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POPSThe Democrats' Fairy Tale
And the improvements in Anbar could never have been sustained without aggressive American military efforts — efforts that were more effective in 2007 than they had been in 2006, due in part to the addition of the surge forces. Last year’s success, in Anbar and elsewhere, was made possible by confidence among Iraqis that U.S. troops would stay and help protect them, that the U.S. would not abandon them to their enemies. Because the U.S. sent more troops instead of withdrawing — because, in other words, President Bush won his battles in 2007 with the Democratic Congress — we have been able to turn around the situation in Iraq. And now Iraq’s Parliament has passed a de-Baathification law — one of the so-called benchmarks Congress established for political reconciliation. For much of 2007, Democrats were able to deprecate the military progress and political reconciliation taking place on the ground by harping on the failure of the Iraqi government to pass the benchmark legislation
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POPSMessiah Lies About His Senate Committee Assignment John explains the rest: But Obama is not a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Obama just made that up so he could count the committee's action as one of "my deeds." If committed by a Republican, this would be a gaffe of historic proportions. Even a Senator as inattentive to his duties as Obama certainly knows what committees he serves on. For him to fabricate the claim, out of whole cloth, that the Senate Banking Committee is " committee," strikes me as another sign of Obama's megalomania. That, plus more evidence that he is totally at sea without a teleprompter. Illinois Senator's Record Of Inaction Leaves Him Discredited WASHINGTON, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by the Republican National Committee: As Chairman Of The Subcommittee With NATO Oversight, Obama Has Failed To Hold Any Hearings On Afghanistan:
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POPSAnti-Obama Movie On The Way: Citizens United One prominent Citizens United movie is “Celsius 41.11,” which says it tells the “truth behind the lies” of the Michael Moore movie “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Other Citizens United movies are critical of the United Nations, illegal immigration, and the American Civil Liberties Union, while one movie promotes Newt Gingrich and his ideas. The conservative group is also looking to the U.S. Supreme Court for help in advertising the anti-Hillary movie. It is opposing a federal regulation, under the McCain-Feingold Act, requiring that a disclaimer that identifies the group be placed at the end of television ads promoting the movie and criticizing Mrs. Clinton. It is also arguing that it should not have to disclose how much it spent to produce the movie and the ads, nor who contributed to it. The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide next week whether it will hear the case.
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POPSEurope's Governments Immune To Obama-Fever BERLIN (Reuters) - European fans will cheer on U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama as he visits Berlin, Paris and London this week, but governments wary of his inexperience and evolving policies fear the euphoria is overdone. Largely an unknown quantity in Europe, the Democratic contender is due to land here on Thursday, kicking off the second part of a foreign tour that began in the Middle East with a speech on trans-Atlantic relations in the German capital.
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POPSObama's Berlin Speech At Brandenburg Gate Controversy Obama, a first term Illinois senator, is planning a trip to Europe and the Mideast this summer to bolster his foreign policy credentials -- one of the strong points of his Republican opponent, John McCain, in the November election. The German government has denied that Washington put pressure on Merkel to block the proposed Obama speech. German newspapers reported Bush administration officials had signaled their reservations about Obama speaking at the landmark. A focal point of Cold War tensions, West Berlin was kept free during a Soviet blockade six decades ago by a U.S.-led Air Lift. Since then, American leaders from John Kennedy to Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have delivered major speeches in Berlin.
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POPSMAKING IT: How Chicago Shaped Obama. There was also a more general belief that, after Obama won the 2004 United States Senate primary, he ignored his South Side base. Preckwinkle said, “My view is you have to bring your constituency along with you. Granted, you have to make some tough decisions. Granted, sometimes you have to make decisions that people won’t understand or like. But it’s your obligation to explain yourself and try to do your supporters the courtesy of treating them with respect.” Ivory Mitchell, who for twenty years has been the chairman of the local ward organization in Obama’s neighborhood—considered the most important Democratic organization on the South Side—was one of Obama’s earliest backers. Today, he says, “All the work we did to help him get where he finally ended up, he didn’t seem too appreciative.” A year ago, Mitchell became a delegate for Hillary Clinton. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lizza?printable=true
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POPSFreedom Rider: Obama's Iraq "Fairy Tale" The latest case of buyer’s remorse concerns Obama’s statements about his plan to visit Iraq in the near future. “I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed. And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I’m sure I’ll have more information and will continue to refine my policies.” It may be helpful to take a trip down memory lane and fully dissect the fairy tale of the anti-war candidate. In 2004 Senate candidate Barack Obama did not brag about being against the occupation of Iraq e was far more circumspect, criticizing president Bush only for badly managing a war of aggression, and emphasizing that he was not that much different. "There's not that much difference between my position and George Bush's position at this stage. The difference, in my mind, is who's in a position to execute."
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POPS"A Bridge Too Far" For the past two weeks, Obama has moved quickly toward the center. He has reversed his previous positions for gun control, against using faith based institutions to deliver public services, against immunity for tele-communications companies that turn records over to the government in terror investigations, for raising Social Security taxes, for imposing the Fairness Doctrine on talk radio, and a host of other issues. In his effort to move to the center, Obama has distorted his own record, meager though it may be, and is taking credit for a program he strongly opposed. http://www.newsmax.com/morris/obama_ad_/2008/07/07/110599.html
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POPSABC Poll: A Careful Balance Between Left And Far-Left 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton... No mention of the 54 for McCain. Maybe it wasn't bias --- maybe they just randomly picked five out of the 60 who didn't favor McCain. Never mind the odds of that happening are roughly 1 in 100,000. It was just luck of the draw! Luck of the draw, I tell you!
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POPSObama’s Weakness With Voters: Democrats Problem With White Voters has become the hot topic among many who say racial bias explains it. Of course it would be naive to believe that race is not a factor in America today. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Mr. Obama’s relative weakness among white voters is solely, or even mainly, due to the fact that he is black and that three quarters of voters this year will be white. In 1991, when I wrote a book about how the Democrats were failing to deal with their white voter problem, I ran into a number of editors who wanted to know why anyone would care — and not too subtly wondered whether looking at the reasons for their disaffection might be too politically touchy. White voters, as a group, are more likely to favor a limited role for government here at home and a more aggressive posture overseas. In general, polls show Democrats — and a disproportionate share of black voters — favor a smaller, less adventurous military and a larger role for government on the domestic front.
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POPSProfoundly Superficial who were conveniently at hand. What would one more war crime matter in a record already so monstrous? At Nuremberg, the Soviet Union was invited to sit in judgment of its old partner in aggression — on a charge of waging aggressive war. To wit, the war of aggression that the Soviet Union joined with Nazi Germany to ignite in September of 1939. Barack Obama would have been on sounder ground if he had cited the proceedings at Nuremberg not as an example of justice but irony. Sen. Obama usually responds directly to the question he’s asked rather than riding off in all directions. He pays his interlocutor the courtesy of careful attention and a respectful answer. But once Barack Obama is no longer trading in some staple of his party’s appeal — identity politics, say, or class warfare — and starts messing with history, he demonstrates only the most tenuous hold on his subject. And he winds up, again like Bill Clinton, sounding profoundly superficial.
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POPSIt's All About Obama Americans overwhelmingly find it a hopeful, optimistic sign that the country could elect an African-American president. But they rightly want to know what kind of leader he might be. They may well reject as cynical any maneuver to discourage close examination of him by suggesting any criticism is racially motivated. The candidate's self-centeredness has been on display before. Having effectively sewed up the Democratic nomination, he could have agreed to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations (states Hillary Clinton had carried). While reducing his lead by 50 to 55 delegates, it would not have altered the outcome. But Mr. Obama supported cutting these battleground-state delegations in half. At a time when magnanimity was called for, the candidate decided he'd strut. In a contest over who is willing to put principle above personal ambition and self-interest, John McCain, a war hero and a former POW, wins hands down.
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POPSYou Can't Fool All of the People All of the Time Instead of Drill! Drill! Drill!, their motto could be: Kill! Kill! Kill! In response to skyrocketing gas prices, liberals say, practically in unison, "We can't drill our way out of this crisis." What does it mean? Finding more oil isn't going to increase the supply of oil? It is the typical Democratic strategy to babble meaningless slogans, as if they have a plan. Their plan is: the permanent twilight of the human race. Liberals complain that -- as Obama put it -- there's "no way that allowing offshore drilling would lower gas prices right now. At best you are looking at five years or more down the road."This is as opposed to airplanes that run on woodchips, which should be up and running any moment now. Clinton proposed a 26-cent tax on gas. John Kerry said it should be 50 cents. Gore endorsed the Malthusian proposal of Paul and Anne Ehrlich in "The Population Explosion" hat taxes gas gradually
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POPSObama: It's Only About Winning But here's what's scary: For all of Kerry's reputed smoothness and Eastern intellect, he often tied himself in knots trying to reconcile his absurdly opposing positions. Obama can flip and flop with unmatched alacrity and facility and with the absence of self-consciousness and accountability of an accomplished sociopath . This guy doesn't even acknowledge he's changing positions; he does it without breaking a sweat and never looks back. I ask you to consider the common thread underlying these turnarounds his nearly immediate backtracking on whether Iran poses a serious threat to America; his progressive position shifts on Iraq from "don't go in, stay in, and get out"; and his vigorous defense then abandonment of both his pastor and his church. The common thread, in a word, is expedience. It is not toughness; it is not savvy; it is not gravitas; and by all means, it is not admirable. Barack Obama is every bit as politically calculating as Bill Clinton but twice as smooth.
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POPSDivvying The Spoil$ HILL AND BARACK READY TO HAGGLE Only $10 million can be spent in the fall after the party conventions, leaving Obama with $33 million to carry him through the summer months. McCain, who will accept public financing, will have $84 million to spend in the general election.
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POPSThe New Meaning Of "Politics Of Change" * Obama repeatedly vowed to meet with various heads of terror states - most notably Ahmadinejad of Iran - "without preconditions." Then, with the nomination in sight, he zigzagged: "There's no reason why we would necessarily meet with Ahmadinejad. He's not the most powerful person in Iran." * In October, he supported NAFTA expansion. In March, campaigning in the Ohio primary, he called for a "reopening" of the trade pact's terms. This week, he called his own primary rhetoric "overheated" and said NAFTA has had a positive effect on the US economy. Change, yes. But "change we can believe in"?
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POPSDems Running On Empty: Sen. James Inhofe Not only was I joined by dozens of GOP Senators, but nearly 30% of the Democratic Senators rebelled against their leadership and opposed the Boxer Climate Tax Bill. In the end, Senator Boxer only had at most 35 Democratic Senators willing to vote for final passage on the largest tax bill in U.S. history. The Boxer Climate Tax Bill was thoroughly disowned by Democratic Leadership and The Wall Street Journal aptly noted that environmentalists are “stunned that their global warming agenda is in collapse.” Just a few days after the embarrassing defeat of the climate bill, the Democrats were at it again. As the price of gas at the pump continued to climb, Democrats were proposing yet another energy tax as part of their “solution” to our energy challenges. A major component of the Democrats’ “no” energy bill would reinstate the Windfall Profits Tax. Democrats want to impose the tax despite the fact that we tried this almost 30 years ago, with disastrous results.
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POPSWhen Obama Is Off The Teleprompter I suspect this is why John McCain is so eager to get Obama into those town-hall meetings Obama seems intent on avoiding. McCain has been doing them for 25 years and is very good at them; it’s a mark of how good he is at them that he doesn’t make career-threatening gaffes during them. McCain wants Obama off that teleprompter, which is sound strategy. But he can’t make Obama go anywhere Obama doesn’t want to. The media pose a different challenge for Obama.
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POPSThank You, Big Oil Ms. Clinton says, "We need a president who's a fighter, who will take on the oil companies." What we need is a president who will take on the US Congress and get them to stop strangling both the American public and energy companies with taxes and regulations; a president who will call congressional leaders of both parties on the carpet, publicly expose their hypocrisy, and demand that they take immediate action to repeal the smothering burdens they have shackled all of us with and which have caused skyrocketing oil prices. So the next time you feel like blaming the oil companies for the price of gas, why don't you call your congressman instead; I suggest that you get down on your knees and thank God for the brilliant minds of oil company engineers, geologists, chemists, and executives who - in spite of the US Congress - have the creativity and courage to provide the energy that keeps all of us alive and enjoying our modern way of life.
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POPS"Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses" The academicians' theme songs are "Kumbaya" and "Imagine," while Jacksonians prefer Toby Keith: "Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses." It was when they lost their warrior edge that Democrats started losing the White House, winning only in unusual circumstances such as the Watergate scandal or in that brief window in history (from the fall of the Berlin Wall through September 11) when foreign threats had faded out of the picture. "Priests . . . write books and sometimes verse," and indeed, Obama wrote two of them. Their campaigns become crusades, fueled as much by an inchoate longing for a 'new politics'. "Obama is not at all a warrior, and is something of an academic," writes Barone: He is all college campus and not at all boot camp. He has campaigned consistently as an opponent of military action in Iraq. He is up against John McCain, a true Jacksonian if ever there was one. Of course, he dispatched another Jacksonian in Hillary Clinton.
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POPSObama and Iran:The Democrats Modern-Day McGovern Judging from last week's address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Sen. Barack Obama doesn't want voters to see him as soft on Iran and its genocidal President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranians "understand - sometimes, it seems, better than a lot of Americans do - that if American power collapses in Iraq, if we abandon our allies" then "our position throughout the region will become much weaker and Iran's position much stronger," Lieberman added. The Senate - including well over half of the Democrats - voted for the amendment, which passed 76-22. Obama, who was absent, said he opposed the amendment because it could be used as pretext to invade Iran. Obama denounced Kyl-Lieberman as "reckless" and criticized his chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for supporting it. However tough he tries to sound when talking to AIPAC, Barack Obama's real sympathies are with the George Soros/MoveOn.org wing of the Democrat Party.
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POPS"Vetters" Search For Obama Veep Jones, a Vietnam vet born in Kansas City, MO (swing state alert!), was a career military officer rising to one of the highest posts possible. Being the least known potential veep, it shouldn't be surprising that the vetters have to spend more time on him in their various conversations on the Hill. But the fact that he's being, um, added to the very long short list, is an interesting development. Besides Jones, the other names on the list bandied about with congressional Dems include (and not in any order): Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, Evan Bayh, Kathleen Sebelius, Ted Strickland, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Jim Webb, Bill Nelson, Jack Reed, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Tom Daschle, and Sam Nunn. You'll notice a few names NOT on this list (that's not my exclusion -- hint hint). Besides Jones, I'm told the two other names that invited extended discussion were Biden and Strickland. Take this chatter for what it is -- chatter.
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POPS 'Uncommitted' Votes Rankle Clintonistas "Count Every Half Vote!" To prevent this nomination theft, Democrats decided to count only every half vote. This means Mr. Obama needs to win a few more superdelegates to gain a majority, and it isn't sitting well with the Clinton camp. Senator Clinton is now saber-rattling about challenging the Michigan ruling at the Denver convention. Her feminist supporters are also suggesting that their heroine is the victim of "sexism." Meanwhile, if the superdelegates do give the nomination to Mrs. Clinton, many of Mr. Obama's supporters will cry "racism." The identity politics that Democrats love to use against Republicans has now come back to haunt them.
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POPSHouse Liberals Want About $60 Billion In Defense Spending Cuts But McCain could feel some discomfort because his campaign views Hispanics as a crucial voting bloc. His support for shifting emphasis from defense to social programs could help him appeal to that group. The calls of liberal groups and lawmakers come at a particularly awkward time for Obama. During a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Wednesday, Obama proposed sanctions on Iran that analysts viewed as far tougher than what he suggested before. Now Obama must balance tough talk on national security with the desires of many Democrats to slim American military power. Specifically, they want to steer money away from what they call “Cold War-era” weapons systems, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Liberals have also called for cuts to the ballistic missile defense program, the F/A-22 Raptor, the V-22 Osprey and the DDG 1000 Zumwalt Class Destroyer.
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POPSWhat's On The Michelle Obama Rant Tape? Her rant was fueled by the crowd: they reacted strongly to what she said, so she got more passionate and enraged, and that's when she completely loses it and says things that have made the mouths drop of everyone who's seen tape. The "tape" is a DVD that Trinity United sold on its website, and possibly offered free for download up until March 2008 when Trinity's site was scrubbed and the DVDs were no longer offered for sale. This outburst happened just one month before the 2004 Democratic Convention, when Barack Obama delivered the keynote address. Bill Clinton spoke during the Conference, as did Bill Cosby and other speakers, but not at the panel Michelle attended.
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POPSObama Wins Democrats Nomination Primary race draws to a close in South Dakota and Montana | BRIEFING BOOK (pdf) | AP: Clinton Says She's Open to Being Obama's VP | National Delegate Count Tally | Cardinal Suspends Priest From Parish After Anti-Clinton Rant
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POPSClinton Seeks To Go After Obama Superdelegates to travel with her to South Dakota where she planned to campaign Monday. Rodriguez had initially supported Clinton, switched to Obama, and recently returned to her camp. Clinton, meanwhile, said she was still contemplating whether to challenge the decision by the Democratic Party's rules committee to split the Michigan delegates 69-59 in her favor. Each delegate would have a half vote. The agreement granted Obama 55 uncommitted Michigan delegates and four who would have been assigned to Clinton based on the state's results. McAuliffe Sunday night called the panel's judgment "outrageous." "People are angry," he said. "This does not unify our party, this crazy, cockamamie thing they came up with in Michigan." Here in South Dakota, Clinton pressed on against the odds. In a campaign trail reunion usually reserved for election nights, she was to join former President Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, at her last Monday event in Sioux Falls, S.D.
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POPSClimate Bill Underlines Obstacles environmental activists, resent having to vote for anything authored by Lieberman in light of his active support of the presidential bid of GOP Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). And several senators are questioning why they are being asked to vote on a lengthy substitute version of the bill that Boxer and her allies just introduced a week and a half ago. "This is just a money grab," said James E. Rogers, the chief executive of Duke Energy. Rogers says he supports a cap-and-trade system but argues that this bill raises too much revenue from coal users while diverting too much of it to other purposes. "Only the mafia could create an organization that would skim money off the top the way this legislation would skim money off the top," he said. Duke, with customers in Ohio, Indiana and the Carolinas, relies heavily on coal-fired plants.
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POPSFather Pfleger's Support For Farrakhan No wonder Barack Obama has not problem with the prospect of going on a "Great Haters of America" tour of the world. He appears to have no problem empathizing with their views of America-or Israel for that matter. Much more about Pfleger by David Kopel at Volokh Conspiracy and our own Rosslyn Smith.
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POPS’“Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2007 Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2007 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.” The list, in alphabetical order. http://www.judicialwatch.org/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2007
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POPSEPA Head Reverses Decision On Auto Mandatory Caps "Yes, the White House was involved," Davis said in a statement. "Just as President Clinton's White House was involved in 107 agency rule-makings. ... The majority's problem is not with the process; it's with the outcome." The committee also found, as has been previously reported, that career EPA staff was unanimously in favor of granting the California waiver and believed that a denial would not stand up in court. The report detailed previously unreported attempts by political appointees to soft-pedal EPA staff conclusions supporting the waiver in presentations to Johnson, or to avoid committing them to paper. California's law would have forced automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016, beginning with the 2009 model year. Johnson justified denying the waiver by arguing that California is not alone in suffering the effects of global warming and therefore doesn't have a compelling need for its own greenhouse gas standards.
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POPSVeterans’ Groups Pushs For More Predictable VA Funding “It is a lot cheaper to provide veteran care through the VA than it is to provide it by Medicare or Medicaid,” said Violante. “If we put the resources into the VA it would certainly be fiscally responsible.” Congress now appropriates VA medical care funds on an annual basis. Political squabbling has delayed VA funding in 13 of the past 14 years — something that has severely hampered the department’s ability to plan and manage its healthcare system, according to DAV’s talking points. Veterans’ groups say the change would ensure the agency can better handle the growing number of veterans dependent on it for medical care. An added benefit would be that advance appropriations would not fall under pay-as-you-go budgetary rules, which do cover mandatory funding. This means the advance appropriations would not have to be offset by spending cuts or revenue raisers, requirements that make it harder to move legislation.
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POPSSenate Votes To Roll Back Media Ownership Rule "Today the Senate stood up to Washington special interests by voting to reverse the FCC's disappointing media consolidation rules that I have fought against," he said. "Our nation's media market must reflect the diverse voices of our population, and it is essential that the FCC promotes the public interest and diversity in ownership." The FCC decision allows one company to own a newspaper and a broadcast station in the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas. The TV station may not be among the top four in the market, and post-transaction, at least eight independent media voices must remain. The rule replaced an outright ban on cross-ownership. The FCC's media ownership decision has been met with opposition on both sides. The newspaper industry has complained that the FCC did not go far enough, while activists who want to keep big media companies from getting bigger said the agency went too far.
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POPSGoing After OPEC The real energy problem, in other words, isn't Big Oil; it's Big Government. As with so many other things, President Reagan got it right when, not even a week after taking office in 1981, he signed Executive Order 12287 decontrolling the price of oil and gas. He then ordered his secretary of energy to focus on encouraging U.S. companies to find and produce more. It worked like a charm, bringing oil prices down sharply and OPEC to its knees. By 1986, after a 74% drop in the price of oil, some even doubted OPEC could survive. Such would-be monopolies look invincible when demand rises and prices follow. But when supply increases, prices fall and members start cheating, they look pathetic. This pretty much describes the history of OPEC. Reagan's strategy of energy decontrol would work again today . But this time it's supplies, not prices, that need to be untethered.
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