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POPSBowel-stewing self-indulgence of elite liberalism. Here’s a news flash: Not everyone truckles with doe-eyed awe at “America’s royal family.” Some of us don’t even like the idea of American royal families. JFK and RFK had their good points, but they don’t deserve the beatification they receive on a daily basis. As a man, Teddy Kennedy is hardly a role model, and as a public servant he’s not much better. I, for one, don’t think denying poor black kids private-school scholarships (aka vouchers) is heroic. Nor do I think his support for alternative energy, except when it might obstruct his Hyannis Port estate’s views with windmills, is admirable.
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POPSWhat if it were Barack's church? Do you think that would have led the news? A man who's already blaming the government for creating AIDS to kill African-Americans, imagine what he would be saying into any camera that would tape him. Not only would the media suddenly find a way to make a front page story in every single paper, this would squarely be blamed on hateful people like Sarah Palin, not to mention there would be calls to get rid of talk radio already today. We would have riots in the streets, and the media would be more than happy to egg them on.
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POPSAnd where was the press? For partisans, there’s the schadenfreude that comes with watching the Democrats — self-proclaimed anti-corruption zealots in recent years — explain why Blagojevich shouldn’t be lumped in with Congressmen Charlie Rangel (cut himself sweetheart deals), William Jefferson ($90,000 in his freezer) and Tim Mahoney (tried to bribe an aide he was sleeping with not to sue him — and you thought romance was dead) as part of a new Democratic “culture of corruption” storyline
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POPSStop spending Instead of looking to Washington for a handout, the prodigal governors should look to their more prudent brothers, such as Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Noting on Tuesday that Texas currently enjoys a budget surplus, Governor Perry laid out his state’s formula for success: “Texas has created a business-friendly environment where 1,000 people a day move to our state to work and raise a family.” Montana’s Democratic governor, Brian Schweitzer, is no captive to conservative ideology, but he stewards a surplus as well, helped along by Republicans in the state senate. Even in Alaska, where 90 percent of the state’s revenue depends in some part on oil, the price of which has this year fallen by two-thirds, Governor Palin is managing admirably. Raising Wyoming’s taxes to subsidize Californians’ extravagance violates both prudence and federalism; we have 50 different states for a reason.
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POPSThe real Reson he was let go Monegan wanted to rehire retired Troopers at their retirement rate of pay when there were 40 positions open. Palin, wisely, said no, We can hire 40 new Troopers for the less moneya dn they will be able to serve for 20 years. Why would she want half as many rehired Troopers who would only be temporary hires. Monegan sided with his union and went against the Governor. HE was let go for that reason. The rest is circumstantial.
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POPSWords, words, words Time’s Karen Tumulty, who spotted racist goblins in the recent McCain ad criticizing Obama for seeking advice from Fannie Mae corruptocrat Franklin Raines. A parade of congressional witch hunters for Obama also detects the specter of George Wallace behind every policy bush. Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson says conservative criticism of Obama’s community organizing days is code for “black.” Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks complained to the New York Observer: “They are trying to throw out these codes.” In the same piece, Democratic Rep. Yvette Clark divined segregationist intent in Palin’s references to Joe Six-Pack and hockey moms. “It leaves a lot of people out.” And Democratic Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid echoed Time’s Tumulty on the McCain camp’s Obama/Raines broadsides: “The only connection that people could bring up about Raines and Barack Obama is that they both are African-American, other than that there is nothing.”
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POPSThe MSM goes off the deep end Even Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, whom I’d normally consider in another galaxy on the responsibility scale compared to Olbermann (it’s relative), said that, perhaps, the Ayers talk from the McCain campaign is putting lives in danger. Olbermann asked why Palin doesn’t just “cut out the middle man” and call him a terrorist. In fact, Sarah Palin does not think Barack Obama is a terrorist: She worries he doesn’t appreciate the greatness that is America, or he’d have better friends. By late in the evening Olbermann had left no candidate’s mortality alone, saying that during the debate, McCain “did not look like a well man.” MSNBC is not a well network. But don’t infect the rest of us, or give crazy people any ideas or encouragement.
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POPSInjecting her into the body politic Wall Street and Washington were full of people who were “qualified and experienced” in the field of finance. Sen. Barack Obama, for one, has a great deal of experience in the housing field. So do many of his closest advisers. I would have traded some of that experience for a few more leaders with less experience and more courage to buck the establishment and tell the truth about what was happening. This brings me back to Governor Sarah Palin, and why I say that courage and political will are at the very top of the “qualification” requirements for today’s leaders. So the question is, how does Sarah Palin compare on that score with Biden and Obama, for that matter? Very well, I’d say.