remains a center-right country. Democrats who understand this fact — such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton — become president. Democrats who don't, lose elections.
But since Mr. Obama's short public career has been conventionally — in some cases, extremely — liberal, his tactical shift to the center has been startlingly obvious, on issues from guns to terror surveillance to Iraq, and now — reluctantly — to oil drilling.
Says Peter Wehner of the Ethics and Public Policy Center: "Obama's political calculation may be correct, but it still involves a price. It has shattered his claim to be different. It calls into question his political character, and leaves the impression he is consumed and defined by ambition."
At least temporarily, Mr. Obama's tactics have raised a damning political question: Who is this man? And the McCain campaign has begun to cleverly exploit these concerns, not with a frontal attack on his liberalism or his flip-flops, but with a humorous attack on his "celebrity" — really a proxy for shallowness.
Obama stalls in public polling (DAVID PAUL KUHN, 8/6/08, Politico)
While Obama still leads in most matchups with John McCain, the Illinois senator’s apparent stall in the polls is a sobering reminder to Democrats intoxicated with his campaign’s promises to expand the electoral map beyond the boundaries that have constrained other recent party nominees. [...]“What’s remarkable this summer is the stability of this race,” Gallup’s director Frank Newport said. “In a broad sense, it is similar to previous elections.”
In Gallup’s last national poll prior to the 2004 party conventions, for example, John F. Kerry led President Bush 47 percent to 43 percent. In 2000, also in Gallup’s last national poll prior to the party conventions, Bush led former Vice President Al Gore 46 percent to 41 percent.
Three demographic groups have generally kept Obama ahead in the past two months: African-Americans, youth and Hispanics. But a lead based on those groups is a tenuous one. The youth vote, notorious for not meeting expectations, must turn out in significantly higher numbers than in past elections. Obama must continue to win the black vote nearly unanimously and still turn out new African-American voters. McCain must continue to underperform with Hispanics by about 10 percentage points compared to Bush in the summer of 2004.
The Left continues to analyze the Unicorn Rider as if he were sui generis, when the reality is that in national political terms he's just a retread of a failed model. There's something sublime about the way the elite's obsession with race blinds them to its insignificance among their fellow citizens.
WE'VE GOT A BOOK...:
Obama fatigue:
Is America beginning to weary of “Yes we can”? (Lexington, Aug 7th 2008 The Economist)
The junior senator from Illinois is strikingly self-obsessed even by the standards of politicians. He has already written two autobiographies. He seems to be happiest as a politician addressing huge crowds of adoring fans. His convention speech at Denver was always going to be an extraordinary moment, given that he will be delivering it on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. But Mr Obama decided to move it to a local sports stadium that has room for 75,000.There are worrying signs, for the Democrats, that Obama fatigue is beginning to set in. A Pew poll this week showed that 76% of respondents named Mr Obama as the candidate they had heard most about compared with 11% who named Mr McCain. But close to half (48%) of Pew’s interviewees said that they had been hearing too much about Mr Obama—and 22% said that they have formed a less favourable opinion of him recently.
...for whoever sends the first reference by the PC police to "fatigue" being a racial charged word when applied to the Unicorn Rider.
FINALLY? HIS GOOSE HAS BEEN COOKED SINCE HE ACCIDENTALLY WON:
The End of Ahmadinejad?: A fool’s road to the end. (Ali Alfoneh, 8/07/08, National Review)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is running out of time, friends, and luck. Presidential elections will be held in June 2009, but Ahmadinejad has still not delivered on his 2005 election promises of “bringing the oil money to the tables of the people.” In a recent televised interview, the Iranian president assured the public that he would distribute the oil wealth of the country before the next presidential elections, “even if I have to do it at my last day in office,” hardly an assuring message to the impoverished Iranians whose’ cause Ahmadinejad claims to advance.Apart from betraying the trust of the “downtrodden,” Ahmadinejad has also alienated the Islamic Republic’s religious and political elites. Unable to resolve the problems arising from Iran’s command economy, Ahmadinejad attacks the clerical and bureaucratic establishment of the Islamic Republic. Not a week passes without the president or his proxies disclosing secrets about economic and morally corrupt celebrities. But, apart from naming and shaming, the Ahmadinejad government does little to prosecute the alleged criminals who all seem to be among the ranks of his critics. The Ahmadinejad government has also not shown interest in fighting the root causes of corruption: Lack of transparency and the patronage system permeating all levels of political life in the Islamic Republic. In reality, Ahmadinejad’s blame game has no other purpose than deflecting responsibility for mismanagement of the economy. His strategy has neither resolved the inflation problem, provided bread for the poor or affordable rent for the middle class, nor gained the president friends.
In the last week, fortune seems to have finally turned her back to Ahmadinejad.
One nice thing about being a republic, elections dispose of mistakes.
THIS DOESN'T SEEM THAT COMPLEX:
Obama’s View on Abortion May Divide Catholics (JOHN M. BRODER, 8/07/08, NY Times)
Sixteen years ago, the Democratic Party refused to allow Robert P. Casey Sr., then the governor of Pennsylvania, to speak at its national convention because his anti-abortion views, stemming from his Roman Catholic faith, clashed with the party’s platform and powerful constituencies. Many Catholics, once a reliable Democratic voting bloc, never forgot what they considered a slight.This year, the party is considering giving a speaking slot at the convention to Mr. Casey’s son, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who like his late father is a Roman Catholic who opposes abortion rights.
The likely shift reflects concern among Democrats that they need to do more to regain the allegiance of Roman Catholic voters, who broke decisively for President Bush in 2004 and could be crucial to the outcome in a number of battleground states this year. Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, lost the Catholic vote badly to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, like Mr. Obama, is a supporter of abortion rights, during the primaries in states like New Hampshire, Missouri and Ohio. In Pennsylvania, Catholic voters preferred Mrs. Clinton to Mr. Obama by a 40-point margin.
Why doesn't the Unicorn Rider just switch from pro-death to pro-life if he wants the faithful to be able to vote for him in good conscience?
DOESN'T HELP TO TRUST THEM TO MANGLERS LIKE DUSTY BAKER & JOE GIRARDI:
The Grisly Truth About 22-Year-Old Aces (TIM MARCHMAN, August 7, 2008, NY Sun)
As Chicago Cubs fans learned earlier this decade, and as Yankees fans are now discovering, the bad thing about having a 22-year-old ace is having a 22-year-old ace. Injuries to hard-throwing young starters may not be metaphysically certain, but they're about as close as anything in baseball. You can mourn Joba Chamberlain's shoulder injury, which landed him on the disabled list yesterday, but you can't be surprised.Over the last 20 years, a dozen pitchers 22 or younger have started 10 or more games in a season, struck out at least eight per nine innings, and posted an ERA of 3.50 or below. A straight accounting of what happened to them is a tale of carnage and woe. Chamberlain may well lord over baseball as an unmatched ace for the next decade; precedent suggests you'd do well to be skeptical.
KNOWING THE PATH IS DIFFERENT THAN TAKING IT:
The Path to Prosperity (Amela Karabegovic and Alan W. Dowd, August 7, 2008, The American)
In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, Colorado, Georgia, Delaware, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Texas—states with consistently strong records of promoting economic freedom—had an average per capita GDP that was more than $4,300 above the U.S. average. Their total growth from 1981 to 2005 was nearly 20 percentage points higher than the U.S. average.In the latest EFNA index, Delaware is the top-ranked state or province in all of North America while Texas is tied for second with the Canadian province of Alberta. And for good reason: Delaware has the smallest size of government at the subnational level and ranks first among U.S. states on key taxation measures; Texas ranks first in labor-market freedom at the all-government level and has no state income tax. Delaware and Texas also rank high in the categories of government transfers and subsidies as a percentage of GDP at the all-government level.
By comparison, West Virginia, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Rhode Island—states with low levels of economic freedom—had an average per-capita GDP that was more than $4,300 below the U.S. average. Their total growth from 1981 to 2005 was 10 percentage points below the U.S. average.
Again, this is predictable: all of these states rank in the bottom half of the nation on taxation at the all-government level, labor-market freedom at the state/local level, and size of government at the all-government level.
Even if it weren't just 68 degrees here today, we'd pity folks who don't live in New Hampshire.
BY POLICY SHALL YOU KNOW THEM:
David Brooks calls Barack Obama a sojourner (Joan Walsh, 8/05/08, Salon)
As Brooks puts it: "Andrew Jackson was a backwoodsman. John Kennedy had his clan. Ronald Reagan was forever associated with the small-town virtues of Dixon and Jimmy Carter with Plains."How silly is all of that? Reagan's Dixon roots ran through Hollywood and a career as an actor, as well as a union leader turned union foe, a liberal turned conservative; a divorced ladies man turned right-wing family values guy. Part of his appeal, in fact, was his synthetic identity, which he had in common with most Americans. John F. Kennedy was elected in spite of his "clan" affiliation, not because of it; he barely defeated Richard Nixon in 1960. Journalists played along, for a while, with the re-creation of Jimmy Carter, landed politician, as Jimmy Carter, humble peanut farmer, and then turned on him.
Likewise, Bill Clinton was an amalgam of social and cultural influences: an authentic son of working-class Arkansas who saw himself (like Obama, in Brooks' formula) as a baby-boom product of the American meritocracy. But the Beltway didn't really play along with that Clinton self-invention: He was always white trash; his Georgetown degree didn't make him part of Georgetown (and Clinton had a self-destructive streak that let him collude in his exclusion). Finally, George W. Bush is a complete political confection: a rich-kid Connecticut Yankee dressed up like a cowboy, who pretended to be an oilman and failed at every job he ever had (except maybe baseball boss), including this latest. And yet unlike Clinton and Carter, Bush is still blessed to have journalists playing along with his confection of tribe and place.
In short, Obama has a lot in common with every president Brooks mentions, and then some. (It's interesting to note that, like Obama, Clinton, Reagan and Richard Nixon had absent or unreliable alcoholic fathers.) But only Obama is a "sojourner" who doesn't know his place. Sorry, that probably wasn't fair. Let's just say we don't know his place.
Still, I'm letting myself answer Brooks' column, instead of ignoring it as I usually do, at least partly because I think he's put his finger on something, something I'd rather not take in. This McCain stuff? The nasty jokes and ads about him being "The One" or Paris Hilton or Chris Matthews' boy toy? The playing of the "playing the race card" card? I think it's working. It's too early to fret about polling, and yet the trends in recent polls seem ominous.
People knew exactly who Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were--as political figures, not as private men--because they told us exactly what they wanted to do as president. They were so wonkish you couldn't escape hearing about their plans for America. No one needed to know that Ron loved Nancy to the exclusion of even their children nor that Bill would get freaky with a lamppost in a pinch, so long as those things wouldn't/didn't impinge on their jobs. Mr. Clinton managed to get himself in trouble by first not acting on what he'd promised--reverting to Second Way Democrat for two years--and then by accosting staff in the Oval, breaking both ends of the bargain.
Similarly, and contrary to the Left's paranoia, folks don't much care what race Mr. Obama considers himself (anyone want to bet that the exit polls in November show at least 10% of voters don't realize he classifies himself as black?) nor whether he's Muslim, Black Nationalist, or Unitarian. What voters are interested in is what the guy who's asking for their vote plans to do with it. Senator Obama's answer, because he is a Second Way Democrat, has to be and is silence. If he told everyone what his political place is--the Northern liberal mainstream of the Democratic Party--the campaign would already be over.
Instead, it's left to the GOP to locate him--as it has previously Adlai Stevenson, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, and John Kerry--and once it has done so he'll lose the election, as have his Northern liberal predecessors. This has already begun to occur which is why Ms Walsh can feel the worrying undertow in the polls. But riptide doesn't come until after his convention bounce and the Fall, when people start to pay a bit of attention.
WHY THE UNICORN RIDER CAN'T REVERSE THE NARRATIVE:
We already know who John McCain is because a friendly press and Democrats and the whacko Right have been telling us for 8 years. A professional political campaign wouldn't waste its time and money trying to now claim that Maverick is a partisan tool of special interests.
THEY WOULDN'T KNOW TOUGH IF IT BIT THEM ON THEIR PROFANITIES:
Obama Hits Back, Too Softly For Some (Jonathan Weisman and Perry Bacon Jr., 8/07/08, Washington Post)
Such attacks have raised worries among Democratic strategists -- haunted by John F. Kerry's 2004 run and Al Gore's razor-thin loss in 2000 -- that Obama has not responded in kind with a parallel assault on McCain's character. Interviews with nearly a dozen Democratic strategists found those concerns to be widespread, although few wished to be quoted by name while Obama's campaign is demanding unity."Democrats are worried," said Tad Devine, a top strategist for Kerry who thinks Obama must stay on the high road. "We've been through two very tough elections at the national level, and it's very easy to lose confidence."
Obama's latest ad may be his toughest yet, using words and images to link McCain to President Bush and concluding: "The original maverick? Or just more of the same?"
But Democratic strategists said that it is nothing like the character attacks by McCain, and that the response could be far nastier, perhaps raising McCain's ethical scrape in the Keating Five savings and loan scandal, mocking his family wealth and designer shoes, or highlighting his age. After McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm suggested that the United States has become "a nation of whiners," Democratic strategists said Obama should have immediately started an ad blitz.
"If somebody attacks you, you have to frame the attack: 'This is the same old politics, or better yet, the Bush-Rove politics,' " something Obama has done well, said one Democratic strategist. "At the same time you do that, you have to counterattack. You don't want to look like a whiner. You want to look tough."
Mr. Obama could spend all $500 million he's supposed to raise and he still wouldn't be able to run enough ads to explain the Keating affair or why anyone should care. It's the type of thing that everyone in the Beltway remembers but no one in America does, nor cared in the first place. Recall that the Rezko stuff with Mr. Obama just happened and was in the news throughout the primaries and it got zero traction. What's tough at a Common Cause meeting is white noise at the corner lunch counter.
NO MAN IS A MOUNTAIN:
The Christian Roots of the West (Dinesh D'Souza, Aug 7th 2008, AOL News)
[J]urgen Habermas is now regarded as perhaps our leading living philosopher. Habermas is also an atheist. Yet when Habermas found out that the European Union in its charter gave full acknowledgement to ancient Greece and Rome, but none to Christianity, he erupted in learned outrage.Habermas's argument is that it is philosophically illiterate to locate the roots of the West in Athens but not in Jerusalem. In fact, Habermas argues that Jerusalem--by which he means Judaism and Christianity--is far more responsible than Athens for the modern principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. In "A Time of Transition," Habermas writes:
For the normative self-understanding of modernity, Christianity has functioned as more than just a precursor or catalyst. Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love.
Habermas's point is that there is too much arrogance in contemporary atheism. Even the atheist is standing on mountain erected by Christianity. How ungrateful it is to scorn the mountain that is still holding you up! How ridiculous the posture of the man who cannot acknowledge the very foundation that sustains him from below!
Their ridiculousness is their charm. To hear an atheist, a Darwinist, a libertarian, a Marxist, etc. speak is to be amused by every thoughtless word.
FROM BOARDING A WAVE TO BORED OF THE WAVE:
I'm so bored with O-B-A-M-A: It's not always a good thing to dominate the news cycle. Is "Obama Fatigue" for real, and is it a danger to the candidate? (Walter Shapiro, Aug. 07, 2008, Salon)
"I was stunned by the numbers, since I didn't expect that we'd get that kind of gap," Andrew Kohut, the director of the Pew Research Center, said in an interview. Kohut, a respected pollster who rarely traffics in hyperbole, added, "I would have taken it far less seriously if we didn't get the exact opposite result with the McCain question." More voters (38 percent) complain that they have been hearing "too little" about John McCain than "too much" (26 percent). [...][T]here may be a surfboard analogy here as well -- no one can ride a wave forever. Obama has bestrode the news cycle like a Colossus since he entered the presidential race a year and a half ago. Whenever he hit low points like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright debacle, Obama's instinctive response was to deliver a stirring speech. In Berlin last month, Obama spoke to a crowd far larger than McCain could attract even as a sitting president. But while an earlier Pew survey found that the Berlin speech was followed by an impressive 62 percent of the voters, only 15 percent of the electorate said that they had learned "a great deal" about Obama's foreign policy views.
There may be a political downside to Obama's charisma that has nothing to do with snarky McCain TV spots linking him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The issue is not foreign-policy experience, since by any objective standard Obama has made fewer slip-ups during the campaign than McCain. But there comes in politics a moment where what was once exhilarating (a presidential nominee who is the hopeful embodiment of 21st century America) becomes predictable and commonplace.
In the next month, Obama will have twin opportunities to restore a sense of surprise and wonder to his campaign. A pedestrian vice-presidential rollout (especially if it is a make-no-waves selection like Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh) and an eloquent-but-empty convention speech could signal trouble.
We kid you not, just a week ago there were pundits and politicos who truly believed that saturation coverage by an adoring media and being a celebrity were advantages for the Unicorn Rider. You could look it up.
HE'LL NEVER FIND HIS FOOTING:
Porn Star for Obama (Ben Stein, 8/6/2008, American Prospect)
So, as we all know, Senator McCain has finally found his campaign footing. With his commercial showing Paris Hilton and some other starlet then showing Obama with German crowds saying "O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!" and a voice saying, "He's the biggest celebrity in the world...but is he ready to lead?" McCain has limned the key weakness of Obama: or maybe the key weaknesses: He's young and he's more of a rock star than an experienced leader. Maybe he's also a bit exotic.Anyway, it's a devastating commercial. If you pull on the threads in the commercial, lots of Barack Obama disappears.
How do the Friends of Barack Obama respond? They have Paris Hilton in a tiny bathing suit making fun of John McCain for being old. That's right. Too old. Too wrinkly. Too much gray hair.
Now, this is perfect.
Republicans just need to prepare themselves for the fact that Maverick is going to run yet another lousy campaign and he's going to win anyway. The inside baseball stuff is fun but it doesn't matter. The stuff you have no control over--the basic tectonics of American politics--moves the meter. The Unicorn Rider will play to type because it's his type and Maverick will just grind along in his Bob Dolesque way and the American people will take care of the rest.
NOT GOING WOULD HAVE MADE THE CLEAREST STATEMENT:
Bush Rebukes China's Human Rights Record (Luis Ramirez, 07 August 2008, VOA News)
Speaking at Bangkok's Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, he said the United States opposes the communist government's repression of its people."The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings. So America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates, and religious activists. We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly, and labor rights not to antagonize China's leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential. And we press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs," he said.
The president also praised China's rapid economic growth over the last few decades of economic liberalization. He expressed hope that political and social reforms will follow.
"Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and traditions. Yet change will arrive. And it will be clear for all to see that those who aspire to speak their conscience and worship their God are no threat to the future of China. They are the people who will make China a great nation in the 21st century," he said.
Mr. Bush repeated Washington's call for Beijing to behave responsibly in its new role as a world economic power. He said a dialogue between the United States and China aims to ensure long term growth.
"Through these discussions and others, we are making clear to China that being a global economic leader carries with it the duty to act responsibly on matters from energy to the environment to development in Africa," he said.
MORE (via Matthew Cohen):
Former 'Lost Boy' Lomong chosen to carry U.S. flag (Associated Press, August 6, 2008)
Eight years ago, Lopez Lomong didn't even have a country. Now he'll be carrying the flag for his adopted nation, leading the U.S. Olympic team at opening ceremonies Friday night.Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, won a vote of team captains Wednesday to earn the honor of leading America's contingent into the 90,000-seat Bird's Nest Stadium.
The 1,500-meter track runner will be the flagbearer only 13 months after becoming a U.S. citizen.
"It's more than a dream," Lomong said in an interview with The Associated Press moments after he got the news. "I keep saying, I'm not sure if this is true or not true. I'm making the team and now I'm the first guy coming to the stadium and the whole world will be watching me carry the flag. There are no words to describe it."
'I came all the way here, so I have to run' (Tom Farrey, July 2, 2008, ESPN the Magazine)
IF YOU'LL PARDON THE POP PSYCHOLOGY...:
Profanity greater on liberal blogs (Matthew Sheffield, August 7, 2008, Washington Times)
[W]hat may be surprising, however, is to what degree profanity seems to be a feature more common on one side of the political blogosphere than the other.Which side is that? For answers, I turned to the search engine Google to see how common swearing is in the right and left blog universes by looking up the late stand-up comic George Carlin's "seven dirty words" in the most popular blog communities.
The results showed that online liberals tend to use profanity a lot more than online conservatives.
(Before I get further into the results, let me say that I am deliberately making a distinction between blogs that do not usually allow readers to make comments and those that do. This means that some sites, such as the popular Instapundit or Newsmax, were not included.)
Searching for Mr. Carlin's seven words and some popular variants at the top 10 conservative Web communities yields about 70,000 results. That is dwarfed in comparison to the 1.9 million instances of profanity on liberal sites.
...it's easy enough to imagine that the profanity is just tied to the Left's hostility towards manners and morals, but much of the Right blogosphere is libertarians, who are little different in that regard. One wonders if it isn't instead a matter of the female party trying to seem masculine and tough?
HE IS JFK, JUST WISHES HE WERE MAVERICK:
Obama: The man who would be McCain (GARY L. BAUER, 8/7/08, Politico)
To Democrats, he’s the second coming of JFK. His rhetorical gifts are Reagan-esque. Meanwhile Republicans are doing their best to depict him as Jimmy Carter 2.0. Everyone seems to have an opinion about which past president Barack Obama most resembles. But in some of the most important ways, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee resembles none of these past presidents as much as he does the one man who stands between him and the presidency: John McCain.At first glance, such a comparison seems strained. Whereas Obama is young, black and cool-headed, McCain is seasoned, white and fiery. But looking beyond appearances and temperament to the substance of their policy goals, the candidates portray themselves similarly: as post-partisan reformers who are unafraid to stand up to special interests.
What’s striking, however, is that when it comes to accomplishing these goals, Barack Obama is a John McCain wannabe.
Heck, Paris Hilton has as impressive a legislative record in the Senate as Barrack Obama or John Kerry. It ought to tell Democrats something that they can't nominate people who have actually legislated. They're either too liberal to win the general, like Ted Kennedy, or too pragmatic to win the primaries, like a Max Baucus-type.
AS MAVERICK TAKES US BACK TO RED:
Moving America Forward (Jennifer Horn for Congress)
Congress has failed the American people by failing to address the critical issues of the day. Personal gain and political gamesmanship have replaced public service as motivation for serving in public office. With fuel prices continuing to skyrocket, people losing their homes and their jobs, and corrupt career politicians, it’s easy to see why Congress has an approval rating of 9%. The partisan gridlock of our elected representatives threatens the very freedoms our Founding Fathers fought to protect. Abraham Lincoln chose his words carefully when he spoke of a “government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people.” Serving in Congress is about representing the people over special interests and partisanship. We should expect more of those men and women we entrust to represent us in Congress. We should hold members of Congress accountable to their actions and what they accomplish vs. what they promised us when they ran for office. I want to renew the spirit of America and make government work for the people again. During my first term in Congress, I pledge to the voters of the 2nd District that I will fight for each of these issues so that we can Move America Forward.
1. Making America Energy Independent.
Energy Independence is an economic, security and environmental problem that can only be solved through the cooperation of all three interests. We must do everything possible to relieve the budget-crippling pain American families are feeling every day at the gas pump and right now Paul Hodes is standing in the way. Read More. . . .
2. Ending Wasteful Government Spending & Lowering Taxes
Government spends too much of our money. Taxes are too high. Individuals cannot save for homes, education or retirement. We need representatives who will fight to leave more of our hard earned wages in our pockets to begin with. Individuals are better trusted with their own earnings than the government. Read More. . . .
3. Winning the War on Terror
There is no single issue more challenging to America's future than the Global War on Terror. We must keep our commitment to stabilization, democracy and economic growth in Iraq. But Iraq is only one front in the Global War on Terror. Read More. . . .
4. Securing the Border
Today in America, the problem of Illegal Immigration and border security is at a breaking point. Every day we leave our borders and ports unprotected threatens our national security and puts strains on our local schools and hospitals. True immigration reform and border security does not include amnesty for illegal immigrants. Read More. . . .
5. Returning Integrity to Government
Between scandal, special interests and lobbyists, Washington has become mired in corruption and backroom dealings. It’s no wonder Congress has the lowest approval rating in American history. The days of Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay and Duke Cunningham are over. First we start with the type of people we send to Congress. Career politicians, political operatives and lawyers have had their chance and they have failed. Read More. . . .
6. Creating Good Jobs
With gas prices soaring and people losing their homes, many people are worried about their jobs. Fortunately in New Hampshire we have seen modest job growth year-to-date, although unemployment edged up to 4% in June (still lower than the national average of 5.5%). But we need to act now to prevent a crisis. Unfortunately, Congress is trying to fix the symptoms and not address the real problem of a slowing economy. Read More. . . .
7. Lowering Health Insurance Costs
Congress must focus on solutions rather than party politics. I strongly oppose the idea of a taxpayer-funded, government administered health insurance plan. With corruption and government’s inability to run any program efficiently, a universal health care program would not serve the needs of the people. It is wrong for America. I will fight to lower the cost of health insurance by minimizing government mandates and increasing competition. Read More. . . .
8. Returning Education to Parents, Teachers, & Principals
The birthright of every American is OPPORTUNITY. That means a quality education for every child, regardless of geographic or economic background. Parents, teachers, principals know best what a child needs – not government. Education is a local issue, not a Washington issue. I believe that parents, teachers and principals know better than politicians in DC. Read More. . . .
9. Reforming Social Security
Our seniors trusted America with their retirement. Let me tell you about reform: I will oppose anything that cuts benefits. I will oppose anything that increases the retirement age. I am opposed to anything that will increase payroll taxes. We have to put something on the table that meets those three criteria. Read More. . . .
10. Fighting for Veterans
Ultimately, how a nation cares for their veterans is a reflection of their respect for their service. We should never provide Congress with better healthcare and other benefits than we offer our military families. We made a promise to those men and women who serve our country that if they protect us, we will protect them. We must honor our commitment by ensuring that they get the health care they deserve. In Congress, I will fight to bring a full service VA Hospital to New Hampshire. Read More. . . .
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Relive History when Lt. Col. Steve Russell (ret) talks about his role in the Hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein
You are Invited to Join
Lt. Col Steve Russell (Ret.)
Cmdr 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry “Regulars”
Central in the Hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein
For a Reception to Benefit:
JENNIFER HORN
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
7:00pm Reception
Nashua VFW
2 Quincy Street, Nashua, NH
$35 Suggested Donation
Please RSVP by calling 212-9888 or emailing michelle@jenniferhorn.org
LTC Steve Russell Bio
The unit LTC Steve Russell (Ret) commanded was a central player in the hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein. LTC Russell speaks across the US and Canada, rallying the American public to support the troops with victory, not just words.
LTC Russell retired from the US Army after serving 21 years in Airborne, Light and Mechanized assignments in the Arctic, the desert, the Pacific, in Europe and in the Continental United States. He served more than 7 years overseas and has deployed operationally to Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.
During Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, LTC Russell commanded the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry 'Regulars' and conducted combat in Tikrit, Iraq from the spring of 2003 to the spring of 2004. His battalion was broadly covered during the first year of the war by CNN, FOX NEWS, ABC, NBC, CBS, TIME MAGAZINE, Associated Press and Reuters. His unit was a central player in the hunt and capture of Saddam Hussein and has been featured in Discovery's 'Ace in the Hole' and BBC Panorama's 'Saddam on the Run' documentaries.
He is described by the media as "an officer who never misses a chance to be on patrol with his unit. Russell is of average height, wiry and doesn't seem imposing. Yet, he impresses you as a natural leader. He's got the earnestness and intensity of a missionary."
LTC Russell is highly decorated, having received the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device and Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Infantryman's Badge and the Valorous Unit Award.
As a sought after speaker, thought-provoking writer, and media analyst, he travels the country to put the soldier's voice in the national debate on the war. He is the founder and chairman of Vets for Victory, an organization that educates the public about the war on terror.
About Jennifer Horn:
Jennifer Horn is a former columnist for the Sunday edition of The Telegraph and was the host of “On The Air With Jennifer Horn”, a daily 2 hour current events talk radio show. As host of the show, Jennifer Horn won three New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters Golden Mike Awards: including First Place for Radio Feature (a special on the homecoming of Bravo Company in 2006) and a second place for Radio Documentary (Special Report: Illegal Immigration in America).
Jennifer Horn has spent a lifetime involved in her community - volunteering for the first time at her local hospital at the age of 18.
Ø Inspired by her cousin’s decade long struggle with Breast Cancer, Jennifer Horn has been actively involved in supporting Breast Cancer research and support groups through the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, completing five 60-mile walks and two 40-mile walks. Jennifer Horn has organized teams of walkers and wrote a book, Hope Is A Walking Dream, donating all proceeds to Breast Cancer support programs.
Ø In 2007, Jennifer Horn received the Spirit of Hope Award for her work with the Chernobyl Children Project. Jennifer has been an active volunteer for the project since 1999, including six years as the New Hampshire coordinator, from 2001-2006, growing it from 1 host family hosting two children to as many as 10 host families hosting 20 children - coordinated the efforts of volunteers, creating a coalition of support from a number of faith organizations, coordinating, organizing and hosting major fundraising events, and participating in a 2005 humanitarian trip to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to visit the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant contamination zone, and visit her host children.
Ø In July 2007 Jennifer Horn Co-Chaired the first Operation America Rising New Hampshire support the troops rally in Greely Park, Nashua. Disturbed by the partisan, politicized tone of the debate surrounding the current conflict in Iraq, Jennifer spear-headed an effort to show non-partisan community support for the men and women of the United States Military.
Ø Jennifer Horn has volunteered for and served on the Board of Directors for Marguerite’s Place – an organization that provides transitional housing, education, training and daycare for women and children who need a safe place to live and get their lives back on track.
Ø Jennifer Horn volunteered for and served on the Board of Directors for Nashua Police Athletic League, a group that provides extra-curricular athletic opportunities and a community center with a focus on developing friendly relations between the police and the children in the neediest neighborhoods.
Jennifer Horn has 5 children and lives in Nashua with her husband Bill.