WHAT'S THE GOOD WORD [updated]

I can't claim to have any -- so I went searching and found some other people who put some good words together, when so many of us are speechless.


[hat-tip: Gateway Pundit


Beldar (Bill Dyer) over at Hugh Hewitt's Place, is worth quoting at length:

Mr. President-elect, you have been, and will remain even more frequently, in my prayers.

I pray that you may acquire wisdom — wisdom beyond your tender years, your thin experience, and your inconsequential legislative achievements — wisdom as a public servant in office, rather, that is at least commensurate with the skill you've shown as a campaigner, which has been a genuine marvel.

I pray for your health, because, with due respect, I regard the prospect of your Vice President-elect having to step into your shoes with genuine panic. Let's hope that he can continue to be Crazy Uncle Joe, less of a danger to the nation as Vice President than as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

You have said, at times, that you recognize that your greatest flaw is pride. I pray that your prayers for help in overcoming that flaw will be answered. You are surrounded, unfortunately, with an entourage who share that very flaw. Between now and January, I hope you will find time to read modern American history, and in particular, histories about John F. Kennedy, who you resemble in so many ways. Kennedy's youthful arrogance and ignorance nearly incinerated our planet — a fact of which you seem to be unaware, and that frightens me more than anything else about the prospect of your presidency. Mr. President-elect, you must learn history, so that you can avoid at least its most conspicuous mistakes — like those John Kennedy made in Vienna 1961 when he, as a young and presumably naive president, was tested and found completely wanting.

You will be my president too, and while I am filled with trepidation, I congratulate you as sincerely as I am able, and I wish the very best for you and our great country.

Indeed.



Memo to Secret Service:
Do not, under any circumstances, permit any harm to come to President Obama. For the sake of America -- for the love of God! -- keep Botox Boy Biden safely tucked away in a secure undisclosed Bucket of Warm Spit.



A TOO-LONG ABSENT VOICE --
A WHACKIN' DOSE OF REALITY
ARTHUR CHRENKOFF WEIGHS IN

Chrenkoff is the former blogger-voice crying in the wilderness during the early days of the war in Iraq, when things that were going well -- and there WERE some, lots in fact -- were deliberately buried by what were then the main conduits of information.

[hat-tips galore: The Anchoress]


The future of information, by the way, is one of the many serious concerns to be monitored under the coming Democratic jack-boot. Drool for the Fairness [sic] Doctrine is already glistening on the lips of New York Senator Chuck Schumer.

There will be blood.


FOOTNOTES:

Regarding my sentiments in the previous post about how "for the sake of people like [Juan Williams] I wish that this first black president could have been a better man -- a man who was worthy, and (more importantly) prepared for the job he is about to undertake. Barack Obama is neither, and I think it is safe to predict that history will amply demonstrate this": according to some black conservatives at Booker Rising, I nailed this one.

We'll never have this moment again [of having the first black president]. It will always be tainted by Obama. The first black person to be elected president of the United States has basically said whatever needed to be said to get elected...

My biggest thing towards my black brothers and sisters is this: I can respect you voting for Barack Obama simply because he is a black man and this was the first opportunity to get a black man in office. Just say that. But please don't insult my intelligence by saying this man is qualified. He's not. He's plastic.

[hat-tip: Kathy Shaidle, Five Feet of Fury]


LET THE CRONYISM BEGIN

Chicago's Daley Machine (version 2.0) lands on the South Lawn:

Obama picks Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Chicago-bred Democratic partisan with a capital "P" (and that rhymes with "T" and that stands for "Trouble") for Chief of Staff.


ARTS 'N' LETTERS

As the recipient of profound and profoundly irreverent private circulars of Canadian journo hack David Warren, I replied to him this morning, something on the order of the following -- no sense wasting a good diatribe on mere personal correspondence:

[Regarding today's report of last-minute Obama mercenary vote-trawlers not being paid by the Anointed One's church-like organization] Amazing that a campaign simply dripping with cash can't, or won't, pay its folks (most of them, no doubt, of ACORN caliber). I was still getting emails from Michelle on election day with a fully functional "Last Chance to Donate" button, then from Barack himself on Wednesday (under the subject line "How this happened") with a "please donate" button -- which I clicked and found my stored information all set up for me: [alias: Atticus Finch]. As the Duchess of Windsor might put it, metrosexual men can never be too thin, and their tall horsie wives can never be too rich. (Horsie is not about Michelle's face -- she's pretty enough in the fleeting instants where she's not fixing to bite someone on the neck -- but she is somewhat oversized and gangly, and could never navigate on Sarah Palin's high heels without looking like a rugby thug.)

Further painful reflections on our "thumping" here, with which I am in wholehearted agreement.

Excellent piece on the 'irrevocable act' [this is Warren's Ottawa Citizen piece for Sunday-- read it there or at his site in a few days]. I will pass it on after it goes to press.

We must think up some epic epithet for the Brooks/Noonan/Parker/Frum/Will etc. turncoat brigade. Shall put on my slagging cap.

Not that he has counted for ANYTHING in the past couple of years, nor will be included in our Turncoat Brigade Moniker, but do you think Andrew Sullivan will finally rest easy, on his first and only quest for gynecological specifics re: Sarah Palin's medical history, as released this week? Is that one of the sickest manifestations of Palin Derangement Syndrome or what?

The insider Palin-bashing thing is very interesting. I don't disbelieve much of what is being said about her, I just find it so petty and unimportant -- even her alleged (probably exaggerated) ignorance of geography. She graduated from American public high school in the 1980's. What do people expect?

Not to mention that, in the way that Alaska keeps reminding me of Newfoundland (though I suspect Alaska is somewhat more sophisticated), there are a lot of very smart people who can do amazing things, so mentally and physically demanding that they would have the most tofu-conscious health-clubbing Ivy-League Beltway suit gasping, fainting, and pissing himself inside of a quarter of an hour. And it's entirely possible that a lot of these hardy country-folk might not be able to identify Zimbabwe or find Mustique on a map -- life has more important things for them to know, like how to read the sea and get home alive when your engine is (literally) flooded.

I don't give a #%$@ if Sarah is geography-challenged. What is more revealing is the sense, so beautifully communicated by Fox's Carl Cameron, of the contempt with which Mrs. Palin was undoubtedly treated when these revelations were, er, revealed. (Words are failing me.) I only saw Cameron's bit on O'Reilly, and missed his earlier report with that smarmy sun-tanned puke, Shepard Smith (whom I loathed on sight the day that Fox went on the air in Canada).

Did she really have tantrums when she saw how people were trying to lock her in the closet and only let her out to be humiliated by Really Important People like Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric? ["the professor -- and -- Marianne -- here on Gilligan's Isle....."] You betcha, she did -- what self-respecting, well-grounded woman/state governor wouldn't? Who did these handler creeps think they were?

All my good stuff is from Gateway Pundit this morning. He has a good link to the whole Palin-trashing thing. This theory is especially good.

I understand (from people like Sean Hannity, no less) that we are all called upon to be gracious and upbeat, fair and balanced, (audacious in our Hopey Changitude?) in the face of the new tomorrow. Crikey. Won't be getting on that bandwagon any too soon. Seem to be stuck in Bitter Clinger mode.

Talked to my sister on Tuesday night -- she a medieval scholar and administrator at a Catholic inst. of higher ed., and, on the whole, a more pious and rational and lady-like person than myself -- and I believe I heard her use the f-word twice, which may be twice more than I've ever heard her use it before. She is prepared to accept that we Amurrican Catlicks have been cheating on our prayer and penance regime, and that nothing less will save us. Crikey -- must we really cave in to this Superstitional Religulous Blackmail??????!!!!!!!

Speaking of which, moronic American Archbishop of Atlanta, Wilton Gregory, comments stupidly on the idea that Obambi's election as Comrade-in-Chief is of any relevance whatsoever to the prospect of an African Pope. So glad most of the responding commenters are flinging the appropriate level of spittle.

Shopping for black crepe -- yours, etc........

Winefred

I JUST LOOKED OUT MY WINDOW,
AND I'M PRETTY SURE
"THE RISE OF THE OCEANS
BEGAN TO SLOW
AND OUR PLANET BEGAN TO HEAL"


BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT


Karl Rove just said that "every American ought to celebrate tonight."
Sorry, having a little trouble there, and I don't think it's going to go away.


Would I celebrate if I had a terminal illness and I got some doctor to tell me I was really going to be okay? No. What's to celebrate if something that appears to be good is just an illusion?

Certainly, no one would deny that in terms of symbolism, the American nation has just undergone an historic seismic shift. And symbolism is not without value, in terms of bolstering the health and strength of a nation. But symbolism is not a substitute for wisdom, or character, or administrative talent. It cannot create virtue where it is lacking. And it is worthless if it is merely a veil to obscure the leadership vacuum, and the seamy stepping-stones, upon which this political victory has been cobbled together.

There are plenty of candidates whose election to the presidency would have grossed me out -- the thought of President Hillary shrieking and shriking at us for four years or more would be a serious bummer; the thought of nodding to the soporific drone of the haughty, French-looking John Fitzgerald Kerry for a term or two might induce coma or a drug habit. But neither of them would inspire in me the sheer cold-sweat fear with which I contemplate the coming Obama administration. Give me a tired old left-wing D.C. hack any day before you ask me to trust my country, its future, the life and well-being of my military sons to this wet-behind-the-ears, pompous empty suit who has cultivated a colossal indifference to every brand of moral and political corruption that he has deemed necessary to embrace in his quest for ever-higher position.

I continue to find the readiness of the black population to vote as a massive block (95% for almost any Democrat) to be an unhealthy sign of a prolonged cultural infancy (deeply underscored by the simmering threat of waves of rioting should Obama not have achieved his anointing). At the same time, it is hard to hold this hollow victory against the black Americans who have found the idea of President Obama irresistible. Enough of them are of an age to remember a time when they were barred from countless acts and places that formed the pattern of ordinary life for white America.

In an earlier post I remarked that, over the course of the campaign, it has been very moving to watch the response of thoughtful and fair-minded people like NPR's Juan Williams, who has been capable of recognizing Obama's most obvious flaws even as he has felt the powerful pull of his people's history surging forward. He was in his usual eloquent, yet clear-eyed, form tonight as the long-awaited corner was turned. I can't help feeling sorry for him, though, because for the sake of people like him I wish that this first black president could have been a better man -- a man who was worthy, and (more importantly) prepared for the job he is about to undertake. Barack Obama is neither, and I think it is safe to predict that history will amply demonstrate this.

Many voices among the conservative pundit class tonight are urging restraint, and sounding the alarm about the danger of falling into the reverse version of the "Bush Derangement Syndrome" which has driven so many on the left to the wildest extremes of hatred and sabotage over the past eight years. And these voices are to be heeded. But the sad truth is that, years down the road, when those of us who shudder at the prospect of an Obama presidency have long since recovered, re-grouped and resurged, it will be those celebrating his ascendancy on the basis of his being the "right" race who will have the hardest time forgiving him if he proves to have been the wrong man.

It goes without saying that Joe Biden will be an insufferable embarrassment as Vice President, on a scale that Sarah Palin's most savage critics could hardly imagine -- in the tumult of this evening's vote-count and all the high emotion, i had all but forgotten about Idiot Joe and what a foul and cynical joke that VP selection was. But the painful truth is that Barack Obama is poised to be almost as great an embarrassment, and the consequences could be shattering, perhaps fatal -- to Israel at the very least, if not to some substantial segment of Obama's fellow Americans. I have no doubt that many of the pundits and politicians who were gracious and complimentary to the winner secretly agree with me on this, and if we are proven right, NO ONE will take ANY satisfaction in being so.

I am sorry for John McCain's loss this evening, more for the sake of our country and especially our military, and for the world at large, than for the man himself, who ran a less-than-competent campaign, plagued by McCain's own stubborn refusal to recognize where his real enemies were and push back against them accordingly (and coherently). I am almost (but not quite) as sorry for the sea of dupes who are cheering in Grant Park this evening, and across the nation, and already chiming in from around the world. You have bought a pig in a poke, my friends -- a fistful of magic beans, a gaseous Chimera of Oz. [And I use the term "bought" advisedly, for this presidency begins under the shadow of donation fraud on a massive scale, which will always leave open the question of whether the office could have been earned had it not been bought.] The price of your folly may be high and widespread.

To add insult to injury, that slandering slob Congressman Jack Murtha has beaten his challenger, Lt. Col. Bill Russell in Pennsylvania. Shite.

* * * * * * * * * * *

It's easy to make predictions, especially in the flowering of fresh bruises. These will heal. There is much to be grateful for, not least that America could produce such an interesting and impressive character as John McCain and watch him rise from the bottom of his Academy class to the peak of his nation's esteem, even in defeat. Because America can, and has, and will continue to produce many thousands upon thousands more with his backbone and his love of country, at the end of the day we will be all right.


And, at the end of another day, not this one, but one on the near horizon, we will see Sarah Palin take her place on the national stage again -- she will still be unique and electrifying and determined, and Frum, Noonan, Brooks, Parker, Powell, et al., will still be wrong about her. [Memo to Sarah: keep the goddam clothes. You earned them.]

For the first time in long memory, I abandoned the election returns this evening, even before the fate was sealed, unwilling to wallow in the agony -- and switched over to the [only mildly] funny politics of Stewart and Colbert. I gave half an ear to part of the concession speech, and no hearing at all to the victory oration. I have watched only minutes of the late commentary.

I am now having a massive bowl of ice cream and watching Ozzie and Harriet. It's going to be a very long four years.

SPRING FORWARD, FALL BACK (updated)

Two years, 16 candidates (at least),
a billion dollars (at least),
and it all comes down to tomorrow

I arrived in San Diego about a week ago, to spend a couple of weeks being Grandma and trying not to think too much about politics, or follow it like a bloodhound, as I had been doing for what seems like an eternity. I have succeeded better than expected, in the belief that it is all in God's hands now and there's nothing anybody can do more effective than straight-up prayers that the world's last super-power will save itself from the government many might say it deserves.

If at this moment there is anyone still undecided (I never believe in that old canard about the massive mooshy middle), then you, sir or madam, have not been listening or reading or engaging in the most basic thought processes for, lo, these many months. And you're too witless to deserve a vote. On the other hand, you could very well have been snuffling after truffles of information and still be monumentally ILL-informed, if not UN-informed, the state of mass communication being what it is.

It is almost impossible to believe that 24 hours from now it will (probably) all be over and we'll know whether it is possible for a vast, free nation to act entirely against its own self-interest on the basis of the grandest of Grand Illusions, by voting into the nation's highest office (as it is roundly believed they shall) a man who is little more than vapor or shadow-puppet, who has spent hundreds of millions of media dollars to make absolutely sure that as little as possible is revealed about him.

His name is Barack (Barry) Hussein Obama. He stands poised to be elected leader of what is left of the free world. According to Britain's Economist magazine, "IT'S TIME."

Is that right? Time for what, exactly?

Trying very hard to look more serious than they are, the editors wait until paragraph 11 of a 17-paragraph piece to put forward the simpleton argument which is the core of their endorsement: that "it's time" for America to put its first black man in the Oval Office. As the Economist sees it:

...it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; and far harder for autocrats around the world to claim that American democracy is a sham... At home he would salve, if not close, the ugly racial wound left by America’s history and lessen the tendency of American blacks to blame all their problems on racism.

It defies comprehension that this hoitiest-of-the-toitiest prestigious international journal would actually put forward the middle-name argument, a claim so transparently foolish and jejune that the candidate himself used it but once, in early days, and then realized he's be better off to keep mum about it, and to intimidate everyone else into doing the same.

How the non-election of Obama would paint American democracy as a sham before anyone, least of all the world's autocrats, eludes me completely. As my old sailor-dad would say, "bilgewater."

But the heart of the matter is that Obama's election would supposedly heal America's "racial wound." Now, is that Obama's election, or, as the editorial clearly implies, merely the election of somebody who is a member of America's principal aggrieved race?

Are we to assume that in the absence of an Obama, any black man, or woman, will do, to address these concerns about wounds and to impress the Islamic world's hate-spreaders? Would Al Sharpton do? Jeremiah Wright? Bill Cosby? Wilt Chamberlain? Whitney Houston? Queen Latifah? Cynthia McKinney? The possibilities are endless, if all these ills can be salved by mere skin pigment. I don't think the Economist meant that -- but that's essentially what they have said, and they have a mob in their corner with that argument.

Nestled within these assertions is the claim that "Americas's allies would rally to him: the global electoral college on our website shows a landslide in his favour. " Well, isn't that special.

With breathtaking arrogance, the pundits of the Mother Country consider their approval, and that of their fellow FOREIGNERS as expressed in a repugnant "Global Test", to be a plus for Mr. Obama in the American electoral decision. Moving on.

To conclude, the Economist admits that Barack Obama represents a gamble. However,

Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.

Anyone who thinks that Barack Obama's "portrait" has been "detailed" is looking at a dreamscape canvas on which they have projected their favourite illusions, which look brilliant to them only because the canvas itself is blank. The Economist's endorsement of Obama speaks of the adolescent sexed-up fantasy and cult myopia which has characterized his election pageant since his debut at the 2004 Democratic convention. The notion that he "deserves the presidency" based on a stylish and disciplined campaign (meaning he wears his suits well, is photogentic and media savvy, and is less gaffe-prone than his opponent), turns the stomach -- all the more since he brings to the reins of power little more than a popular belief in his "potential."

As a cure to what ails America, racially, economically, and on the question of reputation and prestige, Barack Obama can be expected to prove as popular and as effective as leeching the humours or drinking Kickapoo Joy Juice with a side of mandrake. We'll be lucky if we all don't die.

There's an assumption in that remark: that he-- The Anointed One -- is going to win. I am not resigned to assuming that.

I am, however, looking at the prospect of McCain pulling tomorrow's election out of the fire kind of like a Dead Man Walking waits for the Governor's phone-call of commutation.

It could happen!


Final Thoughts at Vespers,
24 hours from our fate:

As this past summer progressed, with all the political ups and downs, and the endless ENDLESS polls, telling different stories hourly, I have often wondered where we would be and what I could say when this hour of November 3rd finally arrived. As usual, it is better left to better writers than myself. A clutch of the best have summed up how the future might look this time tomorrow:

MARK STEYN unveils the reality of the two-dimensional man who is Candidate Obama.

FOUAD AJAMI analyzes the mindless Politics of Crowds and the grim history of the will of the mob.

ALEXANDER LeBREQUE recognizes the workings of a run-of-the-mill Marxist Cult.

[update]The heroically persevering STANLEY KURTZ contributes a summary of his detective work on the Obama we should have gotten to know.

TONY BLANKLEY gives a peak at what our November 5 hangover might feel like, while JEFF JACOBY mulls over what dictatorship might really look like.

FR. GEORGE RUTLER goes all Apolcalyptic on us, about The One We Have Been Waiting For.

And ME, I've had my say about the man with the staggering SANGFROID.


WANT TO KNOW A MAN? ASK HIS WIFE [December, 2004]




WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, OBAMA SHRUGS
The website Obama Shrugged just came on line in the past couple of weeks [to track the Obama donation scandal], but to my mind its name captures what is probably the most dangerous and, in its way, degenerate blot on the Obama escutcheon: his coooool insouciance at the axis-point of a swirling toxic mass composed of every kind of extremism, with which he has been content to surround himself in order to progress to ever higher levels of power and influence.

"Bloom where you're planted," goes the pop proverb, and so Obama has -- having, by his own admission, deliberately planted himself within the most radical political and religious circles, first to hone a personal identity based on racial grievance and Marxist revolution, and then to seek out a launch-pad for a career in race- and class-based activism. A seething racist preacher here, a seething Marxist terrorist there, an easy money-fixer here, a Daley's Chicago steamroller there -- then stir into the pot enough lawyers and academics and philanthropic sugar-daddies to out-"radical-chic" Leonard Bernstein.

As he has fast-tracked his political apprenticeship these past two years, Barack Obama has been sufficiently conscious of the negative aspects of his past associations to have been very, very quiet about them (even suppressing the scheduled appearance of the Irreverent Jeremiad Wright at the announcement of his candidacy), and then, as each successive skeleton wriggled out of his closet, to have blatantly lied about his degree of involvement with each, and finally tossed them all under the wheels of his campaign bus as he drove on to glory.

This is the pattern he has maintained right up to these last days and hours of the contest, all of it with an air of coolness that is the most frightening thing about him. The outrageous words, beliefs, and acts of his thick but rather narrow range of close associates, all of them instrumental in his rise to prominence, leave him unmoved and unrattled -- undeterred and unashamed.

He exposed his children, on hundreds of occasions, to Rev. Wright's perversion of Christianity that preached racism, hatred, and anti-Americanism laced with profanity and sexual innuendo -- and Obama shrugs it off as the excesses of an eccentric "old uncle".

He shares office space and long-term program administration with self-styled Marxist revolutionary William Ayers, who may have grown too old for violence, but who had a hand in terrorist destruction and murder, for which he feels no remorse whatever. Again, Mr. Obama shrugs it off, as if none of this man's crimes leave any taint on one who, like Obama, aggrandized himself by working within the terrorist's orbit.

I tried to make up a list of Obama's most egregious stances, claims, gaffes, lies, cheats, and general outrages, but basically they've all been said and there's not point in re-iterating what the clued-in already know. The campaign has been so long, and revealed so much-- despite the best efforts of the mainstream press to systematically bury it, and of the Republican party to slip-on-the-banana-peel slapstick bumble it -- it's almost impossible as we come down to the wire to re-cap the lot. Here is what haunts me most at the final hour:


The Obamessiah has been RIGHTLY dubbed "The Infanticide Candidate" by Rolling Stone's Nat Hentoff, because he is probably the most extremist promoter of all-out unfettered at-will abortion to have ever come to prominence on the American political scene. His voting record to this point has outstripped his peers in dedicated advocacy of death to the helpless, and we can be confident that, as President, he would fulfill his promise to sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act, thereby stripping the entire nation of its freedom to choose, within the several states, whether and how to regulate the availability of abortion.

John McCain is a man with as many flaws as he has virtues, but at his core there is one thing which is the engine of everything else, and that is that he loves America, and he has lived that love, and been given life by that love, to a greater degree than any human being on the modern political scene. He will not be the most brilliant president in history, not even close -- but he will be a man in full, and as worthy as few others for the office he aspires to.

The "man in full" reminds me of an earlier observation of mine, about Colin Powell's characterization of Obama as a "transformational figure." A man is not the same thing as a figure. And it is worth remembering:

Americans do not elect a "figure" to the office of President -- they elect a politician, a policy-maker, an executive, a military Commander-in-Chief. The Queen of England is a "figure" -- she has no direct executive or policy-making authority. She does not "rule" or even "govern" in any real sense of the word (despite the fact that the majority party in Parliament is referred to as "Her Majesty's Government" -- that's an epithet of loyalty, not one of obedience or even "consultation" in any real sense of the word).

Are we clear? If Secretary Powell wants a "figure" he is free to emigrate to someplace where such is considered necessary to the state. On the plus side, monarchies have a built-in "generational change" -- after the aged Elizabeth's reign is over, her place will be taken by her outstanding son (gack). Or, if God is indeed an Englishman, the crown will pass right on to her far more appealing (and probably more intelligent and slightly more calcium-enriched) grandson Wills.

For those who pray, tonight's Vespers, (and for those who can't sleep, tonight's Compline and Matins) should include the Litany of St. Thomas More, Patron Saint of Politicians and Statesmen, the King's good servant but God's first.

Pray for the man who put country first. And who had the chutzpah to put the first woman on the Republican ticket.

America, America, God shed his grace on thee. By the bucketload.

Department of READY ON DAY ONE

Okay everybody, on a count of three, let's make fun of George Bush for going to bed early and getting up at 5:30.

This is what you can get with a New World Order of Hopey-Changitude:



Important factoid: By the time Senate Foreign Relations Committee meetings get underway, Madmood Ahmadinnerjacket has been up for hours.

TAKING TIME OUT

from playing with itty-bitty grandson,
tossing a LITTLE YELLOW FOOTBALL
on beautiful California beaches

TO SEE WHAT LITTLE GREEN FOOTBALLS
has on offer

Well, here's some archival footage we can all enjoy:
The Revered Obama on the Reverend Wright (ca. 1995)




And over at THE DAILY BEAST:

Surprising stories from surprising sources:

Former Democratic speechwriter Wendy Button says "So Long" to the party of The Annointed One.

Democrat and former Ms. Magazine editor Elaine Lafferty says Sarah Palin is a Brainiac
Who knew? (Well, some of us did.)

In the late late night and the early early morning,

TWO BLUE-RIBBON POSTS
AT HUGH HEWITT

Late Sunday night:

Today marks the 41st anniversary of the day John McCain was shot down over Hanoi.

Beldar provides a snippet from the story of that "filthy, crippled, broken man," John McCain, prisoner in Hanoi, who found that "...all I had left of my dignity was the faith of my fathers. It was enough." Beldar sums up:

Now, I don't doubt that Barack Obama loves America, nor that his own very different experiences and such challenges as he's faced have shaped his character. But gentle friends, I have also read Barack Obama's book, "Dreams from My Father." And in it, you will search in vain for any chapters containing feelings or epiphanies about America that are remotely comparable to what I've just quoted here.

Monday morning, present day:

Duane Paterson has a few words about polling, as done for public consumption by news orgnanizations, versus that done for private consumption, by contractors hired to find out what's actually going on (like, for instance, political campaigns, who are known to do "internal polling" separate from what the public hears about, which sometimes leads a candidate to make moves that the conventional wisdom considers odd -- like campaigning in states that they are thought to have a lock on). This comes from a pseudonymous contributor to the VirginiaVirtucon blog, but it's food for thought. (Or are we just kidding ourselves? We'll know in another week.) The contributor relays the findings of...

...a statistician for a well-regarded private polling company, ...retained to do a few Presidential polls for targeted states on behalf of a union...

They did Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Missouri. After mocking the hell out of the voter id spreads used by Rassmussen, Zogby, etc. (and this is coming from a committed Dem who will be voting for Barry O) she said the results of their polling lead her to believe that McCain will definitely win FL, OH, NC, MO and NV. She says Obama definitely wins New Mexico. She said that Colorado and New Hampshire were absolute dead heats. She said she thinks there is a 55% chance Obama holds on in Pennsylvania and a 75% chance McCain wins Virginia. She absolutely laughed at the public polls showing Obama leading Virginia...

...her companies [sic] conclusion is that the election will come down to Colorado, New Hampshire and the Republican leaning district in Maine, which in her opinion might very well decide the Presidency...

She said she has very little doubt that the public polling is part of a “concerted voter suppression effort” by the MSM. She said IBD/TIPP was the only outfit doing public polling that was “worth a bucket of warm piss”.

Do we dare pin our hopes on the "inside story" as provided by somebody who can't spell "company's"? Come November 5, remember where you heard this first-- then laugh, cry, scream, upchuck, or whatever seems to be appropriate.

SATIRE ALERT

Over at Iowahawk, where satire reigns (and rains) supreme, all 6' 7" of our correspondent slams into surprisingly diminutive (5' 7" according to his mug-shots) bomb-boob Bill Ayers.

But first you have to read one of Iowahawk's rare moments of no-B.S.-or-funny-stuff rants on the Politics of Personal Plumber Destruction to which Ohioan Joe Wurzelbacher has been subjected. Iowahawk is NOT AMUSED, nor are his loyal readers, who volunteered some pretty cool graphics to convey their solidarity in the "I AM JOE" movement.




By contrast, Iowahawk believes that bomber Billy deserves to be pasted, and so he is, right here. Laugh till you piddle -- and then pay it forward, or whatever.








By a mile, my favorite slice of video from this election year:




GOOD NEWS

MURTHA'S GOIN' DOWN?

I've made my contributions to this election very selective, equally divided between the presidential race and one congressional seat in Pennsylvania. It's taken a long time for any polling data to surface, and not all of it (any of it??? the perennial question) has been reliable. But as of this moment, it looks like my guy, Lt. Col. BILL RUSSELL, USAR (ret.), survivor of the September 11 Pentagon attack and veteran of both Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, might just pick off that fat-assed sad-sack, war profiteer, Abscammer, slanderer of his fellow-Marines Congressman John"Mad Jack, Pork Rind" Murtha.

At age 75, it's time for Mad Jack to take up his sizeable spot on the front-porch swing at the home, drink Aricept cocktails, and contemplate his sins.

Please, dear God, in 2008, one point for the good guys.

QUICK REMINDER:

WHO REALLY LOSES IF OBAMA WINS


...the fetus or child, as -- as some might describe it... still temporarily alive outside the womb....

Whenever we define a previable fetus as a person... what we're really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a -- a child, a nine-month-old child that was delivered to term.... I mean it -- it would essentially bar abortions, because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an antiabortion statute... this essentially says that a doctor would be required to provide treatment to a previable child, or fetus, however way you want to describe it...

...As a consequence, I think that we will probably end up in court once again, as we often do, on this issue. And as a consequence, I'll be voting Present.

Illinois State Senator Barack Obama
March 30, 2001

Full transcript here.

Full picture of Mr. Obama's record here.

This photo and Cardinal Egan's message here.

THE FILE ON ALLEGED DONATION FRAUD
AT THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN
JUST GETS THICKER [UPDATED too]


We thought it was just a couple hundred million bucks in illegal foreign donations, but apparently it's even easier than that: looks like all the online safeguards have been disabled, and this kind of stuff can happen [from an email to Jonah Goldberg at NRO:

So I went to the Obama website this afternoon and clicked on the "Donate" button. I used my real MasterCard number (but was not asked for the 3 digit security code).

Used the following information and it was accepted...

First name: Fake
Last Name: Donor
Address: 1 Dollar To Prove A Point
City: Fraudulent
State: AL
Zip / Post: 33333
Email Address: allmyinfoismadeup@mediabias.com
Phone Number: 2125551212
Employer: Mainstream Media
Occupation: Being in the Tank

And incredibly, my $5 donation was ACCEPTED!!!

I then went to the McCain site and used the exact same information (and WAS asked for the 3 digit security code for my MasterCard). There, my contribution was rejected with the following message: "Your transaction was not approved for the following reason(s): Invalid data", and then: "We have found errors in the information that you have submitted. Please review the information below and try again."

I have screen shots and printouts of all of this as well.

Please tell me what I can do with this information? Is this a violation of FEC law by the Obama Campaign? How do we publicize this???

Thanks for all you do.

Then there's this, via Powerline:

Name: John Galt
Address: 1957 Ayn Rand Lane
City: Galts Gulch
State: CO
Zip: 99999

Then I checked the box next to $15 and entered my actual credit card number and expiration date (it didn't ask for the 3-didgit code on the back of the card) and it took me to the next page and... "Your donation has been processed. Thank you for your generous gift."

This simply should not, and could not, happen in any business or any campaign that is honestly trying to vet it's donors. Also, I don't see how this could possibly happen without the collusion of the credit card companies. They simply wouldn't allow any business to process, potentially, hundreds of millions in credit card transactions where the name on the card doesn't match the purchasers name.

In short, with the system set up as it is by the Obama camp, an individual could donate unlimited amounts of money by simply making up fake names and addresses. And Obama is doing his best to facilitate this fraud. This is truly scandalous.

[Our reader was not yet done. He tried the experiment on the McCain site: "I tried the exact same thing at the McCain site and it didn't allow the transaction." He then repeated the experiment at the Obama site:]

I went back to the Obama site and made three additional donations using the names Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers, all with different addresses. All the transactions went through using the same credit card. I saved screenshots of the transactions.

So even if he wins, we have to wonder if he really won? And this time, Al Gore, we won't be making it up out of dangling chads.


--I TOOK A POLL, AND DECIDED TO PUT UP
THESE ARTICLES ABOUT POLLS

(1) Michael Barone
[hat-tip/RealClearPolitics]

(2) DJ Drummond


--UNEXPECTED PROPS FOR THE PREZ,
FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE:
SIR BOB 'BOOMTOWN RAT' GELDOF

Good on ya, Sir Bob.


--THE EGGHEADS' LAMENT: SEND IN THE CLOWNS
(All the way from Alaska, or maybe Kentucky)

City Journal's Michael Knox Beran at National Review


--CLASSIC MOVIES, RIGHT HERE:



And then there was this:




Apparently Professor Obama failed to read this.


--Department of Separation of Church and State:
THE OBAMESSIAH TELLS THE CROWD HE
FEELS "A RIGHTEOUS WIND" BEHIND HIM

Good thing no Republican was caught saying that, because it would be a clear sign of the coming theocratic tyranny. Phew.





--Department of QUELLE SURPRISE:
Pouting Pillsbury Doughboy SCOTT MCCLELLAN
WILL VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA

That'll show 'em, Scotty -- BOY will you show them! They won't have Scott McClellan to kick around any more! They'll be sorry they didn't let me come up into their treehouse and be a member of the secret club!! No more West Wing Wedgies for me, by golly!!!!


CNN makes the report, and closes off the posting with "File Under: Barack Obama". That pretty much says it.

This is only slightly less earth-shaking than the Colin Powell announcement. Which was considerably less earthshaking than the David Brooks Palin-slam, and less entertaining than the Christopher Buckley announcement.

SO I'M WATCHING FOX NEWS AND SEAN HANNITY IS YIP-YIP-YIPPING ABOUT BARACK.....

Barack Obama and Bill Ayers, and ACORN, and Tony Rezko, and the Daley machine, and Fannie/Freddie money, and oh, there was probably something in there about his broken pledge to take public money, or his Veep's promise of a "generated international crisis" in Obambi's honor.....

And nobody even managed to get around to Barack Obama and Islamist machete-man Raila Odinga or Obama and Rashid Khalidi [a story so deeply buried that the PUMA's at the Hillary Clinton Forum had to link to Hugh Hewitt to find it].

SO I FLIP OVER TO CNN, AND WHAT'S THE BIG STORY BEING ANALYZED BY DAVID RODHAM GERGEN?

SARAH PALIN'S AIRFARE and WARDROBE BILL

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said McCain spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt, who has been traveling with Palin. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

No kidding.

The Associated Press report also references the controversy about John Edwards' $400 haircut, without mentioning that the story there was about unmanly vanity rather than straight dollars and cents. As a multimillionaire, presumably Edwards came with a closet full of high-priced suits and shoes in addition to his champagne-taste grooming habits. Sarah, on the other hand, came to the stage with (I suspect) off-the-rack duds from J.C. Penney's or the like, so she needed a quick style update -- and a very successful one, I must say, which could not have been achieved if she didn't have a confident sense of her own personal style. If there are objections to, or even a modicum of interest in, this expenditure, it should originate with the RNC donors, and remain their problem. And if they never found out about it, the sun would happily rise again on a world uncorrupted by Sarah's cute little jackets.

As to her travel budget, the First Family of Alaska understandably tries to move together on government business and the campaign trail when they can, and airfare for the Governor's minor children is a matter of no public interest outside of Alaska. How grateful we all must be that his Gergen-ness pronounced the "scandal" to be a tempest in a teapot. Phew.

If only the MSM were as interested in the Marxist, terrorist, Hamas-loving, vote-stealing, mortgage-puffing, school-screwing, radical-chic fellow-travellers of Barack Obama, as they are in the raven-haired, bright-eyed half-pint Palin daughters fellow-travelling with their mom and dad.

Please.

How can a candidate who has hauled in $600 million in donations (a third of which may be illegal?) give a rat's rump about a $20,000 travel bill -- even having the nerve to see something ironic in after Palin got rid of the governor's private jet. Are we supposed to believe that these limousine liberals don't know how small a dent $20k would make in a private jet's annual fuel bill? What does "Air Force O" cost per junket? How about hangin' with the Hollywood Gulfstream set?

Please.

OBAMA INFORMS HIS
OVERSEAS CONSTITUENTS
OF HIS CABINET CHOICES
(AND MAYBE HIS OVAL OFFICE DRAPE MEASUREMENTS)

The Times of London seems to have been handed the Red Box containing President-elect-but-not-yet-elected's plans for his new administration, scheduled to begin on November 5, ten weeks before inauguration day.

Beldar (Bill Dyer) at Hugh Hewitt has it covered:

For Secretary of Defense, The One is is looking to the Republican whose own bad judgment most closely duplicated Sen. Obama's own in fervently opposing the Surge and demanding that we surrender in Iraq on a strict timetable: Sen. Chuck Hagel. In January 2007, Sen. Hagel was quoted as saying that the surge would be "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out."

And for the National Leader of the International Mother-May-I Team — excuse me, Secretary of State — Sen. Obama's leaking the name of Sen. John F. "Global Test" Kerry. Sen. Kerry, you'll recall, has splendid foreign policy credentials, having left behind in a Massachusetts closet his uniform as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1970 (and perhaps again in 1971) so that he could travel to Paris and meet secretly and in mufti with our Viet Cong and North Vietnamese enemies. John McCain and his fellows were still POWs when young Kerry returned to urge — yes, you've got it — an immediate American surrender and withdrawal without preconditions from South Vietnam, which by the oddest of coincidences was exactly the same "peace plan" being preached at that very moment by our enemies themselves.

The only potential glitch in this plan is that Kerry may be re-classified as a WMD — specifically, a wide-area narcoleptic weapon.

Shocking. Brazen. Insanely dangerous. The geopolitical decisions of a naive child, choosing deputies who are demonstrably more naive than I feared even Obama himself was.

This is most of it. Read the rest here.



What's that thing they call the secret nuclear codes? -- the "football"?

SHOCK!!

I'M SHOCKED!
WE'RE ALL TOTALLY SHOCKED!!

Now that Democrat Barack Obama has been holding a solid lead of 6-10 points over Republican John McCain for several weeks, the debates are over, and nothing but one uppity plumber stands between Obama and the Oval Office,

COLIN "General Teflon" POWELL

ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA

FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED RACE , er, STATES




Am I dissing Mr. Secretary and Joint Chiefs Chair for endorsing the Obamessiah? No -- he can endorse anybody he wants. It just don't impress me-- and that's nothing new. I lay claim to breathtaking consistency, in that I have never really had any use for Colin Powell, one of these men who, ya know, just can't "commit." Specifically, commit to

--rooting out reports of possible atrocities in Vietnam;*

--coughing up the facts on his (admittedly tangential) involvement in Iran-Contra;*

--adequately arming our troops in Somalia because he didn't approve of the nation-building exercise;

--taking out Saddam Hussein after the First Gulf War because it would have been, I dunno, rude?;

--working for action to follow his much-touted 2004 declaration that genocide was being perpetrated in Darfur. We all remember those inspiring words:

Mr. Chairman, some seem to have been waiting for this determination of genocide to take action. In fact, however, no new action is dictated by this determination. We have been doing everything we can to get the Sudanese government to act responsibly. So let us not be preoccupied with this designation of genocide. These people are in desperate need and we must help them. Call it a civil war. Call it ethnic cleansing. Call it genocide. Call it 'none of the above'. The reality is the same: there are people in Darfur who desperately need our help.

I seem to recall that "none of the above" ended up ruling the day.

[*notice how extremely liberal are the publications linked here -- bet they're singing a different tune today]

And then there's Powell's unconscionable silence while Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were interrogated to shreds, in the guise of finding out what prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and Colin Powell both knew from the get-go of the Valerie Plame Name Blame Game: that it was Powell's deputy and bosom buddy Richard Armitage who was the source of the non-criminal "leak" of Valerie Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak.

Powell, Buddha-like, maintained his impassive expression and his "what-me-worry" detachment while innocent men were hounded over and over again, until one of them finally screwed up and contradicted himself. This matter alone should have made Powell too ashamed to show his face in public again.

So now we have Powell's ringing endorsement of the most fit man to be president. Here are his latest inspiring words:

I know both of these individuals very well now. I've known John for 25 years as your setup said. And I've gotten to know Mr. Obama quite well over the past two years. Both of them are distinguished Americans who are patriotic, who are dedicated to the welfare of our country. Either one of them, I think, would be a good president...

... I have watched him over the last two years as he has educated himself, as he has become very familiar with these issues. He speaks authoritatively. He speaks with great insight into the challenges we're facing of a military and political and economic nature. And he is surrounding himself, I'm confident, with people who'll be able to give him the expertise that he, at the moment, does not have.

... I think we need a transformational figure. I need--think we need a president who is a generational change. And that's why I'm supporting Barack Obama. Not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Senator John McCain.

[emphases mine]

Wowsers.

Can I just make one comment, as someone who has lived most of my life in an outpost of the British Empire?

Americans do not elect a "figure" to the office of President -- they elect a politician, a policy-maker, an executive, a military Commander-in-Chief. The Queen of England is a "figure" -- she has no direct executive or policy-making authority. She does not "rule" or even "govern" in any real sense of the word (despite the fact that the majority party in Parliament is referred to as "Her Majesty's Government" -- that's an epithet of loyalty, not one of obedience or even "consultation" in any real sense of the word).

Are we clear? If Secretary Powell wants a "figure" he is free to emigrate to someplace where such is considered necessary to the state. On the plus side, monarchies have a built-in "generational change" -- after the aged Elizabeth's reign is over, her place will be taken by her outstanding son (gack). Or, if God is indeed an Englishman, the crown will pass right on to her far more appealing (and probably more intelligent and slightly more calcium-enriched) grandson Wills.

Go for it, General Teflon. British Airways has these cool bed-thingies in Business Class.

Apparently Secretary General Teflon has taken such a very long time to make his endorsement decision because he has been working diligently to inform himself about the candidates' stands on all the iss-yews. That's how he learned all about the man that young Barack Obama shared an office with for three years (in what Powell calls "this very, very limited relationship"!) :

I have no truck for William Ayers. I think what he did was despicable, and to continue to talk about it in 2001 is also despicable. But to suggest that because Mr. Barack Obama had some contacts of a very casual nature--they sat on a educational board--over time is somehow connected to his thinking or his actions, I think, is a, a terrible stretch.
[emphasis mine -- for gawdsakes buy a paper, Colin!!]

Well, I may be in a minority among Republicans, but Powell's endorsement of Obama has done nothing to diminish my respect for the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. 'Cuz my opinion of him weren't so very high to begin with.


Department of Keep Your Friends Close,
and Your Enemies Closer:

WITH ENDORSEMENTS LIKE THESE,
WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?

Over on Planet Biden, after both Presidential candidates received a preparatory FBI briefing on national security matters, Old Joe apparently soiled himself, promptly went out on the stump and produced this series of gems:

Mark my words. it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.

I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate. And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right.

Gird your loins. We're gonna win with your help, God willing, we're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy.

Joe said all this. Literally. Between him and Powell, anybody getting nervous yet? Remember where you heard it first, folks -- his vice-presidential running-mate and his highest-profile endorser have, within a 24-hour period, both let us know that Barack Obama is not, at this moment, quite up to the job. But he'll learn. He's got "steadiness" and curiosity" (yee-ha), not to mention that:

... because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.

It's called "tripe."


RANDOM MEDIA NUGGETS AND THOUGHTS:

MSM indifference to the hottest stories of the year continues unabated. Is there going to be any interest in Obama's massive possibly illegal foreign contributions between now and a special prosecutor? Anybody got some steadiness or curiosity about this?


It seems to be important to the MSM that Joe the Plumber Wurzelbacher practices plumbing without a license. I wonder why they don't have much of a problem with the fact that a bajillion illegal immigrants have no license to even be in the country, much less to work at jobs like Joe's, but they're doing it anyway, with no end in sight, and a whole lot of flak being flung at anyone who suggests that this situation should not stand.


In the same vein, reading the transcript of Colin Powell's interview on Meet the Press, one can't help but come away with this question: Why is all-but-retired old Republican appointee hack Colin Powell subjected to far more pointed and uncomfortable questions about his career (except, mystifyingly, on Iraq and the surge) than Democratic candidate Barack Obama has ever been asked by any mainstream reporter, ever, ever, anywhere, anytime, at all??? Huh?


Wonder-boy Mark Steyn produces another laugh-a-minute skewering of the media bloodhounds who have ripped Plumber Joe's unremarkable private life to bits, while having no apparent interest in the public life of the Man They Would Make President. Had me chucklin' the whole way through. Favorite exchange:

We need you down here checking out this Joe the Plumber," editors barked to journalists.

"But I'm this close to wrapping up the Wasilla Town Library banned-book investigation!"

"Forget it! The Atlantic Monthly is claiming Joe the Plumber is Trig's real father. We can't get behind on this. Get to Minneapolis Airport. Joe the Plumber was seen in the bathroom with Sen. Larry Craig."

"Yes, but he was installing a stopcock."

"Look, you went to Columbia School of Journalism. This is what we bold, courageous journalists do. We're the conscience of the nation. We speak truth to plumber."

Videos Worth A Look

There's a site with a set of simple and straightforwardly presented videos that all lead to one proposition: what will life be like under an Obama administration? Let's "Never Find Out." Here's a good one:



And here are some words of encouragement for those Baldwins and Streisands and Sarandons and other mutable moonbats who keep threatening to move away when Republicans win elections, but never actually go through with it. Hey, you! Pack up your troubles in your Gucci kit bag, and point the limo north! It's easy -- here's how:


What did Canada do to deserve this?

[hat-tip David Warren]

NEWSFLASH!

SCRAPPLEFACE EDITOR ENDORSES OBAMA --
FOR JUNIOR SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS

Mostly 'cuz he's COOL. He's so cool that:

--At a recent concert and political rally, when Bruce
Springsteen got ‘The Fever’, he skipped the Tylenol, because his friend Barack was there. When The Boss sang ‘I’m on Fire’, Sen. Obama extinguished him.

--When pondering the fate of an aborted infant, accidentally born alive, he can dispassionately discourse on whether the mother’s right to privacy, under the Roe v. Wade amendment to the Constitution, should continue until the baby’s first, or second, bounce on the delivery room floor.

Now that's cool. Read the rest here.