House of Eratosthenes

There are several reasons why, already. This one is just icing on the cake, but all by itself it would be sufficient cause: They are not held to standards. Of any kind. Ethical, character, effectiveness, purity of motive…”truthiness”…sanity.

Seriously. Republicans are bludgeoned into stepping down because of teaspons of scandal, while democrats regularly imbibe gallons and barrels of the same stuff and manage to limp onward. It’s become such a regular event nobody bats an eyelash over it anymore.

The latest factor is that last one in my list, the sanity. The lack thereof. The becoming “unhinged.” Things are expected of conservatives that are not being expected of our liberals — but what else is news?

Leftist hypocrisy and the championing of same by the media

Glenn Reynolds, with brevity and brilliance:

So we’ve had nearly 8 years of lefty assassination fantasies about George W. Bush, and Bill Ayers’ bombing campaign is explained away as a consequence of him having just felt so strongly about social justice, but a few people yell things at McCain rallies and suddenly it’s a sign that anger is out of control in American politics? It’s nice of McCain to try to tamp that down, and James Taranto sounds a proper cautionary note — but, please, can we also note the staggering level of hypocrisy here? (And that’s before we get to the Obama campaign’s thuggish tactics aimed at silencing critics.)

The Angry Left has gotten away with all sorts of beyond-the-pale behavior throughout the Bush Administration. The double standards involved — particularly on the part of the press — are what are feeding this anger. (Indeed, as Ann Althouse and John Leo have noted, the reporting on this very issue is dubious). So while asking for McCain supporters to chill a bit, can we also ask the press to start doing its job rather than openly shilling for a Democratic victory? Self-control is for everybody, if it’s for anybody…

Blogger pal Rick goes on to observe, with linky goodness…

I continue to see the ignoring of Barack Obama’s past associations while those same people unashamedly focus on Sarah Palin’s.
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It’s enough to set anyone’s teeth on edge and yet, no matter how upset or angry I might get, you’ll not see me wishing for the kinds of things the left have wished on Bush and Cheney now for the better part of 8 years.

Conservatives are simply tethered to a shorter leash. Liberals want it that way, so we give ‘em what they want and then call it balanced thinking.

You know how we get here? The ripcord that puts all this machinery in motion, is an elite group claiming an exclusive privilege to whine. The feminists got it going first. Thirty years ago, they “backlashed” against any mens’-rights advocate by broadbrushing any objections to the radical feminist movement, as “whining.” They asked men to be intimidated by accusations of whining…men, not wanting to be accused of whining, complied. Now it’s three decades later. The feminist movement fails sometimes, succeeds at other times, but throughout it all nobody who possesses a high profile or a reputation worth defending, will ever call them out on their crap.

And so — if you’re getting divorced and you’re a dude, you can lose custody of your kids just for…nothing. Heck, you should want to lose custody of your kids because “kids are better off with the mother.” But if you’re a chick, you have to be engaging in some pretty hard drugs to lose custody of your kids. It’s about the most uneven playing field our society has, and it’s still going strong. Shows no signs of leveling out…not soon…not in my lifetime…not ever.

Who can blame liberal democrats for wanting to try the same thing?

And so conservative Republicans, if they dare utter a peep of protest about how things are getting covered in the media, are “whining.” Therefore any double standard that comes down the pike is allowed to stand. Oh sure, it’s criticized here-and-there in the “blogosphere” but by and large, the double standard survives unscathed. And so, a conservative Republican politician cheating on his wife is a scandal, potentially a career-ending one. Probably a career-ending one. Liberal democrats can cheat all they want…they get a scandal, maybe…they act like they’re suffering…but at the end of it their approval numbers go up.

The same goes for being unhinged. Some group comes out with a death threat, and suddenly we have to wring our hands together and indulge in platitudinous bullshit about “well, we don’t know for sure that’s connected with the Obama campaign…” Do we behave the same when someone, somewhere, says something “beyond the pale” about a democrat candidate? No, we don’t. Republicans have to apologize for everything, everywhere, all the time. It’s all connected together by implication.

My favorite example: George W. Bush’s campaign, and specifically Karl Rove, was behind this rumor that John McCain conceived a black child out of wedlock. So far as I’ve come to be aware, nobody knows about that. One way or t’other. In 2008, that is being reported as a fact, that the Bush campaign was behind it.

Somebody does something ugly to advance the liberal-democrat cause, and all of a sudden nothing is connected to anything else.

They are standard-less. They are no-accounts. What may be even worse is, they are no-accounts because that is what they want to be. What may be even worse than that is…they want to be unaccountable, because they want to win. And they say so little about what it is they want to do after they win.

We should just fire every single one right now, just for being one. In a country that prides itself on holding powerful public officials up to high standards — that was founded on the principle that it should do this, always, all the time, unrelentingly — they simply have no place here.

Thing I Know #237. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between being held accountable to a higher standard, which is an act of love, and being staked to the ground by a shorter leash, which is an act of hate. There aren’t too many ways to distinguish these things. I do know of one: Love is reserved for individuals. A class can’t be loved.

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Smart democrats
Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Ever notice that whirlpool of weirdness that envelopes you whenever you hear everyday left-wing people describing the smartness of left-wing politicians? You’re not imagining it.

Picking up where she stopped last time we noticed her, Dr. Melissa Clouthier continues her thoughts about common sense, and what she calls “intellectualism,” which I delight in calling other things. Usually “arrogance,” but more like “foppishness,” “pretentious snobbery,” “boobishness,” “sparkle & glitter,” “all package no contents,” “showmanship,” “gift-o-gab,” and “prissiness.”

When I was in Chiropractic College, I stumbled across a wide spectrum of individuals:

There were the knobby heads who could memorize facts cold, did well on tests and had an amazing ability to integrate the knowledge into clinical experience.

Then there were the knobby heads who could memorize facts, did well on tests, had trouble with integrating the knowledge and were good intellectually but had a terrible time relating the knowledge to an actual hurting person.

Most people were above average intelligence, did pretty good on tests, could integrate their knowledge and were terrific clinicians.

Some people in this above average range could not relate to patients, either, but didn’t have the intellectual fortitude to do pure research. These people can make up for it with excellent business experience or they tend to suffer in practice.
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The same goes for politics. There are people, Chief Justice Roberts comes to mind, who has a monster intellect and the incredible ability to translate the complex into language the common person can understand and grasp. That does not necessarily mean I will always agree with his opinions, by the way, just that I respect the mind and thought process that got him there.

Sarah Palin strikes me as bright, but not genius smart. What she also has is an ability to put the knowledge in context and grasp the effects of the policy. She has a gift for practical reasoning.

Some on the left seem to think we need an intellectual giant as president and that will guarantee smart policy. That is a non-sequit[u]r of dismaying proportions–as anyone who spent time around the smarty-pants set knows.

Within these paragraphs, Clouthier speaks for me, including the description of Gov. Palin. Palin’s not a genius and doesn’t need to be. She’s mastered, or at least progressed very highly within, the art & science of figuring out effects from causes — just like any experienced outdoorsman. If I do this, then that will happen…if I do not do this other thing, then that will happen. She is not a savant and doesn’t even rate highly among “smart” elites. I do think she’s smarter than most ordinary people, way smarter than average. Bill Clinton is probably smarter than she is…in his own way. He’s got talents for which you could search and search and search, and never find a specimen more remarkable in that regard than Bill; whereas Palin is merely above-average. They’re both to be respected — neither one’s a dummy — but Sarah is closer to the center of the bell curve.

In a responsible position, it’s no contest. You want Sarah Palin there. Most folks have met a Bill Clinton type, who can talk your ear off about how good things are goin’ while the real job goes undone. You want that guy putting out the fire consuming your home? Seriously? I don’t think so.

Leftists, lately, don’t distinguish among these different types and magnitudes of smarts. Quoting myself, in response to Melissa’s latest thoughts:

I see a lot of things happening when democrats tell us one among their own is “smart”:

First of all, the process by which they decree Bill Clinton or John Kerry or Al Gore or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to be “smart,” is a depressing exercise in anti-intellectualism itself. All the sins you can make against brain-smarts, are in that process. They think something because someone else told ‘em to think that; they’re bullying YOU around, trying to make you think this third-party (neither one of you have met) is smart, just because they’re bullying you; they’re confusing gift-o-gab with across-the-board smarts; the list goes on and on. These are all anti-intellectual things to do, and they’re doing them, toward the goal of defining who’s smart and who isn’t.

Second, of course, is that it’s confirmation bias writ large. The message unspoken is that democrats are just plain smart. Find a guy who thinks John Kerry is smart…wh[at] democrat does that guy think is average intellect or below? The answer, invariably, is nobody. It’s not about smarts. It’s about democrats. It’s just propaganda, a lot of folks know it, but nobody ever says it.

Third: The definition is sloppy. You quickly gather the impression, and you’re right, that the conversation/bullying-session isn’t really about *smarts*. These famous democrats aren’t presented as people functionally smart, above-average, IQ somewhere in the 125-135 range…if you’re working late and the deadline is tomorrow, would you want them working on it with you, or some big dummy. It’s not that kind of smarts. These are luminous beings. Barack Obama has wrinkles on his brain you don’t have. You should be squealing in delight to be breathing [the] same oxygen as them.

If you pay attention to politics for any length of time, you understand this to be a political gimmick, nothing more — that’s even if you agree with what’s being attempted here, even if you’re a leftist. It only works because most people don’t pay that much attention. Most people hear this discourse about smartness, they think the ideas are all about smartness and nothing else. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Crosss-posted at Right Wing News.

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That’s His Throwaway Line
Saturday, October 11th, 2008

My thoughts, exactly, the first time I heard it…and I’ve heard it many times since then. Oh, and look, there’s something special about the guy who agrees with me about it.

A Yonkers, N.Y., councilman whose home was bombed nearly four decades ago by the Weather Underground says Barack Obama should know better than to associate with the domestic terror group’s co-founder, Bill Ayers.

“Barack Obama constantly says, ‘I was only 8 years old when this happened.’ That’s kind of his throwaway line,” John Murtagh told FOX News Thursday morning.

“I’m not questioning what Barack Obama was doing when he was 8 years old. I’m questioning his behavior as an adult to choose his friends, mentor and longtime personal and professional colleague.”

I believe I’ve asked this question before:

If a United States President possesses deplorable judgment about people, does it even matter whether or not he possesses decent judgment about things?

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A Vote For Obama Is a Vote For American Royalty?
Saturday, October 11th, 2008

You kinda have to wonder when you see postings like this. You have to wonder if, a year or two down the road, the Obama supporter look back at such items and say to himself, in the privacy of his own cranium, “that, right there, was my warning.”

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who’ve been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama’s, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

The other day in Albuquerque, N.M., the reporters were given almost no time to file their reports after McCain spoke. It was an important, aggressive speech, lambasting Obama’s past associations. When we asked for more time to write up his remarks and prepare our reports, the campaign readily agreed to it. They understood.

Similar requests are often denied or ignored by the Obama campaign aides, apparently terrified that the candidate may have to wait 20 minutes to allow reporters to chronicle what he’s just said. It’s made all the more maddening when we are rushed to our buses only to sit and wait for 30 minutes or more because nobody seems to know when Obama is actually on the move.

Had I been aware of my surroundings continuously all the way back to 1776, I suspect — strongly — that I’d have the knowledge base necessary to substantiate the following: Our hunger for American royalty, thoroughly inexplicable in every way, is sustained moment by moment since the day we broke off from, and fought to be rid of, a British one. We seem to have an instinctive yearning to live our lives beholden to, and with a declared allegiance to, some spoiled brat.

Gerard has a different take on the situation, and sums it up in five words. Don’t miss.

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Like a Bad Spouse With a Silver Tongue
Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Next time we’re tempted into our latest fling with quasi-socialism, maybe we should consider the Ann Landers approach: “Are you better off with him or without him?”

We were married on March 4, 1932. Since then, we’ve had trial separation after trial separation after trial separation…whenever we’re at our most depressed, he calls us in the middle of the night from a pay phone by the bus depot. And we get suckered back into it one more time. After all, nobody’s saying we should be neck-deep in old-fashioned socialism…a little bit ought to be okay, right?

Well, this latest reconciliation didn’t take long at all to go sour:

In the end, Congress approved the package—seeing as how the alternative was rising unemployment, a plunging stock market, and corporations unable to borrow to cover their short-term obligations. Now, with the bailout proceeding according to plan, Americans are confronted with…rising unemployment, a plunging stock market, and corporations unable to borrow to cover their short-term obligations.

That is not how things were supposed to go. On Sept. 25, The Washington Post endorsed the administration’s effort, warning that the nation faced a replay of 1929.

“This catastrophe can be avoided,” said the editorial, “and it will be if government promptly and effectively addresses the immediate cause of financial distress—the toxic build-up in unmarketable mortgage-backed securities on bank balance sheets.” (My emphasis.) The Treasury plan, it said, fit the bill.

But the effort to restore confidence and stabilize markets turned out to be, pardon the expression, a bust. After the bailout was signed into law on Friday, Oct. 3, investors had all weekend to contemplate its tonic properties but found none.

On Monday, the stock market looked like it had been pushed out of an airplane. The Federal Reserve was so alarmed by the credit situation that it decided to take the radical step of lending directly to businesses.

By then the rescue package was a fading memory. Instead of being safely contained, the turmoil intensified and spread far beyond Wall Street—to financial markets in Europe, Asia, and South America. Said a Tuesday news story in The New York Times, “Three days after the plan was approved, it looks like a pebble tossed into a churning sea.”

“Mistake” seems to be perhaps too charitable of a word. After all, we already had a teetering, towering stack of experiences that should’ve enabled us to know better.

This is more like an addiction.

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The Palin Game!
Friday, October 10th, 2008

Here’s an interesting little mental exercise to try. First, come up with a list of reasons to oppose Sarah Palin. Not her running mate; just her. Think back on everything you’ve heard. Every rationalization. Every supposed scandal. Every little blessed thing. You’re making an exhaustive list, here.

From that, eliminate two things that are only fair.

Palin! Palin! Palin! One: Anything that falls under the umbrella category of “She’s a dimwit.” Because let’s face it: Over the last twenty years, that’s been exposed as a liberal democrat fail-safe to be used against frighteningly influential Republicans, when they can’t find a scandal. It’s what seven-year-olds say when they can’t think of a response but want to continue the argument: “Yoooooou’re stoooopid!” It’s the democrat party check-engine light. Just canx it. She’s a dimwit, she’s an airhead, she doesn’t know foreign policy, blah blah blah. It’s just empty space. Ballast. Throw it overboard.

Two: Anything that falls under the umbrella category of “She doesn’t have the values of a hardcore left-wing democrat.” Because, last I checked, a democrat isn’t what she is.

Now take everything left over, and try to make it sound convincing.

Um…there was a story going around about “I can see Russia from my house!”, which she never said…and there was another story going around that her daughter’s kid is really hers, or her kid is really her daughter’s, or something…that was proven false. She has a tanning bed. Oh here’s something — her daughter is pregnant but not married. But will be. To the father. So her kid did things a little bit out-of-sequence. Um…uh…her husband was arrested for drunk driving, or convicted of a DUI, or something, twenty-two years ago. When she fires someone, she wants them to be really truly fired, and if you get in the way she’ll fire your ass. In other words, she’s a capable, effective administrator…

…dang, this is shaping up to be a real loser’s game, huh?

Am I missing something? Because it’s been, like, a month and a half already. Now, just for kicks, repeat the exercise with Joe Biden. And then with Barack Obama.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

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Our Acorn President
Friday, October 10th, 2008

H/T: Rottweiler.

Image credit: IMAO.

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It’s Official…He’s a “Messiah”
Friday, October 10th, 2008

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“Doesn’t Anybody Have a Conscience Anymore?”
Friday, October 10th, 2008

Newsbusters again…

Gov. Sarah Palin parachuted into a phone interview on the Laura Ingraham show in the last minutes of the program today at about ten minutes to Noon eastern. She urged citizens (and by extension, the media) to demand answers from Barack Obama and Joe Biden about Bill Ayers, ACORN, and Obama’s record of voting against protections for infants born alive after an unsuccessful abortion.

“I don’t see the other ticket being asked to be truthful and give details,” she said. She added that Obama’s positions are “so far left,” but they’re being “packaged up to look pretty and mainstream, and they are not.”
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On Ayers, Palin said Obama hasn’t told the “total truth” about his long-time association with an “unrepentant domestic terrorist.” On ACORN, she said they are pushing voter fraud. “Doesn’t anybody have a conscience any more?” She urged, America to “wake up and ask thse questions.”

Based on some experience watching some talking points blossom and others die on the vine, it seems to me our problem is with these “soft referendums” that pass unanimously without being put to a vote. Like for example: What’s mean? We’ve somehow decided what’s mean and what isn’t, to the complete advantage of liberal democrats, without any meaningful dissents, and without actually casting ballots.

Sen. McCain points at Sen. Obama during a townhall debate and uses the words “that one.” That’s mean. Obama’s official campaign makes fun of Sen. McCain because his wartime injuries leave him unable to use a computer keyboard…that isn’t mean.

What’s bipartisanship? That’s another one. John McCain has made a big show out of being able to work with Barack Obama and other liberal democrats. I haven’t heard of Sen. Obama making any similar and opposite declarations about his readiness, willingness, or ability to work with Republicans. All I’ve seen him do is blame Bush for any little fly in the ointment…often changing the subject, to the point of offense, to do so.

And yet among those who think the answer to our problems is to “rise above partisanship and do what’s best for the country” — the overwhelming consensus is to flock to The Chosen One, whom any honest analysis would declare has very, very little to do with rising above partisanship. How does this dovetail with their decree that partisanship caused our problems and bipartisanship will end them? What’s that got to do with an Obama administration? Again: It’s a soft referendum. It was put to “The People,” supposedly, but decided, unanimously, without voting.

People like to run around babbling a bunch of stuff and nonsense about what independent thinkers they are. It just ain’t so.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

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Illegal Aliens with Illegal Mortgages
Friday, October 10th, 2008

Newsbusters…

A single report by KFYI radio of Phoenix, Arizona highlights a shocking claim made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD says that five million illegal aliens hold illegal mortgages. This is just one more example of the lax lending laws put into place by Democrats like Barney Frank that have contributed to this economic crisis. One would think this would be big news. But, so far we have only this one report to cover it.

There have been earlier stories of home flipping schemes that made liberal use of illegal aliens as straw buyers and the FBI has followed numerous cases to prosecution and conviction. But the Old Media have not done much with this story.

KFYI reports that these fraudulent straw purchases of mortgages by illegal aliens has affected every state in the union.

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt.

Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It’s not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona.

The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification. As a result, illegal immigrants were able to obtain home mortgages which they could not afford.

Lax immigration laws have also helped make this crime easy to perpetrate.

In 1965 a Democrat Controlled Congress under President Lyndon Johnson passed the concept of “chain” immigration into law. A later commission named the Hesburgh Commission convened during Ronald Reagan’s first term, found that this concept statistically allowed each single immigrant to bring into this country 84 of his family members. Of course, all these people have to live somewhere making such fraudulent mortgages quite attractive.

But go on. Vote for the fellow with the most charismatic personality for your hopey changey goodness, and blame any hitches in the giddy-up on “eight years of Bush Cheney.”

Real life just isn’t that simple, m’friends.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

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Best Sentence XLIII
Friday, October 10th, 2008

John Stossel snags the forty-third award for the Best Sentence I’ve Heard Or Read Lately (BSIHORL):

Everybody talked about the “freeze” in the credit markets, but why, I wonder, were the cable news programs that repeated the credit-freeze mantra pausing for commercials from companies trying to lend me money?

He goes on…

Ditech and LendingTree still hawk mortgages at under 6 percent. Some credit freeze.

Economist Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute looked at the credit numbers kept by the Federal Reserve. He writes: “Although certain financial institutions are undeniably in deep trouble — difficulties of their own making … — credit markets in general have not ceased to operate. Moreover, lenders are extending credit in historically great amounts“.

Maybe this is why CNN business reporter Ali Velshi broke ranks when reporting on “dried up” credit and said, “When I say ‘dried up,’ I don’t mean there’s no money. But you’d better have good collateral and good credit.”

What’s wrong with that?

You really should go read the whole thing. It’ll change your perspective…especially if you think the 1929 crash was some harbinger of doom regarding what’s about to happen to us next.

It’s the technology. Not what it used to be. Seventy-nine years is a long, long time.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

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“With a Little Luck, They May Soon Be Orthodoxies”
Friday, October 10th, 2008

So writes Chatterbox, whom you may know as Timothy Noah, of Slate Magazine (H/T: Boortz). He’s referring to a little list he cooked up of things you can say, now, if you are a left-wing kook. His point is that with McCain’s defeat now an inevitability, these items might soon be embraced by the mainstream; you won’t have to be safely insulated from major political campaigns to say them out loud.

It still isn’t wise for Obama to say them, but maybe the New Complacency will loosen other tongues within the political mainstream. Even if it doesn’t, it’s fun to think about what those utterances might be. What follows is a list, compiled with help from my fellow Slate staffers. The views expressed don’t necessarily reflect those of the contributors—one of whom is a conservative Republican—or even me. But they sure are a refreshing change from what we’ve been hearing since 1981. With a little luck, they may soon be orthodoxies.

I think Karl Marx had some valuable insights into capitalist economies!

I think abortion should be safe and legal. Rare is fine, too, but the way to achieve that is contraception, baby!

I think Mormons are kooks!

The Second Amendment does too allow government to ban handguns!

Let’s standardize the federal age of consent at 16!

Promiscuity between consenting adults is good exercise!

Wheeeee! Isn’t this fun?

Health care is a service, not a business!

Pot is no more dangerous than vodka. Legalize it!

I don’t support the troops. I support some troops, depending on whether or not they’ve committed war crimes!

No more wars without United Nations or at least NATO support!

Saving the boulder darter was worth a few thousand jobs!

If Eastern Europeans think NATO will go to war to defend them against Russia, they’re out of their minds!

Ditto if Taiwan thinks the United States will go to war to defend it against China!

Let’s teach evolution in Sunday school!

The military-industrial complex is a greater menace than most foreign nations!

If Israel isn’t out of the occupied territories in six months, we’ll cut off all aid.

I think Chatterbox deserves a profound thank you from the electorate for revealing what we are really debating here with this election. Karl Marx had valuable insight into capitalist economies, huh? Government should dictate that evolution is taught in Sunday school? I thought the left-wingers were all about separation of church and state?

Now this all sounds quite out-there and absurd…but you know, he’s right. Among Obama supporters, none of these ideas are out of their localized “mainstream,” so can it really be said such tidbits won’t find greater acceptance in the new Age of Obama, or perhaps codified into public policy.

Some, among his supporters, think they’re good ideas. If I understand his context right, it looks like I have written proof.

Can we please re-schedule and re-do that ridiculous “townhall” debate? Call me nuts if you want, but I think the public has a right to know what exactly we’ve been arguing about.

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Why Do I Have the Feeling…
Thursday, October 9th, 2008

…that Republicans won’t ever be innocent of these charges of “mudslinging,” until they actively campaign for democrats?

It’s disheartening to see the 2008 presidential campaign sink into smear tactics. This raises ugly echoes of the false Swift Boat accusations of 2004 and the racist Willie Horton ads of 1988.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin stooped to mud-slinging by saying Democrat Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists” because he served on boards with Dr. William Ayers, a 60-year-old University of Illinois distinguished professor who was a youthful leader of the radical Weather Underground one-third of a century ago, opposing the Vietnam War in the 1970s when Obama was a tot.

The McCain-Palin ticket should beware of such hatchet jobs, because both GOP nominees are vulnerable to counterattacks.

McCain betrayed his crippled first wife and lived with beer heiress Cindy Hensley, whose father had been convicted of mob bootlegging charges. McCain used Hensley money and connections to succeed in Arizona politics. He nearly sank politically because he pulled Washington strings to help crooked financier Charles Keating, who went to prison after his savings-and-loan chain cost U.S. taxpayers billions.

Palin is vulnerable because she has spent her life in Pentecostal churches where members speak in tongues, cast out demons, await the Rapture, practice faith healing and try to ward off witches. So far, the Obama-Biden campaign has declined to question her fitness in this regard.

Really, they have? They have so declined? The “in this regard” must be the magic loophole here. “Ah yes, we’ve questioned Sarah Palin’s fitness in the regard of being pro-life, of having five kids, of having not gone to Wellesly or Yale, of wearing porn-star hooker glasses, of buying a tanning bed, of being Governor only as long as our Messiah has been a Senator, of leaving herself vulnerable to her personal e-mail being illegally hacked, of her husband getting a DUI twenty-two years ago…but not specifically in the regard of speaking in tongues and handling snakes!”

Millions upon millions of voters this year are voting not quite so much for McCain, but against Barack Obama. Depending on your personal issue priorities, that’s quite a legitimate position to take — just as it’s quite a legitimate position to vote for Obama because you want the war to end (just, in my humble opinion, misguided…nevertheless, legitimate). If it’s legitimate for people to vote for McCain for this reason, that his opponent is unacceptable, it is quite legitimate for McCain to remind them of this, and to go after converts under the same rationale.

The editorial goes on to state…

After eight years of the Bush-Cheney administration, America faces a nightmare. The national debt has leaped past $10 trillion, with no stabilizing in sight. Three-quarters of a million U.S. jobs have been lost so far this year, including 159,000 last month. The stock market plunge has wiped out trillions in personal savings. The unnecessary Iraq war has killed more than 4,000 young Americans.

McCain is tied tightly to the Bush-Cheney agenda because he supported invading Iraq, supported deregulation that brought the Wall Street financial meltdown, and supported trillion-dollar tax giveaways to the wealthy that wrought monster deficits and the soaring national debt.

These are the overriding concerns of the 2008 presidential campaign. They mustn’t be camouflaged by petty mudslinging attacks.

Which raises my question — what is there for the McCain campaign to do, exactly? What if the McCain campaign woke up one morning and decided “Hey, let’s not do anything the esteemed editors of the Charleston Gazette don’t want us to do”? What then? Would the esteemed editors remain unsatisfied in their thirst for a civil tone, until the McCain headquarters started handing out Obama/Biden buttons?

From where I sit, that’s very likely to be the case. It’s like the joke of the corrupt defense attorney saying “I object, Your Honor, when the prosecution says he intends to prove m

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We Should Fire Every democrat Right NowSunday, October 12th, 2008

Smart democratsSunday, October 12th, 2008

That’s His Throwaway LineSaturday, October 11th, 2008

A Vote For Obama Is a Vote For American Royalty?Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Like a Bad Spouse With a Silver TongueSaturday, October 11th, 2008

The Palin Game!Friday, October 10th, 2008

Our Acorn PresidentFriday, October 10th, 2008

It’s Official…He’s a “Messiah”Friday, October 10th, 2008

“Doesn’t Anybody Have a Conscience Anymore?”Friday, October 10th, 2008

Illegal Aliens with Illegal MortgagesFriday, October 10th, 2008

Best Sentence XLIIIFriday, October 10th, 2008

“With a Little Luck, They May Soon Be Orthodoxies”Friday, October 10th, 2008

Why Do I Have the Feeling…Thursday, October 9th, 2008

We Should Fire Every democrat Right Now
Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Smart democrats
Sunday, October 12th, 2008

That’s His Throwaway Line
Saturday, October 11th, 2008

A Vote For Obama Is a Vote For American Royalty?
Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Like a Bad Spouse With a Silver Tongue
Saturday, October 11th, 2008

The Palin Game!
Friday, October 10th, 2008

Our Acorn President
Friday, October 10th, 2008

It’s Official…He’s a “Messiah”
Friday, October 10th, 2008

“Doesn’t Anybody Have a Conscience Anymore?”
Friday, October 10th, 2008

Illegal Aliens with Illegal Mortgages
Friday, October 10th, 2008

Best Sentence XLIII
Friday, October 10th, 2008

“With a Little Luck, They May Soon Be Orthodoxies”
Friday, October 10th, 2008

Why Do I Have the Feeling…
Thursday, October 9th, 2008