Libby v. Berger v. Daphiney Caganap

So I understand that the prosecutor in the Plame/Flame case rejected a plea deal because he wants "serious jail time" for Scooter Libby. As Joseph Farah asks:

Where was he [the prosecutor] when former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was caught red-handed stealing highly classified documents from the National Archives, destroying some and then lying about it to investigators?

As you recall, Sandy Berger will do no jail time for his role in helping to cover up Clinton's national security failures.

In other news, Daphiney Caganap will probably serve no jail time either. If you don't know who that is, here is a summary courtesy of Debbie Schlussel:

In San Ysidro (near San Diego), as head of the INS' intelligence unit and anti-smuggling operations, Caganap helped cover-up an illegal immigrant and drug smuggling operation, allowing it to continue for years--in exchange for $30,000 in money, services, and gifts (including a new hot tub). She also lied to the FBI about it. Caganap was indicted for all of that.

But instead of serving 36 years in prison (as the law allows), she will serve no jail time.

Who among this list has done the most to harm national security?

Sandy Berger

Daphiney Caganap

Scooter Libby

Sandy Berger helped the 9/11 commission whitewash the mistakes of the Clinton administration. Daphiney Caganap helped illegal aliens, possibly including more al Qaeda operatives, slip into this country. Scooter Libby . . . . . what did he do again?

Which of these three faces the greatest possibility of jail time? Remember this the next time you see people jumping out of burning buildings.

MSM/DNC opening salvos in the war against Alito

Chuck Schumer apparently has this morning invoked the name of Rosa Parks to imply that Judge Alito seeks to impose racial segregation.

We knew that it would start sooner or later.

Within seconds of the President's announcement CNN went on the air with the following remark from page one of their well-worn playbook:

"I think what you're going to see is some disappointment that this is obviously a white male replacing a female, leaving just one female on the Supreme Court.”

NewsBusters also quotes the Today Show's practice of making "conservative" sound like Alito's first name. I am sure there is more to come.

• 
  I am still waiting for the first accusations that Alito is gay.
  
  Or how about a New York Times investigation into Alito's family, neighbors, etc? He sounds Italian. Maybe he has mob ties.
  
  What did Alito know and when-did-he-know-it about the Plame leak?
  
  Did he ever live in or near a neighborhood that used to be all-white?
  
  Did he ever own stock in a tobacco company or an oil company or Halliburton? Or any company at all?
  
  Did he fulfill his duties in the Texas Air National Guard?
  
  Let's find out what Anita Hill thinks.
  
  Did he ever have a nanny?
  
  Why didn't he stop Bush from supporting torture at Abu Graib and Guantanamo?
  
  Why didn't he get the federal government to rescue the millions of people who died at the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina?
  
  Has he no shame?!?!

As Euripides wrote, "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." The members of the MSM/DNC have always thought of themselves as gods (which helps explain why they cannot acknowledge the real God). But in their coverage of qualified Supreme Court nominees, we learn their strategy for destroying the rest of us.

Judge Samuel Alito

President Bush has shown that he trusts us (the new media, the conservative movement, his base, etc.) by nominating a qualified and controversial conservative to the Supreme Court. He trusts that we will fight the good fight and help carry the day. It is our turn to justify that trust.

For those of you that are bloggers, please don't forget about this battle and get distracted by other issues after today. Blog about Alito tomorrow and the next day, etc. Blog in favor of Alito every day until he is confirmed. The MSM/DNC is already working overtime to plan strategy to derail this nomination.

We have to be prepared to:

(1) explain, promote and defend Alito's writings and opinions;

(2) anticipate the obligatory leftist accusations - racist/sexist/capitalist etc.

This effort will take constant work over the next few weeks.

But it will pay off over the next 20 years.

Quote of the day - Paul Johnson

The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.

--Paul Johnson

MSM Lie #47 - USA Today demon-eye-zes Condoleezza Rice

I have taken forever to join this blogswarm, but it is never too late to catalogue another MSM Lie.




You have all seen the photos, including USA Today's doctored photo on the left.
Samantha Burns included a detailed description of how this type of thing is done. When you consider the effort that is required for this kind of misrepresentation, it gives you insight into the mentality of those in the MSM/DNC who determine what we see.

USA Today's lame apology almost merits its own entry on our list of lies:

Editor's note: The photo of Condoleezza Rice that originally accompanied this story was altered in a manner that did not meet USA TODAY's editorial standards.

emphasis added

I believe that the original photo does meet USA Today's editorial standards. USA withdrew the original photo because of pressure from the blogsphere - not because of some "standards" at USA Today.

The photo has been replaced by a properly adjusted copy. Photos published online are routinely cropped for size and adjusted for brightness and sharpness to optimize their appearance. In this case, after sharpening the photo for clarity, the editor brightened a portion of Rice's face, giving her eyes an unnatural appearance. This resulted in a distortion of the original not in keeping with our editorial standards.

emphasis added

Whenever one sees a non-apology apology (a/k/a "Durbin" apology), the apology begins with a reference to something irrelevant. Who cares if they sometimes crop photos for size? That has nothing to do with altering Condi's eyes to make her look like a cartoon.

A real apology would have acknowledged that the USA Today tried to demonize Ms. Rice and got caught.

Mike's Noise provides other photoshop examples.
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click here for the complete list of lies of 2005.

Dhimmitude roundup

While the MSM/DNC focuses almost exclusively on twisting the Libby indictment into an accusation that the administration somehow outed a spy, Islam continues its advance into the decaying Western world on many fronts with the MSM/DNC's tacit approval:

1) Sami Al-Arian - long ignored prior to 9/11 by all but Debbie Schlussel - now may escape a conviction in federal court.

2) Three days of Islamic riots in Paris have received little attention.

3) Australian police have been instructed to treat Islamic wife beaters more leniently than regular wife beaters.

4) Prince Charles intends to tell President Bush that we are not tolerant enough of Muslims.

5) The Indonesians show us where tolerance leads; and, finally,

6) Al Qaeda's influence has been growing in South America for more than one year.

We won't always have the luxury of ignoring Islamic expansion. If these trends continue, Islamic terror and colonization will be a fact of life confronting all Americans regardless of whether the MSM/DNC recognizes it.

Quote of the day - Stupid Random Thoughts

"I know I know, I’m supposed to be working, but hey I work for the governement and the less I do, the better for America."

Stupid Random Thoughts

Recovering from the quagmeir.

BizzyBlog posts the story of a President who recovered quite well after making a major speech advocating a mistaken policy.

I won't explain the mistake or reveal who the President was, but the point is that no one remembers the mistake now. By the same token, no one will remember the Miers mistake if the President recovers by appointing a qualified candidate now. If you don't believe me, read BizzyBlog.

We can do our part by assuring the President that we are up for the fight when he appoints his qualified nominee. Rather than speculate on who that nominee might be, we should focus on ways that we can promote that nominee.

I am not advocating that we blindly trust the President's next pick, but, instead, that we prove to the President now that he can trust us. We must reassure him that we can and will fight for a qualified nominee so that he need not fear that his nominee will be defeated.

Libby indictment vs. Hsia conviction

Check out this NewsBusters post for a comparison of the coverage that the MSM/DNC has provided for the Libby/Plame/Flame affair vs. the MSM/DNC coverage of the conviction of a Gore operative in the Chinese fundraising scandal of the 1990's.

1) Guess which story received less (actually almost no) coverage?

2) Guest which story means something to the future of the United States?

hint: The answer to both questions has something to do with this picture:

Quotes of the day - re: Libby indictment

In the end, Fitzgerald accused Libby of lying about his conversations with reporters, not outing a spy.

AP



We have not made any allegation that Libby knowingly/intentionally outed a covert agent.

Patrick Fitzgerald

Jon Corzine videotape scandal?

Enlighten New Jersey is posting rumors of a tape that may damage Senator Corzine's chances to be elected governor of New Jersey next month:

That's not the end of it. Reporters are after a videotape of Corzine, inebriated, making statements that will damage him beyond belief with African Americans. (Carla Katz supposedly makes an appearance.) People who have seen this thing say it's bad. African American leaders are aware of its existence, and don't think the damage can be undone no matter how many $2 million "contributions" he throws their way. The only question is whether we find out about this before he's governor, or after.

Yesterday evening, Enlighten New Jersey posted the following:
The next 48 hours could dramatically change the direction of this race.
I don't know if it is true and I have never visited Enlighten New Jersey before. It is worth investigating. If these allegations centered around Corzine's Republican opponent, there would already be a grand jury by now.

One more time - price controls cause shortages

We read this week of the oil companies making profits. The horror!

Actually, we should be glad. Good for them. I wish I had bought their stock three years ago.

The biggest mistake we could make is to impose extra taxes or price controls. The 1970's are over. Profits are to be celebrated, not criticized.

Previous - Price controls cause shortages.

and again - Price Controls cause shortages.

--------------------
Update - That Gay Conservative has more.

Quotes of the day - Ann Coulter, Jonah Goldberg, Captain Ed

"With Miers withdrawal, Bush has us back on the team, ready to cheer for him unreservedly. All we ask is that you please not listen to Harry Reid next time."

Ann Coulter
----------------------------------------

"No Gonzales, a thousand times no Gonzales."

Jonah Goldberg
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"Now can we nominate a candidate whose qualities and track record presumes we control the Senate?"

Captain Ed

Blog milestones

Today I finally moved up in the ecosystem to "Large Mammal." The move may be only temporary. I have been a "Marauding Marsupial" for most of the past 6 months (with occasional retreats into "Adorable Rodent" status). Still, it feels good to be a Mammal even for a little while.

Coincidentally, I crossed the 60,000 hit mark today.

Thanks to all of those who read and link to this site.

I can't help it, I am addicted to the traffic

Almost two weeks after NBC's Today show got caught in its canoe stunt, and the traffic from NewsBusters continues to flow in to this blog. Or it flows in until someone else posts a more recent trackback. I know it is wrong, but I have become addicted to the NewsBusters traffic, so I am posting yet another trackback at that site.

I apologize for drawing you over here unnecessarily from that site. Here is some more eye candy as a reward for your trouble.

Click here to see where the Today show canoe stunt fits into the growing list of MSM lies of 2005. We are up to #46.

We have one more chance to get it right.

Now that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name from consideration for the Supreme Court, President Bush has another chance to appoint a qualified nominee that will interpret the constitution and has a track record that we can reasonably rely on.

But President Bush is not the only one who has received a second chance. Conservatives in the blogosphere have received a second chance also. My own opinion is that we blew it with regard to the Miers nomination when we failed to be vocal enough prior to the announcement of the nomination. Once the nomination is made, it is too late. If President Bush nominates another stealth candidate, I suspect we won't get another chance. The next nominee will not be withdrawn. Even the Miers battle cost the conservative movement something in terms of time and credibility and political "capital."

We should make it clear NOW that if President Bush puts forth a qualified, conservative nominee, we will back him 110%. The same blogswarm/blogstorm that derailed the Miers' nomination can and will carry the day for Judge Brown or Owens or any of the other qualified candidates.

One result of the Miers battle is that the administration has seen what a good blogswarm can do. [The administration should have understood this after Rathergate, but better late than never.] If we start swarming now for a qualified conservative, the administration won't make the same mistake again. A good blogswarm now will also convince the administration that the President has the troops to carry the day in the Senate.

The bloggers don't even have to agree on who is the best nominee. Numerous conservatives have their favorite candidates. We need only make it clear that all of us will fight and swarm for any of the qualified conservatives. I predict that the moderates/stealth proponents will try to appease us by saying that "we can't have a nominee that please everyone."

We don't want to please everyone. We want a nominee that will follow the law, refrain from judicial activism, strictly construe the constitution, refrain from inventing penumbras, etc. And we want the nominee to have a track record that backs up his or her promises.

I have quoted Janice Rogers Brown numerous times on these pages. We know her track record from quotes like this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this.

While I favor Judge Brown, I and all of the other conservatives would support wholeheartedly a large number of potential nominees.

To the administration, I say "Let's not waste the resources of the new media this time. Let it work for you instead of against you."

To the blogosphere, I say, "Everything you are saying today, keep saying over and over until the administration gets it right. Don't wait for the nomination to be announced. Don't forget about this issue merely because we might get distracted by other issues."

Jonah Goldberg has the right idea. No Gonzales, a thousand times no Gonzales.

Michelle Malkin posts a good roundup.

Blonde Sagacity and LaShawn Barber sound a similar note.

If we all talk about this as much over the next few weeks as we have over the last few weeks, we won't see this mistake again.

P.S. Click here to read why it would be better for a true conservative like Bork to lose than for a moderate like Anthony Kennedy to be confirmed.

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

As president, Nixon imposed wage and price controls, created the Environmental Protection Agency, initiated race-based hiring schemes, signed SALT I with the Soviets and instituted rapprochement with the Red Chinese. All of this resulted in liberals ... despising him even more!

Ann Coulter

MSM Lie #46 - North Country, Anita Hill and the reverse chronology strategy

Click here for the complete list of MSM lies of 2005.

Warner Brothers' new movie "North Country" is based on the true story of female miners that sued the mine operator in northern Minnesota over sexual harrassment. The lawsuit began in the 1980's, but that didn't stop the movie makers from claiming that Anita Hill served as the inspiration for the suit. As the New York Post reviewer wrote:

Inspired by Anita Hill's testimony at the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Josey talks Bill, a local hockey-hero-turned-lawyer (Woody Harrelson, in his best work in years) into mounting a lawsuit. And like Hill, Josey is confronted by the mine owner's "nuts and sluts" defense that focuses on her own sexual past.

The problem is, the Anita Hill episode did not occur until six years after the lawsuit upon which the movie is based began.
Since I have not seen the film, it is unclear to what extent the lie occurs in the movie or is embellished by the Post reviewer, Lou Lumenick. Powerline places the blame with the movie itself.

Powerline also mentions another falsehood inherent in the Hill comparison.

And, by the way, what's this about Anita Hill being "confronted" by a "defense" that "focuse[d] on her own sexual past"? I don't remember hearing anything about her sexual past; the defense put forward by Thomas and his supporters was that she was a liar, which the evidence seemed to show pretty convincingly.

A key tactic in the MSM/DNC's campaign against President Bush and America is to blur and reverse chronology. Those who receive their news only from the major networks tend to forget that terrorism began years before George Bush took office. Only by ignoring terrorism that occured prior to 2001 can the MSM/DNC blame all terrorism on George Bush' invasion of Iraq.

By the same token, MSM/DNC obviously believes it to be an important goal to reverse the order of events related to sexual harrassment litigation. By giving Anita Hill credit for the events in "North Country," Hill becomes a martyr and no one remembers that those events predated Hill's notoriety.

Joseph Wilson should be tried for treason.

Most of us don't seem to understand what the whole CIA Plame/Flame case is about. I don't think we can ever fully understand it if we look at it in the context of this trumped up prosecution. If we try to understand whether Rove/Libby/etc. is "guilty" of something, we will miss the whole point. The focus should be on Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame.

It is pretty well established that Joseph Wilson lied when he claimed to have investigated the possibility of Saddam Hussein seeking to purchase uranium from Niger. He downplayed the possibility of Hussein obtaining uranium so that we would relax our efforts in the war. That is treason. Powerline summed it up here:

So, to sum up: the Senate Intelligence Committee's report shows that: 1) Wilson lied in the New York Times about what he told the CIA after he returned from Niger. In fact, far from debunking the concern that Iraq may have tried to buy uranium from Niger, Wilson reported that Niger's former Prime Minister told him that Iraq had made just such an overture in 1999. 2) Wilson lied when he leaked a report to the Washington Post about documents he had not even seen. 3) Wilson lied when he said that his wife Valerie "had nothing to do with" his being chosen to go to Niger.

We know that Wilson's wife Plame was instrumental in enabling Wilson to be in a position to promote these lies. These lies endangered the United States and tended to inhibit our efforts to defend ourselves in the face of growing danger. These lies gave aid and comfort to the enemy who sought to build WMD's and use them against the United States.

Axis Sally was imprisoned for less. At least Axis Sally had the decency to leave the country before advancing enemy propaganda. She didn't do it from within the CIA.

But instead of Joseph Wilson and Plame, the MSM/DNC has turned its wrath upon the individuals who may have sought to discredit Wilson and Plame.

I don't know if Karl Rove or Scooter Libby tried to reveal the identity of Valerie Plame in order to discredit Joseph Wilson (or whatever the left claims they did). But I do know that that is the least that should have been done to Wilson and Plame. Rove and Libby should have gone before the press with a picture of Valerie Plame and announced that a traitor worked for the CIA. They should have shouted her name from the rooftops.

That they did not do this tells us much of the times in which we live and the danger we face. Those who seek to weaken America in the face of the enemy are celebrated and defended by the MSM/DNC. Those who oppose treason are castigated and vilified by the MSM/DNC.

Ayn Rand's character Ragnar Danneskjold uttered one of my favorite quotes in "Atlas Shrugged" - "When robbery is done in open daylight by sanction of the law, as it is done today, then any act of honor or restitution has to be hidden underground."

The same is true of treason. When treason is committed openly and celebrated by the MSM/DNC, then acts of patriotism have to be hidden underground. Patriotism will never again exist openly in the daylight as long as we are afraid to expose traitors.

Rather than trot out a weak defense with talking point readers like Kay Bailey Hutchinson, we should point out that Plame and Wilson belong on the gallows and that Rove and the administration should no longer be afraid to bring justice to that pair.

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

C. S. Lewis

Quote of the day - Nation at Risk

"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves."

A Nation at Risk

Moron of the Week

Earlier today I had some fun with the trackbacks at NewsBusters, and I included Samantha Burns in the joke. Just to show her that I meant no harm, I am happy to plug her blog. She features a regular "Moron of the Week" award, which is worth checking out.

The blog experiment continues; Today Show, canoe stunt, Michelle Kosinski

What are the penalties for trackback abuse? I have a feeling that Samantha Burns and I are going to find out.

Click here for my previous post explaining what I am doing.

Click here for an interesting comparison of traffic generated by two different NewsBusters stories.

I will be darned if I will let all of this traffic go to someone whose only qualification is the ability to count morons.

Katie Couric thinks Rob McCormick gets an unfair advantage by going to Scores

Check out this post at NewsBusters:

How easy is it to turn every issue into a PC propaganda tool for the purpose of setting gender against gender? The Today Show answers that question on a regular basis, and this morning was no exception.

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

President Bush . . . is rewarded for his vices and punished for his virtues . . .

Joe Sobran

Classics of Conservatism - part XII - Robert Ringer - How You Can Find Happiness During the Collapse of Western Civilization

Click here, here and here for previous Classics of Conservatism recommendations.

This month's Classic of Conservatism book is Robert Ringer's "How You Can Find Happiness During the Collapse of Western Civilization."

1983





Imagine the scenarios that confronted the United States in the late 1970's and early 1980's. We had faced double digit inflation and high unemployment for years. We had endured government created energy crises, foreign policy crises and social upheaval. We faced the loss of our basic industries, such as automobiles, steel and other manufacturing sectors. All of the conditions that swept Ronald Reagan into the White House were fresh in our memories.

These events were not mere inconveniences. The loss of our basic industries and the ongoing economic and social collapse caused many of us to doubt whether the United States would survive. Had Reagan not been elected, I shudder to think what further calamities would have befallen the United States in the 1980's.

But recent events prove that Reagan's election, while helpful, did not permanently resolve the issues that have plagued our country for the past generation. We merely forgot about them for awhile as a new generation of Democrats and leftists sought to return us to their paradise known as the 1970's. As Ringer writes on page 171 (hardback edition):

Human beings are a strange lot. They will scream bloody murder when subjected to discomfort, yet, within a short time of being relieved of their misery, will show little or no interest in devising ways to avoid such discomfort in the future.

Ringer goes on to describe how Americans have failed to prepare for shortages, civil unrest and a host of other serious problems.

Since the publication of "Collapse", numerous American cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Houston and Toledo have been temporarily paralyzed by civil unrest, foreign attack, natural disaster or some combination thereof. I chose "Collapse" as this month's book recommendation because so many of these events have occurred recently. The television scenes of mass evacuation, chaos and violence are so unnecessary for those who are prepared for government failure and are not afraid to take steps to protect themselves.

Ringer proposes solutions that each of us can undertake without waiting for others to help us or for the government to adopt one policy or another. Ringer discusses everything from investments to choosing where to live to choosing an occupation (or hobby) that will provide a second skill. The book remains relevant even after more than 20 years.

The number one question in our minds as we watched the recent evacuation of Houston on TV centered on the ability of the government to deal with future crises, including the possibility of a nuclear suitcase bomb. A DHS official was asked (on Nightline) what the government would do in the event of a nuclear attack in a major city. He could not provide an answer other than to say that the Department was learning from the Houston crisis.

That is not good enough. Ringer provides many steps for you to protect yourself without relying on the government. The first such step is to read "How You Can Find Happiness During the Collapse of Western Civilization."


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visit counter added on March 28, 2007

I oppose the Miers nomination

N.Z. Bear is collecting data on which bloggers support and oppose the Miers nomination.

He will find those who oppose the nomination by searching for the phrase, "I oppose the Miers nomination."

So far, more of us oppose the nomination than support it.

My question is, where were the bloggers before the nomination was made? The time to make our feelings known is before the nomination is announced. It doesn't work if we sit back and wait while President Bush is making up his mind. We should have started blogging about this in November - or at least as soon as Justice O'Connor announced her retirement.

I think we should still talk about this, but let's also start talking about the next nomination NOW before it is too late. Let's let the President know what a mistake a Gonzalez nomination would be.

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

Only private citizens can "cheat" on taxes. Taxes themselves -- no matter how high, no matter what they are wasted on -- are never a "cheat." The government is always fair, and the more it taxes us, the fairer it is.

Joe Sobran

Another blog experiment with the NBC Today show canoe lady; Michelle Kosinski

It has now been more than one week since Michelle Kosinski and the Today show got caught trying to paddle a canoe in 4 inches of water. My trackback ping to the NewsBusters' story has generated many hits. The hits for this site trail off whenever someone else posts another trackback at NewsBusters.

So I am trying to see if I can generate yet another hit barrage for myself by posting one more trackback. This experiment will give us some indication of how long a story like this can generate traffic. Actually, it is just an excuse for me to troll for traffic.

Oh, grow up! Everyone trolls for traffic. I am just being honest about it.

Here is a post involving a more detailed blog experiment resulting from the same incident.

In case you are mad that I wasted your time in following the link to this site, here is some eye candy to assuage your feelings of annoyance.

This is not Leslie Stahl. [Update] It is also not Samantha Burns.

Quote of the day - Ronald Reagan

There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.

Ronald Reagan

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

We've gone from a representative democracy to a monarchy, and the most appalling thing is — even conservatives just hope like the dickens the next king is a good one.

Ann Coulter (referring to the Supreme Court)

Quote of the day - Ayn Rand

Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.

Ayn Rand

Leslie Stahl is stuck on stupid

In February, I wrote of the MSM/DNC's never ending fascination with Watergate and the left's need to rehash that episode at every opportunity:

The MSM/DNC needs Watergate. If Watergate did not occur, MSM/DNC would have had to invent it. [Come to think of it, isn't that how the Bush national guard story got started?] Recent elections (both at home and abroad) have left very little for MSM/DNC to celebrate. So it rehashes past victories and revels in the glory days. Watergate and Vietnam. These two events will be served, re-served, salivated over, chewed on, swallowed and digested over and over again in the pages of the MSM/DNC newspapers ad nauseam until the rest of us throw up our hands and let the MSM/DNC run the government again.

A few months after this post, the "Deep Throat" story broke and the Watergate feeding frenzy was on again.

It appears that Leslie Stahl is one of many MSM/DNC mouthpieces that just can't let it go. She appeared on Comedy Central to announce that the Plame/Flame affair could turn in to another Watergate.

In the past 30 plus years during Republican administrations, there hasn't been a single event that the MSM/DNC didn't predict would be the next Watergate. [But Bill Clinton's sale of nuclear technology to China was nothing like Watergate.]

Read the transcript at NewsBusters. Stahl seems unable to react to or play along with the host's jokes or wit. Stahl's stiffness is almost as funny as Stephen Colbert's quips.


This is not Leslie Stahl, but it is a better picture than the other ones I found on Google.

Thomas Sowell, R.C. Davis, Giles Milton

Thomas Sowell has written a new column of Random Thoughts, many of which will later appear here as the "Quote of the Day."

His column recommends two books, which I have not read:

Two recent books tell about a million Europeans who were once enslaved by North African pirates. But these books ("Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters" by R.C. Davis and "White Gold" by Giles Milton) are largely ignored by people who claim to be outraged about slavery in the past.

I believe these books may have even more relevance to the War on Terror than they do for any historical discussion of slavery. It is time that Americans learn that the War is about much more than bombs being detonated on subways.

These books are on my list of books to buy once I get done with the unread pile of books that now clutters my house.

Quote of the day - Wolf Blitzer

"You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals, as Jack Cafferty just pointed out, so tragically, so many of these people, almost all of them that we see, are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold."

Wolf Blitzer

H/T NewsBusters

NBC's canoe stunt vs. ABC's racially charged Toledo riot lie.

Today I have witnessed an interesting blog experiment. The whole thing was entirely unintended.

Yesterday, I entered two posts onto this Blog. Each post discussed a different MSM lie. The first post discussed the NBC Today show canoe stunt that went bad when the reporter was caught on live TV.

The second post discussed ABC's dishonest headline, in which it claimed that the rioters in Toledo were white.

Each of the posts linked to a NewsBusters post. Each of the posts also trackbacked to a NewsBusters post. The Toledo story linked also to a comment at NewsBusters.

There were 2 differences.

(1) The Toledo ABC News lie is much more harmful, as it represents the MSM/DNC's propensity to mask the identity of those who destroy and undermine our way of life. The Today show canoe lie is entertaining, but almost harmless. It would be totally harmless if it wasn't part of a larger trend of MSM/DNC dishonesty.

(2) The NewsBuster trackbacks produced wildly different results in terms of traffic. The canoe story produced a high volume of hits from the NewsBusters trackback for this blog, while the ABC racial lie produced almost no traffic. Apparently the viewers want to read about and follow the links related to the canoe story, but remain less interested in ABC's racially charged lie.

I think this demonstrates a weakness in the blogosphere that we need to correct. We need to learn what it is that really threatens our civilization. We need to realize that the MSM/DNC harms us most when it covers up those threats to civilization. Racially motivated gangs that destroy for the sake of destruction become more dangerous when they are ignored, just as Islamist terror grows worse when the MSM/DNC refuses to identify it.

The canoe story is great and helps to prove our point, but we should not get distracted laughing about it when the MSM/DNC acts more ominously in other matters.

Check out the list of 2005 MSM lies. See which ones matter the most to you.
-------------------------------
update
Michelle Malkin posts NBC's lame attempts to defend itself. A lame defense proves that the blogosphere's exposure is working. It is a shame that ABC hasn't been forced by negative publicity to defend its Toledo headline.

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.

C. S. Lewis

MSM Lie #45 - ABC lies about the Toledo rioters

The 45th MSM lie of 2005 occurred yesterday when ABC posted on its website a headline that claimed that White Supremacists had rioted in Toledo over the weekend. In fact, the White Supremacists did not riot, but dispersed when the police ordered them to leave. It was the black protesters who rioted, burned and looted.

Michelle Malkin posts links to a timeline and other details and commentary.

The propensity of the MSM/DNC to misrepresent the identity of those who act to destroy western civilization is not limited to riots in Toledo. The MSM/DNC also strives hard to hide the identity of terrorists throughout the world.
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Click here for the complete list of lies of 2005.
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Update 10-18-05 - NewsBusters is on the case.

There was some confusion as to whether ABC quietly changed their headline, but it appears that ABC has its story and is sticking to it.

A commenter at NewsBusters wonders whether the Toledo rioters got the idea from the rioters in New Orleans.

MSM Lie # 44 - Today Show fake canoe stunt

NBC's Today show was caught in an embarrassing video lie on Friday, just one day after I had referred to Matt Lauer as a "skilled propagandist."

NewsBusters explains the context:

In a deliciously ironic twist of fate, shortly before airing a segment aimed at embarrassing the Bush administration by suggesting that it had staged a video conversation between the president and soldiers in Iraq, the Today show was caught staging . . . a video stunt.

The Today show reporter was sitting in a canoe appearing to paddle in New Jersey floodwaters during a live broadcast:

There was one small problem. Just as the segment came on the air, two men waded in front of Kosinki . . . and the water barely covered their shoe tops! That's right, Kosinski's canoe was in no more than four to six inches of water!

Check out NewsBusters for the video.

This wasn't just a mistake or a blooper. The film crew and the reporter were caught misrepresenting what they were showing to the audience. They staged a scene that was not real. Seeing is not believing.
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Click here for the complete list of lies of 2005.

Quote of the day - Frederic Bastiat

Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.

Frederic Bastiat

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

By 1973, John Kerry had already accused American soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam, thrown someone else's medals to the ground in an anti-war demonstration, and married his first heiress.

Ann Coulter

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

Tax "cheats" force everyone else to pay more taxes. And runaway slaves forced the other slaves to pick more cotton.

Joe Sobran

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

One of the few encouraging signs to come out of France has been the ban on head scarves in schools there, despite protests that these are traditional among Islamic girls. No one has a right to come into someone else's society and insist on playing by the rules of some other society. We in America need to understand that as regards language, among other things.

Thomas Sowell

Laura Bush and Matt Lauer

Much of the blogosphere has reacted negatively to Laura Bush' interview with Matt Lauer this week on the Today show. Laura Bush stated that the conservative criticism of Harriet Miers was based on sexism. Typical of the response has been that of Peggy Noonan:

Sending Laura Bush out to make her first mistake as first lady, agreeing with Matt Lauer that sexism is probably part of the reason for opposition to Ms. Miers, was embarrassingly inept and only served to dim some of the power of this extraordinary resource.

I am not defending the nomination. I have made my thoughts clear here and here. Nor am I defending the use of the sexism card. But I am suggesting that the use of the sexism card was unintended by the White House. Bear with me here. The transcript of the quote appears at Big Lizards:

Lauer: Some are suggesting there's a little possible sexism in the criticism of Judge [sic] Miers.

Laura Bush: That's possible. I think --

Lauer: How would you feel about that?

Laura Bush: That's possible. I think she is so accomplished that... I know, I think that people are not looking at her accomplishments and not realizing that she was the first elected woman to be the head of the Texas Bar Association, for instance, and all the other things. She was the first, uh, woman managing partner of a major law firm. She was the first woman hired by a major law firm, her law firm.

emphasis added

I don't think Laura Bush intended to make that accusation. I think Matt Lauer threw in a suggestion and the first lady went with the flow.

Understand what Matt Lauer and the rest of the MSM/DNC anchors and reporters really are. They are not journalists as we understand that term. They are skilled propagandists. They are shills for one political party and one extreme ideology. They are the most skilled propagandists in existence. Their sole function is to promote their agenda in a way that does not lose their audience or reveal their bias.

Their role is more partisan than that of any trial lawyer. A lawyer (1) openly advocates his client's case and (2) is somewhat constrained by the law. But MSM/DNC interviewers can pretend to be objective. They have as much experience in extracting admissions from witnesses as any lawyer. They do it live in front of millions of viewers every day. That is all they do - advocate leftist ideology, hide their advocacy wioccasionalnal with occasional head fakes into pretend objectivity, provide assistance ("softballs") to friendly witnesses who share their advocacy goals, extract admissions from those who are not so cooperative. Only those who can accomplish these tasks under the microscope of the television camera are clever and fit enough to ascend to the position of Today show host.

By contrast, George Bush (by virtue of our ever expanding federal government) is concerned with items such as policy, fundraising, the economy, education and every other area that affects our lives. He is not single-mindedly devoted to propaganda.

Laura Bush is a mother, teacher, librarian and first lady (in no particular order).
She has never devoted her life to propaganda.

Laura Bush is no match for Matt Lauer. If Matt Lauer wants Laura Bush to say that Miers' opponents are sexist, she will say that they are sexist. If Matt Lauer wants to turn Laura Bush against her husband's base, she will be helpless to resist. Matt Lauer will hijack Laura Bush' mouth and use it as a weapon against conservatives just like the terrorists used American planes to destroy lower Manhattan.

This analysis does not excuse Laura Bush or the White House. When the White House sends a Laura Bush into the den of an MSM/DNC lion, this result is inevitable. It is the inevitable result of George Bush seeking help from the MSM/DNC in a fight against his own base.

When you get in bed with a dog, you wake up with fleas. We now have to wash off the fleas, fumigate the bed and rid ourselves of MSM/DNC tactics. I think it is time for George Bush to stop fighting his own supporters stop seeking help from the MSM/DNC and take Peggy Noonan's (and others') advice.

The MSM/DNC hates George Bush no less than they did several weeks ago. George Bush will need his supporters more now than ever. I ask George Bush to withdraw this nomination and unify his supporters once more.

Quote of the day - Ronald Reagan

To sit back hoping that someday, someway, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last--but eat you he will.

Ronald Reagan

U.S.S. Cole anniversary

Michelle Malkin asks bloggers to note the anniversary of the bombing of the USS Cole. She has a thorough roundup.

As I said earlier this week in reference to the Achille Lauro anniversary:

The MSM/DNC prefers to remain silent about this anniversary because it wants us to believe that terrorism began during the Presidency of George Bush - just like hurricanes.

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

The New York Times editorial page is like a Ouija board that has only three answers, no matter what the question. The answers are: higher taxes, more restrictions on political speech and stricter gun control.

Ann Coulter

Quote of the day - Ayn Rand

We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.

Ayn Rand

Achille Lauro anniversary; Leon Klinghoffer; Abu Abbas; Tailhook

Debbie Schlussel reminds us of another forgotten anniversary today. Twenty years ago this past weekend, Palestinian terrorists under the direction of Abu Abbas hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and murdered a wheel chair bound American named Leon Klinghoffer. [The anniversary of Klinghoffer's murder is October 8th.] The MSM/DNC prefers to remain silent about this anniversary because it wants us to believe that terrorism began during the Presidency of George Bush - just like hurricanes.

Achille Lauro - subject of 1985 terrorist hijacking






The Achille Lauro was destroyed in 1994 by an unrelated fire. I do not know of any terrorist connection to that fire. The left knows of no connection between George W. Bush and that fire.

The fire that destroyed the Achille Lauro occurred several weeks after George Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994 - why didn't Bush prevent this tragedy? Where is the Halliburton connection?



But I digress -

There is more info at Debbie's blog.

After the hijacking, American jet fighters captured the terrorists as they attempted to escape.

Abu Abbas was later captured by U.S. forces after liberating Baghdad. Ann Coulter wrote an excellent summary of the whole incident and the left's continued struggle to appease the terrorists and punish the American military who captured them:

In 1985, Muslim terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and threatened to kill the passengers and crew unless 50 imprisoned Palestinians were released by Israel. The terrorists doused American and British women with gasoline and taunted them with matches. They forced passengers to hold live grenades. When their demands were not met, the terrorists shot a wheelchair-bound American, Leon Klinghoffer, and forced other passengers at gunpoint to throw him overboard in his wheelchair.

Oliver North and Admiral Kelso then conceived and executed the plan to capture the terrorists.

Adm. Frank Kelso, the officer in charge of America's Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, ordered his men to carry out the mission. In no time flat, Tomcat fighters had taken off from the U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga. After refueling in midair and guided by Hawkeyes, the Tomcats caught up with the EgyptAir flight. The fighters stealthily trailed their target for a while in total darkness, their lights off, even in the cockpit. Then the Tomcats swooped in on the EgyptAir flight, surrounded the plane, and forced it to land at a NATO base on Sicily controlled by the United States.

The New York Post headline the next day was: "GOT 'EM." Reagan said: "I salute the Navy."

And then Abul Abbas was released by the Europeans -- whom liberals insist on approval from in this war. Abbas dashed to safety in Iraq under Saddam Hussein -- whom liberals have assured us was not harboring terrorists. Republican presidents keep catching terrorists while liberals keep sending them back.

emphasis added

The American left responded to the capture of the terrorists by punishing Admiral Kelso with the trumped up tailhook scandal.

If there is a parable of how liberals support the enemy, this is it. Adm. Kelso, whose men carried out the dauntless EgyptAir interception, was cashiered out of the Navy because of "Tailhook." Feminists don't care about Saddam Hussein and his rape rooms. But they were hopping mad at Adm. Kelso for walking through the Tailhook convention to say hello to his boys -- boys who captured Leon Klinghoffer's murderers.

The many lessons from this anniversary have much relevance for the war on terror:

Now liberals are demanding that the Europeans be let into Iraq so they can release some more terrorists, while liberals do their part at home, carving up the colonels and admirals who capture people who murder Americans.

Read the whole Coulter and Schlussel articles and send them to the next person you hear demanding that we leave Iraq.

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

C. S. Lewis

Harriet Miers - The Bork/Kennedy scenario

Earlier I wrote that blame should properly be attributed to certain Republican moderates in the Senate for the fiasco that the Miers' nomination has become.

I also proposed that conservative senators vote "no" so that Democrats will be forced either to support her or face a real constitutionalist nominee to replace Miers.

Some conservatives have suggested that because Bush was backed into the corner by McCain/Graham et al., we should not oppose this nomination and we should recognize that it was Bush' best option. In fact, the opposite is true. As I wrote yesterday:

Had Bush nominated a well known, qualified judge, the blame would have been placed squarely where it belongs - On McCain and on the leftists that control the Democratic Party. But because Bush has chosen a stealth nominee, he has shifted the blame onto himself. He has protected those who would stab him in the back. Bush takes the blame instead of those who undermine the conservative fight to reestablish limited government.

I think Bush' best course would have been to nominate a known conservative. Had the nomination failed, he then could have resorted to a stealth nominee. If you are not sure about this idea, think back to 1987. Would Reagan have been better off nominating Anthony Kennedy first without ever nominating Bork?

I believe that conservatives benefited from the Bork nomination. [The best scenario would have been for Bork to have been confirmed - but that didn't happen.] Given a choice between a failed Bork nomination and no Bork nomination, the failed Bork nomination worked better.

(1) The Democrats' behavior during the Bork Senate hearings revealed the Democrats to be who they really are - partisan hacks. See the comments in Thomas Sowell's biography.

(2) The Bork confirmation process exposed Arlen Specter as the leftist he really is. The resulting Republican mistrust forced him into a primary battle during the next election that he could head off only by championing the cause of Clarence Thomas in 1991.

(3) Conservatives are much more prepared today for a confirmation battle than we were in 1987. Had Reagan failed to nominate Bork and gone directly to a moderate, he would have only postponed the inevitable leftist ambush. Leftists were waiting to ambush a conservative nominee. The Bork episode provided a learning experience and prepared us for the Clarence Thomas episode and for the confirmation of all of the conservative appeals court judges that President Bush has now overlooked in favor of Miers. The conservative preparation for the Roberts' confirmation hearings was much more thorough than the preparation for the Bork hearings. We have learned that confirmation depends not so much on the candidate and his testimony, but on the ideological battle that we must wage in the media.

(4) Perhaps most importantly, the leftist attacks on Bork galvanized the conservative movement. "Bork" became a verb in addition to a noun. There is a name for what the Democrats do. We can identify it, talk about it and prepare for it. We can campaign against them for using those tactics. We have a martyr. Judge Bork is more widely read now than he ever was before. He has written numerous books since 1987. He appears regularly on radio and TV. He is a highly sought after lecturer. I have no doubt that if Robert Bork were still young enough to be nominated, he would be confirmed today. Conservatives have learned a great deal about the constitution and what the left has done to it as a result of the post-1987 activities of Judge Bork. We now use that knowledge in political debate.



The lesson of the Bork episode is that we should not hide from ideological battles over the Supreme Court. Even if we lose, we win.

We lost the Bork battle in 1987, but conservatism was the ultimate winner. That victory has taken almost two decades of education, argument, debate, campaigning, etc. There is no reason to squander the fruits of that victory by nominating a stealth candidate now. Confirmation battles, even losing battles, are not to be feared.

Let the Democrats make a martyr out of Janice Rogers Brown. Nominate Brown now, and she will emerge either as a martyr or a Supreme Court justice. If Brown emerges as a martyr, we can always go back to Miers or some other stealth candidate.

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Update - Michelle Malkin posts a weekend Miers roundup.
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Peace Like a River nails it also.
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Another update
David Limbaugh explains that this fight is not about elitism, but about the "struggle to remain free."
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And another

Michelle Malkin and Polipundit provide a roundup of bad news for the Miers nomination.

Quote of the day - Lynn Swann

Touching on the Katrina disaster, he [Swann] lambasted "the failure of the welfare state … it just didn't deliver."

Lynn Swann

h/t Newsmax

Feedster

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster

Harriet Miers - who is to blame?

Previous - An idea . . .

A number of commentators have weighed in with their thoughts on who really is to blame for the Harriet Miers debacle. Thomas Sowell rightly points the finger at the moderates in the Republican party in the Senate:

President Bush has taken on too many tough fights -- Social Security being a classic example -- to be regarded as a man who is personally weak. What is weak is the Republican majority in the Senate.

When it comes to taking on a tough fight with the Senate Democrats over judicial nominations, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist doesn't really have a majority to lead. Before the President nominated anybody, before he even took the oath of office for his second term, Senator Arlen Specter was already warning him not to nominate anyone who would rile up the Senate. Later, Senator John Warner issued a similar warning. It sounded like a familiar Republican strategy of pre-emptive surrender.

Before we can judge how the President played his hand, we have to consider what kind of hand he had to play. It was a weak hand -- and the weakness was in the Republican Senators.

Mark Levin reminds us of John McCain's disastrous deal earlier this year with the Democrats -

But McCain — who wants to be president and has now endorsed Harriet Miers — and his cadre must not escape scrutiny for their blunder.

McCain's backstabbing does not excuse President Bush. Had Bush nominated a well known, qualified judge, the blame would have been placed squarely where it belongs - On McCain and on the leftists that control the Democratic Party. But because Bush has chosen a stealth nominee, he has shifted the blame onto himself. He has protected those who would stab him in the back. Bush takes the blame instead of those who undermine the conservative fight to reestablish limited government.

- More on McCain here (peripherally related).

- Wizbang Carnival of Trackbacks.

- Captain's analysis of WaPo coverage.

MSM Lie #43 - Washington Post slanders Charles Colson

On September 20, I noticed a Weekly Standard article that identified a Washington Post lie about Charles Colson. The Post published a review (on September 4) of a Colson biography. The Post misrepresented the biography as claiming that Colson's prison ministry is "cashing in" on President Bush' faith based initiative. As the Weekly Standard pointed out - "Aitken's book [the Colson biolgraphy], however, mentions no such thing."

In fact, Colson and his prison ministry receive no federal funds. Read the whole thing.

MSM lie # 42 - CNN coaches its Katrina guests

I know this post is almost a month late, but I am catching up on a lot of overdue material. I have just finished adding August lies to the list of MSM lies of 2005 and am now posting the September lies.

Michael Kinsley has written (on September 11, 2005) that CNN coached its guests to sound angry during the coverage of Katrina. H/T to Hedgehog - "And CNN calls itself the “serious” cable news network?"

Quote of the day - David Ricardo

...I wish that I may never think the smiles of the great and powerful a sufficient inducement to turn aside from the straight path of honesty and the convictions of my own mind.

--David Ricardo

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

The mayor of New Orleans — or maybe we should say the demented titular mayor of what’s left of New Orleans — says, between profanities, that Bush doesn’t care about black people. Of course the Democrats have been saying that every day for several years now, so why does he say it as if it were a shocking discovery? It just goes to show you should save your slanders for when you really need them.

Joe Sobran

Quote of the day - Peggy Noonan

And you become used to the idea that unlike everyone else in the country, you have job security. A lifetime appointment. When people have complete professional security they are more likely in time to show a new conceit. I don't know why this is, but I think it's connected to the fact that they're lucky, and it seems somehow hardwired in human nature that when people are lucky they come to think they deserve it: It's not luck, it's virtue. And since it's virtue my decisions are by their nature virtuous. I think I'll decree that local government, if it judges it necessary, can throw grandma out of the house and turn her tired little neighborhood into a box store that will yield higher tax revenues. Thus Kelo v. New London is born. I decree it.

Peggy Noonan

[current link here. Permalink does not yet exist.]

An idea for the Miers nomination

Previous Miers post here - White House running scared.

I have an idea as to how conservatives should handle the Harriet Miers nomination. What do you suppose would happen if a fair number of Republicans refused to support the nomination in the Senate?

I believe that if Republican support were less than unanimous, a large number of Democrats would cross the aisle and vote for her. (A fair number voted for Roberts, but only because Democrats were going to lose anyway.) If Miers lost 30 or more Republican senators, I think the Democratic groundswell in Miers' favor would be very large. The Democrats will not let this one get away. Bush has goofed, the Democrats know it and the Dems are going to make sure Miers gets on the Court. This nomination is the 2005 equivalent of Bush I' tax increase from 1990. The Democrats needed that tax increase to put Bill Clinton in the White House in 1992. The Democrats need the Harriet Miers debacle to put Hillary (or some other leftist) in the White House in 2008.

A Republican exodus would force the Democrats to show their hand now and make it obvious that the Democrats favor stealth candidates and fear ideological debate.

I know it is not much of a strategy, but it is better than having Miers confirmed by Republicans while the Democrats pretend to oppose Miers with their usual cries of "homophobe, racist, Halliburton, warmonger, anti-choice. . . . "

The other benefit is that Republican senators might retain their own bases even as George Bush loses his base. We might hang on the Senate in 2006 if the Republican Senators avoid taking the blame for Harriet Miers.

Quote of the day - Will Durant

The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority.

Will Durant

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

As a result of "evolving standards" and "nuanced" judicial decisions, we no longer have clear-cut rights. We have a ticket to a crapshoot in a courtroom. That ticket is worth a lot more to those with slick lawyers than to ordinary citizens.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

There are many trouble spots across the world but, as a general rule, even if one gives no more than a cursory glance at the foreign pages, it's easy to guess at least one of the sides: Muslims v Jews in Palestine, Muslims v Hindus in Kashmir, Muslims v Christians in Nigeria, Muslims v Buddhists in southern Thailand, Muslims v (your team here). Whatever one's views of the merits on a case by case basis, the ubiquitousness of one team is a fact.

Mark Steyn

White House running scared?

I think the White House realizes that the Harriet Miers nomination has gone over like a lead balloon. Dick Cheney is taking the almost unprecedented step of appearing on both the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity programs today. He is trying to shore up the conservative base. That would not have happened had the administration not logged in to the internet this morning and seen this and this and this and this and . . . . . . well, you get the idea.

The new media is doing its job. I don't know what we are going to accomplish, but we should continue. We should refuse to accept euphemisms, excuses and doubletalk.

One mistake President Bush has refused to make is to raise taxes. He won't make this mistake because he knows that raising taxes cost his father a second term. The conservative backlash works.

I think President Bush now knows that he made a mistake with this Supreme Court pick. But if we back off now, he will make the same mistake again if another appointment opportunity occurs prior to 2009. We are now fighting over the next nomination. Keep up the fight so that we might have some chance of getting an Alito, Owen or Brown next time.

A victory for Harry Reid? - the Harriet Miers nomination

I haven't been able to find any blog opinion yet about the Miers nomination. I guess everyone else is still writing - or scratching their heads.

I wrote last week about Harry Reid's threat to President Bush designed to prevent the nomination of a conservative. The threat appears to have worked. We will not know for sure until it is too late - several years into Miers' tenure on the Supreme Court.

I also wrote that this battle would have been winnable - even with a conservative nominee.

President has decided to play it safe again and go for the easy confirmation. But playing it safe now is the equivalent of gambling with the next thirty years.

I do have a few predictions based on recent events (barring any unforeseen revelations). While I am sure that the left is breathing a sigh of relief over this nomination, they will make their usual attacks anyway. They will run ads (or try to run ads) depicting Miers as a baby saving, minority hating, torture excusing, warmongering, Halliburton crony. The Democratic Senators will make fools of themselves on the Judiciary Committee, after which Miers will be confirmed by a slightly wider margin than was Roberts.

I heard the NBC commentator (Russert or some other mouthpiece) say that Miers is single. I don't know if she was ever married, but I would bet my life savings that the left is already looking into the gay angle (having failed to turn up incriminating evidence on Robert's son).

The left knows that Miers will be confirmed regardless of what they do. The left probably believes that there is a good chance that Miers will turn into an O'Connor or a Souter. This nomination is the left's payoff for 18 years of Democratic obstructionism. Despite the existence of a Republican President and Senate, the left has prevented the President from seizing his one opportunity to create a conservative majority on the Court.

The left has proven the virtue of patience and perserverance. We in the blogosphere should remember and learn from this lesson.
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Update - Powerline expresses disappointment.

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update

Laura Ingraham is "extremely disappointed."

Glenn Beck wonders what is the "point of having a Republican Party" anymore.

Michelle Malkin is underwhelmed. [Michelle has a more thorough roundup.]
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another update

check here for my analysis of the White House reaction.

Confederate Yankee confirms predictions of leftist accusations of homosexuality.

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

The media swallowed more bilge than if they'd been lying down with their mouths open as the levee collapsed.

Mark Steyn

(writing of the MSM/DNC hurricane coverage).

A Texas lawyer dissects Ronnie Earle's unethical conduct

Check out Sue Bob's post on Ronnie Earle's unethical conduct regarding the Delay indictment. She cites chapter and verse from the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Check here also.

Click here for Sue Bob's legal citations in support of the proposition that the grand jury foreman has violated the secrecy oath.

I am not a criminal lawyer, and I don't practice in Texas, but the misconduct we have seen thus far might provide sufficient ground for a dismissal of the already weak indictment.

Stupid Random Thoughts

I have just discovered a new blog that looks like it has possibilities. Check out Stupid Random Thoughts. He has posted many photos of attractive women at pro-America rallies - like this one that I lifted from his site.



Check it out.

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

With vastly more money available around the world as private investment than there is as foreign aid, why do Third World countries want or need foreign aid? Because private investors will seldom put their own money into projects that have no realistic chance of working or into countries too corrupt and unreliable to expect the money to be used responsibly, much less repaid.

Thomas Sowell