Obama - Commander in Chief?

Barack Hussein Obama seems to be making one foreign policy mistake after another. He must recognize that his lack of foreign policy experience is his biggest weakness. However, his recent statements aren't helping much. First Obama promised to meet with every dictator, thug, or leader of a terrorist nation that will have him. Next he would invade Pakistan, one of our only allies in the region. Then he promised never to use nuclear weapons (I hope our world never sees the use of these weapons again, but I will side with Hillary Clinton on this one: "I don't believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or non-use of nuclear weapons.") Now, Romney is calling him to the carpet for saying that our troops in Afghanistan are "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians." A horrible and untrue accusation against US troops. Obama may offer "hope" (whatever that means, I'm guessing higher taxes), but he appears to be not quite ready for prime time, and Shrillary is taking full advantage.

Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll

Mitt Romney was expected to win it, and he won big, with 32% of the vote. Giuliani, McCain, and Thompson did not participate. Giuliani and McCain because they knew they would lose, and Thompson is not officially running for President yet. Romney has been focusing on the first two states to hold primaries - Iowa and New Hampshire. This win doesn't make him the favorite by any means, but I think it does put him in the top three with Giuliani and Thompson. However, Romney is taking the tried and true approach to winning the GOP nomination: court social and economic conservatives and spend money in the early states to propel you to victory in the others. Once Romney separates himself from the crowd of Brownbacks, Huckabees, Tancredos, etc., he can show voters that he is the conservative option compared with the moderate Giuliani, Thompson, or McCain. Giuliani is taking a novel approach to the nomination by skipping Iowa and New Hampshire and focusing on getting moderates who aren't big primary voters to come out for him in New York, Illinois, Florida, California, etc. Giuliani still leads the polls, but as the race narrows, I think Romney will start to pick up the conservatives that are supporting the second tier candidates. I believe Romney is the best choice for conservatives who want a candidate who can articulate conservatism and who is strong on defense, family values, and the economy.

Poll: the Mainstream Media Sucks

A new poll by the Pew Research Center found that most people believe the news media is politically biased and inaccurate. Those who get their news primarily from the internet were even harsher in their criticism. The skeptics among us may say, but maybe some think the media is biased toward the right (hard to believe, I know, when news people give money to Democrats 9-1 over Republicans). My retort: 53% of the internet people (who tended to be younger and better educated, by the way) felt that news organizations failed "to stand up for America." Does that sound like something anyone on the left would say? The public's perception of the news media has fallen sharply since 1985, when a similar study was conducted. We are constantly barraged by the liberal bias of the media (for example, the cover story of Newsweek this week: "Global Warming Is A Hoax - Or so claim well-funded naysayers who still reject the overwhelming evidence of climate change"). It puts a smile on my face to know so many people see it for what it is.

The Surge Is Working

At last even the New York Times is acknowledging good news in Iraq. Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack wrote an op-ed ("A War We Just Might Win") last week that was overwhelmingly positive on the surge's impact. O'Hanlon and Pollack have been nothing but critical of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq until now. "Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms... we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with." Their key points:

• Morale of the troops in high, as is their confidence in General Petraeus


• Civilian fatality rates are down 1/3 since the surge began


• Our troops are leaving formerly dangerous areas as the Iraqi securtity forces step to the plate. Much of the corruption within these forces has been removed, and our troops are much more confident in the Iraqi forces


• A local mayor told them his greatest fear was an overly rapid American departure from Iraq


• Iraqis are rejecting Al-Qaeda and Moktada al-Sadr’s forces


• The Anbar province has gone from the least secure area to one of the most secure


• The economy is showing a lot of improvement

Democrats can't afford to acknowledge any success in Iraq. They are invested in defeat. Success in Iraq is a win for the Iraqis and a win for the U.S. but it is a loss for the Democrats.

Bonds Cheats (not just with steroids and mistresses)

Everybody's sick of hearing about Barry Bonds and steroids. However, Michael Witte at Editor & Publisher (ht Drudge) writes of a different way Bonds has cheated to catch Hank Aaron's home run total: his elbow "armor." I always thought the elbow pad was unnecessarily huge, but Witte has analyzed his swing and makes a surprisingly convincing argument that the elbow pad is actually a mechanical apparatus that gives Bonds a significant advantage. For example, he claims that it keeps Bonds' swing remarkably consistent and efficient, harnessing his power more effectively. It also allows Bonds to hit the ball with more mass, but with better mass distribution than using a heavier bat. A rule change years ago forbids players from wearing an elbow pad, but Bonds was grandfathered in and his pad has grown more than his hats since he started wearing one in 1992. I was hoping he would be indicted, suspended, or suffer some Tonya Harding related tragedy before he tied Aaron (can you picture Bonds down, sobbing as he clutches the knee, "Why? Why? Why?"). It's too late for that, I guess I'll have to keep rooting for Alex Rodriguez to break the record 7 or 8 years from now.

The Darjeeling Limited

The trailer for Wes Anderson's next film, the Darjeeling Limited, is out (ht Bobby). The film is slated to hit theaters September 29. Three estranged brothers, played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, take a train through India to reconnect. I couldn't be more excited about a movie. All of Wes' films are among my favorites: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic. Each was better than the last, until the Life Aquatic, which while great, didn't quite capture the magic of Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums. Wes wrote the first three films with Owen Wilson and Aquatic with Noah Baumbach. This time Roman Coppola and Schwartzman help out with the script.

Fat Cats

The stock market, after soaring in recently, had a rough week. However, the DOW is still above 13,000 and GDP is up 3.4% for the second quarter, the best quarter in over a year. The media, in their quest for doom and gloom always choose to play up the bad news (ht Newsbusters.org), at least when a Republican is in office. But why should they pay attention to the stock market at all? I thought only the fat cats on Wall Street were affected by the market. How many times have we been told that the gains on Wall Street are not being shared by those on Main Street? Democrats are making plans to "tax the rich" by increasing the capital gains tax. Increasing the capital gains tax will lower overall investment, hurting the stock market and the economy. The average Joe depends on the stock market's performance for at least his retirement account. The Democrats can't seem to get it through their heads one simple fact: Low taxes = good for economy, high taxes = bad for economy. I guess it doesn't matter if you can take money from one group of people and giving it to another to buy votes.

President Dick Cheney

Liberals' worst nightmare is finally realized - Dick Cheney is now president. The only man they hate more than George W. Bush (no, I'm not forgetting Osama bin Laden, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Kim Jong Il) is Commander in Chief... for today. President Bush is having a colonoscopy today and is out of commission.

Robert "KKK" Byrd Wants Michael Vick Executed

Robert Byrd (Democrat - West Virginia) shouted from the Senate floor that he would like to see Michael Vick (aka Ron Mexico) executed for his cruelty to animals. Byrd has witnessed one execution and wouldn't mind seeing another "if it involves this cruel, sadistic, cannibalistic business of training innocent, vulnerable creatures to kill." Vick, as you might have heard, was just indicted for several felonies related to dog fighting and is alleged to have killed poorly performing dogs by shooting, drowning, electrocuting, and slamming them into the pavement. I am in no way a Vick supporter, but if I was once an "Exalted Cyclops" in the Ku Klux Klan (as Democratic Senator Robert Byrd was) I probably wouldn't be calling for any African American to be executed.

Abortions for All (Miniature American Flags for Others)

Sorry to non-Simpsons fans for the reference. The leading Democratic candidates for president all agree on at least one thing (other than that we should surrender to Iran and Al-Qaida in Iraq): the government should pay for your abortion. According to Shrillary, Barack Hussein Obama, and your favorite trial lawyer, as part of their socialized medicine plans, the tax dollars that you and I pay should go toward killing babies. Oh, and Obama also wants sex ed for kindergarteners.