Nobel Committee Jumps the Shark

Yasser Arafat was bad enough, but this is just silly.

Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

One is tempted to ask “for what?” but that too is silly. I mean, he was evidently nominated two weeks after being inaugurated, so it’s clear he hadn’t yet done anything. That’s part and parcel of the man’s career to date: nothing substantive, just basically getting full marks for showing up with a sharpened #2, no need to actually take the test.

Of course, the real reason Obama got the most cheapened award going? He isn’t George W. Bush. Heh, that man is going to bedevil their little lefty psyches for a long time.

Corzine Me a River

Oh this is terrible. The man who once led Goldman Sachs (one of the evil rich according to The One), a man who swooped in to save New Jersey, finds himself hat in hand. Awwwww.

Jon Corzine bought his senate seat for upwards of $60 million and then the governorship of NJ for another $40 million or so. Now, to be fair to JC, the voters of NJ swallowed what he was peddling. Of course, higher taxes and lower employment later, Corzine no longer looks like the solution. Indeed, even the parachuting in of The One will not likely help. It appears Corzine is headed for a well-deserved retirement. But before that happens, it’s delightful to see the man who bought his previous political positions have to go hat in hand.

Heh.

Sarah Palin Resigns

I had heard the rumors than Sarah Palin might not run for reelection as Governor of Alaska. I had even heard some rumors that she might resign. I discounted them all.

Well, it turned out to be the case. And now there are many speculating on what has motivated her. Let me, at the outset, dismiss the classless crowing of the democrats. It’s truly shocking how willing they are to kick someone when they’re down. They were afraid of her, and they’ve succeeded in removing her from the national stage.

I’m disappointed. Sarah Palin was a voice for reason in a culture of politics which is insane. She understood average Americans in a way which Obama – the One – will never. Her exit from the political stage diminishes us all.

We have a problem in our Republic. The right people are consistently driven from office or discouraged from running in the first place. The liberals have hounded Sarah Palin from the first, mostly because they feared her. They were afraid she would undermine their view of what America should be and for that reason they targeted her for destruction. Today, they succeeded.

I take Sarah Palin at her word, and accept that she was tired of the unrelenting liberal attack on her. An attack that saw at least fifteen ethics investigations – all of which found in her favor – which saw Letterman attacking her children, which saw her vilified in Vanity Fair. The latter mostly McCain operatives who having run the worst presidential campaign in memory wanting to blame Sarah Palin rather than themselves or their candidate McCain. The latter is the worst, since only McCain can be held responsible for the fact that he ran a pathetic campaign, and but for Palin would have been toast in July of ‘08.

However, at the end of the day. Sarah Palin must face the music. No one can blame her for not wanting to subject her family to endless vituperation. No one can blame her for wanting to be free of baseless ethics investigations which have cost her serious money to defend. Money she likely doesn’t have because unlike most politicians on the national stage, she isn’t rich.

However, one cannot overlook the fact that she’s ducking the job. Quitting if one must say it. I don’t know if she has political plans in the future – some are saying it. But this conservative cannot support her in the future. Harry Truman said ‘if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.’ Well, Palin has gotten out of the kitchen. That means she can’t stand the heat, and can’t be president.

This conservative can no longer support her in any national political ambitions. I do that with sadness, as I considered her to be one of the bright lights of our political future. She is no longer so, driven from the scene by the relentless persecution of the liberal media. While I lament her lack of fortitude (guts which I do not personally possess), I also lament the damage to the Republic this day. No doubt liberals are rejoicing that Palin will not be a threat to Obama in 2012 and that’s what liberals do. Power is all they really care about. This can be seen in how they projected that Bush would illegally retain power in 2004 and 2008. It can be seen in how they respond to the democratic actions against the budding fascist Zelaya in the Honduras. Democrats don’t actually like democracy unless it produces the results they like. (Q.v. Gore’s attempt to steal the election on FL in 2000; Gregiore’s successful stealing the election in Washington in 2004; Franken’s successful stealing of the election in Minnesota in 2009.) Democrats have learned how to take power despite the will of the people. I hope to live to see the balance redressed short of revolution.

The threat of personal attacks, or endless wrangling about which votes are counted always benefits the democrats. It undermines public confidence in our elections. The democrats say they want every vote counted. Nonsense. When push comes to shove, they only want to count votes which put them in office. If it isn’t close enough to contest, and some republican shows some potential, then they seek to hound that person from office. Democrats at the end of the day are not fans of democracy.

Today, the liberals have succeeded from hounding Sarah Palin from office. I don’t buy the pundits’ line that she’s positioning herself for 2012 or 2016. She committed political suicide today and I think she knew it. I think she’s ok with it because her family came first. Indeed, Alaska came before her political ambitions, and it was clear the liberal attacks were making her ineffective as governor. That the DNC can’t be gracious in victory says a great deal about the democratic party. None of it good.

I’m sorry to lose Sarah Palin as a republican standard bearer. More importantly, I’m sorry to see that the politics of personal destruction have driven a fine public servant from office. Liberals, crowing today, should be ashamed of themselves. That they are not makes this a sad day for the Republic. I wish they understood that.

Update: Mark Steyn says it more succinctly.

Eight Republican Fools

Eight Republican members of congress – fools each and every one if them – have voted for the so-called “climate change bill” according to Reuters.

Those are eight Republican fools who need to lose their next election. I’ll post the particulars when I learn them.

Update

American Thinker names the fools and their telephone numbers. Scroll to the bottom.

McCain Is Too Decent By Half

Senator John S. McCain apparently believes President Barack H. Obama has “done well” as president.

Huh?

What can one say about this? It appears to be symptomatic of the same debilitating disease McCain suffered from during the election: a niceness and decency so pervasive that he couldn’t bring himself to say anything substantive about his opponent that might be construed as a negative or personal attack. That, and his erratic behavior such as suspending his campaign to ‘help’ with the financial crisis torpedoed any chance he might have had.

McCain does lay aside Gitmo and Iran, but is the wellness yardstick really measured by legislative success? If so, it proves the folly of nominating senators to the highest executive office in the land. Indeed, I would rate Obama’s legislative ’successes’ to date as proof of his lack of performance. Exhibit One is the so-called “Stimulus Package” which is obviously doing no such thing as unemployment rises and the economy contracts.

And let’s not forget the budget behemoth, set to exceed all of President Bush’s deficits in one go. Or the defunding of our missile defense programs just as North Korea is testing missiles, nukes, and considering a test in Hawaii’s general direction. Then there would be the Cairo Policy, wherein muslims get a pass and Israel must toe the line, the only exception to the Obama Doctrine of Non-meddlement. Be sure to add in terrorists being read Miranda rights, former detainees exiled to Bermuda, others destined for the States. We’ve also nationalized two-thirds of the American auto industry, much of the financial services industry, we’re about to nationalize healthcare, and public education is in the sights as well. Or Cap & Trade, which will eviscerate the coal industry and cause all our heating and electric bills to skyrocket. I’ve not even touched on the regulations and other changes behind the scenes; one example will suffice: the FDA threat to regulate Cheerios as a drug. Then there’s Iran, where according to Obama we mustn’t even comment when a revolution against the sworn enemy of all Americans is brewing. This isn’t a record in five months of having ‘done well.’ This is a record of making Jimmy Carter look competent.

Which brings us back to McCain. In a sense, it’s understandable that he thinks Obama has done well. After all, the President doesn’t think there’s a difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi and so McCain apparently sees little difference between himself and Obama.

MartiniPundit Adds an iPhone

Well it’s been two years but this 24 year Apple owner has finally acquired an iPhone. I also make this post from it. Not surprisingly, it takes somewhat longer to type. As a result, I imagine this will be a very rare medium.

To cover some of this blog’s normal material, I will say that I have been overwhelmed by the chutzpah of this administration, and often at a loss for words. Would that it were not so.

Perhaps I can add a current Martini photo:

So That’s What They Mean by Patriotism …

Liberals or progressives or whatever we’re supposed to call them today always get incensed at the notion that someone, somewhere has ‘questioned their patriotism.’ Never mind that the person they are accusing of this heinous offense has never (as in never) done anything of the sort.

I’ll do it though. I’ll come right out and say it. President Obama is unpatriotic.

I’ll wait for the crowd to calm down (assuming it doesn’t tar and feather me).

Okay. Why do I say this? Because of the despicable notion that members of our military should  be billed for medical care for injuries sustained in the course of carrying out their military service.

The Obama administration is considering making veterans use private insurance to pay for treatment of combat and service-related injuries. The plan would be an about-face on what veterans believe is a long-standing pledge to pay for health care costs that result from their military service.

But in a White House meeting Monday, veterans groups apparently failed to persuade President Obama to take the plan off the table.

I call that unpatriotic. Shame on Obama.

Universal health care for all except our brave fighting men and women? The man is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.

A glass raised to Ned Rice at Breitbart.

Bob Beckel, Hoo Boy

So I’m watching the new “Hannity” on Fox News which has replaced the old “Hannity & Colmes.” Not a bad effort, but I do find the format lends itself to no-depth analysis as many shows of this nature do. However, among the segments is the “Great American Panel.” Now I know none of my liberal friends think Fox News is fair and balanced, but they are very much mistaken. I tend to catch their 6pm (EST) show with Bret Baier and I know they have liberals on all the time. And conservatives. But this evening, Hannity had Bob Beckel on his panel.

Bob Beckel?

I mean WTF? Bob Beckel may be a bright guy (I have no way of knowing), but he’s the biggest partisan hack in the country. I mean that literally. THE BIGGEST PARTISAN HACK IN THE COUNTRY. He will never admit a lefty did wrong and never admit a righty did right. He has no ability to be honest about politics.

In other words – there’s no point in listening to him. He has absolutely nothing to contribute to the national debate, and having him on negates the liberal voice, which is important to have.

I’m disappointed in Sean Hannity for wasting a chair on his panel.

Obama, Poker Player?

Now he’s a poker player? Just as I’m beginning to think the man knows nothing other than oration I learn he plays poker. Oh. Bring. Him. On.

But seriously, in an insightful piece in the TimesOnline, Tim Reid offers some useful commentary:

What was most striking about the budget – including that it will explode the federal deficit to $1.75 trillion this year, its highest since the Second World War – was that it was a ruthless declaration of how Mr Obama intends fundamentally to change the American social contract, from Right to Left.

Its goal is not just to rescue the economy. It is to crush conservatism, end the age of anti-tax, anti-regulation policies that have been the guiding philosophies of US governance for a generation, and usher in a fresh “epoch”, as his aides call it, of New Deal-Great Society wealth redistribution and central intervention that were repudiated by Ronald Reagan 30 years ago.

I think its goal is the latter —crush conservatism. It was pretty clear all along during the election that one could not square Obama’s centrist rhetoric with his hard-left past. If the economy is saved in th process, that’s actually not so good since it will necessarily result in less government influence in the private sector. Can’t have that.

But there is also this:

Mr Obama and his aides are particularly attracted to the notion, put forward by the Yale political scientist Stephen Skowronek, that most of the truly transformative US presidents – and there are only a handful – followed failed ones. They include Thomas Jefferson after John Adams, Lincoln after James Buchanan, Franklin D. Roosevelt after Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan after Jimmy Carter.

I immediately noticed the flaw in this notion —all the ‘failed’ presidents on this list (Adams is questionable) were one-termers. George W. Bush was a two-term president. The parallel is further marred by the fact that most of Bush’s alleged failure is a media creation and attributing the failure of others during Hurricane Katrina (q.v. former governor of Louisiana and once and present mayor of New Orleans) to the President. Bush’s real failure was that he never managed to control his image.

But to return to Obama’s ego, one of the things that has struck me about him since he first walked on the national stage, is his singular lack of accomplishment. He has consistently managed to get himself promoted without actually doing the job he was hired to do. One might think there’s no place to go once one gets hired as POTUS, but Obama apparently does. He’ll join the pantheon of ‘transformative’ presidents.

This time, Obama will actually have to work to get there. As he’s obviously never done that before, I’m not that optimistic. But since I don’t want to go where Obama wants to go anyway, it may be for the best in the long term. In the short term however, we’re all in deep and getting deeper.

More here from Charles Krauthammer.

Democrat Spendulus Bill Passes

The Democrats have their Spendulus Bill.

The Senate approved an $838 billion economic recovery package bill Tuesday, as Democrats held on to the few Republican supporters who helped hammer out a compromise measure last week.

The bill passed on a mostly party-line vote of 61-37. Sixty votes were needed. Three Republicans joined Democrats in passage.

Those three were Maine senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe along with Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter. The two former are practically democrats anyway, as are most Republicans in New England. Apparently, Commerce Secretary-designate and putative coatroom-boy Judd Gregg of New Hampshire abstained. Wouldn’t want to have to face the new boss after saying no, he couldn’t wreck the economy further.

Here’s another example of elections have consequences: the policy of throwing Federal money after economic crises has failed every time it’s been tried. It failed in the 1930s. It failed in the 1960s. It failed in the 1970s. It failed in 1993 (the economy in Clinton didn’t take off until after the Republicans took control of congress in 1995). It failed in 2008.

Based on this dismal track record, I predict it will … fail.

Here’s what works: lower taxes, regulation, and keep the dollar strong. This succeeded when Kennedy did it, when Reagan did it, when Clinton was forced to do it, and when Bush 43 did it in his first term.

Obama doesn’t have a clue about any of this. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool lefty who is convinced in his bones that this time it will work, if only because he’ll do it right. Or something.

Democrats never learn, but maybe, just maybe the Republicans have. This albatross must now go into conference to be reconciled with the house version, where it passed without a single Republican vote. Assuming they hold firm, three RINOs in the senate do not a bi-partisan bill make. The Democrats own this thing. Lock, stock, and pork barrel.

Update: More here and here.

Ding Dong the Daschle’s Gone II

Who knew there’d be a second post of this title? Daschle’s gone again.

Well, as I said before, Daschle’s brand of mendacity has no place in government, not in the legislature and certainly not in the executive. Nice to finally see a democrat held to the same standards republicans are in their behavior.

And as for Obama, now with two tax cheats to his credit – hope and change? Sounds like same-old, same-old to me.

Update: Make that three tax cheats.

Just So – Remember

A fine new blog called America Ad Nauseam has appeared. As near as I can tell, it started in August, but has already been featured on The American Thinker. Clearly, this is a blog worthy of continued attention, as this recent post indicates.

Money quote:

Republicans must remember and learn from a key mistake of the Bush administration. Too often Bush was content with letting history be his final judge. Ultimately, this is the case with many presidents, but it was not wise to merely leave it at that when full throated and compelling policy defense could and should have been made to the American people. Letting the opposition define him is what led to his abysmal approval rating. If you let someone lie long and loudly enough without opposition, people will regard it as reality.

That Didn’t Take Long

Michelle Malkin posts that gunmen have fired at the US embassy in Yemen.

Gee, Obama’s been in office less than a week. But I suppose it’s somehow still Bush’s fault. 

One of the reasons that I cannot pull the lever for a democrat for president – indeed the single most important reason – is their fecklessness on matters of national security. Do you think the hot air coming out of Washington about Gitmo might have something to do with this? All of a sudden, our enemies around the world great and small (and these guys in Yemen do seem to fall into that latter group) know they’ve got a neophyte to deal with. Worse, a neophyte who doesn’t actually take terrorism seriously. After all, they’re talking about turning back the clock and making it a law enforcement matter. Because that worked so well under the Clintons. 1930s economic policies and 1990s terrorism policies. This is not ‘change’ we can believe in, unless Tinkerbell is somehow involved.

Carter Redux – we’re on our way. Elections have consequences folks. They’re just beginning to roost.

Richard John Neuhaus, R.I.P.

Father Richard John Neuhaus has died, succumbing to the cancer he has fought for many years.

I discovered his magazine, First Things, in the early 90s, and it had a significant influence on my intellectual development at that time. I always tried to read it cover to cover, but never missed Fr. Neuhaus’s section at the back. It was the dessert at the end of a satisfying repast.

I never met him, though I did see him once as we walked past each other near Park Square in Boston. I almost turned around to speak with him, but I didn’t. There was a time when one of my friends was a celebrity of sorts (she was in a soap) and we couldn’t go out with her in public without someone accosting her. She never seemed to mind, but I did. And so I respected the privacy of a public figure who happened to be out in public, something I’ve done quite a few times over the years.

I’m not sure what I would have said in any event. Probably thank you for making me think, and sometimes laugh. We’re going to need that more than ever in the next few years, and this will make Fr. Neuhaus’s absence more poignant. 

More here from Joseph Bottum, editor of First Things.

Apparently, Everyone Voted for McCain

An interesting phenomenon has developed over the last few weeks. As I posted before the election, I know a surprising number of people who planned to vote for McCain. Obviously, that number was smaller than it seemed.

Now, even here in Massachusetts, McCain topped 30%, though he didn’t equal Bush’s performance of roughly 38% four years ago. I did speculate that my own informal survey was just that — informal.

Yet it continues. Against all expectations, people are still claiming to have voted for McCain — even at a dinner meeting to which I was privy where people had come from all over the country. An odd situation, reminding me of the New Yorker columnist Pauline Kael who wondered how Nixon could have won inasmuch as she knew no one who had voted for him. 

Yet, I have to assume that these people are telling the truth for who would lie about voting for McCain? It’s like Clinton’s popular vote after the 1992 election — he won after in the polls having lost it in the reality. Would that it were so with McCain in the reality of the election, but it was not so.

I don’t know what to make of this bizarre phenomenon. It must surely be a part of my unscientific poll, but it also tends to rub salt in the wound.

Reconstitution Complete

It’s done — all 1216 original MartiniPundit posts (including the seven that were never publicly published) are back. All have the right date, and most have the right time. For a small but significant number, I didn’t have completely accurate time stamps, and I had to try to interpret those. I apologize for any imprecision there, and will certainly correct any where better information comes to light. Unfortunately, the comments and trackbacks are next to impossible to transfer and so I’ve reluctantly had to proceed without them. Thanks to all who’ve visited past and present.

This is the last Site Meter visitor count as of early September 2008 which I’ll also add to the right:

This Map Is a Lot Less Red than Last Time

One of the more interesting bits of election analysis is to look at the results not at the state level, but the county level. It actually puts the lie to the notion that a ‘national’ poll means something. Behold:

A few things stand out to me:

McCain carried just one county in New England.

Obama made serious inroads into the Bush counties from 2004, but interestingly, almost all in a largely contiguous fashion. Obama took Kerry’s counties and added adjacent ones.

Florida and Ohio can be carried by targeting a relative handful of counties.

The 2004 map is here.

In Case Anyone Forgets

Obama isn’t president yet.

AT on McCain’s Loss

A very good read over at the American Thinker on McCain’s loss. Key quote:

… McCain’s (and our) downfall: You can’t bring moderation to an ideology fight. An honorable, sincere moderate who is behind really hasn’t a chance against a cynical ideologue who is ahead. Obama simply dissembled at the debates, while McCain’s tongue-tied references to Ayers, ACORN, Khalidi, “most liberal senator,” etc., sounded unfairly abrupt, even desperate. Maybe they were? To the bitter end, McCain refrained from “bringing Jeremiah Wright into the campaign,” even though Hillary had…Why not? 

It wouldn’t have looked moderate enough. 

History and Grace

As I listen and read, there are many congratulating Senator Obama on his victory. Most are talking up the historic nature of this election, some — like McCain — are being gracious. The pundits at Fox are sounding like Obamacons. 

Since I believe America has just been bamboozled, I’ll skip the preliminaries. Yes, this is historic. The first black man has been elected president. I personally thought it would be someone else, as I’ve posted before.

Meanwhile, despite John McCain’s gracious concession, I intend to give Mr. Obama exactly the level of support his supporters have given President Bush. Which is to say, none.

Some would say that we must all come together as Americans. I say, that should have been the case eight years ago. I have no intention of stopping my fight for this country just because one election has gone another way. Make no mistake, I believe Barack Obama is the enemy of America. He is the agent of change to be sure, but not the change we need. He is the agent of change to turn America into a socialist state. He is the agent the same way Lenin was in 1917, Mao in 1949, Castro in 1959, Ho Chi Minh in 1975, and Pol Pot in 1976.

I’ve never been on their side, and I’m not on Obama’s side.

I could be wrong – Lord knows I have been before. However, I don’t think so. The leopard does not change his spots. And I intend to call’em as I see’em.

In other words folks, I’m back.