Glenn Beck Gets Results

The background reports are here and here. While leftists are pumping up the alleged support for the communist Color-of-Change boycott against Glenn Beck on Fox News, the show's viewership is growing dramatically. On Tuesday, over 3 million watched Beck at 5:00pm, second only to the O'Reilly Factor. What's interesting is that the boycott is not affecting Fox's bottom line (advertisers are simply switching time slots). And note, at the second video below, the participants at Representative Steve Buyer town hall on Tuesday are asking, "Who wrote all of these bills? And did the far-left Apollo Alliance have any role in writing any of them?" Glenn Beck gets results:

See David Weigel, "The Glenn Beck Effect."

Also, Atlas Shrugs, "Obama's 'Green' Czar: Underground Terrorist and Communist."

The Left's Pushback Against the 'Wellstone Effect' Meme

The Politico's got a piece up, "Conservatives Warn of 'Wellstone Effect'." But what's interesting is the pushback against the meme. Leftists are outraged that right-wingers would take issue with their crass exploitation of Edward Kennedy's death, so they've gone on the offensive to smear conservatives.

It turns out a bunch of "liberal lions" of the blogosphere are parroting the meme at Media Matter's post, "Conservative Media Invoke Wellstone Memorial Smear in Predicting Politicization of Kennedy's Death." See, for example, Hullabaloo, The Minnesota Independent, Taylor Marsh, and MyDD.

But the truth is unkind: " Democrats Accused of Using Edward Kennedy’s Death to Promote Reforms":

Within hours of Mr Kennedy’s death on Wednesday leading Democrats were trying to turn it into a rallying point for healthcare reform — something that he had called the “cause of my life” — and suggested that any legislation should carry his name.
“[It was] the passion of his life,” David Obey, the Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said. “Above all else, he would want us to redouble our efforts to achieve it.”

Robert Byrd, the senior Senate Democrat, called for the passage of healthcare legislation that would bear Mr Kennedy’s name, and Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, said: “Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality healthcare for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration.”

And, "Kennedy’s Death Spurs Calls to Pass Health Legislation":

The death of Sen. Edward Kennedy quickly became a rallying cry for Congress to pass health care overhaul legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office sent an email to reporters at around 2:30 a.m. today, just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overhaul. “Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration,” the statement read.

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, also issued a statement this morning calling for the passage of health care overhaul. “Let us continue his cause,” Stern said. “Let us take action this year to pass health care reform. And let us continue to build Kennedy’s vision of America.”

South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the House majority whip, said: “As we move forward with health reform legislation, his absence will be palpable. But let us use his inspirational words as our guide, to rise to our best ideals and finally provide decent quality health care to all Americans as a fundamental right, not a privilege.”

Kennedy, who spent the past year battling brain cancer, had frequently called health-care overhaul the “cause of my life.”

Plus the endless examples of Kennedy exploitation across the leftosphere:

MoveOn.org issued this statement:

In his honor, we'll redouble our efforts to win what Senator Kennedy called 'the cause of his life' -- health care for all.

And from the blogs:

At AFL-CIO Blog, "Filled with Hope for Kennedy’s Dream of Health Care Reform to Become Reality."

At Balloon Juice, "Time for the Teddy Kennedy Memorial Health Care Reform Bill."

At Booman Tribune, "The Best Way to Honor Ted Kennedy's Memory is to Pass a Really Good Health Care Bill."

At Change.org's Health Care Blog, "Complete Kennedy's Unfinished Work -- Pass Health Reform."

At Daily Kos, "Honor Sen. Kennedy: Pass Kennedy's Medicare for All Act."

At the Huffington Post, "Greatest Tribute to Kennedy: Pass Health Care for All."

At Firedoglake (Christy Hardin Smith), "Ted Kennedy: Health Care “Has Been The Passion Of My Life”."

At Firedoglake (Jane Hamsher), "Sebelius Asks, “What Would Teddy Do?”."

At Political Junkie, "Let's Pass Health Care Reform for Teddy Kennedy."

At Talking Points Memo, "Franken: Kennedy's Death 'Makes Me More Determined' To Pass Health Care Reform."

Nope. No left-wing Kennedy healthcare politicization there.

Those crazy conservatives! A "Wellstone effect"? Sheesh. That's absurd!

Cartoon Credit: William Warren at Americans for Limited Government.

*********

Added: From Eric Florack, "Ted Kennedy; Another Wellstone."

Ted Kennedy at 1980 Democratic National Convention: 'The Dream Shall Never Die'

I said my piece today on Ted Kennedy's tragic void in 1980 (see, "Hey, Ted Kennedy: 'Why Do You Want to Be President?'"). The historical moment is fascinating, nevertheless. Check these clips from the conclusion of Ted Kennedy's concession speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention:

May it be said of our Party in 1980 that we found our faith again.

And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special meaning for me now:

"I am a part of all that I have met
To [Tho] much is taken, much abides
That which we are, we are --
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.

For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

Leon Panetta at CIA: Obama's Fall Guy

From Kimberley Strassel, "The Fall Guy":

In the game of political football that is today national security, spare a thought for CIA Director Leon Panetta. Quarterbacking is hard enough without getting sacked by your own team.

President Barack Obama fought hard for the former California congressman during his uncertain February confirmation fight. That's about the last thing the president has done for his spy chief. Quite the opposite: If the latest flap over CIA interrogations shows anything, it's that Mr. Panetta has officially become the president's designated fall guy.

The title has been months in the making. Mr. Obama is contending with an angry left that's riled by his decisions to retain some Bush-era counterterrorism policies. He's facing Congressional liberals still baying for Bush blood. He's hired Attorney General Eric Holder, who is giving the term "ideological purity" new meaning. Mr. Obama's way to appease these bodies? Hang the CIA and Mr. Panetta out to dry.

More at the link.

Also, at the video, Bill O'Reilly, "Administration Infighting? Inside Story of Leon Panetta's Angry Tirade Over News of CIA Probe."

Ezekiel Emanuel: Health Rationer-in-Chief

From Betsy McCaughey, "Obama's Health Rationer-in-Chief: White House health-care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel blames the Hippocratic Oath for the 'overuse' of medical care":

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, health adviser to President Barack Obama, is under scrutiny. As a bioethicist, he has written extensively about who should get medical care, who should decide, and whose life is worth saving. Dr. Emanuel is part of a school of thought that redefines a physician’s duty, insisting that it includes working for the greater good of society instead of focusing only on a patient’s needs. Many physicians find that view dangerous, and most Americans are likely to agree.

The health bills being pushed through Congress put important decisions in the hands of presidential appointees like Dr. Emanuel. They will decide what insurance plans cover, how much leeway your doctor will have, and what seniors get under Medicare. Dr. Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, has already been appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of the Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research. He clearly will play a role guiding the White House's health initiative.

Dr. Emanuel says that health reform will not be pain free, and that the usual recommendations for cutting medical spending (often urged by the president) are mere window dressing. As he wrote in the Feb. 27, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA): "Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality of care are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change."

True reform, he argues, must include redefining doctors' ethical obligations. In the June 18, 2008, issue of JAMA, Dr. Emanuel blames the Hippocratic Oath for the "overuse" of medical care: "Medical school education and post graduate education emphasize thoroughness," he writes. "This culture is further reinforced by a unique understanding of professional obligations, specifically the Hippocratic Oath's admonition to 'use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment' as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of cost or effect on others."

In numerous writings, Dr. Emanuel chastises physicians for thinking only about their own patient's needs. He describes it as an intractable problem: "Patients were to receive whatever services they needed, regardless of its cost. Reasoning based on cost has been strenuously resisted; it violated the Hippocratic Oath, was associated with rationing, and derided as putting a price on life. . . . Indeed, many physicians were willing to lie to get patients what they needed from insurance companies that were trying to hold down costs." (JAMA, May 16, 2007).

Of course, patients hope their doctors will have that single-minded devotion. But Dr. Emanuel believes doctors should serve two masters, the patient and society, and that medical students should be trained "to provide socially sustainable, cost-effective care." One sign of progress he sees: "the progression in end-of-life care mentality from 'do everything' to more palliative care shows that change in physician norms and practices is possible." (JAMA, June 18, 2008).

"In the next decade every country will face very hard choices about how to allocate scarce medical resources. There is no consensus about what substantive principles should be used to establish priorities for allocations," he wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine, Sept. 19, 2002. Yet Dr. Emanuel writes at length about who should set the rules, who should get care, and who should be at the back of the line ....

Dr. Emanuel has fought for a government takeover of health care for over a decade. In 1993, he urged that President Bill Clinton impose a wage and price freeze on health care to force parties to the table. "The desire to be rid of the freeze will do much to concentrate the mind," he wrote with another author in a Feb. 8, 1993, Washington Post op-ed. Now he recommends arm-twisting Chicago style. "Every favor to a constituency should be linked to support for the health-care reform agenda," he wrote last Nov. 16 in the Health Care Watch Blog. "If the automakers want a bailout, then they and their suppliers have to agree to support and lobby for the administration's health-reform effort."

Is this what Americans want?

Mary Landrieu Health Care Town Hall: Ducking Question on ObamAbortion Mandate

Via Pat in Shreveport, here's this from the Times-Picayune, "Sen. Mary Landrieu's Health Care Town Hall Meeting Gets Raucous":

Sen. Mary Landrieu has left the building after about two hours with a boisterous crowd at the Louisiana National Guard outpost Reserve.

Crowd estimates at Thursday's meeting range from 500 to 650 people. There were a few more than 400 chairs set up, and it was standing-room only around the periphery.

Most of the questions were overwhelmingly in opposition to the general concept of "Obamacare," a pejorative label put on House Democratic plans for a health insurance overhaul. There were scores of other, less vocal attendees who sported stickers with messages like, "Health Care Now" and "We can't wait." Some were part of union organizing efforts. Others came with the encouragement of the White House's national field operation.

There appeared to be political operatives or activists from varying interests carrying video cameras, meaning some of the most heated exchanges could be circulating shortly online, as have key moments from health care town halls around the country.
Landrieu, a Democrat, spent much of the 90 minutes trying to focus people on the complexities of the current system and where the problems are regardless of one's coverage status: Medicare, Medicaid, employer plan, veterans care or uninsured. She said she was pleased with the reaction: "People took a lot of responsibility to respect each other and state their opinions. ... I learned a lot. That was the whole reason for today."

The senator said afterward that she remains generally skeptical of a "public insurance" option to compete with private plans and she underscored her support for the Wyden-Bennett "Healthy Americans Act." But she at least tacitly acknowledged that her preferred bill may not be what Senate leaders eventually bring to the floor.

Whatever does come to the full body, Landrieu said she will not be influenced by the political calculus of being associated with President Barack Obama -- who lost Louisiana badly and remains unpopular here -- or her national party leaders.

"I have my eyes not on the president or the Congress. I have my eyes on the people," said Landrieu, now one of 57 Democrats in a chamber that takes 60 votes to overcome minority delay tactics. (There are two independents who often vote with the Democrats.) Landrieu continued, "This is not about Democrats or Republicans or President Obama. This is about listening to the people I represent and seeing if we can find a way to better coverage."

This is a live-blogging report, so check the link for more. Here's the passage describing the moment at the video above:

The loudest cheer of the afternoon came in response to the question about whether Landrieu would commit to vote against a bill "which does not specifically exclude taxpayer funded abortion."

"I do not support taxpayer funded abortion. I do support people's choice under the Constitution." That prompted a reaction that drowned out the rest of the senator's answer.

Actually, Landrieu dodged the question.

And here's why, "Factcheck.org: Tax money Will Pay for Abortion in the Health-Care Bill."

It's pretty interesting, in any case, that Senator Landrieu is trying to buck the White House on healthcare reform. I think Louisianans have the pulse of the nation going on down there ...

Dana Loesch on Guns and Town Halls

Megan McArdle is supposed to be libertarian. But her comments on guns and town halls illustrate perfectly why she's iunreadable:

I take the narrow position: openly carrying a gun to a protest is idiotic.

And:

People carrying guns are acting like jerks.

Yeah, I left out a bunch of context ... but it's mostly "on the one hand" baloney.

Readers would be way better served by reading my new blogging BFF, Dana Loesch, "To Put It Bluntly: People Didn't Bring Guns to Town Halls Until Thugs Started Beating People Up":

I was at the townhall where Kennethy Gladney was beaten in the parking lot (you can clearly see, when playing the video frame-by-frame, a man in an SEIU shirt grabbing Gladney and thrashing him to the ground. You also see Gladney limping afterwards) and where a woman was punched in the face by a HCR-supporter in yet another SEIU shirt. My camera rolled as a man with a clean energy sticker got into another woman's face and yelled "SHUT UP," and told another woman she was "ugly." While rallying Saturday outside of Russ Carnahan's office another HCR supporter tried to shove me off the sidewalk and crunched my foot - all captured on camera - in response to my genuine question: "Can you give me 10 reasons why you support single payer?"

You want to know what else? I've had to close comments on my website, change permissions on my Flickr photos, and have security escort me at the station because certain people for health care reform began making vicious threats against me and my family. I've had to drastically change MY personal security measures. So yes, I know thing or two about REAL fear, bullying, and violence as a result of these townhalls and rallies and if the discussion is about violence at townhalls in relation to the presence of firearms, let me tell you: it's not coming from these responsible gun owners we're seeing on television.

People don't mention this when questioning why people feel the need to arm themselves to protect themselves. No, they call them racists and say nonsense like "It's because a black man is president!"

Keep in mind that a lot of the people showing up to these townhalls are disgruntled Obama supporters and black conservatives, but apparently their contributions don't matter if they dissent. People only mention the Gladney incident, my situation, the thugs attacking peaceful townhall participants in Tampa, et al., to call us the "angry mob."

The difference is that the people who began originally going to these townhall meetings did so to air months of grievances brought on by this congress's unwillingness to discuss healthcare; the majority of Americans do not support this legislation and congress refuses to listen. The president gets two hours of network airtime to pitch his legislation with no rebuttal allowed, not even by way of a paid commercial. Republicans were barred from amending legislation in the House. The Patients' Choice Act, a brilliant list of ideas, was wholly ignored by Democrats. Of course people who feel that their government isn't listening are going to be upset! Especially if their elected official is Eric Massa. But they wait their turn at the mic and sit down and clap politely for others after. The worst is that some congressperson is asked in heated tones why they exempted themselves from this reportedly-fabulous healthcare program they're proposing.

If people are concerned about violence at townhalls, perhaps they should tell groups such as Organizing for America, SEIU, and others to CHILL OUT. Does anyone else think it's odd that our government is telling these groups to "punch back twice as hard?" That 3200-supporters are being bussed in to disrupt townhalls of districts of which they're not even constituents? (I snuck into the side door at the now-infamous Carnahan townhall and the staffers immediately assumed that I was with Organizing for America told me about supporters who came from as far away as Kentucky in the "reserved seating section." Coincidently, those people popped up in the Kenneth Gladney video.) Does anyone question the tie between the amount of money that groups like SEIU gave to the last presidential campaign which may account for the administration's declaration that we're the problem?

The violence and pandemonium we've seen on the news has been caused by thugs acting with their fists not law-abiding citizens. Guns and knives are tools. Fear of inanimate objects is dangerous because it excuses and enables the actual perpetrator. Blaming guns for violence is like blaming your pencil for your spelling errors. Ray guns don't vaporize Zarbonians, Zarbonians vaporize Zarbonians (Gary Larson).

More at the link, and don't miss Dana's blog, "The Dana Show."

Fox Special Report on the Death of Ted Kennedy: 'Last of the Kennedy Royalty, the Least Talented'

It's a full-length clip, but lots of compelling discussion on the life, politics, and legacy of Ted Kennedy:

Krauthammer's comments at 3:50 minutes mirror some of my own in my essay today, "Hey, Ted Kennedy: 'Why Do You Want to Be President?'."

Networks Won't Air Anti-ObamaCare Advertisement

From Fox News, "ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan":

The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House.

The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS. On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form.

"It's a powerful ad," said Bob Adams, executive director of the League of American Voters, a national nonprofit group with 15,000 members who advocate individual liberty and government accountability. "It tells the truth and it really highlights one of the biggest vulnerabilities and problems with this proposed legislation, which is it rations health care and disproportionately will decimate the quality of health care for seniors."

Adams said the advertisement is running on local network affiliates in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Maine and Pennsylvania. But although CBS has approved the ad for national distribution and talks are ongoing with FOX, NBC has questioned some of the ad's facts while ABC has labeled it "partisan."

"The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue," spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in a written statement. "Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News."

NBC, meanwhile, said it has not turned down the ad and will reconsider it with some revisions.

"We have not rejected the ad," spokeswoman Liz Fischer told FOXNews.com. "We have communicated with the media agency about some factual claims that require additional substantiation. As always, we are happy to reconsider the ad once these issues are addressed."

Adams objects to ABC's assertion that his group's position is partisan.

"It's a position that we would argue a vast majority of Americans stand behind," he said. "Obviously, it's a message that ABC and the Obama administration haven't received yet."

Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit, "It Has Begun. State-Run Media Refuses to Run TV Ads Critical of Obamacare (Video)."

Hey, Ted Kennedy: 'Why Do You Want to Be President?'

The New York Daily News cites Chris Matthews' comments on Ted Kennedy from yesterday's Today show (video here). At about 2:03 minutes, Matthews says, "Roger Mudd asked him the perhaps the best journalists' question of modern times: 'why do you want to be president?' ... it took Ted Kennedy 70 words to get to the answer, which was 'restoration'. He just wanted to bring back what Bobby and Jack had given us."

Matthews, an Irish Catholic Democratic Party insider, practically creams himself in talking about Kennedy. No, Kennedy didn't take 70 words to say why he wanted to be president. Kennedy didn't know why he wanted to be president; and Roger Mudd's interview is a classic in the history of modern presidential politics. CBS has the short video clip here, with this caption:

In November 1979, Sen. Ted Kennedy was preparing to run against incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter for president. CBS News broadcast an hour-long special report on Kennedy, reported by correspondent Roger Mudd. Kennedy's rambling answer to Mudd's question "Why do you want to be president?" dealt a strong blow to the senator's presidential hopes.

Note that the Boston Globe ran a special earlier this year, "Ted Kennedy, A Life in Politics," and the clip above from that broadcast includes footage of Roger Mudd's recollections of the moment. It's both dramatic and devastating. I especially like Ellen Goodman, at 2:15 minutes, who just nails it with no left-wing spin: "He didn't want to be president."

And this really goes to the heart of not just what was going on for Kennedy in 1980, but what was going on for Ted Kennedy and the crisis of Democratic Party liberalism. As strange as it may be, it's as if Kennedy was struck by a lightning bolt between the eyebrows, and this is from a man whose brother famously extolled Americans to "ask not what what your country can do for you ..." Ted Kennedy had no vision of his own. He was a follow-on Kennedy who could not pick up from where is brothers left off to offer a new vision for America. If you watch the CBS clip at the link above, Kennedy goes on in the Mudd interview about "inflation," about how the U.S. was falling behind other counties in whipping inflation. Michael Dukakis sounded more interesting in 1988. And why? Why was Ted Kennedy so out of it? Couldn't Kennedy use the "malaise" crisis of the Carter years as a vehicle to announce a new vision of political economy. Other Democrats could. Gary Hart went on in 1984 to challenge Walter Monday for the Democratic nomination by building a reputation for "new ideas," including calls for industrial policy and innovative investments in workers as stakeholders in their future.

There was, in short, no "new Democrat" in Kennedy's version of Democratic politics, and hence he had no driving vision to animate his quest for the presidency in 1980. That's not to say that Senator Kennedy was a spent force. Indeed, his influence kept growing as the clarity of his role as Kennedy patriarch brightened. It is to say that Kennedy himself became something of a travesty of the ideology he sought to champion. As far as we can see here, Kennedy stood for the raw acquisition and retention of power. After he failed to resurrect the Camelot mystique in the White House, he perhaps soothed the pain of his own inability with his endorsement of Barack Obama in 2008 - an Obama presidency would vindicate the hardline leftist program that he himself was impotent to effect. Interestingly, President Obama is likely more of a radical standard-bearer than Kennedy had anticipated. And thus, it's perhaps fitting that Kennedy's passing comes precisely when the Democrats are now facing the brutal letdown of the electorate's repudiation of their program. To paraphrase Senator Kennedy's words at the 2008 Democratic Convention, "the failure lives on."

YouTube has posted a bunch of clips from the "Live in Politics" series, here. See also the Boston Globe's series on Kennedy's life, here.

ACLU Spies on U.S. Covert Intelligence Officers

Michelle Malkin was on Fox & Friends just now. She was talking about the ACLU's "John Adams Project," which is a spying operation on America's spies. ACLU heavies have been following CIA officials, taking pictures of them at their homes, and then showing them to Guantanamo detainees to get information on prisoner treatment at the facility.

Michelle's piece on this yesterday is here, "ACLU: Spying for America’s Enemies."

But check out Investor's Business Daily's editorial as well, "Picturing The Enemy":

Security: The ACLU sneakily photographing CIA officers near their homes, then showing the shots to the imprisoned planners of the 9/11 attacks. A fruitcake fantasy? The government is looking into exactly this.

When the Washington Post three and a half years ago uncovered the CIA's "black prisons" program, in which enhanced interrogation was used against terrorist detainees to foil future atrocities, we forcefully argued that such secret wartime operations ought never be outed.

The Post may have won a Pulitzer for its revelation, but we feel more strongly than ever today. And a new story in that same newspaper gives new facts about the harm it did, and continues to do.

A Justice Department investigation is now apparently investigating whether photos of covert CIA officials surreptitiously taken by the American Civil Liberties Union's "John Adams Project" were unlawfully shown to terrorist detainees charged with organizing the attacks of 9/11.

It's all supposedly part of military lawyers' aggressive defense of their terrorist defendants, on whom enhanced interrogation may have been used. But the Justice probe seems to have given quite a scare to ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. Refusing to comment on the specifics of his organization's photo activities on behalf of "our clients," Romero complained that the government was not investigating "the CIA officials who undertook the torture."

Has there ever been a more outrageous trading of places? Those behind the attacks that murdered thousands are now the victims? And the courageous U.S. government officials who grilled them for the purpose of preventing further terrorist attacks are now the villains?

Instead of receiving the protection they deserve, they and their family members have apparently been spied on by the ACLU and have had their likenesses displayed to al-Qaida members.

What if these detainees get released — which the ACLU obviously wouldn't mind seeing happen? Will descriptions of those CIA officers be relayed up the al-Qaida food chain? Will there be "future ops" files on these interrogators and their families somewhere in the mountainous caves of Afghanistan and Pakistan?

The Post story notes that leftist groups here and abroad, European investigators and others "have compiled lists of people thought to have been involved in the CIA's program, including CIA station chiefs, agency interrogators and medical personnel who accompanied detainees on planes as they were moved from one secret location to another."

It says that "working from these lists, some of which include up to 45 names, researchers photographed agency workers and obtained other photos from public records." The ACLU's Romero shrugs his shoulders and calls all that "normal" lawyerly research.

It may be normal for a group that throughout its history has provided aid and comfort to America's adversaries, but compiling a long enemies list and attaching pictures to go with the names should be the least-normal thing imaginable in a free society.

The Washington Post's initial article is here.

Wellstoning Ted Kennedy: Democrats 'Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste'

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

-- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

The image is from Carol at No Sheeples Here!, "ChappaquiddiCARE™." And recall JammieWearingFool's comment this morning, that remembrances for Ted Kennedy will be like "a Wellstone memorial on steroids."

And while Michelle Malkin's suggested we put aside "ideological differences" to "mark this passing with solemnity," the Democratic-left wants to both whitewash Kennedy's destructive history and exploit his death for political purposes.

For example, Chris Matthews today described Barack Obama as "the "last brother" of the Kennedy political dynasty; and worse, Matthews is quoted saying, "Jack Kennedy was killed in an open car in Dallas in the midst of the most hated–it’s like the mood we’re in right now." (Even though Jack Kennedy was murdered by a communist who spent time in the Soviet Union.)

Doug Powers responded to Matthews with, "Chris Matthews is Wrong to Say Obama is the Last Kennedy Brother."

Apparently, Andrew Brietbart has let loose with some "invective" against Kennedy, as noted at the Politico, "Not All Kennedy Critics Hold Fire." And Think Progress is all over the story, "Andrew Breitbart Unleashes A Torrent of Invective Against Sen. Ted Kennedy's Legacy On Twitter."

But leftists are conveniently skipping over this tweet:

In this moment I cant but recognize absolute backwardness of media & society. Bush=EVIL. Ted Kennedy=SAINT. Im gonna keep fighin', folks.

See also, Gateway Pundit, "Liberals Smear Eric Cantor & Bash Andrew Breitbart in Kennedy Reports."

Plus, more context from Newsbusters:

I'm all for remembering a man's good qualities upon his death. But not at the price of ignoring—and denying—history. Yet that's just what David Shuster did during today's 4 PM hour on MSNBC when he claimed that Kennedy "didn't dabble in small personal attacks." This of the man who invented the dark political art form of "borking."

And note this, from Kim Priestap, "Will Kennedy's Death Bring About a Wellstone Spectacle for Health Care?":

It seems the left is intent on debasing Kennedy's death with a concerted effort to manipulate the American people into supporting Obama's health care reform. Will it work or will it turn into a Paul Wellstone spectacle with similar results? Considering how pissed the American people are at the left and the Democrats for trying to shove this down their thoats, I have a feeling they won't appreciate this new push for a government take-over of health care recycled and presented to them in Kennedy wrapping. It's crass, cynical, and simply disgusting.

Michelle Malkin has more on that, "The Wretched Excess Begins."

And Gateway Pundit again with, "AP: Obama to Deliver Eulogy at Kennedy Funeral" ("Here we go ...The messiah and the saint").

Well, you get the picture ...

See also, The Anchoress, "Ted Kennedy, Healthcare & Purgatory – More UPDATES" (a super huge Kennedy roundup). And, Nick Gillespie, "Ted Kennedy and the Death (Hopefully) of an Era" (via Memeorandum).

Rachel Lucas: Visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau

These are photos, from Rachel Lucas, of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, in Oświęcim, Poland. Ms. Lucas' photo-essay is here, '“We have to go into the despair and go beyond it, by working and doing for somebody else, by using it for something else”.' Be sure to read it all. Ms. Lucas' feelings of anticipation, fear, and yearnings for mysteries unfolded made me well-up a couple of times:

The title is a quote by Elie Wiesel and I use it because I’ve spent the last several weeks trying to write this post but failing, especially when it came to the title. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I titled this a hillbilly travelogue, and what do you name a blog post about Auschwitz-Birkenau?

We had 3 days in Krakow, and set aside the first day for our trip to Auschwitz. This is something I have wanted to do for a very, very long time. I started reading about WWII and the Holocaust when I was 10 years old and have never stopped. It’s one of those things that you just can’t let go until you finally understand it, and I’ll never completely understand it.

The first picture of this post is the first one I took at Birkenau. As you can see, there was a thunderstorm brewing. The truth is, the whole scene was surreal, and very oddly beautiful. I hate to say that, but it is true. The grass was the most intense saturated lush green you can imagine, and it was about 72 degrees, and the deep gray clouds loomed and thundered and rained on us in between bouts of sunshine – - and the incongruity of it all is something I will never forget in my lifetime.

There was such natural beauty visible to any human standing in the middle of Birkenau that day. It was as if nature was asserting herself over all the despair and ugliness. Look how green I can be, feel this perfect air, listen to this thunder, there is always something good that will come out of something awful.

But it is still awful, and always will be awful, in ways no words can tell.

Don't miss the whole thing. I too have been studying Nazi history since I was a little boy. And I wrote my dissertation on the inadaquacies of the Western democracies in balancing German power (and in deterring the outbreak of World War II) as the scholarly result of my own fascination with Germany's 20th century history.

I too will visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. And I'm hoping it's going to be sooner rather than later. My sister's husband is Hungarian, and I've been invited to spend time with the family in Eastern Europe any time. When my sister came home from visiting last Christmas, I told her I wanted to visit Auschwitz. I can't go quite yet, but thanks so much to Rachel Lucas for sharing her pilgrimage and reminding me not only that I need to go, but that's it's essential to do so.

(Related: "Nazi Germany's Years of Extermination, 1939-1945.")

Obama on Kennedy: 'One of the Most Accomplished Americans Ever to Serve Our Democracy'

At the White House blog, "One of the Most Accomplished Americans Ever to Serve our Democracy":

The Kennedy name is synonymous with the Democratic Party. And at times, Ted was the target of partisan campaign attacks. But in the United States Senate, I can think of no one who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the aisle. His seriousness of purpose was perpetually matched by humility, warmth, and good cheer. He could passionately battle others and do so peerlessly on the Senate floor for the causes that he held dear, and yet still maintain warm friendships across party lines.

And that's one reason he became not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy.

His extraordinary life on this earth has come to an end. And the extraordinary good that he did lives on. For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he was the defender of a dream.

I don't doubt that Senator Kennedy deserves such deep feelings in commemoration. What's interesting to me is how the death of Kennedy, whose influence in American politics has long been overrated, is now going to drive a sympathy-push for the passage of healthcare legislation Americans have already repudiated.

See WSJ, "Kennedy’s Death Spurs Calls to Pass Health Legislation" (via Memeorandum).

Also, Ed Morrissey, "Videos: Chris Matthews, Not Politicizing Kennedy’s Death."

The Edward M. Kennedy Memorial Health Care Reform Bill?

I have nothing but blessings for the Kennedy family upon the news of Senator Edward Kennedy's passing. With his death, along with Eunice Kennedy Shriver's last week, we have now the melancholy sense of the final sunset on the Kennedy influence. I am with Michelle Malkin when she writes:

Put aside your ideological differences for an appropriate moment and mark this passing with solemnity.

That said, I'll just note that final farewells for Senator Kennedy have yet to be said and the Democratic-leftists are already exploiting the liberal icon's death for political gain.

From William Jacobson, "Rush Was Right: Dems Call For 'The Kennedy Memorial Health Bill'." William links to this post from Balloon-Juice:

" it’s time to come back after Labor Day with a single coherent Senator Edward M. Kennedy Health Care Reform Bill, and to twist whatever arms, ears, or other parts are necessary to get a good strong comprehensive bill passed and signed, NOW. We owe the memory of a great man no less."

No degree of rank hypocrisy nor indecency surprises me about the Democrats anymore. In Massachusetts, state law requires a special election to replace a U.S. senate vacancy. Passed in 2004 to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a possible Senate replacement to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, now Democratic state lawmakers are seeking to reverse the law to allow straight appointment by the governor's office. As Ann Althouse notes:

So there are 2 questions: 1. Is the death of Teddy Kennedy a sufficiently powerful event to counter the opposition to the health care bill? and 2. Is the death of Teddy Kennedy a sufficiently powerful event to overcome the embarrassment of changing the Massachusetts law back to what it was before it was changed to thwart a Republican?

See also, Karyn McDermott, "The Edward M. Kennedy Memorial Health Care Reform Bill 2009."

Senator Feingold: Yes, ObamaCare Vote Before Christmas, Public Option Alive

Folks might need to update their posts. It's a false meme that there'll be "no healthcare vote before Christmas." The source for the claim is Senator Russell Feingold, and his office has now issued an updated statement:

At the beginning of the August recess, most folks coming out were opposed to any sort of health care reform. But in the last few I have held, I have noticed more and more reform proponents coming out and being heard. Overall, in the seventeen years I’ve been holding these meetings, there has been strong support for health care reform. I’ve been saying for weeks that it will probably be right before Christmas before we have a health care reform bill to vote on. I will continue working to make sure we do and it is one with a strong public option.

Feingold's talking about the town hall forums he's held in Wisconsin. Here's Feingold's comments on the public option, from a meeting today in rural Marathon County:

I do think there should be a public option. I think there should be some choice here between people like what they have now fine. They should be able to keep it ... But a public option means that if you don't have any insurance or if you don't like what you have there's an alternative.

And here's Feingold in an interview today with the Appleton Post-Crescent:

Can you see yourself voting for any health care package that doesn't include a public option?

I would rather not. If we do something weak or just change one thing — like (including) pre-existing conditions, which is very important — I'm afraid we're not going to deal with the fundamental economic and personal issues that are involved here ....

How does long-term care fit into the national health care debate?

Wisconsin has been innovative and saved hundreds of millions of dollars by providing home-based care through our Family Care program. It has been a model for the country.

So whatever bill comes out, we should encourage an inclusion of home and community care.

I think we would get this. This is one (measure) that is not so controversial, as our population is getting older. As I like to say, the baby boomers are falling apart.

This is one of my top priorities for the health care bill, with some sort of public option, cost containment and making sure Wisconsin doesn't get ripped off on the reimbursements.

Frankly, it doesn't sound like much has changed for the Dems' ObamaCare agenda.

Plus, check out Feingold's statements earlier this year advocating a U.S. single payer system. From Verum Serum, "Sen. Feingold Defends Public Plan, Admits Ultimate Goal is Single-Payer":

Bleeding Hearts for ObamaCare: Maybe Crying Will Help Dems' Tanking Support?

Look, no one wants to learn of heartbreak stories of real people struggling with insurance bureaucracies, but trying to make Senator Tom Coburn, who is a family physician, into a heartless abomination of anti-ObamaCare obstructionism isn't going to do the trick. Here's this woman at Coburn's townhall yesterday. She says her insurance company's leaving her husband out in the cold: "We left the nursing home ... and they told us we are on our own":

NewsOK's got the story, "U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn Finds Mixed Views at Forum on Health Care":

More than 500 people attended the noontime event in the Chase Building plaza, and not all agreed with the fiscally conservative Republican.

One woman, a military veteran, asked Coburn, "Morally, how can you deny Americans affordable insurance?”

Coburn was quick to respond.

"One of the reasons it’s not affordable is because government is in the market in the first place,” he said. "Why as a veteran do you have to go to the Veteran Administration (hospital) instead of anywhere else you want?”

After another woman cried as she spoke about a sick relative, Coburn said bigger government won’t lead to health care reform.

"What’s missing from the debate is us as neighbors helping people who need help,” he said.

"The idea that government is a solution to problems is a very inaccurate statement.”

Coburn, who opposes the Democrats’ measure, has introduced a bill that would expand health care by subsidizing private insurance through refundable tax credits and forcing insurers into shared risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions.

Steve Benen, no surprise, has strong words for Coburn:

Coburn's answer represents mindless, reflexive opposition to government, for opposition's sake. It's a worldview that's as shallow as it is destructive ....

I'll never understand the right's obsession with hating the government, but for Coburn to lecture that woman in dire straits about the evils of government intervention in the health care system is callous, cruel, and exactly the kind of twisted thinking policymakers will have to reject to pass real reform.

Benen, the abominable disgrace that he is, doesn't mention that Senator Coburn tells the woman that, "Yeah, we'll help ... the first thing we'll do is see what we can do to help you, individually, through our office." Then Coburn goes on to explain that Americans must reinvigorate our tradition of community caring, focusing on "us as neighbors, helping people that need our help."

We won't get that from radical lefitsts who see every solution to society's problems as strengthening the long arm of the Orwellian state. Benen also might note that ObamaCare's certainly no friend to the woman at the video. Indeed, the logical conclusion is that Zeke Emanuel's cost rationalization regime would likely put the lady's husband out to pasture.

See also, Daily Kos, "This is Your GOP on Healthcare Reform," and Think Progress, "Coburn Tells Weeping Victim of Broken Health Care System That Government Isn't the Solution."

More at Memeorandum.

Related: "Polls Show It's Time for Democrats to Drop Healthcare Reform."

'Leave Our Penises Alone': No Wait! 'Topless Rights' Protest in Venice Beach

Well, Ann Althouse reports on Rush Limbaugh's exhortation, "leave our penises alone":

This is getting out of hand. There is a story that some officials in the Obama administration are pushing for circumcision for all boys born in the USA to fight HIV/AIDS. Not that I'm against circumcision, but it's a family's decision. Leave our penises alone, too, Obama!

Actually, liberated women in Venice Beach are focused on breasts, not penises:

Plus: "Video Snapshot: 'Topless Rights' Protest Hosted by Raëlian UFO Clone Sex Cult."

I think I'll stick to town halls!

Hat Tip: Glenn Reynolds.

Obama Breaks Another Pledge: Now 'Looking Back' on Terror Prosecutions

Gateway Pundit has the video, "Team Obama Opens Investigation of CIA Officials for Treating Al-Qaeda Killers Badly." In a January interview with George Stephanopolous, President-elect Obama pledged, "we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."

But from today's Los Angeles Times:

In naming a special prosecutor to investigate the CIA's use of harsh interrogation tactics, the Obama administration has plunged into just the kind of controversy it said it wanted to avoid -- a polarizing, backward-looking fight over issues far removed from the president's top priorities.

At a time when healthcare and other signature initiatives are in trouble on Capitol Hill and President Obama's approval ratings are slipping, he now faces the prospect of a long, distracting probe into policies of the Bush administration -- policies Obama has already denounced.

And the furor is likely to be all the sharper because it pits the most liberal elements of Obama's base against the most unyielding elements of the Republican right.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs sought Monday to position Obama out of the line of fire.

"The president has said repeatedly that he wants to look forward, not back, and the president agrees with the attorney general that those who acted in good faith and within the scope of legal guidance should not be prosecuted," Gibbs said in a statement. "Ultimately, determinations about whether someone broke the law are made independently by the attorney general."

But keeping the president above the fray may not be easy.

"Unfortunately, the pressure . . . to indict someone will be overwhelming," said Mark Lowenthal, a former senior CIA official. That will produce "two simultaneous unappealing outcomes," he said. "Half the population will think it is a whitewash and the right people weren't indicted. And half the population will think it is a lynch mob.

"If the White House thinks they can control this," Lowenthal said, "they aren't nearly as smart as I think they are."

Also, previously, from Jennifer Rubin, "Torture Prosecutions and Obama’s Radical Political Agenda."

Cartoon Credit: William Warren at Americans for Limited Government.

Political Terror in the Heartland: Quincy Tea Party Fundamentalists

From Founding Bloggers, "EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Political Terrorism In The Heartland – Inside the Quincy Tea Party Cell":

This is part one. Click the link for the full video.

Hat Tip: Glenn Reynolds.

Holder to Reopen CIA Abuse Cases

From the Wall Street Journal, "Prosecuting the CIA":

'It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department." –Attorney General Eric Holder, April 2009

"Justice Department Names Prosecutor to Reopen CIA Abuse Cases" –Wall Street Journal, yesterday

Mr. Holder had it right the first time. His about-face yesterday, compounded by his release of a 2004 internal CIA report on that agency's handling of terrorists, opens a political war that President Obama, the CIA and above all the country will live to regret.

This is a trap the Administration set for itself. Mr. Obama and his team have attempted to appease their political left by publicly denouncing the Bush Administration's national security policies, even as they claimed to want to forget the past. Their disparagement has only fed the liberal demand for Bush prosecutions and increased the pressure on Mr. Holder to appoint a prosecutor.

Justice threw kerosene on those politics yesterday with its release of findings compiled by the CIA's inspector general in 2004 about the agency's detention and interrogation of terrorists. The ACLU had won a court order for their release. We were still reading its hundreds of pages at deadline, but most of the supposedly damning details had already been leaked. The new bits include the fact that interrogators threatened terrorists with a gun shot in a nearby room, with a power drill and cigarette smoke, and against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family. We suspect millions of Americans will be shocked to learn that these unshocking details are all that the uproar over "torture" is about.

Also, John at Power Line:

Having read the CIA report in its entirety, I am struck once again by how humane our treatment of captured terrorists was intended to be, and generally was. The handful of incidents highlighted by press accounts of the report came to light precisely because they were reported as deviations from the treatment of detainees that had been authorized by DOJ lawyers.

I'll be reading over more of this information today.

There's lots of debate at Memeorandum.

Interesting to me is what's going on at the CIA. See ABC News, "Obama White House v. CIA; Panetta Threatened to Quit: Tensions Lead to CIA Director's "Screaming Match" at the White House." Also, the Astute Bloggers, "THE SOPRANOS STYLE OF ERIC HOLDER."

Obama Faces Pressure to Postpone the Public Option

President Obama should abandon the "public option" altogether, and push for genuine reform of insurance markets instead. He's a Democratic-socialist, so of course he won't. The guy's apparently willing to tank a second term in the process, so give the dude credit for tenacity (or bone-headedness).

In any case, from CNN, "Obama, Democrats Urged to Find Unity on Health Care Reform":

With health care negotiations stalled until Congress comes back from August recess, a top Democratic strategist says President Obama and his party need to seize control of the debate.

"We need message discipline on the Democratic side," Democratic strategist and CNN contributor Donna Brazile said. "I can't speak for Republicans, but I can tell you, without message discipline, this has been a very difficult, uphill battle for the president."

Obama has spent the past week trying to put out fires sparked after his administration appeared to hedge on support for a government-run public option. Some of the greatest criticism is coming from liberals who are now threatening to vote against any bill that does not include such an option.

At a town hall meeting over the weekend, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, implored the president not to drop the public option plan and said his efforts to be bipartisan are futile.

"Yes, we know that you are a nice man, that you want to work with the opposite side of the aisle. But there comes a time when you need to drop that and move forward," she said. "We're saying to you, Mr. President, 'Be tough. Use everything that you've got. Do what you have to do. And we have your back.'

Maxine Waters pisses me off, frankly. "Be tough ..." Give me a break. The rest of the country is not like Waters' South Central socialist constituency in the 35th Congressional District.

I looked for video the other day of her town hall, which was a no-conflict zone from what I read. Here's some video that's now been uploaded:

My earlier post is here, "Maxine Waters on ObamaCare Protests: 'I Sent Them a Message ... Don't Try That With Maxine Waters'."

Also, from Gateway Pundit, "Socialist Maxine Waters Blasts "Neanderthal" Opposition to Obamacare ...Update: Waters Challenges Town Hall Protesters."

Dick Morris: Democrats Could Lose 100 Seats in 2010

From Gateway Pundit, "Dick Morris Warns Democrats Could Lose 100 Seats in 2010":

Barack Obama's approval ratings continue to plummet ... Gallup shows the president's approval ratings hitting a new low.

The president's Rasmussen approval index numbers also hit a new double digit low this weekend at -14. Barack Obama's presidential index numbers are back in negative double digits for the first time since he smeared the nation's police force by saying an officer had acted stupidly for arresting Obama's out of control Harvard friend.