David Petraeus Faints During Senate Testimony

Please join me in holding good thoughts and well-wishes for Gen. David Petraeus. It's amazing that this morning's Los Angeles Times is just now reporting on this, "Petraeus Appears to Faint During Senate Testimony." I'm almost positive folks had already analyzed the event up and down on Twitter more than 24 hours ago. Strange. I'd be interested to know how many Americans are just learning of the fainting spell this morning over coffee. It's good to have the legacy media in terms of resources and institutional expertise and memory. But man, it's not "breaking news" anymore. In any case, check for the picture at the link especially, which shows Petraeus leaning forward from the front. The videos, thankfully, show John McCain's questioning just as Gen. Petraeus is heard to fall forward; and it's fascinating to juxtapose the shorter clip at top with the longer one below. If you're a policy wonk, you'll get a kick out of this long discussion over the administration's July '11 pullout date for the Afghan deployment. McCain is obviously unhappy about that, and tries to get Petraeus to make the case for a longer stay for U.S. forces. See also, Jennifer Rubin, "Bipartisan Criticism of Obama Timeline for Afghanistan."

A Switch in Time? John McCain Takes Harder Line on Illegal Immigration

Arizona Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth held a fundraising barbeque on June 5th at the Arizona State Capitol. The event followed the "Phoenix Rising" rally. Folks were just starting to check in as I was heading out.

Hayworth is the author of Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security and the War on Terror (a timely book that gives him a lot of credibility on the issue). Plus, SB 1070's in the news all the time. Voters in Arizona want action not platitudes. No wonder Senator McCain's running laughable advertisements. Next to Teddy Kennedy, McCain was the biggest amnesty backer during the 2006 push for comprehensive immigration reform. Now his plug is "complete the danged fence":

In any case, LAT's got a piece on McCain today. It's looking tight, but he should be okay. See, "The immigration factor in McCain's reelection fight":

As a candidate for president, Republican John McCain lamented his party's tough talk on illegal immigration. "In the long term, if you alienate the Hispanics, you'll pay a heavy price," he told a group of Milwaukee businessmen in October 2006.

Back then, some strongly favored walling off the U.S.- Mexico border to address the problem, but not McCain. "I think the fence is least effective," the Arizona senator said.

Lately, however, McCain has transformed himself from a champion of broad-based reform — who spoke of illegal immigrants as "God's children," deserving of love and compassion — into a fierce advocate for the kind of crackdown he once scorned.

In a recent TV ad, McCain blamed illegal immigrants for all manner of problems facing his state: "smuggling, home invasions, murder." It is time, he said, for Washington to "complete the danged fence."

Facing his toughest reelection fight in years, McCain's future may hinge on whether voters see him as honest or opportunistic.

Old allies are dismayed. "Someone who was a visionary ... has gone from being very large to very, very small," said Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who worked with McCain and the late Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on a bipartisan immigration overhaul bill.

Old foes are dismissive. Among them is former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, McCain's main rival in the August primary and a longtime adversary. "An election-year conversion," Hayworth said.

The more important verdict, however, rests with voters like Linda Stapley-Williams, 60, a retired high school teacher and GOP activist in Mesa. She wonders: "Did he change his position as he was exposed to new information? Because that can be an admirable thing. Or did he change his opinion because the outcry was so overwhelming and there was no way he was going to get reelected if he didn't?"

McCain — who holds a comfortable, if not overwhelming, lead in polls — declined to be interviewed. Last month he told the Arizona Republic it was "a political ploy" to say he changed his immigration stance.

RELATED: Background at ABC News, "Fierce Struggle for McCain to Retain Arizona Seat: Sen. McCain in battle for political life in Arizona against conservative former Rep. Hayworth," and at Arizona Republic, "McCain, Hayworth campaigns battle over lobbyist ties."

See also Rasmussen in May, "Election 2010: Arizona Republican Primary for Senate: Arizona Senate GOP Primary: McCain 52%, Hayworth 40%."

John McCain Dumps 'Stand With Arizona' for 'Los Suns' Basketball Final

I stood with Arizona, but my fellow patriots missed their home-state senator. See, "Stand with Arizona – Where was John McCain?":

You can't make this up:

Worst SOTU?

Jim Hoft's a bit more critical than I was last night, "McCain Seen Mouthing “Blame It On Bush” During Obama’s Hyper-Partisan Attack Speech":

This may go down as the worst State of the Union Address in history. The current administration tripled the national deficit, nearly doubled the unemployment from the average during the Bush years, and nearly bankrupt the country on failed stimulus while focusing on nationalizing health care and energy, but blamed the previous adminstration for all of his woes. President Obama could not get himself to admit we won in Iraq and inappropriately attacked the Supreme Court all in one awful speech.

Also, from Ruby Slippers, "More Lip Reading the SOTU Audience." And Doug Ross, "Larwyn's Linx: Requiem for Obamacare."

And related, "Justice Alito's Reaction," via Memeorandum.

Abandoning Senate Norms, Al Franken Shuts Down Joe Lieberman: John McCain Responds, 'First Time I’ve Ever Seen a Member Denied...'

From Mediaite, "Senate Drama: Al Franken Shuts Down Joe Lieberman, Angers John McCain":

Today, Senator Joe Lieberman asked for an additional minute for the floor, but was denied by Senator Al Franken. This appeared to infuriate Senator John McCain. High drama indeed!

Actually, it's a fun bit of drama, according to TalkingPointsMemo (via Memeorandum).

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has the transcript:

Lieberman: “I wonder if I could ask unanimous consent for just an additional moment.”

Franken: “Um. In my capacity as a Senator from Minnesota, I object.

Lieberman: “Really. OK. I don’t take it personally. I will ask unanimous consent that the remainder of my remarks be included in the record as if read.”

Franken: “Without objection. The Senator from Arizona.”

McCain: "Mr. President I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Rhode Island be recognized for 10 minutes followed by the Senator from Michigan, the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services committee who will be speaking on the bill and that I be recognized to follow them.”

Unidentified: "I assume that that’s for 10 minutes each.”

Franken: "Is that for 10 minutes each?

McCain: "Yea. I do. But I just saw – I‘ve been around here 20-some years, first time I’ve ever seen a member denied an extra minute or two to finish his remarks. And I must say that I don’t know what’s happening here in this body, but I think it’s wrong. And so it’s fine with me that it be 10 minutes but I’ll tell you I’ve never seen a member denied an extra minute or so as the chair just did."

Levin: "… I think that the same thing did occur earlier this afternoon for reasons which have to do with trying to get this bill going, but any --"

McCain: "I just haven’t seen it before myself, and I don’t like it. And I think it harms the comedy of the senate not to allow one of our members at least a minute. I’m sure that time is urgent here but I doubt if it would be that urgent."

Leftists are getting a thrill up their legs, naturally.

Have to say there's something that just feels right about hearing people call Sen. Franken -- Mr. President. But even better is watching him essentially tell HoJo to STFU.

And here:

Senator McCain, you don't know what's going on here? It's called your buddy is a dick and everybody's tired of pretending he's not. That's what's going on here.

Of course it was McCain who got up to defend Joe! I bet he even took him out for a milk shake afterwards so that he could cry about it.

Also, at Hot Air, "Video: Franken refuses to give Lieberman extra time for ObamaCare speech":

Nutroots porn from the Senate floor as Stuart Smalley silences the left’s hate object. If it were anyone else, this could be dismissed as simple Grayson-style pandering to liberals, but given Franken’s “issues,” his pique here might well be from the heart. It’ll be fun watching lefties simultaneously argue (a) that this has nothing to do with Lieberman and simply reflects the urgency of keeping things moving in the Senate and (b) that Franken totally pwn3d Traitor Joe, and isn’t it nice to see a liberal who’s willing to fight fight fight the corporate phonies who blah blah blah.

McCain Continues to Prove Himself the Enemy of the Grassroots

My latest essay at Pajamas Media is up today, "McCain Continues to Prove Himself the Enemy of the Grassroots":

The timing was impeccable. On the day after HarperCollins released the cover photo for Going Rogue — Sarah Palin’s highly anticipated autobiography — Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s former chief campaign advisor, predicted that if Palin were to win the 2012 GOP nomination, “we would have a catastrophic election result.” It was Schmidt, a veteran Republican strategist, who first advised Senator McCain to select Palin as his running mate in 2008. And it was Schmidt who first criticized Governor Palin within the McCain camp as “going rogue.” Asked how Palin’s book might describe their relationship during the election, Schmidt suggested that perhaps he was the “anti-rogue in the running of the campaign.”

Schmidt’s comments provide a nice backdrop to a recent report at Politico (”McCain’s Mission: A GOP Makeover.”) It turns out that the Arizona senator has been positioning himself as a major power broker within the Republican Party hierarchy. He is identified in the article as the party’s titular head; and the erstwhile presidential nominee has been raising money for moderate GOP candidates and hitting the campaign trail for pragmatic allies. As noted in the article:

“I think he’s endorsed people with center-right politics because he has an understanding that the party is in trouble with certain demographics and wants to have a tone that would allow us to grow,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is McCain’s closest friend and ally in the Senate.

“At a time when our party is struggling and has a lot of shrill voices and aggressive voices, he’s one that can expand our party,” said John Weaver, a longtime McCain friend and strategist.

This meme of McCain’s reemergence as the GOP’s elder statesman and centrist savior is not likely to go down well among grassroots conservatives.

Read the whole thing at the link.

Mark Levin on Glenn Beck: 'Mindless', 'Incoherent' (AUDIO)

Not the most attactive YouTube, but it's worth a listen. Mark Levin's actually combining his own attack on John McCain with a condemnation of Glenn Beck's endorsement of "The One" over "The Maverick." Robert Stacy McCain's got a long but interesting analysis, plus more at Memeorandum:

See also, Right Wing Nut House, "IS GLENN BECK 'THE ENEMY'?"

Meghan McCain Wants to Finish Off the GOP

I didn't know Meghan McCain was a genuine skank. Yeah, I'm up on Ms. McCain's wars with everybody who's somebody on the conservative right today, but I had no idea that her brand of "progressive GOP politics" includes posting tweets like this one:

And actually, I backed John McCain in 2008 (surprise!), so I normally wouldn't argue that he was out to kill the GOP.

No, I'm just spinning the title of this entry off the New York Post's piece from earlier today, "Meghan McCain, Blonde Bomb Shell: John McCain Wounded the GOP; His Daughter Is Out to Finish the Job":

I liked Meghan McCain. In her faux hipster Urban Outfitter threads, she attempted to humanize her cantankerous, over-the-hill father during the presidential election with her "cute" bloggette. She recommended bands, shared playlists and posed cheekily in a controversial kaffiyeh that those crazy Columbia kids were wearing.

At this point, someone (maybe her mother?) suggested she should speak for the youngin' mavericks out there. She anointed herself head cheerleader on a one-woman squad, and went to work on her vision of a new Republican Party. A kinder, more gentle GOP where all everyone felt loved. In essence, one that would look more like an elephant in donkey's clothing.

The Daily Beast, Tina Brown's answer for those who thought the Huffington Post wasn't left-wing enough, gave her a weekly column and she was promptly booked on every Republican-hating show from "The View" to Bill Maher. Boy did she deliver -- a perfect underhand lob right over team liberal's home plate. With her bleached blond hair, heavy eyeliner and oodles of "umms" and "likes" she looked more like Lauren Conrad than Peggy Noonan.

Then came the blogs ... oh the blogs! Posts riddled with self-indulgent drivel and giggling suggestions on how bring more youth into the listless party fold. "Go Gay, GOP!" Each had one overarching theme: To win, the Republicans needed to be more like ... the Democrats.

"I don't know exactly what about me threatens them (Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter and Co.) so much, other than that people are listening to me," she writes in her latest cranium-inflating missive to the kids on the Internets. She brags that she has twice as many followers on Twitter as Malkin. "And trust me, Twitter is more of an indication of where young people are than books published." Books are so for old people!

Yeah, Twitter, where Meghan can brag about how she loves guys who're down with mofo!

More at the link.

I'm sending this post to Robert Stacy McCain (The Other McCain) to see what kind of fisking he'll work up (if any) on Meghan's lastest splash in the news.

P.S. Folks know I have something of a bad-boy rep on the right, but boasting my mofo creds on Twitter isn't part of my repertoire!

McCain on Meet the Press: Palin 'Absolutely Qualified' for Presidency

Here's John McCain on Sarah Palin from this morning's Meet the Press:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

MR. GREGORY: Let me turn to politics. You must have been shocked to see Governor Sarah Palin resign as governor.

SEN. McCAIN: Well, I wasn't shocked. Obviously, I was a bit surprised, but I wasn't shocked. I understand that Sarah made the decision where she can be most effective for Alaska and for the country. I love and respect her and her family. I'm grateful that she agreed to run with me. I am confident she will be a major factor in the national scene and, and in Alaska, as well.

MR. GREGORY: But you say you were surprised a little bit. Why?

SEN. McCAIN: Well, because she had not called me. We've discussed it since and I better understand the reasons for her decision.

MR. GREGORY: What were they?

SEN. McCAIN: Look, there's--well, how could she best serve? How could she most effectively serve Alaska and the country? And that was her decision.

*****

MR. GREGORY: She made a promise to the voters to serve out her term, didn't she?

SEN. McCAIN: I don't know if there was a "promise," but I do know that she will be an effective player on the national stage. And I will say, I have never seen the sustained personal family attacks that were made on Sarah Palin and her family in, in, in my life. Carl Cannon has a very interesting piece about the media establishment and the attacks that were made on her, and I'm sure that that had some impact. Ethics charge after ethics charge, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of, worth of legal fees. But the fact is she is very popular with our Republican base. She will be a strong voice. I chose her because she was a reformer, because she beat an incumbent governor, she was a popular Republican of her own party, she ignited our base, she did a great job as my running mate even under the most sustained personal attacks that...

MR. GREGORY: Right.

SEN. McCAIN: ...in certainly recent American political history.

MR. GREGORY: But, Senator McCain, you have faced personal torture, personal attacks, political attacks, investigations. You have never resigned from anything. Is it consistent with your qualities of leadership to resign an elected post like this?

*****

MR. GREGORY: You think she's qualified to seek the high, highest office in the land?

SEN. McCAIN: I know she's qualified. I know she's qualified.

MR. GREGORY: She is qualified?

SEN. McCAIN: Sure. Absolutely.

MR. GREGORY: No doubt about it.

SEN. McCAIN: No doubt about it. She has all the right instincts, all the right principles. She was a, she was a, a mayor, she's a governor. She understands the challenges that families face. She has, she has a great background, and I am confident that she will continue to play, as I say, a major role.

See also, The Hill, "McCain: Palin Not a Quitter."

Plus, Tammy Bruce, "Palin Hints at Independent Conservative Movement" (via Memeorandum).

Obama: "How Many More Have to Die..."

The Lede reports that another protest is called for tomorrow "outside Iran’s Parliament at 4 p.m. on Wednesday (which is 7:30 a.m. in New York)." And opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi plans to attend.

This photo is from the Boston Globe, "A Troubled Week in Iran":

A demonstrator heads towards Azadi Square during a rally in support of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in western Tehran June 15, 2009.

See also, Fox News, "Obama: 'Not Too Late' for Iranian Government to Peacefully Resolve Unrest":

Though some analysts see the protests on the streets of Iran as a potential tipping point that could eventually lead to the toppling of the regime, the U.S. president made clear that he's still interested in reviving diplomatic ties with the hard-line Islamic government.

For contrast, see Gateway Pundit. He's got tweets from Iran denouncing the administration appeasement:

Mr Obama how many more have to die for you to be hard and firm on dictator khamanei #IranElection #Neda #gr88 #Iran iran iran ...

Finally, don't miss Michael Ledeen, "Lessons Learned From Ten Days of the Iranian Uprising":

– Fifth, that there are cracks in the regime’s edifice, ranging from declarations of small groups of Revolutionary Guards calling on their brothers to defect to “the people,” to a phenomenon that is just beginning to be discussed here and there, mostly on the Net but originally in an Arab newspaper. Steve Schippert posted on it and did a first-class analysis. Steve starts with a report from al Arabiya that says senior ayatollahs have been meeting secretly in Qom to discuss significant changes in the structure of the Iranian state. In addition to the Iranian clerics, there was a foreigner: Jawad al-Shahristani, the supreme representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the foremost Shiite leader in Iraq.

If this is true, it is, as Steve says, huge. Because it means that senior religious leaders in Iran are talking to the representative of an Iraqi Imam who believes, as most Shi’ites did before Khomeini’s heresy, that the proper role of religious leaders is to guide their people from the mosque, not from the political capital. In other words, they are talking about the most serious form of regime change ...

Photo Credit: The Boston Globe.

Added: CNN, "Clerics join Iran's anti-government protests," via Memeorandum.

Hot Dogs and Hotties! Fourth of July for Mullah Diplomats!

Fox News reports that Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is stunned by Obama's Fourth of July invitations to Iranian diplomats, "Hot Dog Diplomacy: Congresswoman 'Stunned' by July 4 Invitations to Iranians" (via Memeorandum).

Well, so is Jules Crittenden, but he's got a "hot" plan:

I recommend the United States embassies and career diplomats that are being compelled to go along with this travesty mullah-proof their Fourth of July events by inviting a lot of girls in American flag bikinis, just to be on the safe side. It’s a surefire antidote to Obama’s latest dumb foreign policy plan!

Hey, maybe we can send over a few men in tights (teh gays) to the receptions as well! Brain Rage Blog knows where to find 'em! Great diversity, you know? They don't have gays in Iran!

See also, Say Anything, "Even After Beating and Murdering Protesters, Iranians Still Invited to 4th of July Celebrations."

And don't forget to invite some friends to your celebrations:

Jammie Wearing Fool, Invincible Armor, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Nice Deb, Becky Brindle, GrEaT sAtAn'S gIrLfRiEnD, Fishersville Mike, Ann Althouse, The Blog Prof, Monique Stuart, Edge's Conservative Movies, Stop the ACLU, The Conservative Manifesto, Gates of Vienna, Joust The Facts, Panhandle Poet, Steven Givler, The Astute Blogger, Chris Wysocki, Moonbattery, Sweating Through the Fog, Three Beers Later, PA Pundits, Paco Enterprises, Ken Davenport, Sister Toldjah, Blazing Cat Fur, The Daley Gator, Snooper's Report, Grandpa John's, Cranky Conservative, Jimmie Bise, Little Miss Attila, Moe Lane, Private Pigg, Pundit & Pundette, The Rhetorican, R.S. McCain, Saber Point, Stephen Kruiser, Suzanna Logan, TrogloPundit, Doug Ross Journal, Villainous Company, PoliGazette, Prying 1, The Western Experience, The Oklahoma Patriot, Right Wing Sparkle, Conservatism With Heart, Duck of Minerva, Wolf Howling, Right Wing Nation, Stephen Green, The Tygrrrr Express, The News Factor, Israel Matsav, The BoBo Files, Grant Jones, Tapline, New Testament News, Wizbang, William Jacobson, Phyllis Chesler, Right View from the Left Coast, Generation Patriot, Macsmind, Flopping Aces, Just One Minute, Dave's World, Sparks From the Anvil, Gateway Pundit, Political Pistachio, Liberty Pundit, Not One Red Cent, Right Truth, Dave's Notepad, The Red Hunter, Maggie's Farm, The Next Right, This Ain't Hell, Stop the ACLU, Right Wing Nuthouse, Melissa Clouthier, Paula in Israel, Pamela Geller, Vanessa's Blog, Pat's Daily Rants, Bob's Bar & Grill, Power Line, Melanie Morgan, Dave in Boca, Neo-Neocon, Right in a Left World, Flag Gazer, Politics and Critical Thinking, Riehl World View, Midnight Blue, Caroline Glick, The Average American, The Griper, FouseSquawk, The Other McCain, Cheat Seeking Missiles, Roger Simon, Classical Values, Samantha Speaks, Grizzly Mama, The Capitol Tribune, The Patriot Room, The Real World, RADARSITE, Serr8d's Cutting Edge, Bloviating Zeppelin, Born Again Redneck The Educated Shoprat, St. Blogustine, Yid With Lid, Pondering Penguin, Betsy's Page, The Anchoress, Ace of Spades HQ, Right Wing Sparkle, Thunder Run, The Classic Liberal, Conservative Grapevine, Cassy Fiano, Jim Treacher, NetRightNation, Q and O, Urban Grounds, Ed Driscoll, Cold Fury, Michelle Malkin, Neptunus Lex, Neo-Neocon, The Astute Bloggers, The Liberty Papers, The Monkey Cage, Law and Order Teacher, Mike's America, AubreyJ, Dan Collins, The Jungle Hut, Wake Up America, Dan Riehl, Nikki's Blog, Big Girl Pants, Maggie's Notebook, Hummers & Cigarettes, Mark Goluskin, Jawa Report, Darleen Click, The Skepticrats, Fausta's Blog, Clueless Emma, Obob's World, Seymour Nuts, Red State, Dr. Sanity, The Desert Glows Green, Not One Red Cent, Vinegar and Honey, Sarge Charlie, Thoughts With Attitude, Kim Priestap, Swedish Meatballs Confidential, Blonde Sagacity, Liberty Papers, TigerHawk, Point of a Gun, Right Wing News, No Sheeples Here!, Dana at CSPT, Glenn Reynolds, Obi’s Sister, Right Truth, Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels, Chicago Ray, Ace of Spades HQ, and Natalie's Blog, Five Feet of Fury, and, Amy Proctor.

Check out Robert Stacy McCain as well, "OBAMAPHILIA: LIVE!."

McCain on Iran

Via Dr. Sanity, "McCain Speaks Out on Iran":

Neda, "shot through the heart," has become "a symbol of the movement."

Why doesn't our president speak up like that?

Oh, I forgot, he's not "a member of the Insane Clown Posse."

Pamela and Jim have more ...

McCain: U.S. Has "Moral Obligation" To Support Iranians

From CBS News:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke with Bob Schieffer about the current crisis in Iran, continuing success in Iraq, and how to handle growing tension between the U.S. and North Korea.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Hat Tip: Real Clear Politics.

Down With Tyranny: Neocons Want "Blood Running in the Street"

It's not just Andrew Sullivan, Spencer Ackerman, and Frank Schaeffer spewing the most insane ravings of GOP demonization right now. Howie Klein's literally flipped his lid over the "neocons" who want "blood running in the streets" of Iran. Klein goes on about martyr Neda as if Americans killed her, then adds this:

This video is absolutely horrific and I don't recommend you watch it unless you're ready to shed some tears for our sisters and brothers in Tehran ...

While bloodthirsty vampires on the political right, your McCains, Pences, Liebermen and Cantors - whose only desire is to see blood running in the streets of Tehran - do whatever they can to inflame emotions and offer Iranian patriots false hope, the entire world is viscerally mourning for Neda. And Twitter is part of that at #neda. Mousavi, no friend of the West by a long shot, says he's prepared for martyrdom - he tweeted it - but Neda is already dead. Unlike him, she never ordered the deaths of 30,000 political prisoners or funded Hezbollah. President McCain, President Graham, President Lieberman are wrong - always ... about everything. But it is their cranky, crackpot voices - voices Charles Pierce explains so very well in Idiot America - that dominate the incendiary, trivial, ratings-hungry mass media.

Wow, President McCain and Lieberman?

Sheesh. Howie Klein is exactly the kind of unhinged Bush hater Pamela Geller was talking about!

(P.S. Interestingly, Klein puts in a good word for Ron Paul, "America's Biggest Asshole," so you've really got to think for a moment about how the ideological alliances line up sometimes.)

Why Meghan McCain Is Wrong

From Kim Priestap, at Pajamas Media, "Why Meghan McCain Is Wrong":

“I love you. Now, please change.”

That is the message Meghan McCain has for the Republican Party. Ms. McCain said she fell in love with the GOP while campaigning for two years with her father, John McCain. However, in spite of her newly minted affection for the Republican Party, she believes that in order for the party she loves to attract more young people like her, the party needs to be reshaped to reflect the views held by the hip generation of which she imagines that she is a part.

What changes does she think the GOP needs to make? It needs to be hip and edgier. She laments the perception that there are no Republican politicians who are exciting enough that anyone would want to wear his or her likeness on a piece of clothing. What a short memory she has. Her father’s vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, inspired the creation of numerous t-shirts, sweatshirts, and pins with her face on them. She also attracted crowds of tens of thousands at campaign appearances. However, that must be of little consequence to Ms. McCain, since those tens of thousands were the regular folks from the heartland of America who make this country work. They were not the Hollywood types or MTV crowd who wore Barack Obama adorned dresses at mutual admiration societies masquerading as video music award shows.

Ms. McCain also has a dim view of ideological conservatives. She thinks the Republican Party gives too much attention to Ann Coulter, whom she described as “offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing.” Rush Limbaugh is also unacceptable to Meghan, because he is the “extreme right-wing” and “dangerous” for the party — perhaps an unsurprising description in view of Rush’s hesitant and belated endorsement of her father in 2008. So whom does Ms. McCain think Republicans should turn to for political and cultural advice? None other than Russell Brand. A British “comedian,” Brand took time out of his MTV Music Awards hosting duties in September of last year to beg Americans to vote for Barack Obama. He also decided to insult and malign not just Sarah Palin, but her entire family

A thoughtful essay, with more at the link.

McCain Was Right on Fiscal Fundmentals!

Via Memeorandum, "On Spending and the Deficit, McCain Was Right":

Barack Obama used to get very upset about federal budget deficits. Denouncing an "orgy of spending and enormous deficits," he turned to John McCain during their presidential debates last fall and said, "We have had, over the last eight years, the biggest increases in deficit spending and national debt in our history … Now we have a half-trillion deficit annually…and Sen. McCain voted for four out of five of those George Bush budgets."

That was then. Now, President Obama is asking lawmakers to vote for a budget with a deficit three times the size of the one that so disturbed candidate Obama just a few months ago. And Obama foresees, for years to come, deficits that dwarf those he felt so passionately about way, way back in 2008.

Everywhere you go on Capitol Hill, you hear echoes of the last campaign's spending debate. So on Thursday morning, as the budget fight raged, I asked McCain about the president's seemingly forgotten concern about deficits. McCain doesn't like to rehash the campaign - "The one thing Americans don't like is a sore loser," he told me - but when I read him Obama's quote from the debate, he said, "Well, there are a number of statements that were made by then-candidate Obama which have not translated into his policies."

That's an understatement. The deficit issue could be one of the most, if not the most, consequential of Obama's unkept campaign promises. Just how consequential was made clear last week in a little-noticed conference call featuring Budget Director Peter Orszag. Orszag was trying to explain to reporters how the Obama administration calculated its rather rosy forecasts for economic growth. Near the end of the call, he was asked whether deficits along the lines of those predicted by the Congressional Budget Office are sustainable."

There's more at the link.

Cartoon Hat Tip: Political Pistachio.

Obama to Escape Damaging Campaign Finance Audit

The Politico reports a genuinely disturbing story on campaign finance in the aftermath of Barack Obama's deceitful underground fundraising operations that propelled him to the White House.

President-Elect Obama's fundraising practices will not be audited because he chose to go without public financing (a system's designed to take corruption out of politics), while John McCain's campaign is looking to a long period of government auditing (go figure?):

Federal Election Commission is unlikely to conduct a potentially embarrassing audit of how Barack Obama raised and spent his presidential campaign’s record-shattering windfall, despite allegations of questionable donations and accounting that had the McCain campaign crying foul.

Adding insult to injury for Republicans: The FEC is obligated to complete a rigorous audit of McCain’s campaign coffers, which will take months, if not years, and cost McCain millions of dollars to defend.

Obama is expected to escape that level of scrutiny mostly because he declined an $84 million public grant for his campaign that automatically triggers an audit and because the sheer volume of cash he raised and spent minimizes the significance of his errors. Another factor: The FEC, which would have to vote to launch an audit, is prone to deadlocking on issues that inordinately impact one party or the other – like approving a messy and high-profile probe of a sitting president.

McCain, on the other hand, accepted the $84 million in taxpayer money, which not only barred him from raising or spending more – allowing Obama to fund many times more ads and ground operations – but also will keep his lawyers busy for a couple years explaining how every penny was spent.

Especially galling is the fact that existing suspicions of massive financial improprieties are focused on the Obama campaign, not McCain's:

Allegations that the Obama campaign was willfully allowing foreign donations and excessive donations blossomed in the conservative blogosphere and prompted the Republican National Committee to file an FEC complaint.

Seizing on Obama’s reversal on a pledge to accept public financing if his Republican opponent agreed to do the same, as well as his campaign’s refusal to voluntarily release the names, addresses and employers of donors who gave less than $200 each – a group that accounted for about half of the more than $600 million that the campaign had raised through the end of September – the RNC asked the FEC “to immediately conduct a full audit” of all of Obama’s contributions.

It’s very rare for a complaint to trigger an audit, campaign finance insiders say.

I wrote about this in a Pajamas Media essay, "Obama’s Fundraising Fraud," where I concluded, "the Democratic nominee may now be running the biggest underground finance operation since President Nixon deployed the “plumbers” as his key operatives for CREEP in 1972."

No wonder some Democrats are worried about an Obama impeachment!

You'll Always Find Us Out to Lunch...

Well, we're down to the wire of an agonizingly long election.

I think I'm pretty much tapped out on pithy one-liners and enlightened prose discursions. So, I'll just let the Sex Pistols express how I'm feeling right now, considering the (apparent) over-dermination of a Barack Obama electoral victory tomorrow. Please enjoy, "Pretty Vacant":

There's no point in asking
You'll get no reply
Oh just remember I don't decide
I got no reason it's too all much
You'll always find us out to lunch
Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty we're vacant
Oh we're so pretty
Oh so pretty
A vacant...

Now before any (lefty) readers blow this off as sour grapes, remember ... I'm a political scientist, and there's oftentimes more emotion than reason in voter decision-making, as Larry Bartels explains at today's Los Angeles Times:

In 1960, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan described "the general impoverishment of political thought in a large proportion of the electorate." Shifts in election outcomes, they concluded, were largely attributable to defections from long-standing partisan loyalties by relatively unsophisticated voters with little grasp of issues or ideology. A recent replication of their work found that things haven't changed much....

Voters' strong tendency to reward incumbents for peace and prosperity and punish them for bad times looks at first glance like a promising mechanism of political accountability, because it does not require detailed knowledge of issues and policy platforms. As political scientist Morris Fiorina has noted, even uninformed citizens "typically have one comparatively hard bit of data: They know what life has been like during the incumbent's administration."

Unfortunately, "rational" rewarding and punishing of incumbents turns out to be much harder than it seems, as my Princeton colleague, Christopher Achen, and I have found. Voters often misperceive what life has been like during the incumbent's administration. They are inordinately focused on the here and now, mostly ignoring how things have gone earlier in the incumbent's term. And they have great difficulty judging which aspects of their own and the country's well-being are the responsibility of elected leaders and which are not.

This election year, an economic downturn turned into an economic crisis with the dramatic meltdown of major financial institutions. John McCain will be punished at the polls as a result. Whether the current economic distress is really President Bush's fault, much less McCain's, is largely beside the point.

Or, as Johnny Rotten might say:

Don't ask us to attend
'cos we're not all there.
Oh don't pretend 'cos I don't care
I don't believe illusions 'cos too much is real
So stop your cheap comment
'cos we know what we feel...

Anyway, thanks, dear readers, for tuning-in here at American Power throughout the year.

As always, I'll have more later... until then, vote life.

Exceptionalism: What We're Fighting For

Here's an excerpt from John McCain's essay at today's Wall Street Journal, "What We're Fighting For":

While most Americans are rightly concerned with the economic crisis, a world of pressing national security challenges also awaits the next president.

The gains our troops have made in the past 18 months in Iraq could be lost if we pull our troops out prematurely and regardless of the conditions on the ground. We have also dealt devastating blows to al Qaeda, especially in Iraq, but terrorists have found sanctuary on the Pakistan frontier among those trying to topple governments in both Kabul and Islamabad.

Afghanistan is reaching a crisis point, just as Iraq did in 2006. As an early supporter of the surge strategy in Iraq, I know that turning around this situation will require more than just increased troop levels. We also need a new, comprehensive strategy, one that integrates civil and military efforts and engages with various Afghan tribes.

Other major threats loom on the horizon: the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs; aggressive Russian behavior toward its neighbors; Venezuelan adventurism; genocide in Darfur; and global warming. And those are only the dangers that we know of. Just as few expected the Russians to invade Georgia, we remain unaware of precisely where our next crisis will erupt, or when. The only certainty is that, as Joe Biden guaranteed, the tests facing the next president will be more severe if he is seen as weak in national security leadership.

I have devoted my life to safeguarding America. Former Secretary of State George Shultz compares diplomacy to tending a garden -- if you want to see relationships flourish, you have to tend them. I have done that, by traveling the world and establishing ties with everyone from dissidents to heads of state. There is great need for American leadership in the world, and I understand that only by exercising that leadership with grace and wisdom can we be successful in safeguarding our interests.

When I am president, I will not offer up unconditional summit meetings with dangerous dictators, nor will I foreclose diplomatic tools that serve our interests. I will respect our trade agreements with our allies, not unilaterally renounce them. I will close the Guantanamo Bay prison and ban torture. I will expand our armed forces and transform our civil and military agencies to win the struggle against violent Islamic extremism.

I believe that America is an exceptional country, one that demands exceptional leadership. After the difficulties of the last eight years, Americans are hungry for change and they deserve it. My career has been dedicated to the security and prosperity of America and that of every nation that seeks to live in freedom. It's time to get our country, and our world, back on track.

As I've said many times, John McCain is unbeatable with respect to tradition, values, and protecting national interests.

After the dust settles from this election, this week, and especially in the years ahead, history will record - should Barack Obama win the presidency - the slipping away of an epic moment in our nation's journey of moral preservation and world exceptionalism.

The stakes are that high.

Activist Groups Prepare for Left-Wing Democratic Takeover

Far left-wing activists in the Democratic Party plan to shift a Barack Obama administration far to the left of the spectrum on everything from civil rights to energy to taxes, and beyond.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, in "Liberals, Sensing Victory, Try to Pull Obama to Left," nothing is off the table:

A phalanx of liberal think tanks and interest groups - anticipating a Democratic victory on Tuesday - are mobilizing to push Sen. Barack Obama to the left of his campaign positions....

A number of the economic and social prescriptions being pushed on Obama advisers would require greater spending that almost certainly depend on raising taxes -- threatening Sen. Obama's campaign promise to cut taxes.

The Campaign for America's Future, a progressive Washington group founded by a former adviser to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's presidential bids, is organizing a conference for this month on creating a government-funded investment fund for public works projects. The Center for American Progress recently released a two-year, $100 billion plan for producing renewable energy, and its president, former Clinton administration Chief of Staff John Podesta, has been tapped to lead the Obama transition team.

Last month in Washington, an organization recently formed by Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil-rights leader, attracted more than 100 leading activists on poverty and other social issues to a daylong conference. Mr. King demanded that the next president appoint a cabinet member dedicated to eradicating poverty. In a keynote address, Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs called for substantially higher tax collections to fund government investments in energy production, public works and eradicating poverty and other ills.

Sen. Obama's energy and economic policies include many of the same goals, but the senator says he will pay for his proposals with savings from cutting bureaucratic waste and ending the Iraq war.

The Center for American Progress likewise backs higher taxes based on a "pro-growth" structure steering funds to schools, health care, job training and technology innovations. Mr. Podesta's organization is one of several interest groups working with Mr. King's Realizing the Dream Inc. to push the federal government to cut the poverty rate in half over the next 10 years. The Census Bureau estimates that 12.5% of the population, or 37.3 million people, earned poverty-level incomes last year.

In addition to Messrs. King's and Podesta's organizations, other partners in the umbrella group, called Halfinten.org, include the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, which has endorsed Sen. Obama and conducted a voter-registration drive that has drawn criticism from the McCain campaign, as well as federal and local investigations, for fraudulent names submitted in some states....

Some groups already have emerged as Obama advisers, such as the Potomac Coalition, a collection of African-American former Clinton appointees and Senate aides, that advises the campaign on the economy. The members, many of whom now work on Wall Street, urged Sen. Obama to back the addition of homeowner assistance and a contracting provision for minorities and women in the $700 billion rescue of the financial sector.

This report confirms something I've said all along: That an Obama administration will be captured by radical groups seeking to hijack the state in furtherance of an extremist agenda:

...an Obama administration will push an extreme-liberal policy agenda of tax hikes, spending windfalls, economic stimulus, spread-the-wealth redistributionism, universal health care, infrastructure investment, fairness doctrine, global warming legislation, restrictions on gun rights, abortion on demand, embryonic stem cells, foreign importation of prescription drugs, union card-check voting, trade protectionism, precipitous Iraq withdrawal, ban on domestic wiretapping, opposition to mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, sex-education for kindergartners, race-based affirmative action, expanded welfare entitlements, radical education pedagogy, and enemy appeasement diplomacy with no preconditions (and more).

As we can see, this agenda is by no means far-fetched.

In an essay last week, progressive agitator David Sirota pledged to battle centrist elements in the Democratic Party and to "sweep out" Clintonites and moderates from the party establishment and get a "whole new crew in there."

That crew will be filled with the very radicals conservatives have warned about all year. Democratic activists are simply confirming what has been the main ideological battle lines of election 2008.