Doomsday Strategy

AJ-Strata discusses Hillary's latest comments, and is well worth the read.

That said, it's a very interesting strategy... one that could very well sink Obama in 2008.

Think about it: Come June 3, Hillary is likely to emerge with a slight lead in the overall popular vote. She will have won a large number of the major primaries. And, of course, there are two large delegate-rich states which she won, but which will probably not have a single delegate.

Once the delegates are denied, Hillary will refuse to endorse Obama. She and her supporters will very publicly sit on their hands. She will simply state that she cannot support the disenfranchisement of Michigan and Florida. Obama, of course, will have to find some way to mollify her - and in doing that is going to reinforce the perception that he's a bit of a wimp.

Eventually, when the damage is done, Hillary will graciously (yeah, right) stand aside for Obama and watch him lose. She will then run in 2012 on an "I told you so" campaign.

What does the GOP need?

Governor Schwarzenegger's comments about the GOP's need of re-branding will probably touch a few nerves. But in a sense, he is right, albeit, it's not so much "re-branding" the GOP needs, but to instead ditch the "new brand" that largely emerged from 2005 to the present.

From 2005 on, a certain group of conservatives (not all, but a very vocal segment) have decided that at some point, they had a monopoly on principles. Those who did not toe their line on certain issues (most notably immigration, but you can include Terri Schiavo and the nomination of Harriet Miers on that list as well - if you want, you can even include No Child Left Behind and Medicare Part D as well) were often derided as RINOs, unprincipled, or worse.

The result... well, I'll let you read some views from SJ Reidhead, The Anchoress, AJ-Strata, and myself.

Take some time to peruse those blogs (outside the posts I linked to), and see if you can describe where SJ Reidhead, The Anchoress, AJ-Strata, and myself tend to stand on issues.

I dare to say that most people would think that the four of us are probably in the mainstream of George W. Bush's political coalition. They'd peg us as Republican and right of center.

Yet all four of us are feeling less and less welcome in the GOP, and that is largely due to the fact that people like Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, and Ann Coulter have routinely talked down to us as if we were somehow not good enough to be in their club, and a lot of party leaders have gone along with their commissar act, and have not called them out on it. then of course, when this "new brand" of strict compliance was no savior at the polls, they demanded even stricter compliance, claiming a lack of principle was the problem.

The fact that people may have looked at their "true conservative" brand and decided to reject it does not seem to have crossed their mind at all. So they try a harder and harder sell, ticking off more and more people. By insisting on a coalition of the pure, they are literally shrinking their base of support. As long as the GOP goes along with that, then they will find their base of support shrinking as well.

So, maybe the GOP needs to tell the commissar wing to stuff it.

Conservatives out of touch...

OK, what would you consider to be the most pressing issue facing America this week?

War on Terror? Energy? The economy? Nope, none of those are the pressing issue of the week, according to Michelle Malkin. No the big issue of the week is Beyonce's new clothing line.

Good fucking grief.

If you wonder why conservatives have image problems, this is an example right here.

They obsess over the trivial - and woe unto those who suggest that there is a bigger picture or more important things to deal with. And they wonder why I prefer to think of myself as a Donald Bellisario Republican as opposed to a conservative?

U.S. Congressman a FARC go-between?

Interpol has recently confirmed that Raul Reyes's laptop has not been tampered with. If that is the case, then Gateway Pundit raises an interesting bombshell.

Perhaps it's time to ask Barack Obama if he intends to sell out Colombia to the tender mercies of Hugo Chavez and FARC.

No regard for democracy...

Today, the California Supreme Court went rogue, throwing out a law that had been enacted by the people of California in a referendum back in 2000 - and by a pretty fair margin.

As I discussed this issue earlier, this is pushing America to a fundamental question that we will have to answer in 2008: How is this country supposed to work, is it run by "we the people," or will it instead be run by a judiciary that has metastasized into a polite and gentle dictatorship?

That is not the only case. The polar bear listing is another, and contrary to complaints from Hugh Hewitt, Secretary Kempthorne really had no choice on this matter, and arguably has taken the only course of action that will minimize the effect. If he had refused to list the polar bear, the NRDC and other groups would have found a judge all too willing to overturn the decision of an Administration that was chosen twice by the American people to make such decisions - something that has happened repeatedly.

It's not a small question for me. I want to know if my vote will count, or if it will be tossed out because some judge thinks he or she knows better?

Braun signs!

NL Central pitchers beware! Ryan Braun has apparently signed a big extension.

Now, if they can only get Prince Fielder signed to a similar deal...

Why the Congressional GOP is lagging McCain...

AJ-Strata has an excellent post on why the Congressional GOP is lagging McCain.

The tone the right has taken on immigration has been shrill, declaring those who did not toe a hard line traitors repeatedly, as well as enemies of the Republic (Paul J. Cella is one of the more easily found ones, but you can see similar sentiments in some comments on threads at Free Republic). As I posted elsewhere, such comments have been counter-productive, to put it mildly, and arguably, destructive to the Republican coalition. Some of the comments, quite frankly, would only have been resolvable via the Code Duello.

The hard-liners on immigration have been akin to the people crying about global warming - with practically no proof for their dire predictions, and their response, is much like those of the global warming believers to critics, as described by Michael Crichton.

Some of this rhetoric borders on the fringes as well. In the age of Google, it is easy to find. It's why the "dirty pool" MacRanger describes can stick, as well, even when the specifics are false. Just glance at the immigration threads at FreeRepublic.com, or comments at Townhall (particularly those directed at supporters of President Bush on immigration, like Linda Chavez or Ruben Navarrette), and you can see just why the dirty pool works. The lies are believable.

Contrary to what Mac wants to believe, the MS-1 loss, as well as Hastert's seat, indicates that conservatives have lost touch with America in some respects. I can't speak for anyone else, but who wants to vote for someone who views them as a traitor over a disagreement - much less work with them?

Perhaps MacRanger can answer that question. Because the Congressional GOP needs to either answer that question - or they need to mend fences with the moderates they have been working so hard to alienate.

Understanding Hamas...

It seems Barack Obama says he understands Hamas's view.

Given his statements, I have to disagree.

If someone truly understands Hamas, they would not be opposed to letting Israel do some serious ass-kicking.

If you ever doubted the Burmese junta was slime...

Read this, and all doubt should be gone.

The Burmese junta is damn lucky we have a Global War on Terror to fight. Because if we had the Marine Division available, it might be worth it to force the relief supplies in.

Took a bit of a break...

Quite frankly, blogging needed a bit of a break. Hope to be a bit more regular on here soon.

Congressional medding goes both ways...

When Congress tried to overrule the Air Force on CSAR-X, it set a bad precedent. In essence, by dragging a lot of politics into the mix, they have delayed that program for a while.

Now, KC-X is facing a similar delay, this time, rather than trying to stick it to Boeing, Congress is going to earmark the contract to Boeing. Now, I will not call this a pork-barrel situation, as CAGW did (CAGW in the past has come out for going back to oil-fueled carriers, killing the V-22,and has called the C-130J pork, so take their national-security recommendations with the appropriate level of salt).

The fact is that there are some people have about the Northrop Grumman entry. They are questions that deserve answers.

Wright's stuff bites Obama again...

Jim Geraghty reports on another sermon.

Now this shit is pissing me off. And not just because Wright's sermon is aiming right at those who serve this country (in my immediate family, that includes a brother-in-law and my father).

The fact is that there are huge differences between America's defenders and al-Qaeda. Don't get me wrong, our guys have bad moments at times. But for us, the bad moments are the aberration from a norm.

Anyone who is trying to equate the two is either stupid, holding a reckless disregard for the truth, or just flat-out unpatriotic.

And let me make a wild-ass guess: Barack Obama didn't hear that sermon, either.

Deserving an ass-kicking at the polls, part 342345

Seems a Republican congressman has decided that porn is the biggest crisis facing the military, and he wants to ban it.

Not aging SAR choppers, not tankers bought when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, not the fact that we are in need of troops for a surge in Afghanistan, but the fact that Playboy and Penthouse are available at the local PX.

Talk about stuck on stupid...

When the troops have the gear they need, when we've won the Global War on Terror, when we don't have other problems, then we might be able to talk about whether Playboy should be available.

Until then, while our troops are fighting, let them have the latest Playboy and Penthouse issues.

Why Malkinbots don't get it...

Right Wing News shows how Malkinbots manage to blow it.

His beef is over a young woman brought into the United States as an infant who had had several liver transplants due to a liver disorder.

Let's repeat one phrase here: As an infant. In other words, her presence here in the US is not due to any criminal action or intent of her own.

And this is what we are seeing by allowing the problem to fester for a long time, rather than solving it when we had a chance to do so with much less difficulty.

Now, what do we do about people who were brought here at young ages, who have not committed crimes, other than to grow up here? Or whose families wanted nothing more than to save their lives?

Most people don't blame kids for this stuff. And the type of stuff in the comments of Right Wing News will be found repulsive by most Americans. There is a reason that non-generic Republicans tend to do a bit better. PArt of it is the tone-deaf attitude conservatives seem to be showing.

Tancredo/Dobbs vs. the Pope

The Wall Street Journal has a very good editorial on the recent rants from Tom Tancredo and Lou Dobbs against Pope Benedict XVI.

And people expect me to believe that there is no bigotry involved?

Do they think I'm stupid?

The impossible debate...

On Saturday, I mentioned the case of border security blowback, and pointed to a debate.

Well, the debate kind of went how I expected it to. Eventually, some of the usual people with an irrational obsession about Mexico came in, and AJ-Strata, myself, and SJ Reidhead found ourselves on the receiving end of abuse, ranging from implications that we must have been under the influence of marijuana to at least two insinuations of treason.

I'm sick of the people who act like schoolyard bullies on this issue - and quite frankly, that is an accurate characterization of the people largely on Malkin's side of the debate. The abusive venom aimed at people like Linda Chavez (just look at the comments about her columns at Townhall.com) and others cannot be described as anything else.

Until conservative leaders are willing to rein in the venom, debate will be impossible.

Border Blowback...

Read this from Strategypage, and weep:

April 2, 2008: As it gets more difficult to illegally cross the U.S. border, it costs more to pay a professional smuggler ("coyote") to assist. But those higher smuggling fees have attracted the drug smuggling gangs, who are now taking over the business. As subsidiaries of drug cartels, this new breed of "coyote" is heavily armed and vicious. The violence is often directed at the clients (the people paying to get smuggled into the U.S.) This is bringing the Mexican border war into the United States.

Weren't the fence, and the hard-line border-security measures that Michelle Malkin and Tom Tancredo wanted supposed to keep this sort of thing from happening? Instead, what do we have? We have folks who are an even bigger threat to Border Patrol agents getting involved.

I suppose, somehow, Michelle Malkin will find some way to blame it on President Bush, when it is the policies she demanded that seem to be causing this.

AJ-Strata has more on immigration, and refers us to a debate over at Right Voices.

An important case...

Yesterday, oral arguments in Kennedy v. Louisiana were held at the Supreme Court. A summary of the case is here.

I admit to some bias here. I have three nephews... and will become an uncle twice more later this year (I don't know if it's two more nephews, two nieces, or one apiece yet). So, yeah, to a degree, I have an emotional dog in this fight.

Folks, if there is any crime short of murder that warrants the death penalty, then raping a child under 12 fits the bill. The perp here pulled of a very vicious and horrific rape, and then tried to put the blame on someone else. Thankfully, the cops got to the truth of the matter. I think the Louisiana Supreme Court has laid out a strong opinion on this case that should be read.

Hopefully, the Louisiana Supreme Court will be upheld.