Carly Fiorina Profiled at Los Angeles Times

See, "Fiorina Presents a Sharp Contrast in Images":

The Senate bid is Fiorina's first run for office, but she has a voting record that is spotty at best and, by all accounts, she had little interest in politics well into adulthood.

"She had," her first husband, Todd Bartlem, said in a recent interview, "no opinions."

She set sail against Boxer with the ideological winds of the moment, tapping into the anti-incumbent anger that has swept some portions of the nation. While decrying the partisan divide in Washington, Fiorina has derided Boxer as "an embarrassment" and has claimed that Boxer is backed by environmental "extremists," although she seemed flummoxed recently when asked to name them.

In a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans, Fiorina has surprised the political establishment by declining to make many nods toward the center.

She has remained a steadfast defender of Arizona's controversial immigration law and has not wavered in support of Proposition 23, the November ballot measure that would suspend efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Fiorina has called Proposition 23 a job-saver and was recently feted at a fundraiser hosted in part by the billionaire Koch brothers, who control oil pipelines and have pumped money into the fight.

Fiorina has said she would support overturning Roe vs. Wade, saying her views on abortion were formed largely because Frank Fiorina's mother was told to abort him due to health risks.

She is something of a sensation among hard-line conservatives, particularly tea party organizations.

"She takes on impossible things, and she accomplishes them," said Glenda Gilliland, a Fresno Tea Party activist who retired from HP in 2005 and attended a recent Fiorina speech. "I think she will fight — I know she will — for the people of California."

But Fiorina's support from hard-line conservatives can make for an awkward dynamic; she appears to be more measured and moderate than they think she is. At recent campaign appearances, for example, several of her supporters volunteered to a reporter — as fact — that President Obama is an African-born Muslim.

Asked whether she's comfortable with support from that arm of the political spectrum, Fiorina said: "I certainly don't agree with it. I don't think the president is a Muslim. He clearly is a Christian. He clearly was born in America."

Meanwhile, two organizations that have said the Obama administration promotes the "homosexual infiltration of schools" have spent $60,000 on advertising for Fiorina and pledged more. Fiorina's aides made clear that she does not agree with the groups' position — and contended that she has no control over who promotes her candidacy.

"One of the things that has happened in politics that doesn't happen in the rest of life is that people say: 'Well, if I don't agree with someone 100% of the time, I can't work with them,'" Fiorina said in an interview. "And I think it's why there is so much partisan bickering on both sides of the aisle."

"In the rest of life … you rarely agree with someone like that.… But if you can find enough common ground, you can get something done," she said. "You can solve a problem. You can accomplish a goal."

Great White Kills Boogie Boarder Off North Santa Barbara County

At CNN, "Shark kills 20-year-old man off beach on Vandenberg Air Force Base." And at KEYT Santa Barbara, "New Details: Deadly Shark Attack Kills Local Student."

And from Pete Thomas, "Surfer Fatally Attacked by Shark Off Central California":

According to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File, before Friday's attack there had been only eight fatal attacks by white sharks on humans since 1916.

However, there is a consensus among some scientists that white shark population off California is increasing.

Christopher Lowe, who runs the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab, attributes this to a longstanding ban on fishing for white sharks, a longstanding ban imposed on gill-net fishing in white shark nursery areas close to the coast, and the phenomenal rise in the number of California sea lions, which constitute a readily available food source for large white sharks.

Lowe, however, has not implied that this will translate into more attacks on humans, because white sharks have evolved over millions of years into such specialized predators.

Patric Douglas, CEO of Shark Diver, which is a California-based commercial shark-diving company that has extensive experience with white sharks, has witnessed the predators' behavior up-close dozens of times and can attest to their cautious, investigatory approach to possible prey.

Douglas agrees with scientists that most, if not all white shark attacks on humans involve mistaken identity, and advises people to stay out of the water very early in the morning when the sun might be at such an angle as to make it difficult for sharks to discern people from prey -- notably pinnipeds.

"Because that's when most of the attacks happen," Douglas said. "Just stay out of the water and give the sharks their due, because that's their time."

Added: "Surf Beach Shark Victim is Identified."

Leftist Rocker John Mellencamp Changing Tune on Sarah Palin

I guess he's heard the "voice of freedom."

At The Hill, "Democrat John Mellencamp Impressed With Sarah Palin" (via Texas for Sarah Palin):

The rocker John Mellencamp is a longtime Democrat who refused to allow his songs to be used by Republican Sen. John McCain on the 2008 presidential campaign.

But when it comes to McCain's 2008 running mate, Sarah Palin, Mellencamp may be changing his tune.

Mellencamp told the Associated Press on Friday that he admires the former Alaska governor, and that people get the wrong idea about Palin, "just because she says things and winks."

To achieve what Palin has accomplished thus far requires intelligence, and Mellencamp said Palin "knows exactly what's she doing."

"She wouldn't be where she is today if she didn't."

Touché Campus Progress — UPDATE: Video Pulled After Copyright Claim by Citizens Against Government Waste; FIXED: VIMEO ADDED

Ben Smith notes that the format for the new ad from Citizens Against Government Waste "opens it to 'Downfall'-style parody..." Well, yeah. The Campus Progress commies wasted no time, and clever too:

Meg Whitman Hits $163 Million in Bid to Clone Schwarzenegger Administration

I have to apologize to my fellow conservatives who've gotten behind Meg Whitman's candidacy. I've never cared for her. She's just not doing it for me, so sorry. Not only is she obscenely attempting to buy her way into office (and I'm no fan of campaign finance regulations), but the last thing we need is another four years of Arnold Schwarzenegger. And so while I cringe at the thought of a Jerry Brown governorship (been there, done that), I'm giving his media people props on this ad buy. It resonates. My wife noticed how clever it is (and she doesn't even follow politics, so that's saying something). Brown? Whitman? Either way, Californians are screwed:

Juan Williams on 'Good Morning America'

We'll be seeing loads of commentary today following-up on Juan Williams, but Left Coast Rebel captures the key segment from this "GMA" clip: "I Always Thought the Right Wing Were the Ones That Were Inflexible, Intolerant."

I've already noted the total collapse of media objectivity in mainstream journalism, but it's amazing to see Juan Williams admit his own "Damascus moment." And the bloodthirsty left isn't finished yet: "Is Nina Totenberg Next?"

Ignorance is Strength: Democrat-Media Complex on Mission to Erase President Clinton Failures For Fall Elections

Yeah. I've commented on this a lot already since last Friday, but the MFM can't get enough of him, so WTF? At WaPo: "Former President Clinton On Mission to Rescue Democratic Party in Fall Elections."

This gloriously fawning piece can't praise Slick Willie enough: "If there was any doubt that Clinton remains the Democratic Party's North Star..." Okay. Sure. And not one word about the cigar-poking president's epic moral failures:

George Orwell would be proud.

AFSCME Leads All Groups in Independent Election Outlays

And these freaks were out in force at the Loretta Sanchez/Bill Clinton rally:

At WSJ, "Campaign's Big Spender" (via Memeorandum):

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has vaulted the public-sector union ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and a flock of new Republican groups in campaign spending.

The 1.6 million-member AFSCME is spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections after tapping into a $16 million emergency account to help fortify the Democrats' hold on Congress. Last week, AFSCME dug deeper, taking out a $2 million loan to fund its push. The group is spending money on television advertisements, phone calls, campaign mailings and other political efforts, helped by a Supreme Court decision that loosened restrictions on campaign spending.

"We're the big dog," said Larry Scanlon, the head of AFSCME's political operations. "But we don't like to brag."

The 2010 election could be pivotal for public-sector unions, whose clout helped shield members from the worst of the economic downturn. In the 2009 stimulus and other legislation, Democratic lawmakers sent more than $160 billion in federal cash to states, aimed in large part at preventing public-sector layoffs. If Republicans running under the banner of limited government win in November, they aren't likely to support extending such aid to states.

Newly elected conservatives will also likely push to clip the political power of public-sector unions. For years, conservatives have argued such unions have an outsize influence in picking the elected officials who are, in effect, their bosses, putting them in a strong position to push for more jobs, and thus more political clout.

Some critics say public-sector unions are funded by what is essentially taxpayer cash, since member salaries, and therefore union dues, come directly from state budgets.

"Public-sector unions have a guaranteed source of revenue—you and me as taxpayers," said Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the Chamber of Commerce.

More at the link.

Early Voting Offers a Glimpse Into End Game

And early balloting could be helping Sharron Angle in Nevada.

And at WSJ:

Danger flags are up for Democrats in Nevada. But in Iowa, where many expected a drubbing, the party looks strong. Maine looks good for Republicans, but North Carolina doesn't.

From Washington State to Florida, Americans are already voting, 2.5 million of them so far, and early trends suggest that while Republicans are looking strong overall, predictions that Democrats would stay home for the midterm elections may be a bit overblown.

"If you thought the Democrats were just going to give up on this election and not vote at all, that's not what we're seeing," said Michael McDonald, a public-affairs professor at George Mason University in Virginia, who tracks early voting.

To be sure, the figures could be deceptive. State and county officials can provide the number of ballots returned by registered Republicans or Democrats, but can't say whether voters stuck with their party. But national polling suggests the parties in recent weeks have solidified support among their voters. And early-voting trends in 2008 elections presaged statewide results.

The trends could of course change before Nov. 2, election day. For the moment, party officials are anxiously eyeing the returns from early voting, which began this month in some states, and adjusting their get-out-the-vote efforts as the returns come in. That may be particularly important to Democrats, who acknowledge GOP voters are more enthusiastic this year but say they will use early voting to lure their voters to the polls.

Voters Now Oppose Proposition 19

Gee, you think?

At LAT:

California voters have turned against controversial initiatives to legalize marijuana and to suspend the state's global warming law, a poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found.

Voters now oppose Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure, 49% to 44%, and the measure to halt a law that aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions, 48% to 37%.

The poll indicated that opposition has surged since September, when 52% of likely voters backed Proposition 19, which would allow Californians to grow and possess pot, and they split evenly over Proposition 23.

The earlier poll's Proposition 19 result had encouraged supporters and attracted some high-dollar donations. The measure would allow Californians who are 21 and older to grow and possess marijuana, while cities and counties could authorize commercial cultivation, sales and taxation.

The latest poll found support had eroded significantly across all demographic groups, but most steeply among Latino voters. In September, 63% backed it. Now, 51% oppose it.

Mark Baldassare, the organization's pollster, said the drop may have come because of a barely visible campaign. He noted that the proponents have to persuade voters that people like them support the initiative. "The burden of proof is always on the yes side," he said.

He also said that opponents seemed more passionate about the issue. Among likely voters who said the legalization issue was very important to them, 33% planned to vote for it and 63% against it.

Baldassare also said the poll found no indication that young people were more enthused about marijuana legalization than older voters. Democrats have started to talk about using the issue as a way to motivate young voters in 2012.

Much of the reversal appears to be driven by evaporating support in Southern California. In September, 56% of likely voters in Los Angeles County and 52% in other Southern California counties supported the measure. This month, those percentages slipped to 41% and 42%.

"As expected, California voters are taking a closer look at Prop. 19 and are just saying 'No,' " said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the opposition. "While the measure claims to regulate, control and tax marijuana, voters don't need eyedrops to clearly see it does none of those things."

Taxpayer Network's New Anti-Boxer Ad

The website is here:

Democrats Prepare for the Worst

Love it!

At CNN:

Washington (CNN) -- It has been said over and over again: The 2010 midterm is the anti-incumbent, anti-Washington and by virtue of their position in power, the anti-Democratic election.

A sputtering economy, 9.6 percent national unemployment rate, housing crisis and little hope for a quick turnaround on the jobs front has forced Democrats on the defense heading into November.

OK, that is an understatement.

Democrats are under siege all across the country and are in deep danger of losing control of the House and if a massive wave develops on November 2, perhaps even the Senate.

Fueled by a huge fundraising effort by the Republican Governors Association, the GOP is also in position to reclaim more than a half dozen governorships including in states that President Obama easily won in 2008 such as Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

The new CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation Polls offers data that shows Democrats running for Senate seats in four key states are in dire straits and a president with little juice to help propel them to victory.

Worlds Apart: Williams Episode Destroys the Left's 'Objective' Journalism Façade

Well, the Williams episode further destroys the left's façade of objective journalism. But I'm elaborating on the New York Times' piece, "Williams Episode Shows 2 Versions of Journalism."

NPR’s decision on Wednesday to fire Juan Williams and Fox News Channel’s decision on Thursday to give him a new contract put into sharp relief the two forms of journalism that compete every day for Americans’ attention.

Mr. Williams’s NPR contract was terminated two days after he said on an opinionated segment on Fox News that he worried when he saw people in “Muslim garb” on an airplane. He later said that he was reflecting his fears after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks nine years ago.

NPR said on Wednesday night that Mr. Williams’s comments were “inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices.” According to a report in The Los Angeles Times, Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman, offered Mr. Williams, who was already a paid contributor to Fox, a new three-year contract worth nearly $2 million in total.

After dismissing Mr. Williams, who was one of its senior news analysts, NPR argued that he had violated the organization’s belief in impartiality, a core tenet of modern American journalism. By renewing Mr. Williams’s contract, Fox News showed its preference for point-of-view — rather than the view-from-nowhere — polemics. And it gave Fox news anchors and commentators an opportunity to jab NPR, the public radio organization that had long been a target of conservatives for what they perceived to be a liberal bias.

Those competing views of journalism have been highlighted by the success of Fox and MSNBC and the popularity of opinion media that beckons some traditional journalists. That Mr. Williams was employed by both Fox and NPR had been a source of consternation in the past.

Blah. Blah.

And this from the newspaper that long ago gave over its front page as an extension of the editorial suite. But I'll be fair: It's to the point when reading any purported "objective" news outlet that your bias radar should be set to maximum power. And we should be a bit grateful when we find a reasonable piece of unbiased news reporting. I never understood this until I became a blogger doing my own reporting. But as I've indicated numerous times here, today we have "a partisan press favoring the Democratic Party."

But be sure to read Juan Williams' essay at Fox News, "I Was Fired for Telling the Truth." (Via Memeorandum.) I've long admired Juan Williams (and I've read two of his books). But my admiration's only grown through all of this, and of course the response of the left simply confirms that ideology's complete intellectual and moral bankruptcy. There's is simply nothing beneath these people. Recall that NPR CEO Vivian Schiller slurred Williams by suggesting he should keep his feeling about Muslims between himself and "his psychiatrist or his publicist." The upside, and this is something that black Americans should think twice about, is that Williams was offered a new three-year contract totalling nearly $2 million. With so much poverty and lost opportunity in America's minority communities, we often lose sight of some of our greatest role models, and in Williams' case, one of our most thoughtful commentators.

NPR Finally Found a Way to Get Rid of Juan Williams

He had the wrong opinions, from WSJ:

Regarding the firing of Juan Williams ....

To fire someone because he said, even on television, that seeing passengers in Muslim garb on an airplane made him "nervous" would be preposterous. This is "bigotry"? Especially in that Mr. Williams then told Mr. Reilly it would be wrong to call all Muslims "extremists" because some are terrorists, just as Timothy McVeigh's murders do not indict all Christians.

No, as Ms. Schiller made clear in her memo to Mr. Williams's former colleagues at NPR, "this isn't the first time we have had serious concerns about some of Juan's public comments."

Mr. Williams has been sacked from NPR for engaging in a patter[n] of . . . opinion. This, Ms. Schiller, noted is a "critical distinction" because of NPR's "ethics code" that its "analysts" not participate in shows "that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis."

Translation from the Orwellian: They finally found a way to get rid of Juan Williams.

It has long been one of the most open secrets in the world of punditry (which needless to say, includes NPR's "analysts"), that NPR's progressive political base was unhappy with Mr. Williams's appearances on Fox as existentially incompatible with their worldview.

Meanwhile, Cokie Roberts, another longtime NPR analyst, sat for years on ABC's Sunday morning talk show, cheerfully expressing moderately left-of-center opinions more or less in the same ballpark as most of those offered by Mr. Williams. And Nina Totenberg, NPR's Supreme Court reporter, has long offered left-wing opinion on the show "Inside Washington," not to mention in her own reporting.

Anti-Muslim "bigotry," as we learned in the fight over the Ground Zero mosque, has become the latest progressive weapon for waving their opposition out of a public debate and now, we see, even out of a job.

Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 3: Wealth Creation'

Via Instapundit:

Previously:

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 1: Small Government and Free Enterprise'."

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 2: The Problem with Elitism'."

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Apologizes to Juan Williams

That was pretty harsh: "NPR CEO: Williams' Views Should Stay Between Himself And 'His Psychiatrist'."

"I spoke hastily and I apologize to Juan and others for my thoughtless remark."

And about that lawsuit?

See Fire Andrea Mitchell, "RACIST! NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Questions Juan Williams’ Sanity."

Fox News Signs Juan Williams to New Three-Year Contract Worth Nearly $2 Million!

At LAT and Memeorandum.

And Megyn Kelly asks: "Can Juan Williams sue National Public Radio for wrongful termination?"

Barbara Boxer Profiled at L.A. Times: 'Proudest' Moment is 2002 Vote Against Iraqi Freedom; Refuses Release of Fallujah Terror-Aid Letter

LAT calls it "ardor" and "tenacity." Carly Fiorina calls it "bitter partisanship":

And note this, from the Times' profile:

After the 2004 presidential election, for example, Boxer was the only senator to challenge electoral college votes from Ohio where some Democrats alleged vote fraud. The move infuriated Republicans and delayed certification of Bush's re-election for several hours. No other Democrat, including Kerry, Bush's Democratic opponent, supported her.

And when war fever swept Washington in 2002, Boxer resisted. She was one of the few senators who voted against authorizing Bush to use military force in Iraq.

Boxer calls that vote her proudest.

"I determined when I cast that vote that the Iraq war would be a disaster," she said. "I was right. That vote has been a comfort to me."

Barbara Boxer's a traitor.

See Big Peace, "Barbara Boxer Approved Code Pink Trip to Fallujah to Donate $600,000 to Extremists to Murder US Soldiers," and Gateway Pundit, "Barbara Boxer Won’t Provide Copy of Fallujah Letter to Military Mother."

I hope Carly will hammer this issue before November 2nd.

The 'Extremists' Are Actually Moderates...

Via Glenn Reynolds:

Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism

Stanley Kurtz's new book is out. I started it last night. I'm loving it. Click the image to order your copy.

And here's Kurtz at National Review, "Obama's Radical Past":

On the afternoon of April 1, 1983, Barack Obama, then a senior at Columbia University, made his way into the Great Hall of Manhattan’s Cooper Union to attend a “Socialist Scholars Conference.” There Obama discovered his vocation as a community organizer, as well as a political program to guide him throughout his life.

The conference itself was not a secret, but it held a secret, for it was there that a demoralized and frustrated socialist movement largely set aside strategies of nationalization and turned increasingly to local organizing as a way around the Reagan presidency — and its own spotty reputation. In the early 1980s, America’s socialists discovered what Saul Alinsky had always known: “Community organizing” is a euphemism behind which advocates of a radical vision of America could advance their cause without the bothersome label “socialist” drawing adverse attention to their efforts.

A loose accusation of his being a socialist has trailed Obama for years, but without real evidence that he saw himself as part of this radical tradition. But the evidence exists, if not in plain sight then in the archives — for example, the archived files of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which include Obama’s name on a conference registration list. That, along with some misleading admissions in the president’s memoir, Dreams from My Father, makes it clear that Obama attended the 1983 and 1984 Socialist Scholars conferences, and quite possibly the 1985 conclave as well. A detailed account of these conferences (along with many other events from Obama’s radical past) and the evidence for Obama’s attendance at them can be found in my new book, Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism.

The 1983 Cooper Union Conference, billed as a tribute to Marx, was precisely when Obama discovered his vocation for community organizing. Obama’s account of his turn to community organizing doesn’t add up. He portrays it as a mere impulse based on little actual knowledge. But that impulse saw Obama through two years of failed job searches. Clearly he had a deeper motivation. The evidence suggests he found it at the Socialist Scholars conferences, where he encountered the entrancing double idea that America could be transformed by a kind of undercover socialism, and that African Americans would be the key figures in advancing community organizing.

The 1983 conference took place in the shadow of Harold Washington’s first race for mayor of Chicago. Washington was not only Obama’s political idol, he was the darling of America’s socialists in the mid-1980s. Washington assembled a “rainbow” coalition of blacks, Hispanics, and left-leaning whites to overturn the power of Chicago’s centrist Democratic machine. Washington worked eagerly and openly with Chicago’s small but influential contingent of socialists, many of whom brought the community organizations and labor unions they led onto the Washington bandwagon.

America’s socialists saw the Harold Washington campaign as a model for their ultimate goal of pushing the Democrats to the left by polarizing the country along class lines. This socialist “realignment” strategy envisioned driving business interests out of a newly radicalized Democratic party. The loss was to be more than made up for through a newly energized coalition of poor and minority voters, led by minority politicians on the model of Harold Washington. The new coalitions would draw on the open or quiet direction of socialist community organizers, from whose ranks new Harold Washingtons would emerge. Groups like ACORN and Project Vote would swell the Democrats with poor and minority voters and, with the country divided by class, socialism would emerge as the natural ideology of the have-nots.

Figures pushing this broader strategy at the 1983 Socialist Scholars Conference included ACORN adviser Frances Fox Piven and organizing theorist Peter Dreier, now a professor at Occidental College and an adviser to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. That is to say, Obama’s connection to socialist ideologues didn’t end with his recruitment into the ranks of community organizers. It began there and blossomed into a quarter century of intricate relationships with both on-the-record and in-all-but-name socialists. I’ve spent the last two years in the archives unraveling the connections ....

As we move into the first national election of the Obama presidency, Americans are confronted with a fateful choice. Either we will continue to be subject to President Obama’s radical and only very partially revealed plans for our future, or we will place a strong check on the president’s ambitions. Knowing the truth about Obama’s past is the best way to safeguard our future.

Senate Races Tighten as Election Day Nears

Here's Barbara Boxer's latest attack on Carly Fiorina:

A desperate ad, especially with that picture of Sarah Palin included. Boxer's a blithering idiot and a pathological liar. California's identity politics demographic is propping her up, but a silent majority may well sweep her out with the tide on November 2.

WSJ has more on how the Senate is shaping up:

Key Senate races are tightening as candidates on both sides make unexpected gains, suggesting that the final days in the battle for control of the chamber could be as volatile as any in recent memory.

Democrats who were all but written off, including Rep. Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania and Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado, have revived and are pulling even with their Republican opponents in some polls.

Meanwhile, Republican challengers, including Dino Rossi in Washington and Carly Fiorina in California, who polls showed had slipped behind two Democratic incumbents, have drawn even.

The trend could mean that party loyalists, who may have been undecided at the campaign's outset, are coming home to their candidates as election day nears. The seesaw poll numbers also reflect activists' counter-reaction whenever the other side starts to build a lead.

"The further it starts to move in one direction, the more it energizes the opposite party," said Lara Brown, a political scientist at Villanova University near Philadelphia.

If Republicans win the Senate, they could more easily control the agenda by sending President Barack Obama legislation he would have to sign or veto. Democratic control of the Senate would provide a tie-breaker of sorts between a Democratic White House and a House that Republicans are expected to win.

Republicans need to capture 10 seats now held by Democrats to win a 51-49 Senate majority. Eleven Democratic seats are in play. Three are likely GOP pickups and the rest are too close to call. Democrats are within striking distance of one Republican-held seat, in Kentucky.

More at the link.

Yawn — Racist NAACP and La Raza Allege Tea Party RAAAAACISM, Again...

NYT has the story, "N.A.A.C.P. Report Raises Concerns About Racism Within Tea Party Groups."

It's funny though: If David Neiwert's name is seen anywhere near the word "racism," you can rest assured the allegations are a bunch of hot air. This is an industry. And coming two weeks before the election, this latest wheezing gasp for relevance and impact on the part of the racist NAACP and its La Raza allies is deeply pathetic.

RELATED: From Roger L. Simon, "Why I Won’t Be Reading the NAACP’s Report on Tea Party Racism."

NPR Fires Juan Williams

For tame comments too, via Big Journalism and Memeorandum:

And Michelle adds:

Guess who stirred up the pot to get Williams fired?

Think Progress and the Huffington Post...

That’s right. Government-funded NPR has apparently caved into left-wing attack dogs on the Internet.

Also in the lynch mob: CAIR, of course.

And here’s excitable Andrew Sullivan giving Williams his “Malkin Award” nomination. Yeah, kiss of death.

As I’ve said many times before: Political correctness is the handmaiden of terror.

Condolences to Juan Williams, whom I’ve debated — vigorously, but always with respect and cordiality — many times over the years.

Hope this accelerates his journey on the ideological learning curve. And I hope he doesn’t back down.

Democrat Attack Ads Get Personal Before Midterms

From Howard Kurtz:

If the Republicans have their way, the election will turn on whether Democrats are the party of runaway government.

Now, with time running out, the Democratic Party is fighting back—and not just by trying to brand many GOP candidates as extremists. The new line is that they’re sleazebags.

We’re talking ugly stuff here, accusing one opponent of threatening his wife, another of indifference to employee deaths, a third of trying to evict a child.

An onslaught of negative ads has become standard procedure for both parties, with the most incendiary fare held in reserve until the final days.

Republicans have run some highly personal ads on immigration, with a Sharron Angle commercial, for instance, proclaiming that Harry Reid is the “best friend an illegal alien ever had.” (Angle and Reid are neck-in-neck, according to the Election Oracle.)

But the unmistakable theme of this eleventh-hour blitz by Democratic Party committees is that the Republican contenders are unethical and untrustworthy business types. While President Obama accuses the opposition of wanting to lurch backwards to the Bush years, Democratic strategists—those in the trenches—are playing a rougher game.

Kurtz includes the attacks, from top to bottom: A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee attack on Linda McMahon in Connecticut; a DSCC attack on Ken Buck in Colorado; and on John Raese in West Virginia; plus, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee attack on Scott DesJarlais in Tennessee; a DCCC attack on David Schweikert in Arizona; and finally, the DSCC unloads on Christine O'Donnell in Delaware:

Democrats Supported 'Humanitarian Aid' to Fallujah Terrorists Killing U.S. Troops in Iraq

A little late getting this. At Gateway Pundit, "Breaking: Barbara Boxer Approved Code Pink Trip to Fallujah to Donate $600,000 to Extremists to Murder US Soldiers." Gateway links to American Thinker, "Barbara Boxer, Code Pink's Favorite Senator."

And at Big Peace, "Rep. Waxman Spokeswoman: ‘We Do Not Know’ If We Aided Fallujah Terrorists with Code Pink Letter."

IMAGE CREDIT: The People's Cube.

Fire Rachel Maddow: MSNBC Host Claims GOP Congressman 'Received Advance Notice' of Oklahoma City Bombing

Readers will recall the many times I've dismissed Rachel Maddow as a fever-swamp leftist who happens to have a TV show. Well we probably have the best case for that today, with Maddow's extreme claim that Republicans had "advance notice" of the terrorist attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in April 1995 (via Memeorandum):

Conservatives are pretty incensed with this. See especially Uncle Jimbo and JammieWearingFool, who writes:

If MSNBC has the slightest bit of credibility this woman would be unemployed by this afternoon.

Yeah. She should be fired. And MSNBC should be shunned for giving her this kind of platform. See, "Rachel Maddow Hosts 'The McVeigh Tapes' ... Rachel Maddow!!"

Former President George W. Bush Speaks to Sold-Out Crowd at University of Texas at Tyler

Now this is the former president I want to see: "Sold-Out Crowd Gives Former President Bush Three Standing Ovations During Speech."

Former President George W. Bush pulled back the curtain of the Oval Office and gave East Texans a picture of what his job was like during the high and low points.

With trademark humor and conviction, he said he sought to lead with vision and optimism and to leave the office equal to or better than it was when he arrived.

“Here's what you learn,” he said. “You realize you're not it. You're a part of something bigger than yourself.”

Bush spoke Tuesday before a sold-out crowd of 2,000 people during the 76th lecture as part of The University of Texas at Tyler's Distinguished Lecture Series.

He walked on the stage to a standing ovation. People in the audience were pumping their fists and whistling. One audience member shouted, “Bring back Bush,” at one point during the presentation.

He would receive at least two more standing ovations before the end of his speech.

The former president thanked East Texans for their role in electing him to office both as governor and president.

He also touted his book “Decision Points” which is set to be released in November.

“This will come as a shock to some people in our country who didn't think I could read a book, much less write one,” he quipped.

Bush said he misses certain aspects of the presidency.

FWIW, here's more on the former president I did see, from Tim Daniels, with video: "The Battle for America 2010: The Wave Keeps Building."

RELATED: The press release from University of Texas at Tyler, "MEDIA ADVISORY: Bush Lecture at UT Tyler."

GOP Poll Shows Sanchez and Tran Tied

At CQ Politics:

A new poll conducted for Republican Van Tran's campaign in California's 47th district indicates the race is tied and a number of voters remain up for grabs. The Republican is challenging Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, whose re-election prospects took a hit recently because of controversial comments she made in a Spanish-language interview.

The Tran poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, found Tran and Sanchez with 39 percent each, while independent Ceci Iglesias got 5 percent and 17 percent were undecided.

"With 18 days to go, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is in the fight of her political life," Public Opinion Strategies' Rob Autry wrote in a polling memo. With 39 percent support, Sanchez is in "an extremely precarious position for an incumbent Member of Congress to be with less than three weeks to go."

The poll of 300 likely voters was conducted Oct. 13-14 and had a 5.7-point margin of error.

That's an awful small sample. Still, Tran was trailing by 2 in early September, so the new findings are probably solid, given the ongoing economic malaise. Yet Tran's campaign is badly underfunded compared to Sanchez (with limited television advertising), so that might be a critical disadvantage. Too close to call, basically. But if the GOP grassroots can really mobilize GOTV, this is definitely doable.

Obama Renews Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics

LBCC President Eloy Ortiz Oakley attended the signing ceremony yesterday for the reauthorization of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. The story's at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Long Beach Education Leaders See Obama Sign Order":

LONG BEACH - Three of Long Beach's top education leaders were present at the White House on Tuesday as President Barack Obama signed an executive order renewing the Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.

Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Chris Steinhauser, Long Beach City College Superintendent-President Eloy Oakley and Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander were among the education officials who looked on as Obama praised the initiative, which aims to boost educational opportunities for Hispanic students.

Obama noted that Hispanic students, who account for one in five students in the United States, are more likely to attend low-performing schools and drop out of high school.

"This is not just a Latino problem, this is an American problem," Obama said. "If one community falls behind, we all fall behind."

The initiative was established in 1990 by President Bush.

Steinhauser, Oakley and Alexander were invited to attend the signing ceremony and give a presentation at the National Education Summit and Call to Action.

Long Beach was one of just two cities in the country whose school administrators were asked to present their model education plan in front of officials from the Obama administration and the U.S. Department of Education. The other city was San Bernardino.

CSULB, LBCC and LBUSD have been nationally recognized for their partnership, which includes a program called the Long Beach College Promise that aims to allow all local students to attend their first semester at LBCC tuition-free by 2011.
"Long Beach is so far ahead in working together, we've become a national model," Alexander said Tuesday.

Officials hope the newly- renewed initiative will bring additional aid and recognition to local schools. More than 50 percent of the students in the LBUSD are Hispanic.

"I think it energizes what we're already doing and hopefully gives us an opportunity to do more," Oakley said.

More at the link.

'Cos This is What We've Seen...

I'm down with the idealism, although not the policy implications. Among the band's very first political songs, "Driven to Tears":

How can you say that you're not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?
What is my reaction, what should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity

Driven to tears

Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existance is reduced to a shallow meaningless party
Seems that when some innocent die
All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
'Cos this is what we've seen

Driven to tears

Protest is futile, nothing seems to get through
What's to become of our world, who knows what to do

Driven to tears

Ann Althouse in 1981

The eternal student:

The Irreparable Tarnishing of the Golden State?

The photo is at the offramp at Pico Boulevard in West L.A. (a couple of months back, when I saw "Restrepo.") I took a quick snapshot while waiting for the light to change. Look carefully: "DEATH TO CALIFORNIA POLICE." Chilling. And this isn't a gangland section of Los Angeles.

Anyway, I can't go all the way with "irreparable," at Jennifer Rubin's essay, at Commentary, "California, There It Went." It's a great piece. And, yeah, sadly, I'm convinced that neither Jerry Brown nor Meg Whitman will be any better than Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that California will continue to be driven by unaffordable ballot-driven governance (initiatives) that makes that state ungovernable and prone to collapse. But Californians are fighters. The tax revolt started here in 1978. A new burst of good-government reform, focusing first on the crisis in state budgeting, will become a reality in due time. It has to. Things simply can't continue as they are. And that's what makes Rubin's piece a must read:

California today bears little resemblance to the land of opportunity whose promise of a better life in a perfect climate once lured so many. Schools, even in expensive residential areas, are substandard and getting worse. Public parks are unseemly and unsightly. Libraries are understaffed and understocked. Commutes have extended from 30 to 60 to 90 minutes or longer.

Because the 21st-century economy is global and portable, residents and businesses have other options. Employers and educated people can uproot themselves, and they have been, fleeing the congestion, the traffic, the crumbling infrastructure, and the deficient schools. Between 1990 and 2000, 2 million more left the state than arrived from other states.

The U.S. Census Bureau report noted that a number of states have benefited from California’s woes: “199,000 of the 466,000 people who moved to Nevada during this time came from California.... Between 1995 and 2000, 644,000 people moved to Colorado from other states, led by 111,000 migrants from California.”

California’s unemployment rate at present hovers a few points above the national average, in part due to a state judiciary hostile to business and the proliferation of pro-plaintiff litigation rules that have made the state a toxic environment for employers. In recent years, Northrop Grumman, Fluor Corporation, Hilton Hotels, Computer Sciences Corporation, and defense contractor SAIC all moved their headquarters out of the state.

The optimism of the 1960s has been replaced by cynicism and resignation: Did you hear that gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown gets multiple pensions totaling $78,000 a year? Did you read about the little city of Bell’s council members who pay themselves nearly 100 grand a year and paid the city administrator $1.5 mil a year? Gallows humor, appropriate for a dying state, is de rigueur among the state’s political class.

My own family has come full circle. My husband (whose family moved from Indiana to Northern California a year before mine moved from South Jersey) and I joined the out-migration in 2005, moving East with our two sons. It was our turn to amaze West Coast friends and family by leaving home. But unlike the trek four decades earlier, there was little confusion about the reasons for our departure. Instead, people seemed wistful, curious about whether they would learn from us that there might be a better life elsewhere, with workable schools, functioning state and local governments, and more modest taxes.

And in the years since our exodus, we have become acquainted, once again, as we had been in our youth, with normal public schools, pleasant neighborhood parks, well-stocked libraries, and state and local governments that live within their means, more or less.

Conventional Wisdom: GOP Takes House

But listen to James Carville in the second half of the segment. History shows that both the House and Senate change hands in an electoral earthquake, as in both 1994 and 2006. Carville nearly says he expects the Senate to go GOP on November 2nd. But it's the body language that's telling. Fascinating:

Who Knew? Bill Clinton Beats Obama for Positive Impact On Campaign

Hey, I scooped Gallup — by three days!

And that pic with Loretta Sanchez is the clincher!

Here's my post from Saturday: "Bill Clinton Stands In for Barack Obama So Voters Will Forget They Hate Democrats, Or Something."

And here's Gallup this morning: "Bill Clinton's Impact More Positive for Democrats Than Obama's."

Former President Bill Clinton has the potential to do more good for Democratic candidates on whose behalf he campaigns than does President Barack Obama. The net positive impact of Clinton's campaigning among Democratic registered voters is +48, while the number is a slightly lower +42 for Obama. Clinton, however, has a significantly more positive impact than Obama does among independents -- and among Republicans.

Maybe Obama can have sex with a White House intern to turn some of those numbers around. Worked for Clinton.

Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.0% in Mid-October

At Gallup:

Where are the jobs?

The Obama-Dem Socialists have a lot to answer for.

The Kentucky Senate Debate

The one everyone's talking about.

And some of the other wild escapades at Politico, "Losing it: Politics goes nuts."

Vile Anti-Semitism

From Lisa Richards, at NewsReal Blog, "Lurking Anti-Semitism: A Vile Reader Email":

Recently I wrote a post exposing radical libertarian Ron Paul as the leftist progressive he is, as well as his anti-Semitic comments toward Israel. This sparked anger in a longtime reader who is a conspiracy theorist with wild meltdown theories: this reader believes Obama is going to declare martial law in November and place all conservatives in concentration camps.

This week the reader emailed me after I published “7 Videos That Prove Ron Paul is a Leftist in Libertarian Clothing.” The email was offensive, anti-Semitic, and caused me to remove this person from my mailing list and Facebook. It begins with the reader, who I shall leave nameless, disagreeing with the column:

Well, I didn’t have time to watch all the videos, but I’ve already seen several of them. We’ll have to agree to disagree this time. I’ve taken countless assessments, and I ALWAYS come out as a Libertarian. I have changed my mind about some of the things we have done in this country. I feel extremely duped about going into Iraq. I believe we could have gone in and taken Hussein out, stayed for a few months, and gotten the hell out. This was a bogus war in my view. I didn’t see it at the time, but I sure do now. We were all fearful after 9/11, and Bush did a great job of convincing his base at least that this is what was needed. It was NOT what we needed to do. We have been sticking our noses into other countries’ business for far too long. And I maintain it’s time to stop that. Who are we to impose our form of government and way of life on others? It makes us an elitist country and an imperialistic one as well.

Not a problem, a lot of Americans feel this way. The next paragraph insulted and deeply offended me:

Also, I have greatly altered my view on our own CIA and on Israel. Did you know that 40 Jews were picked up right after 9/11 who knew about 9/11 BEFORE it happened? This is 100% true. It was on Fox News, reported by both Brit Hume and Tony Snow. I saw all the videos. Israel plays us to the hilt. I know you’re working for a Jew, and I’m not saying they’re all bad. I have a lot of respect for David Horowitz. But watch them closely. They are NOT our big buddies… Just my opinion…

Not a very decent opinion.

Let me be honest, I do not write in a pro-Israel fashion because Mr. Horowitz, whom I greatly respect, is Jewish. I support Israel because I am a Christian who worships a Jew. I consider myself a spiritual Jew.

RTWT.

It gets pretty bad, but of course, this is "imaginary" anti-Semitism. You know, since folks like us are always looking for something to gripe about, because we're jonesin' for victimhood, or something.

More Questions for Facebook

At WSJ:

Two House members asked Facebook Inc. for more details about the way applications on the social network handle user information, following revelations of new privacy concerns.

U.S. Reps. Edward Markey (D., Mass.) and Joe Barton (R., Texas) sent Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg a letter expressing concerns that "third-party applications gathered and transmitted personally identifiable information about Facebook users and those users' friends." The two representatives are co-chairmen of the House Bipartisan Privacy Caucus.

Their letter follows an article in Monday's Wall Street Journal highlighting a potential privacy loophole in many of the most popular applications on Facebook. The Journal reported apps were transmitting identification numbers for users and their friends to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies. The ID numbers can be used to look up a user's real name, and sometimes other information users have made public, and potentially tie it to their activity inside the apps.

Given Facebook's 500 million users and the amount of information they post on the site, "this series of breaches of consumer privacy is a cause for concern," the lawmakers wrote.

The letter asked Mr. Zuckerberg how many users had been affected by the breach, when Facebook became aware of it, and what changes Facebook plans in order to deal with the problem, among other questions. Facebook must respond by Oct. 27.

In August, Reps. Markey and Barton requested information about data-collection practices from 15 websites identified by the Journal as installing the most tracking technology on visitors' computers.

A Facebook spokesman said the company looked forward "to addressing any confusion" and working with the congressmen. "The suggestion that the passing of a user ID to an application, as described in Facebook's privacy policy, constitutes a 'breach' is curious at best," he said.

More at the link.

RELATED: From Kashmir Hill, "Did the Wall Street Journal Overreact to Facebook Privacy ‘Breach’?"

Helen Rittelmeyer

I haven't heard anything from Helen Rittelmeyer since sometime around the time Culture 11 crashed. She's an interesting woman, and apparently ready for a career in electoral politics, considered her dignified response to this completely gratuitous slam by her ex-boyfriend Todd Seavey during a C-Span taping. Talk about reality television:

And by the way, I love anyone willing to take down that asshat E.D. Kain, and take him down mercilessly.

Bikini Monday

Via Theo Spark:

And more great blogging at Washington Rebel.

Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy

It's fascinating.

Blazing Cat Fur points us to a book on the Grand River land dispute. From the YouTube blurb:

This book is not about aboriginal land claims. The book is not about the wholesale removal of seven generations of indigenous youngsters from their reserves and families - this was by dint of federal government policy - or the abuse dished out to many of them at the residential schools into which they were arbitrarily placed or the devastating effects that haunt so many today. This book is not about the dubious merits of the reserve system which may better serve those who wish to see native people fail than those who want desperately for them to succeed. I do not in any way make light of these issues, and they are one way or another in the background of everything that occurred in Caledonia.

"What Helpless is about is the failure of government to govern and to protect all its citizens equally." -- Christie Blatchford.

Mitch Williams

I watched last night's exhilarating Game 2 of the NLCS. I know Roy Oswalt's a pitching phenom. But with no designated hitter in the National League, I'm always stoked when pitchers turn in offensive performances worthy of a lead-off batter. Oswalt's seventh inning score from second base, off Placido Polanco's base hit, was pure excitement.

But earlier in the game Joe Buck and Tim McCarver had Mitch Williams on the phone for some pitching analysis. Turns out that Williams joined the announcers in the booth for game one, and check the link for Williams during the post-game recap on Fox Sports.

Anyway, forgive me for being out of the loop. My 9 year-old kid hogs the living room TV most of the time, so I don't watch as much sports as I'd like. But seeing Mitch Williams doing the game-time commentary was a throwback. The dude was the Phillies' goat in 1993 after he gave up the series-winning home run to Joe Carter, giving the World Championship to the Toronto Blue Jays. Man, it's tough recovering from that kind of mistake. Donnie Moore eventually ended his life after being booed endlessly by fans for blowing the save against Boston during 1986 ALCS final. The Phillies fans came to respect Williams, however, and he's apparently a well-liked member of the community:

Williams placed the blame on himself for what happened in the 1993 World Series, adding that he had put the ordeal behind him:

“ I'm not going to go home and commit suicide...I wish I hadn't thrown it down and in to Carter. I was trying to keep the ball away from him. It was a mistake...It ain't comin' back...I can't replay it and win it...I can't change this one, much as I'd like to, if only because my teammates busted their butts. I let 'em down...But don't expect me to curl up and hide from people because I gave up a home run in the World Series. Life's a bitch. I could be digging ditches. I'm not. ”

—Mitch Williams on his feelings abot surrendering the home run to Joe Carter.

Although Phillies fans continued to blame him for the Series loss and heap him with scorn and abuse for several years afterward, the fact that he did not make excuses for the blown saves, shift the blame to others, or run and hide from the media or the city of Philadelphia caused many fans to ultimately forgive him and embrace him once again as a local figure.