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.

The Television Cannot Lie ... Controlling Media With Smokescreen Eyes...

In honor of the lying Obama administration, "Open Your Eyes."

And see David Cohen, at the Daily Caller, "The lying game":

I hope Stephanie Cutter, President Obama’s deputy campaign manager, was wearing a dress on Wednesday. Because if she was wearing pants, they would have been on fire. Bill Burton, founder of a pro-Obama super PAC, presumably does not have the option of wearing a dress. But he, along with Cutter and the entire Obama team, has a lot of ’splainin’ to do about the “Romney killed my wife” ad that has earned them so much infamy.

Burton’s super PAC, Priorities USA Action, produced the ad. Cutter, appearing on CNN on Wednesday, denied that the Obama campaign had coordinated with Priorities USA on the ad. Cutter also professed ignorance of the details of its storyline, in which a man named Joe Soptic blames his wife’s death on his layoff from a Bain-owned company. “I don’t know the facts about when Mr. Soptic’s wife got sick or the facts about his health insurance,” stammered Cutter.

She might also have added: “Do you want fries with that Whopper?” An audiotape has now surfaced of a conference call that Cutter hosted with Soptic in May, during which Soptic told the very same story. And it turns out that Soptic also appeared in an Obama campaign ad in May — apparently wearing the same shirt that he wore in the super PAC ad. But both the Obama campaign and Burton’s super PAC insist that the two organizations could not possibly have coordinated with each other — because that would be, you know, illegal. Burton, by the way, was President Obama’s deputy press secretary before he founded Priorities USA.

Burton, for his part, says that he is proud of the ad. And well you should be, young man. Just when Harry Reid appeared to set a standard for mean-spirited mendacity that could never be surpassed, you blew right by him like Usain Bolt on steroids. “Our spots have been factual,” Burton told The Huffington Post. And indeed they have, if by “factual” you mean hideously dishonest...

Continue reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Pants on Fire: Obama Campaign's Stephanie Cutter Slammed for Blatant Lies on 'Cancerous' Joe Soptic Attack Ad."