Taking off the gloves

McCain campaign savages New York Times: "McCain senior strategist Steve Schmidt rebuked journalists he said had failed in their duty to submit Obama to intense scrutiny and accused news organizations of hounding McCain's running mate Sarah Palin.

'Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization,' said Schmidt on a conference call with reporters.

'It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day attacks the McCain campaign, attacks Senator McCain, attacks Governor Palin, and excuses Senator Obama.

'This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be, but let's not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is.'

'It is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition to advocate for the defeat of one candidate -- in this case, John McCain.'"
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Now that is some strong stuff. And it isn't just the NYT. Listen to Saturday Night Live. Take a look at the cover of the Atlantic Monthly, read about the photographer who took that photo of McCain, and see what she did with the rest of the pictures.

...and so were the Rosenbergs

For First Time, Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits Spying for Soviets - NYTimes.com: "In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. He served more than 18 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, traveled to Cuba and Vietnam after his release in 1969 and became an advocate for progressive causes. Through it all, he maintained his innocence. But on Thursday, Mr. Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy."
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To this day many on the left insist that the Rosenbergs were innocent. This is nonsense. There is no way to review the facts and come away believing that they were not Soviet spies who fed nuclear secrets to our enemies. Now, what will the left have to say about Sobell's recent decision to finally, at long last, tell something that resembles the truth?

What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer? by Byron York on National Review Online

What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer? by Byron York on National Review Online: "When he left for law school, Obama wondered what he had accomplished as an organizer. He certainly had some achievements, but he did not — perhaps could not — concede that there might be something wrong with his approach to Chicago’s problems. Instead of questioning his own premises, he concluded that he simply needed more power to get the job done. So he made plans to run for political office. And in each successive office, he has concluded that he did not have enough power to get the job done, so now he is running for the most powerful office in the land.

And what if he gets it? He’ll be the biggest, strongest organizer in the world. He’ll dazzle the country with his message of hope and possibility. But we shouldn’t expect much to actually get done."
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This is a detailed and surprisingly sympathetic account of what Obama did in his three years here in Chicago as a community organizer. The conclusion is that he is undoubtedly good at organizing and motivating people to get together, but entirely conventional and unimaginative in accomplishing anything significant with that organization. Worth pondering.

Hanging with Biden too much?

Obama Repeatedly Quotes Cartoonist While on Campaign Trail - America’s Election HQ: "On Tuesday, for the third time in four days, Obama borrowed a lengthy bubble quote from Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles. He did not acknowledge the origin of the quote the first time he used it and credited the cartoon only after the Post contacted the Obama campaign to ask about the first use."
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Obama is good enough with words that he sure doesn't need to plagiarize, but maybe he is hanging with Biden. Biden got caught stealing an entire family history from British PM Neil Kinnock. He combined plagiarism and lying. Now here is The One getting his big speech lines from Tom Toles. Add this to the 8th grade pig-with-lipstick gaffe and his obvious anger at the way the polls are going and it seems he is in danger of the wheels falling off. Too early to say, and things could swing the other way, but McCain and Palin look strong and happy and Obama looks freaked out and seriously ticked off, while Biden is...Biden. As Marc Steyn says, after the last week he may be back to smoking two packs a day by now.

Want to know who Obama is?

The Spectator: Revolution you can believe in

Read this and you can understand everything he has said and done, throughout his entire career.

Philadelphia: City of Brotherly Love

Psycho hammers subway passenger | Philadelphia Daily News | 09/09/2008: "For five long minutes, SEPTA surveillance cameras captured the deranged attacker - who was still on the loose late last night- digging his hammer into the man's head and neck.

Through it all, disgusted investigators said, at least 10 passengers stood by and did nothing as the random attack moved from the train to the platform, when the hammer-wielding maniac tried to push his victim down onto the train tracks.

When the beating was finished and the suspect fled with the little boy, the victim staggered back onto the train, bloodied, confused and alone, said Detective Kenneth Roach, of Central Detectives.

And even then, no one tried to help him."
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I guess the cops showed up eventually. The bystanders did nothing. Any more questions about why people need the right to carry firearms?

Did U of I protect Obama from disclosure of Ayers documents?

Global Labor and Politics: Annenberg-Gate: University Tipped Off Ayers/Obama Ally on Records Release: "The President of the University of Illinois, B. Joseph White, and the University Counsel of the University of Illinois, Thomas Bearrows, contacted Kenneth C. Rolling, the former Executive Director of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) and a professional colleague of Barack Obama for many years, prior to the release of CAC records to the public late last month and offered Rolling an opportunity to recommend to the University which records of the CAC held at the University's Chicago campus (UIC) should be restricted from public access.

In response to Rollings' detailed request to prevent public access to certain CAC records Bearrows replied 'as promised, we will carefully consider the concerns that you identify...'

The request is described in documents released by the University last week pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by a third year law student in Chicago. The law student who initiated the FOIA request provided Global Labor with the documents."
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I don't know what, if anything, was redacted. Neither does anybody else outside of the University administration and Obama's cronies. This is a most unfortunate situation.

Olbermann + Matthews = 0

MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat - NYTimes.com: "After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage. The change — which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle — is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left."
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Perceived shift? PERCEIVED?

Boo hoo. Where's my tiny violin?

Community Organizers 'Appalled' by Their Portrayal - September 5, 2008 - The New York Sun: "The comment made by Mrs. Palin, the presumptive vice presidential nominee, that 'a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities,' prompted one of the nation's largest community organizers, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, to issue a statement saying it was 'extremely disappointed' by the 'condescending attacks.'

The tussle started with Governor Pataki asking, 'What in God's name is a community organizer? I don't even know if that's a job.' Mayor Giuliani followed with a similar comment on Fox News: 'Exactly what does a community organizer do?'"
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Community organizers read Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and devote their time and energy to making poor people even unhappier than they are already. Then they direct their pissed-off victims like missiles at their local public officials. They disrupt and take over public hearings, organize rent strikes, commit various forms of election fraud (paying people to register and vote, for example), and generally try to wreak havoc with local politics and businesses. Then they gather together, sitting on the floor in their apartments with Che posters on the walls, and smoke pot while they fantasize about a world without capitalism and patriarchy. They are supremely self-righteous about all this because they are taking on The Man, you see.

Now these folks who specialize in making everybody around them miserable are upset at having a little fun poked at them. Boo hoo. I'm playing my tiny little violin.

Not to stereotype them, or anything.

Joe Biden: talking out of both sides of his mouth on the same day

Joe Biden: no plans to prosecute Bush | Countdown to Crawford | Los Angeles Times: "The story first broke in London's Telegraph newspaper, under the headline 'Barack Obama would consider charging Bush administration over Guantanamo.' The article described a campaign event in Deerfield, Fla., in which, according to the Telegraph, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said:

'If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law.'

Asked about the comment this morning on Fox News, Biden said it is Congress -- not a potential Obama administration -- that is investigating the White House.

And he denied today that an Obama administration would launch criminal investigations against the 43rd president of the United States.

'The Obama-Biden administration is not going to start off saying, 'God, let's go take a lot at what [happened].' The American people want to know what we're going to do, not what happened.'"
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Really, Biden has been such a national joke for so many years that nobody with an ounce of common sense would pick him for VP. If you read both statements, it is beyond dispute that he first said the Obama/Biden administration would consider prosecuting (an executive branch function) Bush administration officials. Then later in the same day, he said they wouldn't. Incredible. If McCain and Palin did this it would be front page news for a week. But with the Democrats, it is like this never happened.

And this poll was taken before her speech...

Poll: 51 percent say reporters are trying to hurt Palin - Yahoo! News: "Over half of U.S. voters (51%) think reporters are trying to hurt Sarah Palin with their news coverage, and 24% say those stories make them more likely to vote for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in November. Thirty-nine percent (39%) also believe the GOP vice presidential nominee has better experience to be president of the United States than Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama."
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I don't know who is going to win this election in November, but I know who has already lost big: the press. They have lost circulation and viewers, stock value, and credibility. It is doubtful that they will ever get any of that back. The attacks on Palin and her daughter are the lowest, meanest and most nakedly partisan character assassination I have seen.

Good point

Bloomberg.com: News: "McCain's campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, yesterday lashed out at what he deemed ``offensive'' and ``demeaning'' coverage and questions from reporters after McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, confirmed her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

``It used to be that a lot of those smears and the crap on the Internet stayed out of the newsrooms of serious journalists,'' Schmidt said at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota."
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I think he's right. There seems to be no firewall between psycho bloggers (present company excepted) and the mainstream press...where Republican candidates are concerned, at least.

Is it still an insult if it's true?

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time - Blogs from CNN.com: "(CNN) – If Sen. Joe Biden was hurt that Republican operative Karl Rove called him a “big blowhard doofus” at an event in Minneapolis Monday, he didn’t show it.

On hearing the news, Biden grinned and said “he’s a great American.”

The blog Politicker ME reports that at a Maine delegate breakfast at the Republican National Convention, Rove, the so-called “architect” of the Bush administration, called Biden a “big blowhard doofus.” Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is notorious in Washington for being talkative at Senate hearings."
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Actually, to be completely accurate Rove should have called him a "big grinning blowhard doofus."