The moon has set. The night is dark.
This would be a good time to bury the guns and gold. Just in case.
I'm just sayin'.™
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Archive for November, 2008
If you’re really concerned
Posted by Richard on November 5, 2008
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: elections, politics | 1 Comment »
A more sour view
Posted by Richard on November 5, 2008
Not everyone is feeling gracious, magnanimous, and conciliatory. For instance, there's John Derbyshire:
All right, I'm sour. The most liberal member of the U.S. Senate! And that shakedown-artist of a wife, with the permanent frown! And Joe Biden! …
I'm sour about the GOP too. What did it all get us, those 8 years of pandering and spending? If GWB had turned his face against from new entitlements, closed the borders, deported the illegals, held the line on calls to loosen mortgage-lending standards, starved the Department of Education, and declined those invitations to mosque functions, would the GOP be in any worse shape now?
What won this election was the packaging skills of David Axelrod, the swooning complicity of the media, the ruthless opportunism of Barack Obama, and the unprincipled thuggishness of his supporters.
What lost this election was the cloth-eared cluelessness of George W. Bush, the timid squeamishness of John McCain, and the deep lack of interest in conservative principles among Republican primary voters.
Sour? You bet I'm sour. Where was conservatism in this election? Where was restraint in government? Where was national sovereignty? Where was liberty? Where was self-support? And where are those things now? Where are they headed this next four years? Down the toilet, that's where. Pah!
Funny thing: I can relate to Derbyshire's bitterness, while at the same time sharing the magnanimous thoughts and good feelings of Potemra and Goldberg. I guess I'm experiencing a mixture of happiness (about the historical significance) and dread (about what the future holds).
I know one thing: the next gun show will be crowded.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: elections, obama, politics | 4 Comments »
Yes, we can
Posted by Richard on November 5, 2008
They're on a roll at The Corner. Is this a great country, or what? Mike Potemra at the corner of 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard in Harlem:
The scene was Congressman Charlie Rangel's block party celebrating the election of Barack Obama. People of all races and ages were there on this mild Manhattan evening, and they were in a festive mood even before the big news was announced. American flags abounded; a platform preacher repeated "God bless America, God bless America."
Why was I, a John McCain voter, there? A bit of personal history. I was born in 1964, and on the day I was born the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Prince Edward County in Virginia had to reopen its public schools. The county had closed the schools because they decided it was better to have no public schools at all than to have to admit black kids into them. Here we are, just 44 years later, with an African-American president, a president elected with the electoral votes of that very same Commonwealth of Virginia.
I voted for John McCain because I admire him immensely as a person, and agree with him on many more issues than I do with Senator Obama. And I ask a rhetorical question: Can we McCain voters, without embarrassment, shed a tear of patriotic joy about the historic significance of what just happened? And I offer a short, rhetorical answer.
Yes, we can.
Amen. It's significant and it's special and it's rather moving. At least for those of us who've been around for, say, fifty-odd years and are thrilled by how things have changed.
(But I still wish the first African-American president were Condi Rice. That would have been a twofer!)
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: elections, emotions, obama, politics | 1 Comment »
Two fine speeches
Posted by Richard on November 5, 2008
A most gracious and classy concession speech. And a soaring and elegant victory speech. Both quite moving.
Good job, gentlemen.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: elections, politics | Leave a Comment »
Let us hope
Posted by Richard on November 5, 2008
Look, I expect to be one of the most severe critics of the Obama administration and the Democrats generally in the years ahead (though I sincerely hope I won't find that necessary). But Obama ran a brilliant race and he should be congratulated for it. Moreover, during the debate over the financial crisis, Obama said that a president should be able to do more than one thing at a time. Well, I think we members of the loyal opposition should be able to make distinctions simultaneously. It is a wonderful thing to have the first African-American president. It is a wonderful thing that in a country where feelings are so intense that power can be transferred so peacefully. Let us hope that the Obama his most dedicated — and most sensible! — fans see turns out to be the real Obama. Let us hope that Obama succeeds and becomes a great president, for all the right reasons.
Indeed.™
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Another contender for sound bite of the day
Posted by Richard on November 4, 2008
Rick Moore said "This is What the Election is All About" (emphasis added):
From Virginia Democrat Representative Jim Moran:
"We have been guided by a Republican administration that believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it, and they have an antipathy towards the means of redistributing wealth."
Video here. In the socialist world of Moran and Obama, you are not entitled to keep your wealth.
Meanwhile, Black Panthers wielding nightsticks are intimidating voters at Philadelphia polling places.
And Chuckie Schumer is talking about reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.
And Barack Obama gives special thanks to the "gracious press".
Moran — that's pronounced "moron," right?
For more about the Panthers confronting and intimidating certain voters, go here and here.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: economics, elections, media bias, obama, politics, socialism | 2 Comments »
Obamabot sound bite of the day
Posted by Richard on November 4, 2008
I heard this sound bite on the radio this morning. A south Florida woman explained to a reporter that she was so excited about electing Obama because "I won't have to work on putting gas in my car, I won't have to work on paying my mortgage, you know, if I help him, he's gonna help me."
I was reminded of the SNL presidential debate skit from a few elections ago (1996?) in which a questioner from the audience demanded of the candidates, "Where's my stuff? I want my stuff!"
Go vote. For McCain.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: free stuff, nanny state, obama | Leave a Comment »
If it redistributes like a duck …
Posted by Richard on November 4, 2008
David Harsanyi (emphasis added):
Obama laughs off the charge of socialist behavior — and to be fair, socialism isn't the precise term to affix to his ideas. It's more like Robin Hood economics. On a recent campaign stop, Obama joked that, by the end of the week, McCain would be accusing him "of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten."
A funny line. But, of course, Obama's lofty intellect must comprehend the fundamental difference between sharing your G.I. Joe with a friend and having a bully snatch your G.I. Joe for the collective, prepubescent good. It's the difference between coercion and free association and trade. In practical terms, it's the difference between government cheese and a meal at Ruth's Chris.
Now, I'm not suggesting Obama intends to transform this nation into 1950s-era Soviet tyranny or that he will possess the power to do so. I'm suggesting Obama is praising and mainstreaming an economic philosophy that has failed to produce a scintilla of fairness or prosperity anywhere on Earth. Ever.
Amen! Read the whole thing. Then vote as if our future depends on it.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: egalitarianism, free stuff, obama, politics, socialism | 1 Comment »
Obama’s coal plan threatens us all
Posted by Richard on November 4, 2008
It's not just residents of coal-producing states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, Montana, and Colorado who ought to be concerned about Barack Obama's threat to destroy the coal industry. His radical plan will, by his own admission, cause electricity prices across the country to "skyrocket." Are you ready for that? Is our economy ready?
Investor's Business Daily outlined what's at stake:
Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle on Jan. 17, Barack Obama singled out new coal plant construction for big taxes. The scheme, part of the cap-and-trade energy policy he wants to implement as president, is meant to tax coal producers straight out of business.
"So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can," Obama said. "It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."
Isolated gaffe? No. On his own Web site, Obama declares:
"Once we make dirty energy expensive, the second step in my plan is to invest $150 billion over the next decade to ensure the development and deployment of clean, affordable energy."
In other words, Obama's plan is confiscatory taxes to first destroy America's domestic energy producers, and once that bridge is burned, force the U.S. to rely on alternative energies that haven't been developed. The big-government plan might make ideologues happy, but in the real world, it won't work. …
…America is the Saudi Arabia of coal, with the world's largest demonstrated reserve base of 489 billion short tons, the Energy Department says. About 93% of it is used to produce electricity, and it provides about half of U.S. electricity needs. As the nation's economy expands, that need for coal is projected to grow about 20% by 2030.
If that need can't be met, consumers will be hit with high prices brought on by shortages. Meanwhile, America's 80,000 miners and 1.6 million workers in coal-related and coal-dependent industries would suffer from Obama's taxes on new plants.
"Under my plan of a cap and trade system," Obama said in another interview, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." He added that because "I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to the consumers."
The biggest problem with Obama's plan is that it taxes productive companies, and offers nothing but "hope" to replace the missing energy. He does not propose using our current resources as a bridge to cleaner energy. He'd rather stop their use cold. No nuclear power, no offshore drilling, no new coal plants, and if consumers have to pay more, too bad. Obama's attack on coal use surely will leave us poorer.
And that's only one of the hundreds of Obama plans to "fundamentally transform" this country that will make us all poorer. He's not going to redistribute wealth so much as he's going to redistribute misery. There will be lots more of that for everyone.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: economy, energy, obama, politics | 1 Comment »
Fullmer sacked
Posted by Richard on November 3, 2008
For anyone who follows Tennessee football, this announcement is probably not a big surprise:
Phillip Fulmer confirmed in a 5 p.m. press conference today at Neyland Stadium that he will step down as the University of Tennessee’s head football coach. Fulmer is scheduled to receive a buyout of between $5.47 million and $6 million.
After several minutes detailing his history with Tennessee, beginning as a player in 1969, Fulmer said, “I accept the university’s decision that this will be my last as Tennessee’s head football coach.”
He will remain through season's end and may remain at UT in some capacity.
Tennessee fans are probably among the least tolerant of poor performance of any football fans in the country. They're accustomed to and have come to expect above-average performance year in and year out. For most of his tenure at Tennessee, Fullmer delivered. But not so much lately, and especially not this year, which may end up being the Vols' worst season ever.
Today's announcement marks the end of 16-plus seasons for Fulmer that brought 150 victories, two SEC championships, five division titles and a national championship in 1998.
Since then, however, the Vols have failed to win an SEC championship despite winning the SEC East in 2001, 2004 and 2007.
The Vols are 3-6 and 1-5 in the SEC this season, just the ninth time since 1896 that Tennessee has lost six games in a season. The Vols have only lost seven games in a season once, in 1977.
For a time this afternoon (until news that Obama's grandmother had died), "phil fullmer" was the number one search term on Google.
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Do you want to fundamentally transform this country?
Posted by Richard on November 1, 2008
He's Not My President on 10/31 (emphasis added):
I didn’t say it, Senator Obama did. Speaking tonight at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, Senator Obama said, near the beginning of his speech: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
…
… fundamentally transforming something (in this case the United States of America) means to markedly change the nature, function, or condition of the foundation or base, forming or serving as an essential component of a system.
So what is it, exactly, that Senator Obama needs to markedly change? What is the foundation or base of the United States of America, the essential component of our system (our government)? I would argue it is the Constitution of the United States of America. But does the U.S. Constitution need to be markedly changed? I would argue, of course it does not. …
I'm a Libertarian and thus not exactly a fan of the status quo. But Obama crowing about "fundamentally transforming" America gives me a chill. When I factor in his 2001 interview in which he regretted that the Supreme Court has failed to "transform" the Constitution by embracing "positive rights" and income redistribution, I become very, very disturbed. This is dangerous stuff.
If you value the Constitution, if you value the founding (fundamental) principles of this country, if you value liberty — hold your nose and go vote for McCain.
Unless you're in a state where it clearly won't matter (like Massachusetts or New York). In that case, do me a favor and vote for Libertarian Bob Barr on my behalf. Regrettably, I can't. Colorado is close, and there's too much at stake.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: elections, obama, politics, socialism | 3 Comments »
Don’t be an Eeyore
Posted by Richard on November 1, 2008
HillBuzz has some sage advice for Republicans: Don't fall for the three head games the media and the Obama campaign are playing. And don't be an Eeyore:
The same pattern that unfolded during our primaries is happening again, because the media has just one tattered old used playbook (written by David Axelrod, of course), and they have not deviated from it yet. What the media and Obama campaign did, in concert, to Hillary Clinton before every major primary is what they are doing to McCain/Palin now. Here are the top three media/Obama head tricks to watch out for in the last days before the election.
If you, collectively, can keep Republicans and other McCain voters from falling for these, we believe there’s nothing Obama can do to win this election. The ONLY way McCain loses is if you Eeyores allow the media to keep you from the polls.
Read the whole thing.
I was pleased to see that something I'd been thinking regarding one of those head games occurred to them, too. Head game #3 is "Repeated insistance that blacks and young people will decide this election, and they are all going to vote in record numbers for Obama." The unintended consequence of this game that occurred to both of us (great minds think alike) is that:
… the Obamedia’s constant drumbeat that Obama’s so far ahead will, ironically, keep a lot of these people from actually voting — since they think he will win in a landslide without them, and one vote doesn’t matter. “Oh, we meant to vote, but we got, like, busy. And stuff.”
According to a news report I heard last night, in the early voting, young people have (yet again) not turned out in the large numbers predicted by the pundits. So the outcome of this election may depend on this: Will the media trumpeting of an inevitable Obama victory keep more McCain supporters away from the long lines on election day or more Obama supporters?
HillBuzz summed up:
It’s all a head game, a fake out. All of this talk about Obama being ahead is just garbage the Obamedia shovels to make you give up and sit home so Obama can win. That’s what breeds Eeyores. And Eeyores giving up and staying home is why Hillary Clinton won Indiana by only 1% when she should have won it by 9%. It really is as simple as that.
So, heads up out there — if you can get Rush to talk about this stuff on air, it would do Republicans a world of good. Make as many people see the media for what they are — a paid extension of the Obama campaign — as humanly possible, keep your heads up, and let’s put another crack in the glass ceiling by making Sarah Palin the nation’s first female Vice President, while putting a good and decent man we trust behind the Resolute Desk where all of us Democrats know he’ll work effectively with Senator Clinton and other Democrats to fix our economy, create good jobs, and make America energy independent for good.
If we work hard, we will win.
Check out other recent posts at HillBuzz — they've been blogging up a storm. For instance, they say "Pennsylvania’s Democrats voting for McCain will decide this election," and think this flyer being widely distributed in Pennsylvania is significant. And there's this update — the Obama campaign has been charging the press thousands of dollars for backstage access (isn't it interesting that none of the national news organizations shaken down like this thought it was worth reporting). Now they're holding an illegal lottery offering a chance at similar access to contributors!
I've been so impressed by the work being done by HillBuzz that I donated $100. You can donate, too, right on the home page.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: elections, mccain, media bias, obama, politics, polls | Leave a Comment »