The incredible shallowness of the American voter...

...as shown here.

"...The world needs our help more than we need to petition its approval...."

Michael Totten on the Arabs and Obama.

Whatcha gonna do with your Stimulus money?

"Well, I'm glad you asked, cuz I'm gonna tell you.

I'm gonna go out and buy me some cheese. But not just any cheese. Oh, no siree. None of that Cheddar, or American, or even any of them european cheeses...Swiss, Brie, or Gouda.

I'm gonna go out and buy me some of that Free Government Cheese. That's the best stuff, I'll tell you.

You know why I like Free Government Cheese?

Cuz I likes my grilled cheese sammiches. There's nuttin' better than Free Government Cheese on a grilled cheese sammich. Mmmm. I can taste one right now.

And you know how to make the very best grilled Free Government Cheese sammiches?

It's all about the butter, baby.

No. Not that Sweet Cream, Lightly Salted butter. And not "oleo" either. Oleo is good for one thing and one thing only: Crossword puzzles. And don't even think to put that I Can't Believe It's Not Butter stuff on there. I mean...C'mon. Why are you even pretending that it's the same as butter? They tell you right on the label that it's not butter.

No, the butter you need is that Government Dairy Subsidy Butter. That's the good stuff. The very best grilled Free Government Cheese sammich is made with Government Dairy Subsidy Butter.

I can taste lunch now. But first I have to work on my taxes."

The Post-Election Democrats...

I've long thought (although I admit that at times certain circumstances have had me waver a bit) that this country will not elect an anti-war President in a time of war. I agree with John Fund here that McCain may have a better chance against either Clinton or Obama than many give him credit for.

However...

I have a nagging concern on what a post-election Democrat Party will look like should McCain win. Not long after 9/11...probably due to the closeness of Bush's win in 2000 and certainly after the Republicans increased their majority in 2002, the Democrats' public face showed that they had simply lost their minds. They embraced, then ceded their foreign policy agenda to a woman who is a simple fool. They held on to her until after her 15 minutes of fame were gone. They tolerated shrill harpies who are capable of taking the most vile of positions. Their lions were unable to take a calm rational argument to the public.

However, maybe the face of the Democrats was not insane, but something they cynically used to oppose the Republicans. Early on, Democrat David Obey knew that they did not have the votes to support a proposal to defund the war. Yet, they spent the entire year after they attained the majority doing nothing except to do exactly this. And when President Bush adopted Gen Petraeus' Surge, did the Democrats even allow that this approach might yield the desired results? No. They (or more correctly, their mouthpieces) questioned the General's patriotism. And after the Surge had had it's time in the field, did the Democrats even state the obvious: that it was actually working? No. The Rolling Stone now has a name for them: Chicken Doves...those Democrats who took an anti-war stance, not as a true measure of their commitment to ending the war, but to use as a tool to club the Republicans and Bush with.

So what will happen if Obama wins the popular vote, but Clinton takes the nomination through her strength with the super delegates? What will happen if McCain wins? What will happen if either Democrat wins, and then decides that we cannot leave Iraq? Will the Democratic faithful take to the streets (again)? Can the leadership rein in their extreme edges to be able to actually accomplish an agenda?

As much as I think it will be a disaster for either Clinton or Obama to win the Presidency, I don't think that a McCain win will be easy. Over the last 7 years, the Democrats haven't shown that they're able to do much other than attempt to obstruct.

I remember this from a couple of years ago...

...But it's worth looking at again.

A Nightmare I hadn't anticipated...

No. Not that Hillary Clinton's advisors are "in a state of panic". Her hubris thus far means that she deserves panic. She deserves endless harping about her campaign donors. She deserves to be called a flip-flopper. She deserves criticism for crapping on Shuster. She deserves everything.

No. The nightmare would be the possibility of a McCain/Powell ticket mentioned towards the bottom of the article.

Let's stipulate that (open-minded) Democrats would agree that the black community is as concerned with identity politics as they are about the issues. And that perhaps, in a bit of triangulation, that McCain might want a black VP nominee.

But Powell? McCain may be less than conservative-pure, and he may be a Maverick, but he ain't suicidal. He's essentially running on the wisdom of continuing the war. How does Powell help him there? McCain picks Powell, and the conservatives he's been sucking up to since Super Tuesday would draw and quarter him.

I could live with, and perhaps welcome a McCain/Watts ticket. But McCain/Powell would be too far.

Oh, yeah...

...Remember that story a couple of months ago that said that Iran's nuclear threat was overstated?

Well...um...

Nevermind.

Retiree Rant...

I picked up the paper from the driveway this morning after returning from the gym and was greeted with the headline...

"Retirees Welcome Rebate News"

[The bold and enlarged type came with the cut-and-paste. I like it so I'm keeping it. Also note just how happy Inez Larry appears in the accompanying photo.]

I didn't have my glasses with me, so the headline was all that I could read, but the first thing that popped into my mind was...

"WELL, OF COURSE RETIREES LIKE THE 'REBATE'!
IT'S FREE GODDAMN MONEY TO THEM!"

Our retirees, for as much as I respect them for all that Greatest Generation shit they did, are a fucking bunch of whiners. First, they (or their parents) insisted that the government start the greatest Ponzi scheme ever--Social Security--so that they could have a taxpayer-funded retirement. Then came Medicare, so that someone else would pay for their healthcare. Recently the Prescription Drug benefit was added. (Yes. That's just what we fucking need. Another fucking .gov bureau to track a FUCKING BENEFIT that you ought to be paying for YOUR OWN FUCKING SELF!) And now they're happy to get a friggin' "rebate". Un-fucking-believable.

Fair warning: The GOD-DAMNED AARP better not send me anything today. I am not in the mood.

A few thoughts on Mitt's departure...

I've never been much of a Mitt-fan, so I can't claim I'm heart-broken by his departure. However, I am much less of a McCain-fan, so I would have voted for him on Super Tuesday had this not been Arizona. McCain was going to win Arizona no matter what. My gripe about Mitt seems largely to be that he appeared to be running for CEO-in-Chief.

Angler in the comments to Slublog's piece over at Ace's Place makes a good point that Romney's departure puts pressure on Huckabee to shit-or-get-off-the-pot. All that said, Romney's announcement that he was dropping out of the race was handled with a grace that is hard to imagine coming from McCain. It will be interesting to see how McCain handles this Manna-from-Heaven. Does he arrogantly maintain the Maverick persona or does he truly try to move towards the conservatives who revile him so?

Couple this with the impending brokered convention on the Democrat side, and this will be a very interesting campaign.

Wow.

What a good point Captain Ed focuses on here. If they're not careful, the Democrats are headed to a big fist floor fight at their convention.

Manufacturing Dissent...

As an adjunct to this marvelous-as-always post by Gerard Vanderleun, I thought I'd spend a few minutes around the artist's website.

The first thing I noticed was the logo...

"Manufacturing Quality Dissent since 1989: Propaganda Engineering"

One wonders: Is this "dissent" true-to-principle, or simply a product? Is it just a fashion for the hip? Does the fact that I ask these questions enhance the hipness of this "manufactured dissent"?

Of course, Gerard wonderfully makes the point that the artist's style comes far before his substance (and even better, he connects this point to Obama). But on looking through the print archives, this image struck me as disturbing on a number of levels...



It is titled: "fearbush1", which seems to reflect the reactive irrationality of the left. The depiction of Bush as Hitler is intentionally offensive and provocative. The image and the wording "War: Everybody wants it" and it's subtitle "Except Smart People and the U.N.!" brings up a couple of points...

• I imagine the image of (presumably, our) cities in flames and storm troopers in gas masks is supposed to reflect the loss of our civil liberties. Nevermind that it was Bush's government which has prevented our cities from being attacked again.
• It presumes that it was Bush who sent us to war, rather than even remotely acknowledging that our enemy has declared war on us. (Of course, acknowledging this would detract from the hipness.)
• It also reflects the arrogance of the left...that the "smart people" are the ones opposing the war. Those supporting the war are "dumb".
  
• As a sub-point, one wonders if the artist and the uber-hip realize they have made a distinction between "smart people" and "the U.N.".

Nosing around further on the website, I found the "Warnings" page which instructs the "dissidents" to not be too obnoxious with their street art. Apparently there is a limit to how much "street art" that even the citizens of lefty communities such as Berkeley and Ann Arbor can stand. Engineer the Propaganda, but only so well.

Imagine my surprise...

...that Hillary Clinton would have an anti-American fundraiser. I am shocked. Shocked!

h/t Glenn.

Reagan: "Tear down this wall"

It is hard to think that the great oratory, exemplified here, was at the time criticized as being unengaged and without a capacity for the details of his position.



h/t Captain Ed.

No question: Here is the understatement of the year....

"...Berger turned out to be a lousy thief...."

Do read the whole thing. And despite this being a NPR report on an book excerpt from a New York Times journalist, it sure looks like the book may be worth reading.

h/t Ace.

Los Angeles Football...

It has often puzzled me why Los Angeles has gone without a professional football team since the departure of the Rams and the Raiders in 1994.

This looks like it could be an answer to my question.



Via Open Blog at Ace's Place.