A Prince of a Soldier...

Prince Harry's combat career has come to an end.

In this case,it was due to some leaks from foreign media. The statement from the MoD says volumes.

It is well worth keeping in mind when one discusses leaks. Not only did a leak put Prince Harry at risk, it also now places the troops he fought alongside at risk. His early departure will mess with his unit, no matter how many contingency plans were made by his superiors.

Just whose side is the press on?

There's a reason it was called Clinton News Network...

It seems CNN picked up at least one planted question.

In fact, the whole CNN debate struck me as more of CNN's caricature of Republicans (Lou Dobbs seems to be their classic example) rather than a real debate.

MacRanger has a decent round-up.

This was a set-up, and anyone going on CNN needs to know it's hostile territory.

The Politico's misleading headline...

The headline at the Drudge Report reads, "Romney Calls Situation in Iraq 'a mess'...", however, a closer look at the story shows that he not only backs the surge, his ultimate goal is success.

Seems the Politico needs some work on headline writing - "Romney says surge just a beginning" would be better, if you ask me.

What happened to Lieberman? He won.

Eve Fairbanks wonders what happened to Joe Lieberman.

The answer is simple: He won.

With the surge succeeding (the best recaps are at AJ-Strata's blog), Lieberman's now looking like he had the right moves all along. Why else would three hard-core anti-war lawmakers upstage him (as Eve described in her column)?

Second, Lieberman's influence may have been overstated in the wake of his win last November. You see, it really takes two-thirds of the House and Senate to ensure that something will pass into law (in essence, you'd need that margin to override a veto). That means, you need 290 House votes and 67 Senate votes for the type of cut-and-run policy that the Democratic netroots want.

The Democrats do not have anywhere near those numbers. And even with the defection of five Republicans on some aspects of the war (not, mind you, a call to immediately pull out), the GOP still has 44 votes to hold up a filibuster - plus that of Lieberman.

Lieberman's importance, though, was not in what he'd say or do in this Senate term. His importance was that he won the general election as an independent in favor of victory in Iraq and the global war on terror after he lost the primary to a candidate favored by his party's netroots.

In other words, he showed that there is no appetite for defeat, even in a state that routinely elects Democrats to federal offices. His victory showed that the Democratic primary electorate was way out of step with the general electorate. The Democrats are not going to pay attantion now, but after 2008, they will probably have to.

NSA bill passed... Pelosi vows to amend

Nancy Pelosi is promising to amend a more permanent version of the NSA bill that just passed Congress.

That said, as I point out at Strategypage today, the damage is already done. We will not recover a lot of the ability to gather intelligence that we lost due to compromised projects. And it will be a while until the NSA feels secure enough that it will take risks to protect the country - as opposed to doing nothing in order to avoid a lawsuit.

As a result, terrorists could have a clean shot at us. I hope that Pulitzer was worth it to Risen.

Surge is working... so far...

MacRanger discusses the surge - and how it is working.

For a long time, it has been clear the insurgency cannot win on the battlefields in Iraq. Their only hope is to manipulate the American media just enough so that the political landscape in the United States can shift to a point where the anti-war movement can dictate a cut-and-run policy.

The MacRanger show, which I help co-host, is on at 9:30 PM tonight.

Shut up, NFL Network explained to Deion...

Deion Sanders has just been muzzled by the NFL Network. Apparently, it seems that Roger Goodell is not exactly willing to prevent the lynch mobs from forming.

Worse, yet, here's what Deion had to say, which I think is a good point:

What a dog means to Vick might be a lot different than what he means to you or I.

Hold on, don’t start shaking your head just yet. Listen to me.

Some people kiss their dogs on the mouth. Some people let their dogs eat from their plate. Some people dress their dogs in suits more expensive than mine, if you can believe that.

And some people enjoy proving they have the biggest, toughest dog on the street. You’re probably not going to believe this, but I bet Vick loves the dogs that were the biggest and the baddest. Maybe, he identified with them in some way.

You can still choose to condemn him, but I’m trying to take you inside his mind so you can understand where he might be coming from.

Also, from a follow-up interview:

"[T]he real issue to me is, I think anybody, if someone in their family has done wrong or is doing wrong or made a bad, terrible decision, do we stone them or do we pray for them? I definitely, absolutely do not condone anything, but I am praying for him."

That was what was so controversial? Oh, yeah, he also had the nerve to point out that there are bigger fish to fry, like murders and armed robberies.

I think Deion needs to walk up to Goodell and the NFL Network bosses, and tell them to either let the column run - and remove that clause from his contract, or he will resign and call a press conference to announce it. And he should have the letter of resignation ready to hand to Goodell.

Goodell has been treating Michael Vick like a hardened criminal - never mind that Vick's not had the track record of a Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, Tank Johnson, or Odell Thurman. The dogfighting issue is the first troubel he's ever had. It's not minor, but it's not what others have done, either. Meanwhile the person or persons responsbile for killing and NFL player are still out there. Maybe he needs to re-direct his attention on that matter.

Best sign that Pelosi's an albatross?

AJ-Strata seems to have one indication - the New York Times is apparently retreating from the Pelosi/Murtha cut-and-run approach.

That's what happens when you send the Congressional approval rating down the tubes.

Murdoch leaves a mark...

Rupert Murdoch left a mark on CNN.

What really will make this sting is the fact that it is the truth.

Was on MacRanger's show last night...

We discussed both the exposure of a covert operation against the Iranian government and immigration. The show is here.

Feel free to also join in the boycott of ABC for its reprehensible actions that have endangered our national security.

Paging Al Sharpton . . .

ABC News is reporting that the CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government.

I'm waiting for Al Sharpton to insist that it be renamed to "a covert operation of color."

Of course, now that ABC has reported on this covert operation, it isn't covert any more.

Shock jocks under fire...

It seems that more shock jocks are under fire. What is worse, Al Sharpton, fresh off his bigoted anti-Mormon comments, is leading the charge against them.

Of course, the ultimate objective is not the shock jocks. It's talk radio as a genre. If they can establish precedents to fire people for causing a firestorm, then it's a simple matter to go from Opie and Anthony to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

In Iraq...

American forces are searching for three missing soldiers in Iraq. This has grabbed a lot of headlines.

We're facing an enemy who cannot defeat us on the battlefield. That said, an enemy doesn't need to. All he needs is to get something that will generate headlines - and if he can get some good video that will run on CNN or al-Jazeera, it's even better. Because at that point, the mainstream media will take over - and they will push the politicians into quitting.

Lileks gone?

It seems that the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wants to get rid of James Lileks. Hugh Hewitt notes that Lileks has been shifted to reporting news. It's like signing Roger Clemens and asking him to be your mop-up man in the bullpen. To call it a misapplication of talent is an understatement. It's like saying that the Brewers are doing okay (they have played 31 games, and are already five games ahead of everyone else in the NL Central - take THAT, Hugh!).

That said, Minnesota is a place where you generally get a lot of left-of-center voters in the Minneapolis area, and one can't blame the Star-Tribune for wanting to go with the overwhelming demographics in their city.

Keeping haircuts in perspective...

Eve Fairbanks has a great article on the Edwards haircut non-story at the Washington Examiner. Well worth the read.

Creating the next killer?

Jack Kelly, who also blogs at Irish Pennants, has fired off a broadside at NBC.

Has NBC done this? It's a very open question. You do get your folks who look for their 15 minutes of fame. But the information about this killer that is disseminated may also help stop the next one.

This is something that cuts both ways, and NBC really was in a no-win situation.

The real reason for the scandal?

MacsMind has an interesting post on the real reason for the Democrats taking up for the fired U.S. Attorneys.

It's worth noting that these investigations were going on. Perhaps Gonzales was getting close to some REAL leakers who had doen REAL damage.

As the surge succeeds...

AJ-Strata, back from his vacation, talks about how the surge is succeeding.

The contrast cannot be clearer at this point. Petraeus is succeeding, meanwhile, the Democrats want to pull the rug out from under him.

This will not go over well. Maybe they could get away with it when there were just the big three networks. But there are a lot of other players... and they can get stuff out.

Calling BS...

MNF-I has called BS on the media. Flopping Aces has the details of the latest such incident.

This pattern has become quite common since 2004. First it was the Koran-flushing incident. Then there were the claims of torture at Gitmo made by Senator Durbin - those didn't have any basis in fact, either. Then, there were the doctored photos bought by Reuters, and the discovery that Hezbollah was staging photos. Then Jemil Hussein, and an air strike that did not happen.

Can you see the pattern? And it gets worse. Editors of one magazine edited a story about the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's efforts in Anbar because it made the American troops look "too heroic". No, that was not a misquote.

The media seems to have taken sides, and has deemed the military personnel fighting for the United States as the bad guys.

MSM after Romney...

In addition to the "flip-flop" meme that they have tried to pursue (and evidence is emerging that the position shifts are much less than hyped), the MSM is now aiming at Mitt Romney's ancestors. Article VI Blog and Best of the Web discuss this.

It seems the MSM is doing its level best to make Romney look bad to the Republican primary electorate. These days, given Jamil Hussein, Rathergate, and other matters, I have to wonder why. Could it be that Romney would be the best Republican candidate in 2008?

Giuliani would win the general election going away, but he would have significant opposition from social conservatives. McCain has media support, and little else. He could win the general, but it would be closer. Romney has a lot of Giuliani's ability to reassure centrists, but he can also unite the base much better than either Giuliani or McCain.

The media wants the GOP divided - in that case, they are easier to conquer. Hence, Romney needs to be taken out early, and no shot is too cheap.