Mitt Romney 'Has Not Launched the Type of Aggressive Messaging and Counter Offensive Necessary to Beat the Campaign of a Saul Alinsky Acolyte'

From Laura Ingrahm on the O'Reilly Factor last Friday, the day Team Romney announced Paul Ryan's veep selection. Hey, it's been pretty awesome since then, but with the exception of the grassroots enthusiasm for Ryan, I'm not seeing the kind of really hard punch back we should be seeing. I'm personally enthusiastic, but still waiting for #RomneyRyan to get Obama on the ropes, to hammer him until he's staggering.

Here's Ingraham, "Laura Ingraham: What Mitt Romney has to do to turn his campaign around":

Now, I realize that some of you won't like hearing this, but if the election were held today, Romney would probably lose. Two surveys released within hours of each other by CNN and Fox reported Obama up by seven points and nine points respectively.

The swing state story is not a good one either. The real Clear Politics average has Obama up seven in Pennsylvania, five in Ohio, and three in Virginia. Obama leads by slim margins in Florida and Colorado.

So with unemployment still above eight percent and two-thirds of the country thinking that we're going in the wrong direction, how on earth is Obama still ahead? Is every poll other than Rasmussen flawed or biased? First reason, negative ads and Romney brand management.

Just about every week this summer, Democrats have launched a new attack against Romney. And by August, they've stereotyped him as a tax dodging, cancer causing, outsourcing, 1950s aristocrat with a car elevator. Romney has spent a lot of time raising money which is important and he's done that well. But he has not launched the type of aggressive messaging and counter offensive that is necessary to beat the campaign of a Saul Alinsky acolyte.

The Obama team throws a knife and Romney's team tosses a pillow. An effective rapid response team would have nailed Obama on the Super PAC cancer ad. I would have said something like this, we're all getting sick, sick of this poisonous style of campaigning and sick of politicians like President Obama who blame others for their broken promises and failed policies. Instead, Romney's spokeswoman responded by lauding universal healthcare in Massachusetts. Terrible...

Watch it at the link.

See also Politico, "Laura Ingraham: 'Romney's losing'."

PREVIOUSLY: See also my earlier concerns, "Mitt Romney Sought 'Pact' With Obama to Take 'Business or Family or Taxes' Off the Table."

Ashley Greene Bikini Pics!

Looking good.

At London's Daily Mail, "Making them Greene with envy! Ashley shows off her incredibly toned bikini body as she goes paddle-boarding with an equally buff mystery man."

I just mentioned Ms. Greene the other day. See, "Helen Gurley Brown, Former Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, Dead at 90."

Emily Hart's 10 Reasons Why Dating Sucks

Quite a change of pace from Karen Alloy, right old chap?!!

See London's Daily Mail, "'There's no point dating someone that you can't see impregnating you.' Emily Hart discusses the dating game in her weekly 10 reasons why blog."

And on YouTube here.

She's funny.

Theo Spark is On Fire!

Man, Theo's been posting all kinds of lovely ladies over there!

See Tuesday's "Bedtime Totty...", and "Tuesday Totty..."

And, "Bonus Babe..."

PHOTO: Monday's "Bedtime Totty..."

'Off the Grid' Voters and Campaign 2012

Here's a new poll from SAY Media, "Research Abstract: Voters Going Off the Grid: 2012."

And here's the write-up, "Will “Off the Grid” Voters Decide the Next Presidential Election?"

Plus, see Emily Steel at the Financial Times, "Voters turn on but tune out political ads":

American voters are increasingly oblivious to the political ads dominating the airwaves during this election campaign, according to a study of media consumption habits.

Nearly a third of likely voters had not watched live TV in the past seven days, according to a June poll conducted by Say Media, a digital publishing company, in conjunction with two political advertising consultancies and two pollsters that represent both Democrats and Republicans....

For years, TV has dominated US political ad budgets. About 66.8 per cent of all US political ad dollars – or $6.6bn – is expected to be spent on broadcast and cable television this year, according to the research firm Borrell Associates.

But political campaigners must now doubt whether television ads will still sway voters. Simply dusting off tried and tested strategies for political advertising no longer works. In closely fought elections, campaigns that deploy the savviest digital advertising strategies increasingly claim victory, political consultants say.

More at the link.

Home Field Advantage: British Athletes Subsidized in London Olympics

At the New York Times, "British Athletes Spurred by Home Fields and Subsidies":

In the 2012 Games, the British squad of 541 competitors, known as Team GB, won 65 medals across 14 sports. Only two other countries, the United States and China, won more gold medals, 46 for the United States and 38 for China. While winning only 24 golds, Russia won 82 medals, pushing Britain into fourth place in the overall medal count.

By the measure of medals won in proportion to its population of 62 million, Britain — with 5 percent of China’s population, 20 percent of the United States’ and 43 percent of Russia’s — could claim to have outperformed the nations that finished ahead of it in the medals table. It easily outpaced, too, its own medals haul from the 2008 Beijing Games, when it won 19 golds and 47 medals over all.

More compelling than any medal count, though, were the performances turned in by individual athletes. There was Helen Glover, a gold medalist in the women’s coxless pairs, who never sat in a rowing boat until after the Beijing Games, when she answered a newspaper ad posted by Sir Steve Redgrave, a five-time Olympic rowing gold medalist, asking for tall, strong volunteers for elite performance training.

There was Nicola Adams, a 5-foot-4 flyweight from an inner-city community in the northern city of Leeds, who became the first British female boxer to be awarded an Olympic medal, defeating a Chinese world champion to win gold, then delighting her fans with her modesty about her achievements in a sport that was barred in Britain until 1996.

“It gives me goose bumps,” she said, clutching her medal.

There was, too, Mo Farah, son of a Somali immigrant, with a goat-herding family still working the Somali scrublands, who won the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races, then leaned in to the camera to tell millions watching on BBC television that the country to which he owed his success was Britain, and that the formula for winning was simple. “It’s just a matter of hard graft,” he said....

An important factor in the British success, British competitors, coaches and commentators have agreed, has been the home-team advantage that has meant a surge in medals for many of the countries that have hosted the Games, often followed by a steep falloff at subsequent Olympics.

A case in point is Australia, which soared in the medals count with a total of 58 at its home games in Sydney in 2000, then dropped to 49 in Athens in 2004, and 46 in Beijing in 2008, and 35 in the London Games, a performance that has set off a debate among Australians about what went wrong — and anxiety in Britain, which has competed with its former colony for sports bragging rights for more than a century, to ensure that it does not suffer a similar reverse.

One British winner after another has cited the roar of the home crowd and the sea of waving Union Jacks. Exulting in British performances that have served, at least for the moment, to boost national confidence at a time of dismal economic news, the crowds have drowned out the urgings of the athletes’ coaches, and left competitors saying an hour or more afterward that they still have a ringing in their ears.

But along with the home-field factor, British commentators have acknowledged that much of the British success has been owed to what many here have seen as a very un-British decision in recent years to subsidize its Olympic competitors, putting them on the payroll in return for winning medals at the Games.

Through a program run by a government-created agency called UK Sport, more than a billion dollars in officially regulated lottery money and taxpayer subsidies have been poured into selected sports since the mid-1990s, nearly half of it in the four years since the Olympics in Beijing.

The program is similar to others among the 200 nations and territories that competed at the London Games, but notably different from the approach in the United States, where Olympic competitors, with no government financial support available, rely on corporate and other private financing.

Well, Britain's proudest moment of the opening ceremonies was the celebration of the National Health Service, so it's no surprise that their athletes were on the government dole.

At least things worked out for them. U.S. reporter Meredith Viera had a thumb infection, but was advised not to use the public health system, at Twitchy, "Meredith Vieira trashes Britain’s NHS on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’."

PHOTO CREDIT: Mo Farah, via Wikimedia Commons.

CNN's John King: Obama Campaign Admits 'Privately' That Joe Biden's Racist Comments 'Not Helpful'

CNN's where the action is lately, man. I was watching Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room earlier, and this is a bombshell segment with John King:

Via RealClearPolitics, "CNN: Senior Obama Official Said Biden's Comment "Not Helpful" And Knocked Campaign Off Message":

"Publicly, Obama aides are defending the Vice President. Privately, they're not so happy," CNN's John King said about Biden's "chain" comment.

"Privately, though, I just had an email exchange, Wolf, with a senior Obama campaign adviser who said this is not helpful. The President is here in Iowa today. He wants to talk about energy. He wants to talk about farm programs. He wants to stay on message because he is trying to win this and other key battleground states and they believe that the Vice President has knocked them off track," King said.

Also at Weasel Zippers, "Romney Campaign Calls On Obama To Denounce Biden’s “Back In Chains” Remark…" (via Memeorandum).

Massive Python Found in Everglades National Park

At the Atlantic, "Scientists Show Off the Largest Python Ever Found in the Everglades."

'Put an Obama Bumper Sticker on Your Head When You Do This...'

Ed Morrissey has it, at Hot Air, "Video: Soledad O’Brien’s membership in Mantra Club confirmed."

PREVIOUSLY: "CNN's Soledad O'Brien Cribs 'Talking Points Memo' in Feeble Attack on Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan."

"CNN's independent analysis" means "Talking Points Memo."

Katy Perry Bikini Bottom Slips While Boogie Boarding at Raging Waters in San Dimas

She's a good sport!

At London's Daily Mail, "Bottoms up! Katy Perry shows off a bit too much as she suffers a major wardrobe mishap going down a water slide."

Man, that's something else.

Barack Obama, Stephanie Cutter Double Down on Joe Biden's Disgusting 'Back in Chains' Slur

Twitchy reports, "Gaffetastic new tone! Biden in Va.: ‘They’re going to put you back in chains,’ ‘We can win NC again’," and "How low can they go? Obama agrees with Biden’s ‘they’re going to put you back in chains’ comment."

And Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter is down with it as well, "Biden’s ‘Back in Chains’ Remark Draws Fire":

Mr. Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, told MSNBC that the campaign doesn’t have a problem with Mr. Biden’s comments because he was using them as a metaphor for the consequences of rolling back Wall Street reform.

“The bottom line is that we have no problem with those comments,” Ms. Cutter said.

Mr. Biden has a history of statement and gaffes that have made headlines. In fact, in the same speech Tuesday, Mr. Biden told the Virginia voters: “With you — and I mean this — with you, we can win North Carolina again.”

More at The Hill and Memeorandum.

Democrats Demagogue Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan

From the DNC Chair on down, the Democrats are lying, and spinning, and demonizing Paul Ryan's Medicare proposals.

This CNN report below is pretty fair, and here's the front page report at today's New York Times, "Medicare Rises as Prime Election Issue":

TAMPA, Fla. — With Mitt Romney’s selection of Representative Paul D. Ryan as his running mate, Florida quickly emerged on Monday as a critical test of the nationwide Republican gamble that concerns over the mounting federal debt can blunt potent Democratic attacks on conservative proposals to revamp Medicare.

As Mr. Romney campaigned through Florida on Monday, Democrats greeted him with a barrage of assaults, including a Web advertisement featuring worried elderly voters in this battleground state. The campaign took on a more heated air as President Obama suggested in Iowa that the Republican ticket would “end Medicare as we know it,” a warning echoed in North Carolina by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ...

Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan signaled that they intended to go on the offensive, challenging the assumption that Republicans were better off playing down the issue. They are gambling that anxiety about deficits, the influence of the Tea Party movement and changing demographics will give them a chance to convince voters that the time has come to confront the rapidly mounting costs of sustaining entitlement programs. Mr. Ryan is scheduled to visit Florida this month.

“Every even-numbered year in Florida, seniors are accustomed to Mediscare tactics; that’s what Democrats do,” said Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to Mr. Romney. “The fact is, we’re going to go on offense here. Because the president has raided the Medicare trust fund to the tune of $716 billion to pay for a massive expansion of government known as Obamacare.”

“There won’t be a single senior citizen in Florida who won’t know that by November,” he said.

Well, freakin' right, I was beginning to wonder there for a minute.

More at Big Government, "Paul Ryan Didn't Gut Medicare, Barack Obama Did."

CNN's Soledad O'Brien Cribs 'Talking Points Memo' in Feeble Attack on Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan

At Big Journalism, CNN's Soledad O'Brien Quotes Left-Wing Blog to Attack Ryan Plan.

Here's the first part of the Soledad's segment, headlined "scare tactics," just like Democrat talking points. She shuffling the Talking Points Memo piece at 3:23 minutes. It's all leftist talking points!

Later in the segment Barbara Comstock, Virginia Statehouse Delegate and Romney adviser, smacks down O'Brien, who then fidgets through the TPM hit piece to get back on point. NewsBuster has that segment, "Soledad O'Brien Caught Reading Liberal Blog During Heated Debate With Romney Adviser." O'Brien's seen flipping through TPM's crib sheet at 2:41 minutes.

O'Brien's not "keeping them honest." She's shilling for the administration. She's so transparently partisan it's ridiculous. But you gotta love her look of deep consternation as she ruffles through the papers and the camera cuts back to Ms. Comstock. She's getting mad! Mad that someone has key info to smack down the left's lies!

Again, I was starting to get worried. Maybe Team Romney's finally getting with the program.

The Other McCain has more, "Caught! CNN’s Soledad O’Brien Uses Liberal Blog TPM for Show-Prep."

Three Dead in Shooting Near Texas A&M University

At the Los Angeles Times, "Three killed in shootings near Texas A&M University."

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Just after noon Monday, Brazos County Constable Brian Bachmann embarked on a seemingly routine chore — serving an eviction notice in a pleasant neighborhood a few blocks from Texas A&M University.

But a man at the house on Fidelity Street opened fire, killing Bachmann, 41. That triggered a 30-minute shootout with police that left the gunman and a bystander dead in an outbreak of violence that shocked this serene college town.

Police killed the gunman, but not before he shot and killed a 43-year-old man and wounded a 55-year-old woman. An officer who responded to a 911 call about the constable was wounded in the leg.

More at that top link.

And at Twitchy, "Anti-gun advocates use shooting near Texas A&M to push for gun control."

Egypt Is Now an Islamist State

From Caroline Glick, "The IDF's Egyptian fiasco":

So Muslim Brotherhood President of Egypt Mohamed Morsy just sacked the leaders of the military junta General Hussein Tantawi and the Egyptian Army's' Chief of Staff General Sami Enan.

Morsy has also cancelled the constitutional protections that the Egyptian military has enjoyed and overturned their edicts circumscribing his control over foreign and military policy.

That is, as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has declared, today Morsy completed the Egyptian revolution. Egypt is now an Islamic state. Its leaders drink from the same well as al Qaida, Hamas and all the rest. Egypt, with its US armed military has reemerged after 30 years as the greatest military threat that Israel has ever faced.

Continue reading.

Vietnamese Airline's In-Flight Bikini Show (VIDEO)

It's VietJetAir, via News.com.au, "Airline fined for inflight bikini dance."

And there's a YouTube clip here.

Talk about flying the friendly skies!

Paul Ryan Surges With Seniors

I guess they're not too worried about Ryan throwing 'em off a cliff.

At Director Blue, "As Seniors Flock to Paul Ryan and Fiscal Sanity, Axelrod Campaign Dials Smear-Ray Setting to '100'."

Mitt Romney Sought 'Pact' With Obama to Take 'Business or Family or Taxes' Off the Table

As I reported earlier, the race is basically tied, and while the it's still too early to tell the size of the Paul Ryan polling bump, the campaign is clearly energized and appears ready to take it to the sleazebag Democrats.

I say "appears ready" because I have lingering doubts that Mitt Romney fully understands the depth of Team Obama's moral abyss (infinitely bottomless) and whether he's ready to fight back twice as hard to destroy the left's morally bankrupt politics of personal destruction. Progressive are animals, they're pigs. The toxic mudslinging this fall's going to make even Sarah Palin blush.

Michelle Malkin expressed a sense of hope the other night on Twitter, when Romney cheered the hearts of activists across the land by picking the conservative chair of the GOP House Budget Committee:

Now, if we never see Andrea Saul stumbling & rambling on TV again, that would really be a relief. michellemalkin.com/2012/08/11/thi…
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) August 11, 2012

In recent interviews Michelle's been exhorting Team Romney to stand up the the lies: "Hey Team Romney, 'Get a Hang of Yourselves!'"

I think we all need to redouble the call, considering the news that Romney sought a "pact" with Team Obama to keep "business or family or taxes" off limits. See the Los Angeles Times, "Obama seizes lead in race to define Romney." The report suggests that Obama's attack ads have been "trashing" Mitt Romney, and the Republican nominee's been slow to respond. But this part is jaw-dropping:

In ads airing heavily in states most likely to decide the election, the president is already weaving those attacks into a larger case against Romney on the economy — and, more important, against the Republican fiscal agenda championed by none other than [Paul] Ryan.

"You work hard, stretch every penny," an announcer says in a new Obama ad about Romney. "But chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. Mitt Romney made $20 million in 2010, but paid only 14% in taxes — probably less than you." The ad says Romney wants to "give millionaires another tax break and raise taxes on middle-class families," which Romney denies. "He pays less, you pay more," the ad says.

The potency of Obama's attacks is best measured by Romney's response. He recently hired corporate crisis PR specialist Michele Davis to mount an aggressive defense. He told NBC that he wanted a pact with Obama to stop attack ads on such subjects as "business or family or taxes." And Romney told Fox News that his "biggest challenge is making sure that my message is able to break through all the clutter that comes from the Obama team."

Romney's selection of Ryan is by far the candidate's most important move to address that challenge, even if its potential effectiveness is open to debate. Obama's campaign has pounced on Ryan's candidacy to amplify its message that the Republican's proposals favor wealthy taxpayers like Romney over the middle class.

On ABC's"This Week"on Sunday, Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod called Ryan a right-wing ideologue who "constructed a budget that, like Romney, would lavish trillions of dollars of tax cuts, most of them on the wealthy."

Strategists in both parties say Romney made a serious error in neglecting to respond quickly to Obama ads trashing his record as the leader of Bain Capital, the Boston investment firm that he founded. The millions of dollars spent by presidential candidates on TV advertising in battleground states can be hugely influential with voters, and Romney gave Obama a three-month head start in defining him.

"In those voters' minds, they're starting to fill in — choosing colors from the palette — who Romney is, and the Romney campaign didn't offer them any colors to choose from," said John Weaver, who was a top advisor to Republican John McCain, the 2008 nominee. "I don't think it's been wise to wait this long to deal with it."

Continue reading.

The piece cites top Democrat strategist Bob Shrum, who worked for (loser) John Kerry in 2004. Shrum suggests the Democrat attacks are hitting home and its getting late in the game to turn things around, as the Times summarizes, "Romney's failure to start telling his life story while Obama's team was assailing his business record would make it harder to accomplish now."

Team Romney must know that the Obama campaign will do anything, f-king anything. They. Simply. Do. Not. Have. Ethics. They don't care. Recall from last week, "Obama campaign: Don't blame us for ad blaming Romney for cancer death." The Democrats are working on lies and deceit, and they know they can get away with it. Over the weekend, CBS News' Nancy Cordes gave Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter a pass on the Joe Soptic scandal, and just yesterday Soledad O'Brien also served as an Obama lapdog, failing to grill Cutter on the Obama campaign's improprieties, "Stephanie Cutter’s free pass from media extends to Anderson Cooper 360."

Despite this, Team Romney has failed to pick up the pace and effectively slam the Obama campaign for its lies. Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom had twelve minutes on Sunday's "Meet the Press" to call out Cutter for the lies, and he never raised the issues directly. I was practically pulling my hair out watching that clip. What is wrong with these people?!! The MSM hacks won't do it for you. Republicans will get lucky when idiots like Debbie What-An-Ass Schultz make gaffes so big you could drive a Mack Truck through them. And Wolf Blitzer corrected the DNC chair in a manner that one would expect from the media across the board. But it won't happen. You'll get a gift here or there, but it's not happening media-wide, across the information battlespace. I've been saying it, and many others, but Romney's running against the Obama campaign and his political enablers in the Democrat-Media-Complex. It's not a fair fight. Republicans can assume nothing resembling even-handedness, so they've got to seize the initiative themselves. The talks shows get a lot of play, not just during the initial airing but in the blogs and campaign spots later. Team Romney can't waste a single opportunity.

Advice to Romney: This is war man! It's time to go of offense and do it now! Game on!

'This election will be a nauseating journey through the most foul corners of the Democrat psyche...'

The Democrats as Jason Voorhees, at Bookworm Room, "The Democrats’ 2012 campaign: A bloody spectacle, almost too horrible to watch."

Yeah, it's definitely shaping up as a horror show. The bloodbath comes on November 6th.

New Zogby Poll: 'The Ryan Effect'

See Newsmax, "John Zogby Poll: Ryan Gives Romney Big Push in Swing States, Independents."

Mitt Romney’s campaign has gotten a decisive bump upwards with the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, a new poll by JZ Analytics reveals.

The poll — the first survey conducted after Romney announced Ryan as his vice presidential choice — shows the Romney/Ryan ticket tied with Obama/Biden at 46 percent.

But a JZ Analytics poll from a few weeks ago had Obama leading Romney by 5 percentage points, and most major polls also had Obama comfortably in the lead before the Ryan selection.

Continue reading.

And see Nice Deb, "The Ryan Bump: New Zogby Poll Shows Huge Boost for Romney in Swing States."

Zogby finds 45.2 percent of independents back #RomneyRyan, compared to 40.1 for Obama/Biden. But the methodology doesn't indicate how swing states were sampled. See: "Methodology, JZ Analytics Poll of Likely Voters in United States, 8/11/12 thru 8/12/12." And the summary is here: "New JZ Analytics Telephone Poll: 'The Ryan Effect'."

I take Zogby's polling with a bigger grain of salt than usual. He's basically a leftist pollster with some credibility problems. The methods look pretty good but I'm not sure if he randomly sampled folks in swing states, and there's no cross-tabs at the links.

That said, here's Rasmussen, "Presidential Tracking Poll":

Monday, August 13, 2012 -- The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 47% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 44%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

Data available to Platinum Members shows that Romney does a bit better when leaners are included....

These results are based upon interviews conducted nightly and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. As a result, two-thirds of the interviews conducted for today’s update were completed after it was announced that Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan will be Romney’s vice presidential running mate. The announcement so far has had little impact on the numbers. See tracking history.

And Gallup's presidential election tracking poll shows the campaign tied up at 46 percent through August 12th, "Election 2012 Trial Heat: Obama vs. Romney."

It's going to take a few more days of polling to really get a feel for Ryan's impact, although Gallup also reports that the response to Ryan is historically low for veep selections, "Reaction to Ryan as VP Pick Among Least Positive Historically: But Republicans more OK with Ryan compared with past vice presidential candidates."

More on this later...

Croydon 12-Year-Old Tia Sharp 'Smothered', Body Found in 'Bin Bag: Murder Rocks Britain After Glorious Olympic Games

They threw her in the trash. She was murdered and thrown in a "bin bag," a trashcan liner.

A bit story, at The Sun UK, "Tia 'smothered' and body found in binbag in loft" (via Twitter)":

TRAGIC Tia Sharp was "smothered" and her body was found wrapped in a black sheet and bin liner in the loft of her step-grandfather's home.

The details emerged as Stuart Hazell appeared in court via video - charged with the schoolgirl's murder.

Police feared taking Stuart Hazell to Camberwell Green Magistrates Court in person could spark violence - with baying mobs trying to attack him.

More at Telegraph UK, "Tia Sharp: step-grandfather in court charged with murder amid attack fears."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Box-ticking coppers with no common sense, and why I despair that my old force took eight days to find Tia":

The Police have won praise for their smooth organisation and good humoured efficiency at the London Olympics.

But away from the razzmatazz of the Games, they have come in for severe criticism for their handling of the case of Tia Sharp, the 12-year-old schoolgirl whose body was found in the loft of her grandmother’s home in Croydon.

The subsequent murder charge brought against Stuart Hazell, the partner of Tia’s grandmother, has thrown into question the catalogue of errors the police seem to have made in this grim saga.

Continue reading.

Plus, a video from Telegraph UK, "Tributes laid at makeshift shrine for Tia Sharp."

CNN's Wolf Blitzer Schools Befuddled DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz!

I've got CNN on right now, and it's all Medicare all the time, and by the looks of Debbie What-An-Ass Schultz, the Dems haven't got a clue.

Here's Wolf correcting the DNC chair:

PREVIOUSLY: "Campaigns Spar Over Medicare."

Paul Ryan Heckled in Iowa (VIDEO)

Althouse has it, "Paul Ryan, heckled in Iowa, said 'We're used to this in Wisconsin'."

More at Instapundit, "PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: So the community organizers Obama n’ Axelrod have sent hecklers to Ryan’s speech in Iowa. Time to mirror them."

Lots of links at the post, but that first quote's from Monica Crowley on Twitter.

MORE at The Other McCain, "Iowa Flashback: August 2011" (via Memeorandum).

Helen Gurley Brown, Former Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, Dead at 90

The New York Times reports, "Helen Gurley Brown, Who Gave Cosmopolitan Its Purr, Is Dead at 90" (via Memeorandum). And at Blazing Cat Fur, "Helen Gurley Brown, longtime Cosmopolitan editor, dies at 90."

You can't miss Cosmo at the supermarket check-out lines.

And I can remember, when I was younger, my sisters usually had some copies of Cosmo around the house. I think it's basically an institution, more so than perhaps any other women's magazine.

It's interesting, though, that a lot of conservative women who comment here revile Cosmo. I've posted a couple of Cosmo covers as Rule 5 entries and those seem to generate comments on how vile the feminist movement has become regarding the sexual liberation of women. And there was an essay out a few days ago from Emily Esfahani Smith, who just hammers the magazine, "Cosmo Magazine’s “Wholesome Values”." There's no key pullout quote (the piece itself is mostly quotes) but the bottom line is "wholesome values" for Cosmo is sex, and lots of it.

Clicking over at Cosmo's homepage bears it out, for example, "How to Find Your G-Spot," and "75 Crazy-Hot Sex Moves." According to Esfahani Smith, Helen Gurley Brown laid out a philosophy of sex for the magazine. The magazine ostensibly pushes sex within relationships, between a woman and her boyfriend and between man and wife, and plenty of it, carefree and wild. (And not between two men or two women, thank goodness!) But Esfahani Smith doesn't buy it: "Are these seriously what pass for wholesome values these days?" And she's got a post from April on Cosmo's "values" as well, "“The” Sex Issue of Cosmo." Lots of recent Cosmo covers at that link. Personally, I was a little surprised when Selena Gomez made the cover of the March issue. She's 20 years-old now, so that's fine. The problem is that Selena still appears on Disney Channel's "The Wizards of Waverly Place." I'd expect a lot of parents might find contradictory messages between what Cosmo's selling and that of Disney. (And that reminds me, Scott Eric Kaufman libelously attacks conservative Rule 5 bloggers for alleged pedophilia should they post pics of those so-called 20 year-old "underage" hotties, the f-king loser.)

In any case, I'm not hung up on the feminist angle. It's up to parents to police their kids, and I'm against teens having sex until they're 18 years-old --- and for the record, I have a teenager who goes by that rule.

Oh, and that's Ashley Greene at the picture above, on the August cover. The Daily Mail had pics of her the other day, "How low can you go... Ashley Greene shows off her ample cleavage in a black maxi dress."

MORE at Mediagazer.

Campaigns Spar Over Medicare

#RomneyRyan 2012 on the attack, at Buzzfeed, "In Florida, Romney Hits Obama For Cutting Medicare" (via Memeorandum).

And the neo-socialist Obama campaign is out with a new ad, seen at USA Today, "Obama targets Ryan (and Romney) on Medicare."

Plus, Michelle Fields provides some reality for the reality-based community:

BONUS: Here's Paul Ryan's piece from 2010, "A road map to saving Medicare."

The Triumph of Britain's Olympic Games

At Telegraph UK, "London's brilliant, beautiful Games was the very best of British - it enthralled us all."

And at Independent UK, "London 2012 Olympics: A nation whose sense of itself has been utterly transformed."

IMAGE CREDIT: Sky News on Twitter.

Anderson Cooper's Boyfriend Ben Maisani Caught Slurping Kissing Another Homosexual in New York

It's the hidden secret of the radical homosexual left: extreme promiscuity. While certainly some homosexuals are monogamous, the fact remains that gay sexual abandon has defined the homosexual liberation movement. Indeed, David Horowitz referred to male homosexuals as "plague abettors," considering the legacy of the AIDS holocaust that hit San Francisco's bathhouse scene in the 1980s.

Old habits die hard, no doubt. See London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE: Look away now Anderson! Cooper's boyfriend spotted kissing another man in New York park."

Also at Radar Online, "Anderson Cooper’s Boyfriend Caught Kissing Another Man In New York Park."

Romney Goes Back to Basics with Ryan

An op-ed from Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today (via Instapundit):

With trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, and the exploding national debt (which Obama called unconscionable when it was about half as big as it has become under his stewardship) it seems time for a Back To Basics approach. And that's clearly the direction favored by Romney, the turnaround artist who specialized in taking mismanaged entities and making them work. His choice of Ryan simply takes it to a new level. As Internet humorist IowaHawk tweeted on Saturday: "Paul Ryan represents Obama's most horrifying nightmare: Math."

Yes, math. Ryan is the expert on the often Byzantine complexities of the federal budget. His budget proposal last year, though rejected by Democrats in the Senate, represented a serious effort to rein in runaway spending. The only cogent criticism, really, was that it didn't go far enough.

In fact, the math shows our spending is unsustainable. Nothing can save it: Not higher taxes, not lower interest rates on federal borrowing, not financial jiggery-pokery from the Fed. If we continue on this path, the result will be disaster: We'll be Greece, with nuclear weapons.

Romney's selection of Ryan shows that he understands the dire nature of the problem, and that he's serious about addressing it. But it also lays down a marker.

If Americans take the future of their country seriously, they'll reject the Obama approach, which has been disastrous, and elect Romney-Ryan, along with a substantial number of fiscally conservative members of Congress. That will give America a chance to avoid financial ruin.

RTWT.

Romney's Decision Reframes Race as Battle of Ideologies

I just love the framework of this piece from Maeve Reston, at the Los Angeles Times, "Romney's choice of Ryan reframes campaign."

Take a stroll over at Daily Kos for some quick confirmation.

Here's ABC's report from Friday night when the news broke:

National Stagnation or Renewal? Why Romney Picked Ryan

From Kim Strassel, at the Wall Street Journal, "Why Romney Chose Ryan":

His running mate offers Romney the opportunity to explain to Americans that they have a choice between national stagnation and renewal.

Mitt Romney did much more this weekend than announce a running mate. He unveiled a significant change in strategy. The 2012 election is now a choice, not just a referendum.

Conservatives have spent much of this summer reassuring themselves. They've pointed out the extraordinary sums President Obama has thrown at crippling Mr. Romney. They've noted how ugly and brutal those attacks have been. They've comforted themselves that, for all the smears, Mr. Romney is within a few points of the incumbent in national tracking polls.

Yet the same can be said on the other side. The economy is teetering, the deficit exploding, the nation unhappy with his signature legislation. Daily, Mr. Romney beats the White House with these failures. But he has barely moved the polling dial.

Mr. Romney's choice of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, one of the party's star reformers, is an attempt to break out of the stalemate, change the dynamic. It was foremost a shrewd acknowledgment on Mr. Romney's part that his path to the White House is going to take more than pointing out the obvious. He needs to run on bold ideas, as Mr. Ryan has, and convince Americans those ideas are the way to prosperity.

In fairness, the Romney campaign had the elements in place. It's taken some time, but Mr. Romney today is sporting a fairly bold reform agenda, from his tax cuts to his Medicare reforms, to his vow to end ObamaCare. And the candidate has been dutifully repeating that this election is a choice between two very different futures for the country. Yet his policy and his words were largely lost amid his campaign's intense focus on the president.

Mr. Ryan provides the crucial shift in emphasis, the opportunity to go on offense. We will now have a focus on, and explanation of, the choice between stagnation and renewal. This is what Mr. Ryan excels at—not just crafting ideas, but explaining them in a positive and serious way. This ability is why the congressman—despite his supposedly extremist reform blueprint and budget (says the left)—has continued to win a district that in 2010 went for Mr. Obama.

Continue reading.

CBS News' Nancy Cordes Shills For Obama On-Air and On Twitter

That's Larry O'Connor's headline at Breitbart.

Cordes' Twitter feed is here. Her tweets do seem a bit one-sided, but it's her interview with Stephanie Cutter yesterday that's the real giveaway. It's twelve minutes long and she completely let Cutter off hook. The Obama camp is embroiled in some of the biggest campaign lies in years and not a peep from Cordes, who was sitting in for Bob Schieffer. Recall that Cutter skipped out on a Sunday "This Week" appearance. No doubt even Democrat George Stephanopoulos would have come down harder on Cutter than Cordes does here. But that's to be expected from these in-the-tank "journalists." What's not to be expected --- and frankly what shouldn't be tolerated --- is Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom's lame debate performance. He should have been out of the gate mercilessly attacking Cutter's lies. He broached the subject, hitting on O's gutter politics, but that's not enough. My only explanation is that Mitt put the word out to forget about it. Perhaps Romney himself is planning to call out Barack on it directly. Who knows? The fact remains that you can't let these people get away with this stuff. To his credit, also yesterday morning, Stephanopoulos took it to top Obama strategist David Axelrod, who would not say that the president condemns the bogus "cancer" attacks on Romney. Seriously. The entire campaign has yet to condemn the ads. They can't. The Joe Soptic attacks came from the top. They're clearly endorsed by Barack, who had his former aide Bill Burton produce them through Priorities USA. It's a scam, and likely campaign finance violations are involved as well, which is one more reason that you just gotta pound these people on these f-king lies.

Also at Red Alert Politics, "Journalistic malpractice on Face the Nation," and Twitchy, "Lapdog alert: After ditching ‘This Week,’ Stephanie Cutter not questioned about scandal on ‘Face the Nation’."

'Wide Awake'

It's my wife's turn for a video request. I mentioned previously that she likes Katy Perry, so here you go, "Wide Awake":

BONUS: At London's Daily Mail, "Smoking hot: Katy Perry takes the plunge in a petal playsuit as she puffs on cigarette outside the cinema."

Jennie Garth Looks Great in New Old Navy Commercial

It's been running during the Olympics.

See AdWeek, "Jennie Garth and Luke Perry Join Old Navy's '90210' Campaign."

#RomneyRyan2012 in Wisconsin

At ABC News, "Paul Ryan Chokes Up at Wisconsin Homecoming Rally."

A full video clip is here.

Plus, at Instapundit, "PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: Romney responds to heckler in Wisconsin, then tells Obama to get his campaign out of the gutter."

And see the Los Angeles Times, "For Wisconsin rally crowd, Romney-Ryan is a dream team."

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan Interview on '60 Minutes' (VIDEO)

They're a great team.

And Ryan remarks how he and his family have given their lives to public service. That's an honorable thing. You don't abandon conservative principles by running for elective office or working in the public sector, as some vile progressives expect at risk of hypocrisy. No, Ryan's made it his calling to apply his values to the public sphere, in hopes of improving society and making our country better for future generations. Progressive don't care about improving society. All they care about is expanding government and obtaining and holding political power in veneration of the state.

Lonely Conservative has more, "Video: Romney and Ryan’s 60 Minutes Interview."

Mitt Romney's Nazi Torture Cult

At the People's Cube, "Dems' Epic Smears - Romney's Nazi Torture Cult."

RELATED: "Despicable Debbie Wasserman Schultz Claims Ignornance on Priorities USA's Close Democrat Ties."

Syrian Rebels Throw Dead Postal Workers from Rooftops (VIDEO)

Looks like this story checks out.

At Vlad Tepes, "Syrian ‘rebels’ throw the bodies of murdered postal employees off the roof in Alepo Syria":

Here is a link to the video. I did not want to post the video directly here. Its too harsh even for Vlad.

The link goes to Russia Today, "Syrian atrocity: Bodies of postal workers thrown from roof (GRAPHIC VIDEO)."

And Blazing Cat Fur's not shy about it, "Graphic Content: Syrian Rebels Toss Bodies From Rooftop." And neither am I:

Sunday Cartoons

From William Warren:

And see Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

BONUS: From William Jacobson, "A.F. Branco joins Legal Insurrection (first cartoon, Harry Politics)."

Fake Journalist Joan Walsh Attacks Paul Ryan as 'Randian Poseur'

One of the most revealing progressive attacks against conservatives is that they're allegedly hypocrites for receiving government funding, through employment or benefits, or what not. Either that, or they have ties to conservative non-profits or think tank "wingnut welfare" organizations. Basically, you can't be against ever-expanding government on principle because you're on the government's dole. By that logic, anyone who works in government is a mere robot, an Orwellian automaton. The racist misogynist anti-Christian bigot TBogg of Firedoglake routinely attacks conservative professors along these lines, as if slavish obedience to leftist neo-socialism is a prerequisite for a teaching job. And now here comes the repugnant Salon sleazebag Joan Walsh smearing veep nominee Paul Ryan as free-market hypocrite and wingnut welfare freeloader who's worked his entire life in government. See, "Paul Ryan: Randian poseur" (via Memeorandum). Read it all at the link. I told Ms. Walsh how I felt about her slimeball hackery in Twitter, here and here.

BONUS: There's the added debate on whether Ryan's a full-on Ayn Rand acolyte. He may have been at one time, but he's apparently sworn off his ideological affinity for the late "Atlas Shrugs" author. He said, for example, that he ultimately rejected Rand's Objectivism as an "atheist philosophy" --- which makes sense, given that Ryan's Catholic. More at the Atlantic, "How to Tell Paul Ryan Wants to Be Veep: He's Rejected His Former Idol Ayn Rand."

Radical leftists despise Ayn Rand because she accurately explained the destruction of societies from the ravenous, rapacious maul of the endlessly mooching entitlement state. Paul Ryan wants to downsize the left's neo-socialist rape-culture government. And the progressives will do anything to stop him.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

New Kelly Brook Video Clip From Keith Lemon's Forthcoming 'The Film'

Good stuff, from "Keith Lemon: The Film."

'Now, Everybody Put On Their Game Face, and Let's Go Kick Some Butt...'

That's a quote from Robert Stacy McCain, who responds to Allahpundit, "C-3PO Raids the Death Star."

And lots more at The Other McCain, for example, "New Video From #RomneyRyan Campaign: ‘America’s Comeback Team’."

And Robert's getting ready for a road trip. Hit the tip jar if you can, "#RomneyRyan Ohio: Shout It Out Loud!"

Despicable Debbie Wasserman Schultz Claims Ignornance on Priorities USA's Close Democrat Ties

First, kudos to John Roberts for calling her out on this. He mentions by name former White House deputy press secretary, Bill Burton, who is now a senior strategist with Priorities USA Action and Priorities USA. But just look at little lying Debbie. Not only does she claim ignorance on the partisan affiliation of Priorities USA, she doubles down on the "cancer" ad attacks, which have been repudiated across the board.

This is your modern Democrat Party in bold relief, via Instapundit:

See also Jazz Shaw at Hot Air, "Video: DNC Chair “doesn’t know” party affiliation of Obama Super PAC":

Okay, Ms. Wasserman Schultz. We get it. Everyone in both campaigns has to pretend they aren’t coordinating with their friends, colleagues and relatives in the Super PACs to avoid running afoul of the law. (A law, by the way, which is working brilliantly, as long as none of the tens of thousands of political operatives, candidates and elected officials living today would ever consider being dishonest or deliberately obfuscatory.) But you’re seriously going to sit there on national TV and claim that you have no clue about the party affiliation of Bill Burton? You remember Bill, right? The former White House Deputy Press Secretary? I’m guessing this little episode has something to do with a new hashtag trending on Twitter… #DebbieDoesntKnow

And at NewsBusters, "Wasserman-Schultz: 'I Have No Idea' Of Political Affiliation Of People Behind Ad Blaming Romney For Woman's Death":

Serious question: is there anything—anything!—Debbie Wasserman-Schultz won't say to promote Barack Obama?

No, there is no lie too disgusting for her. What's amazing is that there are oodles and oodles of lying gasbags just like her across the Democrat-progressive complex. You're looking at the prototype of the modern Democrat Party woman. It's perfect.

More at The Hill, "DNC chairwoman: Obama super-PAC ad raises fair questions" (via Memeorandum).

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi Ousts Top Military Chiefs

At the New York Times, "In Upheaval for Egypt, Morsi Forces Out Military Chiefs" (via Memeorandum):

CAIRO — President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt forced the retirement on Sunday of his powerful defense minister, the army chief of staff and several senior generals, in a stunning purge that seemed for the moment to reclaim for civilian leaders much of the political power the Egyptian military had seized since the fall of Hosni Mubarak last year.

Mr. Morsi also nullified a constitutional declaration, issued by the military before he was elected, that eviscerated the powers of the presidency and arrogated to the military the right to enact laws. It was not immediately clear whether he had the constitutional authority to cancel that decree.

In a news conference broadcast about 5 p.m., Mr. Morsi’s spokesman, Yasser Ali, announced the retirements of the defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and the army chief of staff, Sami Anan. He said that both men would serve as advisers to the president, suggesting that they had acquiesced to the plan.

Mr. Morsi also named a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as his vice president. During the Mubarak era, Mr. Mekki fought for judicial independence and spoke out frequently against voting fraud. The president also replaced the commanders of the Navy, Air Force and air defense.

Continue reading.

Also at Legal Insurrection, "Muslim Brotherhood President sacks Egyptian military command." And The Astute Bloggers, "UH-OH: MORSI AND MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SWIFTLY PURGE THE MILITARY" (via Memeorandum).

National Review's Rich Lowry Eviscerates MSNBC Hack Rachel Maddow on 'Meet the Press'

This is delectable.

At NewsBusters, "National Review's Rich Lowry Destroys MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Meet the Press." With an update here, "Maddow on NB Piece Linked By Drudge: 'Welcome 3-Day Onslaught' of 'Emails Informing Me I Am Gay'."

Also at the Blaze, "RACHEL MADDOW & NATIONAL REVIEW‘S RICH LOWRY BATTLE OVER RYAN’S BUDGET PLAN."

Rachel Maddow is the biggest, most ridiculous partisan hack on television. And that's saying a lot considering the left's deep bench of stupidity. Seriously, you're guaranteed to soak in the stupid watching that show. She's a sad, sad women. And I don't even pity her viewers. They can wallow in the mendacity and the dishonesty. They deserve it. That's all the left has these days, lies, deceit and partisan bomb-throwing.

They're horrible people.

Romney Shakes Up Race With Ryan Pick

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Romney Picks Ryan as Vice-Presidential Running Mate."

And here's the full announcement clip, via PBS News Hour:

More later...

And my previous Paul Ryan coverage is here.

How Romney and Ryan Outwitted the News Media

At the New York Times, "How Campaign Outwitted the 24-Hour News Cycle."

I had no idea about the announcement. In fact I was in the middle of writing a post speculating about it when NBC's Chuck Todd announced the decision during the Olympics on Friday night.

Sarah Palin Congratulates Mitt Romney

For his veep selection, on Facebook:

Congratulations to Mitt Romney on his choice of Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. President Obama has declared that this election is about “two fundamentally different visions” for America. Goodness, he’s got that right. Our country cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama’s fundamentally flawed vision. We must now look to this new team, the Romney/Ryan ticket, to provide an alternate vision of an America that is fiscally responsible, strong, and prosperous – an America that understands and is proud of her exceptional place in the world and will respect those who fight to secure that exceptionalism, which includes keeping our promises to our veterans.

Continue reading.

Hey Girl, It's Paul Ryan

On Tumblr.

Does Romney's Selection of Paul Ryan Make Victory Harder Than It Otherwise Would Have Been?

The headline summarizes Allahpundit's argument at Hot Air, "Romney rolls the dice" (via Memeorandum).

It's a good piece, although perhaps a shade more Eeyorish than need be:

This makes winning harder, not easier. Some tough truths: The Democrats are going to flood Ohio and Florida with ads aiming to scare the pants off of seniors and blue-collar workers about the “safety net” disappearing under Romney/Ryan. Obama will now frame the election not merely as a choice between Ryan’s budget and his own plan (whatever that is) but as a choice between the president and, as represented by Ryan, the most unpopular Congress in modern history. If the attacks work and Romney fades down the stretch, that could have huge downballot effects in House races too, jeopardizing the GOP majority. I think the best-case scenario is that Ryan’s salesmanship brings enough people around on entitlement reform to fight the Democrats to a standstill on that issue, and then Romney wins the election narrowly due to voter dissatisfaction on the economy. In other words, it’s both a “referendum election” and a “choice election”: If Ryan can make the choice on the budget a stalemate, the ticket can still win a referendum on Obama’s job performance. But that assumes, per Ryan’s speech this morning, that some critical mass of voters will respond to a campaign that tells them the truth and that ideas beat demagoguery, as the man himself once insisted. Is that true? Has it ever been true before when it comes to entitlements? If Krauthammer’s right that the infamous Obama Super PAC steelworker ad is working because voters don’t pay enough attention to be able to cut through the B.S. in emotionally charged ads, imagine how difficult it’ll be to rebut B.S. on a subject as complex and emotionally toxic as entitlements. Sean Trende, RCP’s elections guru (who’s no liberal, needless to say), argues that not only does this pick make things harder for Romney, it actually opens up the possibility of an Obama landslide. Huge gamble.

Allah's spent the day reading around for other analyses, bully for him. But I'm of the persuasion that Ryan helps Romney by providing a powerful choice and by invigorating the conservative base, a huge mass of partisans who'll drive big numbers for GOP turnout. And I doubt any other choice as running mate would have mattered: the Democrats would have Palinized the pick no matter who got the second spot. Frankly, Obama's had the chance to turn things around and I can't see how Americans are going to reelect a president who hasn't done jack to restore economic growth and reduce unemployment. But campaigns matter. I'm giving Romney more credit than Allah. If Romney thought that he was in danger of losing to O he would have hardly picked Paul Ryan. He'd have gone with somebody safe, Portman or Pawlenty, for example. But then you'd have the most lackadaisical ticket since Carter-Mondale in 1980, and we know how that turned out.

And it's only been a day. As Zilla notes, this is one handsome team, young and vibrant, and the campaign will focus on restoring the future and reinvigorating our ideals --- that's a factor that can't be underestimated after almost four years of Barack's apology tours and attacks on regular folks clinging to their guns and religion. Further, as CNN's John King suggests, Ryan might help Romney in the Midwest battleground states:

More at Memeorandum.

BONUS: And be sure to reread Paul Rahe's excellent analysis, "Romney's Declaration of War."

Two Strong, Handsome, and Smart Men, a Mormon and a Catholic, at the Top of the Ticket: Leftist Heads Assploding!

Zilla's excited about Paul Ryan joining the GOP ticket, "Exciting!!! #RomneyRyan2012 #TCOT."

Mitt Romney's Declaration of War

An outstanding essay, from Professor Paul Rahe, at Richochet, "Romney's Declaration of War" (via Instapundit):

In choosing Paul Ryan as his Vice-Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney has opted to go for broke, and he has indicated that he is a serious man -- less concerned with becoming President of the United States than with saving the country from the disaster in store for it if we not radically reverse course, willing to risk a loss for the sake of being able to win a mandate for reform.

RTWT.

And in case you missed, Professor Rahe had another awesome piece a couple of days ago, "Landslide on the Horizon."

Paul Ryan Likes Catfish Noodling

This Chip Reid report is pretty fair, and Reid finishes up with mention of Ryan's ranch in Texas, where the veep nominee like to go catfish noodling:

More at Gateway Pundit, "Take That Joe Biden… Paul Ryan Loves Catfish Noodling (Video)."

Man Who Soothes Dog in Lake Says His Companion Saved Him From Suicide 19 Years Ago

This story went viral a few days ago, and here's the update at London's Daily Mail, "'He saved MY life... I just want to help him in return': Owner of sick dog whose picture touched the nation's hearts reveals how loyal companion stopped him from suicide":

The man pictured lulling his arthritic dog to sleep in Lake Superior has revealed that his dog Schoep saved him from the brink of suicide.

John Unger, 49, adopted the dog with his ex-fiancée 19 years ago, but after the relationship ended, Mr Unger fought a desperate despair.

The companionship of his trusty rescue dog gave Mr Unger the courage to go on, saying : 'I don’t think I’d be here if I didn’t have Schoep with me. I just want to do whatever I can for this dog.'

The water soothes the animal's pain, Mr Unger said, allowing him to sleep.

Continue reading.

'Mission of Mercy'

Via The Psychedelic Furs homepage. It turns out The Motels will play the Totally 80s concert at Hollywood Bowl with the Furs, The Go-Go's, and Bow Wow Wow, on September 29th.

#RomneyRyan in Manassas, Virginia

Excellent campaign coverage, from Marooned in Marin, "Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan Rally a Large, Enthusiastic Crowd In Manassas, VA."

More from Erin McPike, at RCP, "Romney and Ryan Close Out Day of Campaigning in Va."

Six U.S. Soldiers Shot Dead on Friday by Afghan Forces

I can't believe these headlines, at NYT, "Coalition Soldiers Killed Were Shot in Company of Afghans." And at LAT, "Afghan worker kills three NATO troops on Helmand base."

We can't build freedom in Afghanistan if the locals don't want it. This was supposed to be "the good war," but it's hard to see a positive endgame.

Also at the Guardian UK, "Six US soldiers killed by Afghans."

Explaining the Beatles to a New Generation

From Paul Greenberg, at the New York Times, "Meet the Beatles, Again."

I just took my kids to "The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil." They loved it, and they're Beatles fans now!

Progressives Attack Paul Ryan: 'Zombie-Eyed Granny-Starving Wingman'

It begins.

Team Obama's already out of the blocks with a web-ad hit piece, via Gateway Pundit, "Let the Smears Begin!… Team Obama Releases Anti Romney-Ryan Video Following VP Announcement." And see Lonely Con, "Is the Obama Campaign Sending Out Random Texts to Americans’ Cell Phones?"

And I tweaked the "zombie granny-starving wingman" from Firedoglake's biggest asshole, TBogg, "Feel the Mittmentum: The Ryaning." Also at FDL, from David Dayen, "Thoughts on the Paul Ryan VP Selection" (a useful piece, by the way, despite the false attacks on conservatives, for it clarifies the stark divide facing the campaigns).

And here's Charles Pierce at Esquire, "Paul Ryan: Murderer of Opportunity, Political Coward, Candidate for Vice President of the United States" (via Memeorandum):

Leave it to Willard Romney, international man of principle, to get himself bullied into being bold and independent.

Make no mistake. In his decision to make Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin, his running mate, Romney finally surrendered the tattered remnants of his soul not only to the extreme base of his party, but also to extremist economic policies, and to an extremist view of the country he seeks to lead.

Typical, but "murderer of opportunity" is way out there. The Other McCain has more, "New Democrat Campaign Message: Grandma, Cliff, Some Assembly Required."

And Twitchy is on fire, for example, "Another leftist lie: Paul Ryan ‘wants to end Medicare’." There's more at Twitchy's Paul Ryan page.

And from John Podhoretz, at Commentary, "Paul Ryan and Liberal Glee":

The selection of Paul Ryan has been greeted with a wild joy on Twitter, and not just by conservatives; I’ve seen hundreds of liberals celebrate the choice. A spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jesse Ferguson, said this: “So this is what xmas morning feels like?” The idea here is that Ryan is the perfect target for Democrats because he has proposed specific budget cuts and the overhaul of Medicare, while supporting tax reform that would lower rates on the wealthy....

More important is the quality of the glee itself. It’s an ongoing liberal political-character flaw. So insulated ... are many, if not most, American liberals that they simply presume that which they despise is inherently despicable, and that what they fear is inherently fearful. As they gather in their echo chamber, all they hear are voices resounding with the monstrousness of redesigning Medicare and the parlousness of cutting the federal budget. They genuinely do not know that budget cutting is popular, even if only in theory, and that tens of millions of voters do understand the notion that the government is living far beyond its means. From what we can gather, in fact, these are exactly the sorts of ideas that speak to independent voters and have since the days of Ross Perot.

Ryan is a formidable presence in American politics. Generally speaking, formidable players do formidable things. The glee of the Left suggests its folk are so excited by what the Obama campaign can dish out that they are unprepared for what Ryan and Romney can dish out right back.

They're not "liberals." They're neo-socialist progressives. Other than that, Podhoretz is dead on.

More at Memeorandum.

#RomneyRyan2012 — Mitt Romney Announces Paul Ryan as Vice Presidential Nominee

I'm tired. I stayed up past Midnight. After I woke up to pee I realized Romney'd be making his announcement in less than an hour. So I got up. I haven't had coffee yet. I think I'll lie back down for awhile.

In the meantime, here's the New York Times, "Vice-Presidential Choice Shakes Up November Contest."

It's a great pick. The secular-collectivist left would have gone after any Romney pick with remorseless villainy. The only variation we'd see are the specific smears. With Ryan, get ready for tons more grandma-over-the-cliff style attacks. Get ready for extremist anti-Catholic bigotry and "pro-choice" fearmongering, like NARAL:

NARAL: Ryan "supported'Let Women Die Bill' which wld allow hospitals to refuse to provide a woman emergency abortion even if she cld die"
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) August 11, 2012

Check William Jacobson's comments along these lines, "Romney-Ryan 2012."

And Glenn Reynolds has a huge roundup, "And on the day Ryan was picked, it’s worth pointing out that we’ve gone 1200 days now without a budget."

On twitter, it's #RomneyRyan2012.

And you can tweet the veep nominee @PaulRyanVP:

.@paulryanvp Welcome aboard. We love you, man! #RomneyRyan2012
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 11, 2012

More at Memeorandum.

I'lll be updating throughout the day, after I wake up.

Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos Rage Boy, Vows to 'Go for the Jugular', to 'Shove Reality Down the GOP's Throats' and 'Run Up the Score'

And to think just last year the Democrats were all about promoting civility.

I guess that's out the window by now.

Here's Markos 'Rage Boy' Moulitsas, "We are winning":

Democrats are campaigning with a swagger, having fun. They know they've got the advantage. Republicans are in genuine disarray (release the tax returns! Don't release the tax returns!), trying to back a candidate they despise while keeping a lid on the Tea Party crazies.

We need to go for the jugular, destroy Romney's chances. Down-ballot Republicans will suffer without a strong candidate at the top—particularly one that reinforces every negative element of the Republican brand. Just look to 2008 for inspiration, except Romney doesn't even have a compelling personal story or a shred of heroism. Romney is on the ropes, with just one more chance to bolster his standing—his convention. The same convention Donald Trump insists he'll speak at. And Rick Santorum. And Ron Paul. And Sarah Palin. And Herman Cain. Good luck with that, Mittens.

Our job: To run up the score. I know some of you like to talk about acting like we're 10 points down. I guess that's supposed to be motivational, but if we're 10 points down, I'm like "screw it" and focus on more promising prospects. Did you work extra hard in 2010 when we were actually down 10 points? I didn't think so. Instead, Republicans ran up their margins as depressed Dems conceded the cycle and sat out the election.

We need to embrace reality and shove reality down the GOP's throats. Because yeah, we are ahead, objectively so. We're winning and we've got to own it. They can whine about biased polls and biased media and biased everything that doesn't conform to their little Fox News bubble world, all the while we do the work necessary to seal the deal.

When he has the lead, Peyton Manning doesn't pretend he's losing. He sets out to crush his opponent's spirit by running up the score. Like this horse. The best defense is a good offense. We now protect our lead by going on the attack.

More at the link.

I'll hazard a guess that this'll be Daily Rage Boy's meme until election day. More here, "Obama is winning. Period."

But, frankly, I wouldn't get cocky. Incumbents with approval ratings below 50 percent generally don't win reelection. Obama's at 45 percent nationally, and acccording to John Fund, O's getting 49 percent in Michigan and he's at 47 percent in Maine and Oregon. Check the link. Fund notes that:

Right now, if Obama swept all the states where he is at or above 50 percent job approval he would win 185 Electoral College votes. He will have to do a lot better than that in November to win the necessary 270 electoral votes.

Right.

But maybe Markos doesn't think that reality is worth attempting to shove down's the GOP's throats.

PREVIOUSLY: "Messianics vs. Menopausals, or Kos Related to Islamic Rage Boy!"

RELATED: At NewsBusters, "Daily Kos Week in Review: Anti-Life Meat Puppets."

Was Barack Obama a Foreign Exchange Student?

At IBD, "Former Classmate Speculates About Obama Applying for Foreign Student Aid."

Read it at the link, and here's this from The Donald:

An 'extremely credible source' has called my office & told me that @barackobama applied to Occidental as a foreign student--think about it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2012

Also from Wayne Allen Root, at The Blaze, "OBAMA’S COLLEGE CLASSMATE: ‘THE OBAMA SCANDAL IS AT COLUMBIA’."

Hey, inquiring minds want to know.

Jon Huntsman Daughters Deny DNC Speaking Slot Rumors

And they're also denying rumors that Jon Hunstman, Sr., is the source of "Dirty Harry" Reid's allegations that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for ten years.

At Twitchy, "Jon Huntsman Sr. and Jr. rumors abound! Reid’s ‘source,’ DNC convention speaking? Daughters deny."

Abby Huntsman, pictured at right, denies the rumors on Twitter. Liddy Hunstman, center, also tweets a denial.

PHOTO CREDIT: The Hunstman Daughers on Twitter.