The Worst People in Politics Aren't Racists

From John Hawkins, at Right Wing News:

When you hear someone touting a conspiracy theory in politics, you can safely discount it without paying much attention because 999 times out of 1000, there will be nothing to it. Sadly, we’ve gotten to the same point with cries of “racism” in politics. There’s almost never any validity to complaints about bigotry or racism and almost everyone who says otherwise is being deliberately dishonest.

The idea that the Republican Party of today is being compared to the Democrats of yesteryear who organized the KKK, encouraged the abortion of black children, and fought to keep black children from going to school has always been ridiculous on its face. Unlike the Democratic Party, the Republican Party was founded on fighting slavery and has nothing in its entire history, from its beginning to the present, to be ashamed of.

Even setting that aside, the idea that the Republican Party is racist is extraordinarily easy to refute. The only black man on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, was put there by a Republican. The first black Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was given the job by a Republican, as was the first black woman to be a Secretary of State, Condi Rice. Herman Cain, for a time, was at the top of the polls in the GOP race for President, Michael Steele just served a term as RNC chairman, Allen West keynoted CPAC, Walter Williams fills in for Rush Limbaugh, and Thomas Sowell was voted the most liked person on the Right by conservative bloggers. The number of black Americans doing extremely well in the Republican Party, despite the tiny percentage of black Americans who vote Republican, blows the idea that Republicans are racist straight to hell.

So, if conservatives aren’t racist, why do we hear ever-present claims that they are despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

Simple. It’s pure politics.

Continue reading.

Progressive race-baiters are the WORST people. Count Chris Matthews among them, and of course Professor Melissa Harris-Perry, who I discussed previously at PJ Media, "How Progressive Race-Baiters Destroyed Civil Rights Progress in America."

Left-Wing, Right-Wing: What Matters is Honesty and Accuracy

Another fine essay from Barry Rubin, at Pajamas Media, "Are You Left-Wing or Right-Wing? Hopefully, I’m Honest-and-Accurate Wing":

I ran into an older, retired Israeli colleague who is a fine scholar in his field. We hadn’t met for 25 years and agreed to have coffee in a nearby Tel Aviv cafe. In the ensuing conversation I learned some key things about why current  intellectual and political discussion is such a wreck.

The retired professor has read nothing I’ve written. He is on the left-wing politically, in the historic non-Communist sense, but his work has always been first-rate and untouched by any political slant. In addition, he has worked amicably with people of different views.

And that’s why I was dismayed by his first question: “Are you left-wing or right-wing?”

I sighed, partly because I hate this starting point of dividing people into two categories. A more appropriate question would have been: “what do you think of … ?” To classify someone is to decide in advance to agree or disagree with whatever they say. To ask someone their view makes it possible to listen and think about the quality of their ideas.

A scholar or analyst, whatever his personal views, should do work that is beyond politics.

Many years ago I wrote a scholarly article on American radical professors of the 1930s and 1940s. I was almost unable to find a single case in which anyone had even been accused of politicizing their academic work or classroom teaching. They viewed such behavior as inappropriate, and perhaps some were worried about how being outspoken might hurt their careers. At any rate, even during the McCarthy era people were pursued for their organizational memberships and not their classroom behavior.

Today, all those old issues of professional ethics have vanished. Professors may spend most of their time being propagandists: throw away scholarly standards and energetically persecute dissenters.

Continue reading.

That sounds pretty accurate to me with respect to political science. There's lots of great research out there, but I find even the most rigorous scholarship often omits evidence that would debunk the prevailing left-wing frame in the academy. I'm impressed though when I talk to scholars who expressly reject politicization of their work. I remember Colin Kahl's outstanding essay from a few years ago on the norms of civilian protection during wartime, "In the Crossfire or the Crosshairs? Norms, Civilian Casualties, and U.S. Conduct in Iraq." When I blogged about it at the time he said he regretted that his findings had partisan political implications and preferred to view the work as dispassionate scholarship. On the other hand, leftist Michael Desch omits the internment of Japanese Americans in his article, "America's Liberal Illiberalism: The Ideological Origins of Overreaction in U.S. Foreign Policy." Desch argued that the Bush administration's domestic counter-terrorism policies resulted in the most dramatic curtailment of civil liberties in American history, but for some reason FDR's policy of rounding up 125 thousand Japanese Americans in the name of national security during World War II wasn't even considered. The case didn't fit the thesis and was quite ominously absent.

So yeah, there's still excellent work in my field, but partisan biases show up quite dramatically in some research, and I've only provided these two contrasting examples. There are many more works by leftists that would fit Rubin's description of throwing away scholarly standards and so forth. (And I'm being kind here. The work of Mearsheimer and Walt has cast a repugnant stain on security studies, and seeing the defense of these idiots by otherwise reputable scholars has been a particularly disappointing experience.)

'Underworld Awakening'

Here's the movie review at Los Angeles Times.

The "Underworld" movies could never exactly be called "fun," but Swedish directing duo Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein manage to bring a bit of visual affair to the bloodletting along with another quality previously in short supply — competence.

That either makes "Awakening" the best movie in the burgeoning "Underworld" franchise or the worst, depending, I suppose, on how deeply you value the series' previous strained attempts at myth-making.

I can dig it.

PREVIOUSLY: "Kate Beckinsale at Premiere of 'Underworld: Awakening'."

Newt Could Win the Palmetto State

See, "Clemson Palmetto Poll finds Gingrich leading, 20% of S.C. voters still uncommitted" (via Memeorandum):

CLEMSON, S.C. — With polls opening in less than 24 hours for the important South Carolina presidential primary election, the final Palmetto Poll shows Newt Gingrich leading over Mitt Romney in a gritty battle fraught with personal attacks and breaking news about the candidates’ personal lives.

That’s the finding of the third Clemson University 2012 Palmetto Poll, a sample of 429 South Carolina GOP voters who indicated they plan to vote Saturday. The telephone poll was initiated Jan. 13 and recalibrated Jan. 18-19 to measure changing dynamics. Twenty percent of the likely voters remain undecided.

“We expect a reaction by the electorate to the personal revelations about Gingrich to be registered on Saturday, however, we do not think it will be substantial enough to erase the lead Gingrich has over Romney,” said Clemson University political scientist Dave Woodard.

Continue reading.

Actually, Newt's response to the "personal revelations" will likely to give him a boost at the polls.

See also Public Policy Polling, "Newt expands South Carolina lead," and Rasmussen, "South Carolina: Gingrich 33%, Romney 31%, Paul 15%."

NewsBusted: 'Hostess, maker of Twinkies, declares bankruptcy'

Via Theo Spark:

Islamist Mob Screaming 'Allahu Akbar' Burns Christian Homes and Shops in Egypt

At Atlas Shrugs, "Muslims in Egypt Burn Christian Homes and Shops, Attack Church Screaming Allahu Akbar," and Blazing Cat Fur, "Arab Spring Christian House Burning."

RELATED: From Robert Wistrich, at Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, "Post-Mubarak Egypt: The Dark Side of Islamic Utopia."

Final Blizzard of Appeals in South Carolina

At New York Times, "South Carolina Fray Upsets a Smooth Path for Romney":

After arriving here last week fresh off of what seemed to be two victories in a row in Iowa and New Hampshire, Mr. Romney was suddenly confronting the prospect of leaving here as the winner of only one of the first three nominating contests.

Having been stripped of his victory in Iowa on Thursday after a recount that gave the state to Rick Santorum, Mr. Romney now is in danger of being defeated in Saturday’s primary here by Newt Gingrich, who had been declared dead not once but twice in the past year, including less than two weeks ago when he finished fifth in New Hampshire. A new Clemson University poll of South Carolina voters released on Friday showed Mr. Gingrich with a six-point lead over Mr. Romney.

At this stage of a primary election, campaigns work hard to manage expectations in order to put the best possible face on the actual voting results; Mr. Romney’s aides were no doubt being mindful of that as they spoke in relatively gloomy tones.

But, as Mr. Romney faced intensive attacks from all sides, renewed questions about the effects of his own stumbles and whether he is conservative enough for the grass roots of his party, there was a real aura of apprehension coursing through his campaign. With his prospects of wrapping the race up quickly apparently diminished, Mr. Romney and his strategists began preparing his staff, his supporters and his network of high-dollar financial bundlers for a longer and rougher march toward the nomination.

“I said from the very beginning, South Carolina is an uphill battle for a guy from Massachusetts,” Mr. Romney told reporters who traveled with him to Gilbert on Friday, a stark shift in tenor from his more buoyant demeanor a few days ago. “I knew that. We’re battling hard. The fact is that right now it looks like it’s neck and neck; that’s a pretty good spot to be in.”

Continue reading.

Dan Riehl Endorses Newt Gingrich for the Republican Nomination

See: "Why I'm Backing Newt Gingrich."

Dan's feisty:

We're in a fight to save what remains of the vision we have of America as conservatives. Whatever he's done, or not done, we can tell that Gingrich appreciates that particular vision. He is also showing himself to be an effective fighter. However he got there - the people that have voted decided it, not me - that's where he is. And he's demonstrating a willingness to fight for conservatism, but some of you bad-asses are afraid to fight for and with him?

The hell with you, punch your ticket and scurry to the back of the GOP's big government line like the losers that you actually are. I went into 2012 looking for a fight for the right reasons and the right cause - and as it stands today, there's only one guy left standing who looks anything like close to suitable to mix it up on our and conservativism's behalf. And, dammit, I'm going to fight with him, not run away like a coward because I want to look politically correct, or smart.

We'd still be a British colony if we had to rely upon what passes for a Republican and too damned many conservatives today, we're they around in 1776. Tremendous risks were undertaken to found absolutely the free-est, most glorious nation on Earth we call home. But you can't risk taking a chance on a former Speaker of the House to simply make a beginning on trying to turn it around?

Hell, you may as well tear up your passports and citizenship papers, too - you don't look like half of what I always thought a traditional American was. You're just another loser willing to turn the other cheek as big government smacks you around, because it's the easy and oh so smart thing to do.

But RTWT.

America Hates Newt Gingrich

So says Conn Carroll at the Washington Examiner (via Memeorandum).

And see Reliapundit as well, "NEWT'S NEGATIVES ARE STUNNING."

The 1% Pays More Taxes

Check the excellent editorial at the Wall Street Journal, "How Much the Rich Pay."

People in the top 1 percent pay an effective tax rate of about 30 percent of income. But unless Mitt's able to articulate these facts he "won't deserve to be the GOP nominee because he's likely to lose the fall election."

Kate Beckinsale at Premiere of 'Underworld: Awakening'

At Los Angeles Times, "'Underworld: Awakening': Kate Beckinsale likes it skin-tight."

Newt's 'Grandiose Thoughts'

The Romney campaign is out with a new attack on Newt Gingrich, "I Think Grandiose Thoughts". (Via Memeorandum.)

Althouse has the background, "The Gingrich grandiosity":

Mitt Romney just put out this press release — a compendium of Newt Gingrich's "grandiose thoughts" over the years. It's pretty amusing, e.g., "I Have An Enormous Personal Ambition. I Want To Shift The Entire Planet. And I’m Doing It. … I Represent Real Power."

The occasion for the press release is, no doubt, the discussion of grandiosity at last night's debate. Rick Santorum started it. The moderator, John King, had just pointed out that Gingrich has been saying there should be only one conservative in the race now off the seemingly inevitable Romney nomination, and it should be Gingrich, because Santorum doesn't have "any of the knowledge for how to do something on this scale."

Romney Slams Occupy Heckler (VIDEO)

This is great.

At National Journal, "Romney Lashes Out at Occupy Heckler -- VIDEO."

Laura Ingraham: 'Whoooo! Take That Mitt Romney!'

Ingraham whoops it up at the news of Rick Perry's Newt endorsement:

Welcome to Paradise: Victoria's Secret Swimsuit 2012 (VIDEO)

They're lovely.

Enjoy:

Newt Wanted an 'Open Marriage', Ex-Wife Marianne Gingrich Claims

This is why Newt erupted last night:

The full story's at ABC News, "Exclusive: Gingrich Lacks Moral Character to Be President, Ex-Wife Says."

The Hollywood Empire Strikes Back Over SOPA

See Nikki Fink, "EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood Moguls Stopping Obama Donations Because of President’s Piracy Stand: 'Not Give a Dime Anymore'."

Also at Fox News, "EXCLUSIVE: Chris Dodd warns of Hollywood backlash against Obama over anti-piracy bill."

Channeling Self-Interest for Good?

Via Left Coast Rebel:

Longshoreman Crushed to Death at Port of Long Beach

And apparently there were some disturbing graphic images that the network declined to broadcast.

At CBS News Los Angeles, "Longshoreman Crushed to Death By Fallen Container at Port of Long Beach."

Rick Perry Drops Out, Endorses Newt Gingrich

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Gingrich Says Perry Endorsement Will Make Big Difference."

And at National Journal, "Rick Perry: Requiem for a Lightweight."

Does Angry Bellowing Help Newt Gingrich in South Carolina's Primary?

When I came home from work and turned on the TV I'd forgotten there was another debate tonight. But I clicked over to CNN on cable exactly as Newt Gingrich was responding to John King's question on Gingrich's ex-wife Marianne's allegations. It was a riveting moment. And Newt gave a good answer and obviously touched a nerve with the audience. But after John King came back with second question Newt became so angry it seemed a little disproportionate by that time and he raised his voice to a level of visceral anger. It seemed bellowing and a bit inappropriate. Understandable, but just a tad over the top. As I work on this post the CNN team is doing the post-debate analysis and they're talking about it. John King says he doesn't take it personally, but when you look at the clip he definitely was uncomfortable for a minute. And David Gergen argues it was one of the most powerful, most explosive moments in the history of presidential debates. Ari Fleischer argues that in the end, perhaps the public might not care as much as do the media types who live and breathe this stuff all day.

Updates forthcoming.

7:55pm PST: Telegraph UK says Newt helped himself in S.C., "US election 2012: Newt Gingrich hits back at 'open marriage' allegations":

Newt Gingrich hit back at allegations of impropriety with a robust debate performance that, judging by a standing ovation it received a South Carolina audience, instantly improved his chances of winning the state’s primary on Saturday.

8:20pm PST: The Los Angeles Times has a report, "Gingrich spars with CNN, then his GOP rivals in S.C. debate."

8:45pm PST: And at New York Times, "Gingrich Comes Under Attack on Topics Professional and Personal."

'Down Home Country ... I Rest My Face On Your Bed...'

Here's the live version.

I posted the studio version earlier and the lyrics were messed up. Here's they are again, corrected:

I saw you at the police station and it breaks my heart to say.
Your eyes had wandered off to something distant, cold and grey.
I guess you didn't see it coming,
Someone's gotten used to slumming.
Dreaming of the golden years,
I see you had to change careers.
Far away, but we both know it's somewhere.

I saw you on the back page of some free press yesterday.
The driftwood in your eyes had nothing short of love for pay.
I know you from another picture,
Someone with the most conviction.
We used to read the funny papers,
Fool around and pull some capers.
Not today,
I send a message to her.
A message that I'm coming, coming to pursue her.

Down home country
I rest my face on your bed.
I've got you ten times over
I'll chase you down
'Till you're dead.

I saw you on a TV station and it made me want to pray.
An empty shell of loveliness is now dusted with decay.
What happened to the funny paper?
Smiling was your money maker.
Someone ought to situate her,
Find a way to educate her.
All the way, time to come and find you.
You can't hide from me girl, so never mind what I do.

Down home country
I rest my face on your bed.
I'll chase you down
'Till you're dead.
I met my soul mate country
And I left it all for your head.

I saw you in the churchyard,
There was no time to exchange.
You were getting married and it felt so very strange.
I guess I didn't see it coming,
Now I guess it's me who's bumming.
Dreaming of the golden years,
You and I were mixing tears.
Not today, not for me but someone.
I never could get used to, so now I will refuse to.

Down home country I
Rest my face on your bed.
I met my soul mate country
And I left it all for your head
I got my best foot forward and I'll chase you down
'Til you're dead

Culture of Corruption: The Bank of (Democratic Party) America

Michelle discusses "The People's Convention" --- the Corrupt-ocrats will hold their last day of the Democratic National Convention at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a naked bid to shakedown big-money contributions for Obama's reelection campaign. Yay! We are the 99 percent!

See: "The Bank of (Democratic Party) America."

The Center for American Progress' Israel-Bashers

An awesome piece, from Alana Goodman, at the New York Post, "The White House’s Israel-bashing pals":

Last December, a top anti-Semitism watchdog group accused the Center for American Progress, a prominent Washington think tank, of peddling anti-Israel and borderline anti-Semitic material on its Web site and Twitter feeds. Six days later, President Obama met for coffee with the man who oversaw the offending content — Faiz Shakir, the site’s editor-in-chief.

That the president met with Shakir amid the ballooning scandal illustrates just how close the administration is with CAP. Now that association may come back to haunt the White House, as three leading Jewish groups — the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center — have accused CAP and its staff of publishing “anti-Israel,” “hateful” and “toxic anti-Jewish” material.

The Jewish organizations’ ire is directed even more strongly at Media Matters for America — another influential, activist liberal Washington group. But CAP’s failings are more significant, because it has been a revolving door to the administration.

CAP founder John Podesta piloted Obama’s 2008 presidential transition team and now holds a State Department advisory role; founding board member Carol Browner served as Obama’s energy czar. CAP Action Fund President Jennifer Palmieri just joined the White House as deputy communications director.

And Shakir has had multiple meetings with White House officials, including one last August with the National Security Council’s Quintan Wiktorowicz.

Making these close ties to the administration especially troubling is CAP’s intensely anti-Israel slant.

Speaking with the Jerusalem Post recently about CAP and Media Matters, the American Jewish Committee’s Jason Isaacson said, “Think tanks are entitled to their political viewpoints — but they’re not free to slander with impunity . . . References to Israeli ‘apartheid’ or ‘Israel-firsters’ are so false and hateful they reveal an ugly bias no serious policy center can countenance.”

The Wiesenthal Center found the writers “are guilty of dangerous political libels resonating with historic and toxic anti-Jewish prejudices.” The ADL noted: “Most of their blogs come from a perspective of blaming Israel for the lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian affairs and minimizing or rationalizing the Iranian threat.”

The controversy reached a new height over the use of the term “Israel firster.” The phrase, popularized in White Power newsletters in the 1970s and ’80s, accuses American supporters of Israel of being more loyal to the Jewish state than to their own country. Later adopted by fringe pro-Palestinian groups, the slur has since become common on extremist white supremacist and anti-Israel Web forums.

Then it surfaced in writings put out by Media Matters and CAP. “Waiting 4 hack pro-Dem blogger to use this [link] 2 sho Obama is still beloved by Israel-firsters and getting lots of their $$” wrote Zaid Jilani, a reporter for CAP’s site, on Twitter last July.

At Media Matters, Senior Fellow MJ Rosenberg openly delights in using the term. “Cool. A major journalist, who I won’t name, gives me credit for making term ‘Israel Firster’ acceptable. I wish. But I’ll do my best,” he wrote on Twitter.

While Rosenberg continues to use the term, the uproar prompted CAP’s Jilani to apologize, saying he hadn’t realized the connotations. CAP’s blog avowed, “We don’t endorse the term ‘Israel firsters’ or demonize the Jewish state on ThinkProgress. Further, there is no anti-Semitic or anti-Israel ‘hate speech’ written anywhere on this blog.”

But American Jewish groups disagreed. The ADL pointed to a CAP article that suggested the Israel lobby had pushed America into war with Iraq. In another, its Middle East Progress director, Matt Duss, called “the entire Israeli occupation” of Gaza “a moral abomination” like the Jim Crow South.

The AJC noted the odious “Israeli apartheid” references, such as a Jilani tweet: “So DC ‘liberals’ are going to spend a lot of time defending Obama against the charge that he’s not supportive enough of Israeli apartheid.”

CAP hasn’t distanced itself from these comments or even acknowledged that they’re anti-Israel. If it deems them acceptable public comment, one wonders what the internal dialogue is like at the think tank — and among the alumni who have gone on to the Obama administration.

The radical left hates Israel. It's no surprise that such anti-Semitism reaches right up to the top advisers to the White House.

PREVIOUSLY: "Hate-Blogger Walter James Casper III and Progressive Evil: Denial of Israel-Hatred Enables Exterminationist Anti-Semitism."

'Super PACs' Dominate the Political Landscape

At Los Angeles Times:

Trevor Potter is an unlikely repeat guest for a late-night comedy show. As the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, the courtly Washington lawyer is a leading expert on campaign finance law — not the kind of material that generates a lot of laughs.

So the fact that he's appeared seven times on "The Colbert Report" in the last year, helping host Stephen Colbert set up his own "super PAC" as part of a mischievous political parody, underscores an unexpected development in the 2012 presidential race:

Super PACs have seized the zeitgeist.

An indirect outgrowth of the Supreme Court ruling in the 2010 Citizens United case, the independent political groups have mushroomed in the last year. They are now dominating not just the action in key primary states such as South Carolina, but the political conversation. In the last month, the number of Google searches for the term "super PAC" was about five times higher than the last year's monthly average.

Spending by such organizations has exceeded $27 million already this year, according to the FEC, much of it going to biting television ads. Pummeled by super PACs aligned with their rivals, the Republican presidential contenders are now loudly denouncing their influence.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said in recent days that all of the candidates wished the outside organizations would disappear and that their outsized sway was "a very bad idea."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was forced to disavow an error-riddled documentary aired by a super PAC run by his former aides, while he and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum have had to defend themselves against attacks by Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney super PAC. At a campaign stop in Columbia, S.C., this week, Santorum accused Romney of sending "his henchmen" to spread disinformation.

The complaints mark a sharp turnabout for Republicans, who had largely heralded the Citizens United decision, which allowed unlimited corporate and union spending on campaigns. (The campaigns themselves remain under strict fundraising limits.)

The candidates are not opposed to unlimited fundraising but, once confronted with how the decision is playing out, have blamed one another, not the court.

Well, I kind of like all the ads actually.

More at Washington Post, "Obama ‘destroys’ Romney in new pro-Gingrich ad."

Canada Looks to Asia After Obama Rejects Keystone XL

Jeez, that's just great.

Way to go Baracky!

At Business Week, "Canada Pledges to Sell Oil to Asia After Obama Keystone Denial."

Also, at Los Angeles Times, "Energy: Activists wring blood from a Keystone."

BONUS: At Labor Union Report, "Obama Kills 20,000 Keystone XL Jobs, Laborers’ Union Vows Not To Forget Betrayal."

Gingrich Releases Letter From His Daughters to ABC News Executives

The campaign hopes to blunt any potential damage from his ex-wife's "bombshell interview" with ABC News, scheduled for Thursday on Nightline. 

At National Journal, "Gingrich Campaign Releases Daughters’ Letter on Eve of Ex-Wife’s TV Interview." And more details at Fox News, "Gingrich's Daughters Send Letter to ABC News Ahead of Network Airing Interview With Ex-Wife."

Romney Fails Money Messaging

This might be a little media exaggeration here, but interesting nevertheless.

At LAT, "Mitt Romney fumbles common touch regarding money":

Mitt Romney has made his successful business career a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, saying his hands-on experience in corporate America is precisely what the country needs.

But when it comes to showing sensitivity to the economic anxiety many Americans are feeling, he has proven to have a less-than-deft touch.

A fresh example came Tuesday as Romney campaigned across South Carolina for the state's Saturday primary and discussed his personal income and the possibility, under pressure, of releasing his 2011 tax return for public examination.

Listing his various sources of income, Romney mentioned the speakers' fees he had earned in the run-up to his latest presidential bid. "Not very much," he said.

A review of Romney's latest financial disclosure forms shows he collected more than $374,000 in such fees during the year ending in February 2011 — more than seven times the income of the average American household.

Earlier in a conversation with reporters, Romney estimated that he paid close to 15% in federal taxes last year, a level well below that paid by many middle-class Americans and one that suggests that much of his income is taxed at the lower rates available to investors.

"Over the last 10 years," he said, "my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past."

Candidates' wealth and taxes have long been staples of political campaigns, especially when they come from well-to-do backgrounds. The most recent ultra-rich candidate — 2004 Democratic nominee John F. Kerry, married to an heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune — was routinely criticized as an out-of-touch elitist fond of habits, like windsurfing, not shared by the masses.

Romney has gone out of his way to demonstrate common-man tastes, like flying cut-rate airlines, staying at thrifty hotels and eating at sandwich joints. But displaying a common touch — a requisite for the comfortably off — is not always that easy, as he has repeatedly demonstrated.

Sex Selection Abortion in Canada

Blazing Cat Fur has this, "Doctor defends controversial fetus gender report."

And see the Calgary Herald, "It's a girl! Action must be taken to stop sex-selective abortions":

 Preventing women from learning the gender of their unborn babies before the 30th week of pregnancy may not be the best way to solve the problem of sex-selective abortions, but at least it would be a gesture that shows Canada is concerned about the issue.

The recommendation was made by Dr. Raj Kale in an editorial published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which said that "female feticide" is happening in North America "in numbers large enough to distort the male-to-female ratio in some ethnic groups." It is estimated a few hundred such abortions may be occurring yearly in Canada among women belonging to cultures where sons are more prized than daughters.

A 30-week rule, as symbolic a gesture of disapprobation as it may be, is well-nigh unenforceable. There may be some doctors who don't wish to abide by it and some patients who, denied the information from one doctor, may go to another, possibly across the border, to get it.

It is truly deplorable that anyone would abort a baby simply because it is not of the desired gender. The problem is huge in India, China and other cultures where sons are highly valued, and has caused alarm among officials in those countries. The Chinese male-to-female ratio is so skewed by a combination of China's one-child policy and the aborting of female fetuses that the ramifications for future generations of adult men seeking wives will be very serious. And in India, it is estimated that millions of girls are missing from the population - girls who should have been born, but were aborted because they weren't boys.

For real change to come about, there must be deeper cultural paradigm shifts regarding embedded attitudes about girls and women. And those shifts need to come about without the obfuscation and equivocating of pro-choice groups who whine that while sex-selective abortions are not something to be applauded, no one should interfere with a woman's right to choose.

The Third-World-ing of First World counties. And Ezra just hammers the progressive hypocrisy here on abortion all around. Sick and unreal.

Gingrich Surging in South Carolina

Mitt Romney still enjoys a huge lead in the Palmetto State, but Newt Gingrich has momentum.

See: "CNN/Time Poll: Race for South Carolina tightening" (via Memeorandum).

And Los Angeles Times provides the spin, "New poll: Gingrich gains on Romney in South Carolina."

Mitt Romney still holds a double-digit lead in South Carolina ahead of the state's potentially decisive Republican primary, but Newt Gingrich has narrowed the gap some, according to a new CNN/Time poll.

Romney has the support of 33% of likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina, good for a 10-point advantage over Gingrich. That's down, however, from an 18-point lead Romney held over Rick Santorum in a poll earlier this month.

Santorum is now down to 16% in the new poll, followed by Ron Paul at 13% and Rick Perry at 6%.

For Romney, a win in South Carolina on Saturday could essentially end the GOP nominating race. He's already won the New Hampshire primary, and was the presumed victor in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier. The Iowa Republican Party will announce its final certified caucus results on Thursday.

More at the link.

And also at Los Angeles Times, "As Gingrich gains, Romney stays on the attack."

I'll be surprised if Gingrich continues to surge. The primary is Saturday and there's not much time to close the gap. The Speaker has pledged to stay in the race, but as the Times notes, another win for Romney will pretty much sew things up, regardless of what the Iowa GOP announces. Florida votes January 31 and Romney could clinch by then. I can't recall any candidate wrapping up a nomination that quickly, but I'll double check to be sure.

BONUS: Click the image above, which links to Gingrich's interview with Charlie Rose on CBS the other day. Gingrich speaks truth to power on the administration's failures in the black community and I can't say enough how much I hope Romney picks up the ball on that heading into the fall campaign. I'm confident Americans will reject the left's race-baiting and see what this debate is all about: the Democrats' failure to make a dent in the crisis of the black community in America. The only way the left can even attempt to defend themselves is by manufacturing racist "dog whistles" and hoping people fall in line like zombies. It's a morally bankrupt and stupid strategy, and they need to be called out for it over and over again. Bravo to Newt on that.

Sarah Palin: Thumbs Up for Newt in South Carolina Debate

A great interview:

Part II is here.

William Jacobson has the quote: "Sarah Palin: “If I had to vote in South Carolina in order to keep this thing going I’d vote for Newt”."

Obama's Conservative Critics Aren't 'Dumb'

Karl at Hot Air has a fisking, "When Andrew Sullivan is useful."

Image Credit: BuzzFeed. (Via Instapundit.)

PREVIOUSLY: "Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Smears Obama Critics as 'Dumb' in Newsweek Cover Story," and "Here's Andrew Sullivan's 'Why Are Obama's Critics So Dumb?' Piece at Newsweek."

Steel Dynamics Chairman Hails Romney, Bain Capital For Early Success

At IBD, "Mitt Romney-Led Bain Funded Steel Dynamics' Success."

NewsBusted: 'Obama vows (again) to focus on the economy'

Via Theo Spark:

The Cowardice of Captain Francesco Schettino

There's an editorial at Toronto's Globe and Mail.

And see the Los Angeles Times, "Recording in cruise ship disaster casts captain in bad light."

Also, at London's Daily Mail, "Forget women and children first. Burly crew men led the race for the lifeboats."

And at National Review, "In the Italian cruise-ship disaster, another death knell for the age of chivalry."

UPDATE: At New York Times, "Captain of Stricken Vessel Says He Fell Overboard in Passenger Panic."

Occupy Protesters Throw Smoke Bomb Over White House Fence

Great.

No doubt this will be all over the news (not).

At Fire Andrea Mitchell, "White House on lockdown as Occupy Congress losers throw smoke bombs " (via Fox and Memeorandum).

'All Right Now'

Some tunes until later.

Enjoy Free:

Discord Among Conservatives as Romney Picks Up Steam

At New York Times, "Discord in G.O.P. as Conservatives Air Differences."

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — With new calls on Monday for Republicans to rally around Mitt Romney as their presidential nominee, some conservatives showed new signs of fracturing despite a vote over the weekend by religious leaders to coalesce behind Rick Santorum as an anti-Romney alternative.

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the moderate former governor of Utah whose candidacy did not live up to its early promise, dropped out of the race and endorsed Mr. Romney, saying, “It is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat Barack Obama.

“Despite our differences and the space between us on some of the issues, I believe that candidate is Governor Mitt Romney.” Mr. Huntsman said.

But his call for unity came as evangelical leaders, intent on blocking Mr. Romney’s path to the nomination, showed new divisions after having appeared on Saturday to settle on Mr. Santorum as their conservative choice. Four conservative Christian leaders who attended a meeting of evangelicals in Texas asserted their independence on Monday, issuing a statement that said, “Many there were and still are for Newt Gingrich.”

Underscoring the party’s lack of unity, Mr. Santorum’s campaign released its first negative advertisement against Mr. Romney hours before the candidates gathered here for a debate. The ad called Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, “more liberal than Ted Kennedy on social issues” and said he had inspired President Obama’s health care overhaul, meaning he would be unable to present a sharp contrast with Mr. Obama.

The ad highlighted how the battle for South Carolina’s evangelical and conservative voters — who make up 60 percent of the state’s registered Republicans — has boiled down to a two-man contest between Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich. Neither candidate showed any sign that he was considering stepping aside.

Continue reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Rick Santorum Goes Up With Merciless Ad Attacking Mitt Romney in South Carolina."

Through the Institutions: The Left's Long March Nearly Complete

This is a phenomenal essay, from Barry Rubin, at PJ Media, "Can Real Liberalism and the Democratic Party Be Saved from the Radical Takeover?":

“I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of 3 branches of the government working for them, and that ain’t bad.”

 – Jack Nicholson as “President Dale” in Mars Attacks.

The far left has at least temporarily won the battle of ideas in the United States and taken over institutions by pretending to be “liberal.” Meanwhile, actual traditional liberalism, which ruled those institutions for many decades, has vanished. Suddenly, we are supposed to believe that “class warfare,” anti-capitalism, hatred of America, Stalinist-style treatment of opponents, the glorification of the extremist Occupy movement, a mass media all too devoted to propaganda, and a betrayal of Enlightenment values are normative liberal ideas!

During the 1930s, the Communist Party tried to take over liberalism but failed miserably. Today, however, the post-Communist left has succeeded in that effort to a remarkable extent, effectively wiping out the memory of what liberalism was actually like.  For their part, many conservatives are quite willing to reinforce the left’s rewriting of history, suggesting that Barack Obama and the destruction of once-great institutions is a natural and inevitable outgrowth of people like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson.

Yet there is a sizable bloc of traditional liberals who have been repelled by the radical takeovers of institutions and the destruction of their own ideas. They have not yet found a voice but, if given proper treatment and leadership, they are about to far exceed the “Reagan Democrat” phenomenon.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 21 percent of those who considered themselves Democrats when Obama became president no longer do so. And if you add in those still calling themselves Democrats and who will vote loyally while being very disturbed with what’s happening, that number might total about half. These are people who never felt comfortable with the new radicalism, who have woken up in the last three years, or will do so very soon. That’s the constituency I want to speak to.  And briefly here’s the message...

Keep reading.

Rubin lays it out like I've done here repeatedly.

Today's Democrat Party is a radical far left-wing institution, and the ideological foundations of radical leftism have leached into all the major educational and cultural nerve centers of society. The defeat of the Democrats this year will be a huge victory for common sense and decency, but we also have to begin turning back the clock on decades of literal malpractice among those responsible for training the young minds destined for tomorrow's leadership.

New York Times Shills for Convicted '60s Revolutionary Terrorist Judith Clark

I first saw this story at Althouse, where Ann noted how Clark represented herself at trial and most certainly screwed up her own defense, resulting in a prison term lasting until 2056. Her co-defendants made pleas and were sentenced to shorter terms and are out on parole today. So then I was reading the comments from Ron Radosh on this as well, "The Sad Story of Judith Clark: How Ideology can Ruin a Life. The Question Remains: Should She Go Free?" It's an interesting commentary, especially since Radosh thinks Clark's done her time and she should get clemency from the State of New York.

The problem, of course, is that the New York Times is hardly a neutral observer. The article, by freelance correspondent Tom Robbins, is basically a long plea for forgiveness, making the case for Clark's "radical transformation," which is a bunch of baloney for many observers and contemporaries. The editors at the New York Post weren't fooled a bit, for example, "Sick push to spring radical Judith Clark." And David Horowitz is practically livid, "The NYT Shilling Again for Leftwing Murderers":

The New York Times, which played a key role in getting convicted and unrepentant murderer Kathy Boudin a parole, has now published a similar massive plea posing as a news story for her accomplice, Judy Clark. The piece is maliciously titled “The Radical Transformation of Judy Clark” as though Clark, understanding the heinous nature of her crime which left 9 children fatherless, is prepared to renounce the life that led to it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course Clark is in her sixties now and regrets her separation from the infant she abandoned to commit the crime (her last crime not her only crime). Her daughter  is now 31 and she would obviously like to be able to share the kind of life with her that her victims cannot share with their dead fathers. And, of course, being old and gray, she no longer thinks Amerikkka is on the brink of a violent revolution and liberation. Unlike Boudin, moreover, she does seem to have given some thought to the enormity  of what she did to those nine fatherless children. But that said, there is no indication that her parole plea is anything but self-serving, or that she has turned her back on the progressive terrorists — Boudin, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn among them — who were her comrades-in-arms through the twelve years of armed warfare she conducted against her country and its citizens, which left more than a handful of people dead.

To begin with, Clark and her mouthpiece at the Times, present the culprit as an absent-minded accomplice to the one crime for which she was convicted, the Brinks robbery in Nyack NY in 1981. According to Clark,  her participation  was an “obligation” — the fulfillment of a promise she had made to participate as a getaway driver in a robbery she thought would never take place. This is baloney. Clark was part of a group that called itself “The Family,” which  was a working alliance between the Black Liberation Army and the May 19th Communist Movement (so-named in part to commemorate the day the BLA murdered a black and white police team in New York for no reason other than that they were a black and white officer working together).

The May 19 gang was mainly women (among them Boudin, Clark and Susan Rosenberg) who served as the getaway team for the BLA in a string of bank robberies in which people were killed. One attempted assassination of  a New York judge was unsuccessful. All these crimes were committed in the name of the revolution, which in the perverse eyes of progressives like Judy Clark, justified them. The Family had also sprung a cold-blooded killer — Assata Shakur — from federal prison. Clark’s role in the May 19th organization was not the beginning of her criminal career but its fulfillment. Previously she had spent 7 years as one of the most fanatical members of the Weather Underground, helping to conduct many bombings and kill at least three people, and probably also two police officers whose deaths are still under investigation.

Continue reading.

Horowitz suggests that Clark could have atoned by turning her back on terrorism and her terrorist past, and by turning state's evidence against those radicals still working their ways of criminal destruction and mayhem.

Now, it turns out that Radosh faced some heavy pushback for suggesting leniency for Clark, and he's updated with a new post, "Second Thoughts on the Plight of Judith Clark: An Answer to My Critics." Here's this from Radosh's third consideration for leniency:

What Judith Clark is most vulnerable on, and what Tom Robbins did not ask her about, is her violent past with the May 19th Communist Organization. The Black Liberation Army, which they supported, killed a guard and two police officers. They were probably responsible for other actions in past years. As Horowitz points out in as yet unpublished article, May 19th was picked as their name for the birthday of both Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X, as well as being the date that the BLA murdered two cops in Harlem, one white and one black. The group also helped free the convicted cop killer JoAnne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, whom they broke out of prison and who has since fled to Cuba, where she now lives.

I agree with Horowitz that these radicals are part “of an ongoing community of political radicals” who try to conceal their agenda through playing the victim, and always pointing out how they only want “social justice,” the term through which they hide their actual goal of communist revolution. They are anything but the noble idealists the Times paints them out to be.

And he continues with more concurrence with Horowitz: Clark should be asked what she knows about the unsolved crimes of her radical comrades, and she should come clean with the whole truth about her activities, which would demonstrate a real remorse for her terrorism --- something that so many others of the '60s generation have not done.

Bonus, from Curtis in the comments at Neo-Neocon:

Again, the real injustice here is not that Clark, while being the least of the terrorists received the most punishment. Her punishment is apt and deserved. The real injustice is the appalling lack of value and respect shown to the victims of terrorist violence and the amount of credence and play the lies and disingenuous stories the New York Times receives.

Word.

States Move to Protect Climate Change Skeptics in Classrooms

Well, this is interesting.

At Los Angeles Times, "Climate change skepticism seeps into science classrooms":

Reporting from Washington— A flash point has emerged in American science education that echoes the battle over evolution, as scientists and educators report mounting resistance to the study of man-made climate change in middle and high schools.

Although scientific evidence increasingly shows that fossil fuel consumption has caused the climate to change rapidly, the issue has grown so politicized that skepticism of the broad scientific consensus has seeped into classrooms.

Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom.

In May, a school board in Los Alamitos, Calif., passed a measure, later rescinded, identifying climate science as a controversial topic that required special instructional oversight.

"Any time we have a meeting of 100 teachers, if you ask whether they're running into pushback on teaching climate change, 50 will raise their hands," said Frank Niepold, climate education coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who meets with hundreds of teachers annually. "We ask questions about how sizable it is, and they tell us it is [sizable] and pretty persistent, from many places: your administration, parents, students, even your own family."

Well good.

Whoa: That's What I'm Talkin' About – Anti-Mormon Bigotry and Racist Allegations in the Primaries, and More On the Way

I'm mentioned on a number of occasions that the 2012 general election is going to one of the nastiest in generations. The preview was the left's attack on the Mormon Church following the rejection of Proposition 8 at the ballot in 2008 in California. And the left will have absolutely no inhibitions in 2012, especially if Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination.

Check out William Jacobson's post from the other day, "Saturday Night Card Game (How nasty will the general election race card get? This nasty)."

I was hesitant to post the video below, but since it is receiving a lot of press coverage, particularly in Utah, it’s not like I’m helping spread something that’s not already out there. And you have to see what is coming down the pike.

And more at William's, "“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thread on LI get so heated and nasty”."

It's going to be interesting.

Ezra Levant: Lifestyles of the Green and Famous

Via Blazing Cat Fur, "Ezra Levant Meets the Hollywood Eco-Divas!"

Politics at the Golden Globes

At The Hill, "Meryl Streep, George Clooney talk politics at the Golden Globes."

At Los Angeles Times, "Golden Globes: Irrelevant? Maybe. But not the speeches."

Kelly Brook Promotes 'New Look' Lingerie Project

Nice pictures.

 At Mirror UK, "Kelly Brook, bra, knickers, sexy face - this story sells itself really, doesn't it?"

Added: At London's Daily Mail, "'Push 'em up I say!' Kelly Brook shares some sexy beauty secrets as she slips her curves into her new range of New Look underwear."

Newt Gingrich Schools Juan Williams on 'Food Stamp President'

This was an interesting moment at the debate in Myrtle Beach.

Newt hit that one out of the park.

At Los Angeles Times, "Gingrich defends calling Obama 'the food stamp president'."

Rick Santorum Goes Up With Merciless Ad Attacking Mitt Romney in South Carolina

Oh boy, this is harsh, via Mark Helperin and Memeorandum:

And at The Hill, "Santorum calls on Romney to release tax returns."

America Pauses to Honor King's Legacy

The Los Angeles Times has this, "Martin Luther King Jr. honored across U.S. (and in Google Doodle)."

And I wanted to give another shout out for my essay today at PJ Media: "How Progressive Race-Baiters Destroyed Civil Rights Progress in America."

And see also, Joel Kotkin, "Martin Luther King, Economic Equality and the 2012 Election." Kotkin notes that the administration's policies have lifted white collar trades at the expense of working class minority communities:

From its inception the Obama administration’s focus has been on the largely white information economy, notably boosting universities and the green-industrial complex based in places like Silicon Valley. The Obama team’s decision to surrender working class whites to appeal to what Democratic strategists call the “mass upper middle class” makes political sense but could lead to problems for an American working class that is itself increasingly minority.

An emphasis on green industries and strong across-the-board regulation often works against traditional industries like heavy manufacturing, warehousing and fossil fuel development that historically have employed many minorities. Opposing development of new petrochemical plants and such things as the XL Pipeline — opposed by many greens and their allies in the Obama Administration — could reduce new opportunities for minority workers, many of them unionized, particularly in the heavily African-American, and increasingly Latino, Gulf region.

I have never seen this administration's concerns for blacks go further than a second thought for a guaranteed voting constituency. Obama gives a lot of lectures to old line civil rights groups, and he hams it up for the cameras on the holidays, getting in all the right PR for brothas in the 'hood.

At Los Angeles Times, "Obama marks Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with call to service."

More at CSM, "Martin Luther King, Jr. and the decline in what younger generations know about him."

Larry Holmes, International ANSWER Co-Founder and World Workers Party Secretariat Member, Announces Occupy Wall Street is 'Beginning of the End of Capitalism'

At The Last Tradition, "American Communist sees #OWS as reawakening to push U.S. toward Marxist-Leninist path."

And following the links takes us to Big Government, "US Communist Leader: OWS ‘a Wake Up Call to All Who Remain Committed to a Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Direction’."

At the photo, Holmes is seen with convicted communist traitor and "human rights attorney" Lynne Stewart.

These assholes are destroying the country, f-king loser scum.

PREVIOUSLY: "Walter James 'Occupy' Casper Continues Campaign of Lies: Childishly Whines About 'McCarthyism' While Endorsing Anarchists and Anti-Semitic Communists."

At PJ Media: 'How Progressive Race-Baiters Destroyed Civil Rights Progress in America'

My latest essay is posted at Pajamas Media.

I'm personally astounded by the left's manufactured racism, and Professor Melissa Harris-Perry is so shameless it's criminal.

And from the comments at the essay:

The reactionary Left is hopelessly addicted to racial division. It’s a shame to see so-called academics like Harris-Perry working so hard to distort reality.

Attacking Republicans as Economic Terrorists is 'Civil Discourse'

Seems to me that progressives get up in arms when conservatives go over the top with attacks on opponents. But when progressives spout genuinely over the top nonsense it's "free speech" and "civility." That's the takeaway from the Froma Harrop fiasco, whether or not she was in on the comedy or not. James Taranto explains:

Remember Froma Harrop, the civility scold and Baroness Catherine Ashton look-alike who called Tea Party congressmen "terrorists" and couldn't understand why anyone found this hypocritical? She provided us with lots of material last summer and now Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" has recycled it into comedy gold, somehow persuading her to sit for an interview in which she looks utterly ridiculous. You have to watch it to believe it.

A colleague who did watch it posed an interesting question: Was she playing the straight man, or is she really that oblivious? There's no way to know for sure, but based on our back-and-forth with her last year, the hypocrisy and cluelessness ring entirely true.

More at the link.

And check AoSHQ, "Froma Harrop on the Tea Party."

Plus, a roundup of reactions at Da Tech Guy's, "Too frightful to use, except against conservatives."

No one is that stupid, so the only conclusion is that she was in on the act. Perhaps. The problem is that while Harrop has fun lampooning her own hypocrisy, she has no intention of abandoning it. She posts the link to her essay from August, and writes, with a completely straight face, "For those interested in my argument, here it is..."

Either way, the episode is emblematic of the postmodern reality the drives progressive discourse and demonization. It's something I've written about quite a bit, but it's amazing to witness over and over again.

Laura Kaeppeler Hot White Bikini Shots

She's an interesting woman. I was just listening to her on Good Morning America.

And check the photos here: "Miss America: Who Wore the Best Swimsuit?"

And lots of coverage at London's Daily Mail, "Tears and tiaras: Opera singing Wisconsin beauty crowned Miss America (after dodging politics question)," and "Miss America's secret heartache: Beauty queen reveals she graduated without her father after he was jailed for mail fraud."

Here's Andrew Sullivan's 'Why Are Obama's Critics So Dumb?' Piece at Newsweek

ICYMI, here's the earlier entry with the "dumb" cover shot: "Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Smears Obama Critics as 'Dumb' in Newsweek Cover Story."

And here's the moment you've all been waiting for, "How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics."

When reading this, I'm reminding of Sullivan's piece from December 2007 at The Atlantic, "Why Obama Matters." The kind of emotional attachment Sullivan invests in Barack Obama is unique in all of journalism, and apposite of Sullivan's parallel and literally deranged obsession with Sarah Palin's uterus, it's obviously psychologically unhealthy. But he indeed speaks for all of those who saw in Obama the messiah candidate, and this tendency's a deviance that's been evident in wider media reporting now for years: Barack Obama as the "Lightworker" repeatedly portrayed in photography and art as the miracle man with the halo. Such political deification is the essence of the cult of personality built around leaders in totalitarian regimes. That it happened here should make people think again about political partisans calling their enemies "dumb."

At the Newsweek piece, Sullivan deploys his showmanship as a writer, but fails badly at any semblance of evenhandedness --- a disgraceful situation, considering Newsweek continues to bill itself as an objective news source practicing professional journalism. Here's a flavor, from the introduction:

A president in the last year of his first term will always get attacked mercilessly by his partisan opponents, and also, often, by the feistier members of his base. And when unemployment is at remarkably high levels, and with the national debt setting records, the criticism will—and should be—even fiercer. But this time, with this president, something different has happened. It’s not that I don’t understand the critiques of Barack Obama from the enraged right and the demoralized left. It’s that I don’t even recognize their description of Obama’s first term in any way. The attacks from both the right and the left on the man and his policies aren’t out of bounds. They’re simply—empirically—wrong.

A caveat: I write this as an unabashed supporter of Obama from early 2007 on. I did so not as a liberal, but as a conservative-minded independent appalled by the Bush administration’s record of war, debt, spending, and torture. I did not expect, or want, a messiah. I have one already, thank you very much. And there have been many times when I have disagreed with decisions Obama has made—to drop the Bowles-Simpson debt commission, to ignore the war crimes of the recent past, and to launch a war in Libya without Congress’s sanction, to cite three. But given the enormity of what he inherited, and given what he explicitly promised, it remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008.

I have highlighted Sullivan's dishonesty. The 2007 Atlantic piece was a paean to Obama as a supernatural being, the personification of a new kind of intellectual faith. It struck me as bizarre at the time, and after all that's happened in three years of Democrat Party lies, corruption, scandal, and incompetence, the reader is once again forced to ask if Andrew Sullivan is in his right mind.

Sullivan at the Newsweek "dumb" piece aims his ire and vindictiveness at the "unhinged right," as he calls conservative opponents of the administration. And his style is something of an argumentative Gatling gun: he spews out an endless stream of purported achievements and facts whiles simultaneously omitting even the slightest bit of dis-confirming evidence. We hear, yet again, that Obama inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression, but we then get comparisons to the George W. Bush years that are completely removed from the context of that administration's crises (recession, September 11). Sullivan posits that Bush added over $5 trillion in news spending? But Obama added only $1.2 trillion (projected for two terms total), so it's really George W. Bush who is the fiscal socialist, not Obama. Right. Meanwhile, Sullivan neatly ignores the Obama administration's unprecedented deficits and debt and insists again and again on calling the president "moderate" --- even, he "dare says," conservative. ObamaCare is pooh-poohed as a trivial health care reform that "crosses the Rubicon" toward universal access. Not mentioned are the literally thousands of waivers that have been given to companies large and small, especially those belonging to well-connected Democrat Party cronies. This is why Republicans say it should be repealed. It's the biggest farce of social policy since at least the Great Society's "war on poverty."

And don't even get me going on foreign policy. Sullivan trumpets the killing of Osama bin Laden as Barack Obama's personal success (it is not) and he praises the president for America's precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, which was the result of a negotiation blunder of historic proportions. And for some reason Sullivan thinks "leading from behind" is a phrase that deserves praise. The fact is the Obama administration's policy on Libya demonstrated the most amateur conduct of American foreign policy in the last fifty years. Obama was, on the one hand, demanding Muammar Gaddafi's removal from power while, on the other, insisting that regime change wasn't America's end game in Libya. The administration's ineptitude has been replayed over and over again, in the Middle East and beyond, and one foreign policy pledge after another has been broken and disregarded, with virtually the entire national security architecture established during the previous Bush administration retained and expanded --- completely the exact opposite of that promised during the "Lightworker's" campaign in 2008.

Barack Obama's foreign and national security policies have left America both weaker and less secure. Seriously, it's Andrew Sullivan who's looking thoroughly "dumb" here, and this is just the tip of the iceberg of this nasty, partisan hack job piece of journalism. Yep, Newsweek's has done it again with a disastrous cover story and disgraceful example of fluff reporting attempting to leverage a failed administration back in power for four more years. I think I'm going to puke.

Deconstructing the Demonized: The 1 Percent Unpacked

At New York Times, "Among the Wealthiest One Percent, Many Variations."

RTWT.

This is interesting:

Of the 1 percenters interviewed for this article, almost all — conservatives and liberals alike — said the wealthy could and should shoulder more of the country’s financial burden, and almost all said they viewed the current system as unfair. But they may prefer facing cuts to their own benefits like Social Security than paying more taxes. In one survey of wealthy Chicago families, almost twice as many respondents said they would cut government spending as those who said they would cut spending and raise revenue.

Even those who said the deck was stacked in their favor did not appreciate anti-rich rhetoric.

“I don’t mind paying a little bit more in taxes. I don’t mind putting money to programs that help the poor,” said Anthony J. Bonomo of Manhasset, N.Y., who runs a medical malpractice insurance company and is a Republican. But, he said, he did mind taking a hit for the country’s woes. “If those people could camp out in that park all day, why aren’t they out looking for a job? Why are they blaming others?”

To many, 99 vs. 1 was an artificial distinction that overlooked hard work and moral character. “It shouldn’t be relevant,” said Mr. Katz , who said he both creates job and contributes to charitable causes. “I’m not hurting anyone. I’m helping a lot of people.”

Andrew 'Milky Loads' Sullivan Smears Obama Critics as 'Dumb' in Newsweek Cover Story

Newsweek should post the full story to the homepage, but it's not up yet.

Folks will remember Newsweek's Obama worship from 2008. With "Milky Loads" now over at Daily Beast/Newsweek, get ready for an especially long year of attacks from the formerly august newsweekly. (See: "Andrew Sullivan Moving to Daily Beast.")

Added: Linked at Blazing Cat Fur and Weasel Zippers. Thanks!

Okay, Rawmuscleglutes' piece is up: "How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics." I'll have commentary on it later...

Rick Perry Slams Obama Administration's Response to Marines Pissing on Dead Taliban

Well, maybe Perry can expand on this during Monday's presidential debate. What a chance to call out the progressive left for its epic America-bashing and hypocrisy.

At Los Angeles Times, "Rick Perry: Marines who urinated on dead bodies are 'kids'." And at USA Today, "Perry slams Obama team's response to Marines video."

Image Credit: The People's Cube.

The Economy Still Sucks and It's Not Likely to Surge In Time to Save Barack Hussein

Check the great post from Reliapundit, "The Real Unemployment Rate Under Obama."

THINGS SUCK AND THEY ARE NOT GETTING BETTER.

OBAMA'S DOMESTIC POLICIES HAVE NOT IMPROVED THINGS.

Well, yeah.

See IBD, "Unprecedented, Tepid Recovery Under Obama Begs Question: Where Did All the Workers Go?" (Via Doug Ross.)

f 

We all wish for a healthy economy. All of this dislocation sucks. But progressives are fooling themselves if they think the economy's coming back and Obama deserves the credit. When the economy truly expands and job growth is restored it will be in spite of the efforts of this administration to destroy the private sector. Steve Benen sucks donkey balls.

RELATED: "The Economy Still Sucks Democrat Donkey Dongs, No Matter What Islamo-Socialist President Barack Hussein Says Otherwise."

Former U.S. Marine Suspected in Series of Homeless Murders in Orange County

This adds a particularly disheartening twist to the story.

At Los Angeles Times, "Suspect in O.C. killings of homeless men is an Iraq war veteran."

Romney's National Campaign Operation Will Be Hard to Overcome

At Los Angeles Times, "Mitt Romney's rivals don't have time on their side":

Five Republicans are fighting mightily to deny Mitt Romney a quick coronation as the party's presidential nominee. But if one of them emerges as his top challenger, a monumental task lies ahead: building a national campaign operation on the fly.‬

‪For Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich or any other successful insurgent, the state-by-state scramble for delegates would require quick hiring of staffers scattered across the country — first and foremost in Florida, where Romney could essentially lock up the nomination in the Jan. 31 primary.‬

‪Offices must be rented, cellphones purchased. Endorsements must be lined up and scores of surrogates deployed. A deluge of media inquiries will gush in not just from the national media, but also from far-flung local news outlets, many of them in strategically vital regions that cannot be ignored.‬

‪Simultaneous challenges abound: new TV ads to be produced and tested with focus groups, polls to be taken, brochures to be printed, and databases to be culled to target voters susceptible to persuasion through phone calls and mail.‬

‪Seasoned advance staff must navigate the candidate through multiple events a day in diverse and unfamiliar towns. Trivial missteps can escalate instantly into YouTube nightmares.‬

‪Not least, operatives steeped in arcane state election rules must run petition drives to get the candidate's name on ballots for primaries weeks or months away, a chore neglected early on — to their detriment — by Santorum, Gingrich and Rick Perry.‬

‪All the while, any Republican who manages to become Romney's chief opponent will have to keep raising money at a breakneck pace and maintain a vigorous schedule of events — and compete against a front-runner whose national infrastructure is set firmly in place.‬

‪"It's very difficult to put the wings on while the plane is flying," said Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain's campaign in 2008. "It becomes a very, very complicated operation — very, very quickly."‬

Now, notice that advertisement at the clip. Romney's racked up a load of social policy flip-flops, so perhaps the campaign's putting the message out that he's got bona fides. Either way, evangelicals dissed him in Texas yesterday. See Tina Korbe, "Tony Perkins Announces Evangelical Support for Rick Santorum."

Militants Attack Police Station in Northwest Pakistan Town of Dera Ismail Khan

At Telegraph UK, "Militants storm police station in northwest Pakistan."

Also from Agence France-Presse, "Pakistan quells militant attack, eight killed: Official":

 Pakistani security forces on Saturday quelled a militant attack on a police station in which eight people were killed including four suicide bombers, one police and three civilians, police said.

The attackers targeted the main police station in Dera Ismail Khan city near the lawless tribal region, provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told AFP.

Three suicide bombers detonated themselves and one was shot dead by the army, police chief of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Akbar Hoti told AFP.

"Army and police units have entered the police station and a search operation is over," he said after an operation lasting over two hours.

"We have recovered bodies of four militants, they were all wearing suicide vests," he said.

One police official and three civilians were also killed in the operation, he said adding that eight others including a policeman were wounded.

"We are checking the identity of the civilian casualties to ascertain if they included any militants," he said.

Interior minister Rehman Malik blamed Taliban militants for the attack. "Terrorists attacked security forces," he told reporters.

Police spokesman Mohammad Hanif said earlier police shot dead two militants and at least one other blew himself up.

He said he believed about half a dozen militants stormed the station located in a sensitive area housing government offices, district courts and lawyers chambers.

They hurled hand grenades and opened fire on the office of the district police chief, he said. The police chief was unhurt, he added.

Authorities summoned troops and commandos ringed the area, police said.

Document Dump: Obama Administration Knew About 2010 Solyndra Layoffs

Here's this from Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Friday night doc dump: WH knew before Solyndra workers flew."

And Doug Powers has this, at Michelle's, "The 11 Other Solyndras."

The Democrats' culture of corruption.