Conservative Donnybrook

This fascinating map, via Ross, via Andrew, depicts the counties wherein Clinton captured 65% or more of the vote and may help to explain why the rout was on in West Virginia.

It would appear that the Scots-Irish of the Appalachian belt are turning out in huge numbers for the former first lady. Last night’s solid drubbing of Obama in West Virginia, according to this map, was entirely predictable. And, what the heck, I’ll go out on a limb and predict a similar result when the primaries visit Kentucky next Tuesday. On the other hand, I would expect South Dakota, Montana and Oregon to be much closer. In the end, it is likely that Hillary has one more solid outing in the works and it she will need to make it count, if she wants to sway the outstanding Superdelegates to her orbit.

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Bob Barr is running for President of the United States as a libertarian.  He gave this interview with National Review Online.  This is the same Barr who frothed at the mouth to impeach Bill Clinton, railed against the practice of abortion while obtaining one for his wife, first vehemently opposed the decriminalization of marijuana and now endorses it, supported white supremacist Chester Doles, and now works for the ACLU.  Yeah, no baggage for Barr!

Questions remain such as will Barr attract Ron Paulites?  Will Barr participate in a national debate with Barack and John?  Are Barr’s chances any better than a snowball’s in Hell?  And, at the root of all other questions, will Barr siphon off enough votes from McCain to hand Obama 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?  My guess is no.  Barr is just another untrustworthy quack from Washington.

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Good morning!  An open thread for Wednesday.  If you are a conservative or a Republican and plan to support Obama in the general election, we would love to hear from you.  Why Obama?  And how does your support for him jive with your “conservative” or republican views?

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Awesome. Clearly a product of the Obama campaign. But, if Obama really were Christ, or even Luke Skywalker, we’d be inclined to vote for him.

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Hulsman and Mitchell wrote an excellent article for National Interest wherein they draw parallels between characters in The Godfather and American politics. I think their take on Tom, the consigliere, and Sonny are right on the money. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that there is a MIchael Corleone candidate. I think the parallels most closely align as follows: Hillary Clinton was represented by Tom Hagen; George W. Bush/John McCain was represented by Sonny Corleone; and Barack Obama was represented by Virgil Sollozzo (he seems to be bringing the family a good business opportunity, but in reality he seeks to transfer the power of the Corleones to other families).

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…or, at least play havoc with state slating conventions. I will give his supporters one thing; they are motivated.

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UPDATE: Looks like I nailed this. That’s funny; I never prognosticate correctly!

The Democrats face a crisis. They must have a consensus candidate before the convention if they want any chance of defeating the Republicans in November. But there are two competing factions that are dividing the party sharply into two camps behind two candidates, and, with the stupidity of the ultra-egalitarian “superdelegate” system now showing forth, each day that goes by divides the party further, and brings it closer to a floor fight.

These two camps are no more separated by irreconcilable ideologies than are the candidates themselves; Both stand firmly on platforms made of dreamy dreams and fluffy promises, tales told by idiots, signifying nothing. No, the division is rather one born of political dysfunction, akin to the dysfunction that ruined the Republican party in the early 1960’s. On one hand, the Democratic realists, the young face of the party, representing the only dynamism evident in that otherwise moribund institution, want to nominate a “winner”, and that would obviously Obama. On the other hand, the old line, representing most of the big money sugar daddies, experienced political and media operatives, and entrenched pols, are still looking to follow through on the scripted coronation of the candidate “whose time has come”-in other words, the conclusion of the same political Kabuki that gave us John Kerry-and Clinton is their obvious (and inexorably inevitable) candidate.

Now, this latter group, which represents the old party alliances with the media, labor, and special interest groups, has seemingly called in some favors, albeit reluctantly, and moved Rev. Jeremiah Wright off the back burner (where he has been simmering since about November) solidly front and center. Wright has been all over the television in the last few days, speaking to the National Press Club and the NAACP. Could it be that party operatives in favor of Clinton have used their contacts in these organizations to feed Wright’s insatiable urge for self promotion in order to kill the Obama campaign in favor of Clinton? It has certainly given Hillary plenty to react to in soundbites over the last two news cycles. In any case, the fact that someone has let Wright out of his cage, or, perhaps, that the Obama campaign can’t keep Wright in his cage, is highly suspicious. Likewise, t is indicative and illustrative of the deep dysfunction in the Democratic Party.

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Right now, Rev. Wright is addressing the Washington Press Club.  He has re-asserted his belief that the United States government created the AIDS virus, “they are capable of anything.”  He charged that the United States is a terrorist nation by saying “you can not do terrorism to others and not expect it to be done to you.”  According to Wright, the U.S. “grinds under her citizens.”  Mr. Wright also charged the United States with imperial ambitions.  Wright seriously believes that the publication of his racist, ignorant and prejudicial comments and sermons is an “attack against black churches.”  Wright, in between answering questions from a moderator, bites his lip, winks, smiles, glibly answers and folds back in to his arrogant and defensive posture.  True to form, instead of apologizing for his career offensiveness, his goes on the attack against America, her government and citizens, while simultaneously defending his defective positions.  He said all this while claiming “this comes from the Bible.”  umm, not the Bible I read.

This man is arrogant, rude, racist, uninformed and objectionable.  Keep speaking, Rev. Wright, Justice and Truth contrast brightly against your ridiculous lies and foolery.

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Regarding McCain’s request that the North Carolina GOP pull its recent Obama-bashing ad, Karl had this to say:

The NC GOP throws an ad out there which people see. It generates a little controversy, which trickles back to McCain, who can then take the high ground by asking them to take it down and in the process decry the politics of personal destruction, thus putting his opponents on notice that if they go that route, he has built up cred with the voters for running a clean campaign.

Meanwhile, every news outlet in America will air the ad repeatedly arguing about whether it steps over the line and praising McCain for his high ethical stand.

Beautiful, if you ask me.

Well, a little controversy has become a lot of controversy and McCain, rather than retreat and watch this unfold from afar, continues to dig in:

They’re not listening to me because they’re out of touch with reality and the Republican Party. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and this kind of campaigning is unacceptable.

Agreed. But what once seemed nothing more than campaign rhetoric now seems to be a full frontal assault on “unruly” members of the GOP. Not exactly the galvanizing the figure we had hoped for.

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McCain, in a rather public manner, has shown his weakness and lack of campaign prowess by calling for the North Carolina GOP to remove a campaign ad from circulation.  John McCain says he wants to run a clean campaign. Is this add really “dirty” or “cheap?”  I don’t think so.  See for yourself.

The ad says Obama is too extreme for North Carolina.  Of course he is, he is too extreme for the entire nation!  Remember Mr. McCain, you are running against  Obama! 

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The sister of a friend - the sister an editor at National Review and the friend a burgeoning attorney - clued me in to Irving Kristol’s wonderful collection of essays, Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea. 

In a foreboding essay entitled “American Intellectuals and Foreign Policy,” written in 1967, the “godfather of neoconservatism” explains “the extraordinary inconsistencies of intellectuals on matters of foreign policy”:

So it is that many intellectuals are appalled at our military intervention in Southeast Asia, on  the grounds that, no matter what happens there, the national security of the United States will not be threatened.  But these same intellectuals would raise no objection if the United States sent an expeditionary force all the way to South Africa to overthrow apartheid, even though South Africa offers no threat to American security.

Now for the taxidermy: replace “Southeast Asia” with “Iraq,” “South Africa” with “Darfur” and “overthrow apartheid” with “end genocide.”  You get:

So it is that many intellectuals are appalled at our military intervention in Iraq, on the grounds that, no matter what happens there, the national security of the United States will not be threatened.  But these same intellectuals would raise no objection if the United States sent an expeditionary force all the way to Darfur to end genocide, even though Darfur offers no threat to American security.

Samantha Power, Obama’s former leading lady on foreign policy issues, comes to mind.

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As most people know, there was a smallish (by California standards) earthquake in the Midwest in the wee hours of the morning. I, of course, slept through it. My wife awakened and immediately chastised the dog for shaking the bed. I imagine my dog simply looked confused as to what might have brought my wife’s wrath down upon his head while he was peacefully sleeping.

After having seen the latest Obama ads as the candidates focus their attention on Indiana, I must say that this contributor is edging toward supporting the Illinois Senator. Indeed, in his television ad, there is one scene which shows the devastation in the wake of Katrina and then it cuts to text which says, “We can save the planet.” If Obama can prevent hurricanes, surely he can prevent earthquakes that waken my wife and freak out my dogs. And if he can do that, then he’s got my vote!

On a side note, it always amuses me whenever we have the slightest tremor in the Midwest. Suddenly, there are all these articles about “Indiana’s long history of quakes.” There’s probably a similar story in the Tribune about Illinois’ established track record with temblors. I guarantee that within the next three days some crackpot geologist will make some sort of prediction that the vaunted New Madrid fault line is poised for the Big One any day.

UPDATE: It looks like my “prediction” had already come true six days before the 5.2 magnitude Illinois quake. In reporting on the latest earthquake, these guys pointed to their earlier dire prediction of the Big One in the Midwest.

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No doubt everyone posting and reading here is already familiar with Obama’s recent comments at a private April 6th San Francisco fundraiser, so no need to rehash.

Sure, Obama’s marginalizing church-going, gun-toting, camouflage-clad Midwesterners. But at what expense? As Charlie Cook at the National Journal correctly anticipates, Obama’s lead

is very difficult to overcome given how few states are left to vote, how hard it is to close a gap under the Democrats’ proportional representation system and that the remaining undecided superdelegates hardly seem ready to march lock step into the Clinton column.

However, I think Cook might be a tea leaf or two short when prophesying how this could affect Obama in the general election:

It doesn’t mean this isn’t costly and doesn’t hurt Obama in a general election. Even a cursory look at the national and state-by-state polling shows that voters are predisposed to vote Democratic and vote for change this year. But swing voters have to be comfortable with the change they are asked to make.

Are we to believe that those Midwesterners Obama slighted comprise the numerosity necessary to swing the vote McCain’s way? Having lived in the Midwest (for three years too many), I couldn’t imagine one of these fellows straddling the fence between Obama and McCain. If anything, Obama has fostered an even greater connection with his left wing fanbase with his off-the-cuff, off-color comments.

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The good folks of Indiana are now being inundated with campaign ads as the Democratic primary focuses its attention there. This afternoon I caught this new, outrageous ad from the Obama campaign. The ad speaks for itself.

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In 2006 the Chicago Bears were the greatest team in the NFL. They had a high powered offense that was complimented by one of the best defenses to walk onto the gridiron. Devin Hester dominated the return game like no other before. Unfortunately, the season ended with the Bears being cheated out of a Super Bowl title by the maleficent Indianapolis Colts (I better watch what I say about the Colts or Bill Polian will sue me).

Fast forward to this past season. 7-9. The offense was ineffective and the defense was often times just pieced together. The only bright spot was Devin Hester. Who is to blame to such a turn around? I blame head coach Lovie Smith. His easy going Texas demeanor is not what the Chicago Bears, the Monsters of the Midway, need. They need a coach that yells, curses and gets in fights with players (i.e. Papa Bear George Halas or Mike Dikta). Smith does none of this. He remains loyal to coaches that are no good (defensive coordinator Bob Babich), like Dick Juaron and John Shoop, and Smith is quick is get rid of quality coaches that pose a threat to his authority (former NFC Champion defensive coordinator AND former Bear Ron Rivera).

I could go on and on about Lovie Smith’s shortcomings and why he should be fired. But now something new has come to light that has only strengthened my conviction that he has to go now. Lovie Smith, not surprisingly, supports Obama. Come on Bears, Jerry Angelo get your act together and get rid of Smith (and bring in Mike Singletary).

On a football side note. The reason I love NFL football like I do today, NFL Films, is having trouble. I urge any reader who is a fan of pro football to go out and by a NFL Films DVD ( I recommend From the Vault, Lost Treasures or The Greatest) to support this American institution.

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The good folks over at Citizens Against Government Waste released the 2008 edition of their annual Pig Book.

Hillary Clinton loves pork! In 2007, she took 281 earmarks totaling an astounding $296.2 million.

Barack took 53 earmarks totaling $97.4 million. At least we can put to rest the notion that Barack Hussein Obama is a secret Muslim.

On the other hand, John McCain, in 22 years in the Senate, has NEVER taken an earmark. The difference in this year’s election is stark. We may not agree with everything McCain stands for, but on this issue, he is as conservative as they come.

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Earlier this week, one of the undergraduate scholars at Butler University, Evan Strange, asked Chelsea Clinton, during a campaign stop a few blocks from my house, about “the criticism of her mother[concerning] how [Hillary Clinton] handled the Lewinsky scandal might be a sign of weakness and she might not be a strong enough candidate to be president.”

Chelsea answered, “Wow, you’re the first person actually that’s ever asked me that question in the, I don’t know maybe, 70 college campuses I’ve now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business.”

Evan has been excoriated in the national media.

“I just wanted to know her opinion on what she thought about all of the criticism that her mom gets as far as … how she handled the Lewinsky scandal being a sign of weakness — that maybe she’s not not a strong enough leader,” Strange told 6News’ Julie Pursley. “I was not wanting to know about personal issues about her parents.”
He said that by brushing him off, Chelsea Clinton missed an opportunity to show her mother’s strength.

“I was very surprised” at the rebuke, Strange said. “I can see where she’d get a little defensive because of the question and hearing Lewinsky over and over again, but I would like to hear her say something about Hillary rather than dismissing the question.”"I think maybe she thought I was trying to … be controversial and be the person that asked the Lewinsky question, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Strange said.

Continue Reading »

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Senator Obama sure picked one helluva “spiritual advisor.”

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Follow this link to an interesting piece over at the American Spectator on third party choices for the conservative voter.

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