As I said, I am not a fan of George Bush.  Other than judicial nominations and tax cuts, he has not impressed me much.  But the level of partisan attacks is simply amazing.  There are plenty of Democrats I dislike intensely but I cannot imagine going to such lengths to demonize them.  What makes Democrats so unable to act rationally when it comes to George Bush?  I know, they all think he stole the 2000 and 2004 elections but that cannot be all there is too it because it’s not just Bush they do this too.  Harry Reid and others tried it with Rush Limbaugh and got humiliated for their trouble.

I wonder how this country can possibly pull together and move forward as one nation with so many willing to go to such lengths to destroy others.  Hillary Clinton and Democrats in general love to bemoan the politics of personal destruction but the reality is they not only invented the strategy, they have elevated to an art form.  They are constantly assisted by their willing accomplices in the media, like Chris Matthews asking such an asinine question to Garamendo above.  And much of their rank and file seem to just eat it up.  There is never any shortage of moonbats willing to come out to prevent some conservative from speaking somewhere.  But you never see similar actions from the right.  Doesn’t this tell you something?

Whether you are a conservative or not you must admit that conservatives are far more rational.  We don’t go around making wild accusations and blaming liberals for everything from the sun rising to the rain falling.  And we don’t make any effort at all to silence those with whom we disagree.  We are perfectly content to debate the merits of our arguments.  Not so liberals.  They cannot tolerate dissenting opinions unless it is their dissenting opinion.

So if you are a liberal give this a little thought.  If your argument is superior, why can’t you let it stand in the arena of ideas?  If your ideas are better, why do you need to personally attack those who disagree with you rather than debate their arguments.  The only real reason anyone ever has far such actions is they don’t believe their arguments can prevail.  Otherwise why go to such lengths to silence or discredit your opponents?  Of course, lust for power might just enter in somewhere.

When I spoke to Mark May [sic-Mays], he and I thought this probably wouldn’t make much money-a letter, written by Democrat Senators, complaining about something…[T]he [final] bid [was] more than two million for this… Never did we think that this letter would bring money of this nature… I don’t know what we could do more important than helping to ensure that children of our fallen soldiers and police officers who have fallen in the line of duty have the opportunity for their children to have a good education.

These are the words of Senate Majority Leader “Dingy” Harry Reid. I cannot imagine the nerve required to actually take credit for the $4.2 million raised. Reid and the 41 Senators who signed the letter were challenged by Rush Limbaugh to individually match the winning bid, just as Limbaugh himself was doing. The winning bid ended up being $2.1 million so with Rush’s match the total was $4.3 million. Reid didn’t match a single cent! But the man still took credit for it. He has no shame!

Reid is following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Tom Daschle. You will recall that Daschle was continually shocked at anything conservatives did. You will also recall that Daschle received his walking papers from his constituents in 2004. Reid is on track to follow Daschle right out of office. Power Line Blog yesterday reported that Reid’s approval rating in Nevada is below President Bush’s and it appears to be falling.

Reid and his Democrat colleagues in Congress have yet to figure out that the American people are sick and tired of partisanship for the sake of partisanship. Even a poll on the DailyKOS asking the question, “Do you approve of the way Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doing his job?” has Reid with 82% saying no with more than 15,000 responses as of 7:30 this evening.

I would not argue against partisanship when there is a clear difference on policy. But Congressional Democrats, lead by Reid and Pelosi, are determined to take any action to deny President Bush a victory if they can and it is taking a toll on them. Congressional approval ratings are consistently lower than President Bush’s, taking away the ability of the Democrats to point to Bush’s low ratings. Doing so focuses attention on their own even lower ratings.

Republicans, on the other hand, are benefiting right now. Whether you are agree with them or not, they appear to be taking principled positions rather than engaging in politics as usual like the Democrats. Should Democrats continue on their current path into the ’08 elections it will present an opportunity to Republicans. Conventional wisdom says that Republicans will suffer more losses in the House and Senate in ’08. That view is further bolstered by the fact that so many Republican incumbents in Congress have announced they will not seek reelection next year. Yet the environment is ripe for Republicans, if they can unify behind a conservative message and solid candidates, to spank the Democrats. Should that happen, it will impact the Presidential election as well. We are accustomed to candidates riding a presidential candidate’s coat tails but this time around it could conceivably be the other way around. This isn’t a prediction so much as it is a possible strategy if Republicans will only do it.

It seems that jetBlue is a sponsor of the yearly KOS convention.  You know, the web site that promotes views like the world would be better off without Tony Snow when he came up with cancer again.  Or how about promoting the idea that radical Islamic fascists have a right to attack US forces?  Or the Pope is a primate?  Or “better luck next time” when there was an assassination attempt on Vice President Dick Cheney?

jetBlue has had its problems and last year it nearly went belly up.  Still, I supported them because they benefited consumers.  Now, the new CEO has decided that the way to promote his airline is to get in bed with radical leftist web sites.  I think they’ve made a huge mistake.

Ford Motor Company has been sinking for over a year because of a boycott sponsored by the American Family Association due to Ford’s sponsorships of gay events.  But Ford is big enough to take it for a while.  JetBlue isn’t.  I can tell you that I will fly ANY airline except jetBlue.  There is no chance at all that I will spend my hard earned money with a company that actively supports such extremism.  And I think lots of other people will agree with me and vote with their wallets.

I’m not the sort to go after someone because they don’t agree with my views.  I’m a fan of Google, even though Google is clearly run by liberals.  But there is a line between holding differing opinions and promoting hate of the sort that DailyKos spews every day.  The DailyKos may be a very successful web site but that doesn’t change the fact that they are sickos who want to see America destroyed.  They don’t just hold a different opinion.  They want all those who disagree with them to die!  And they aren’t shy about saying so!  I don’t care how broad the exposure is, I could never ethically justify sponsoring such a web site just to advertise my product or company.  jetBlue clearly thinks it’s okay.  What do you think?

UPDATE:

Thanks to Jenn Sierra for tipping me to this update on billoreilly.com.  It seems that jetBlue has changed its position.  According to the article, jetBlue has a long history of supporting the troops.

So it appears that there is a happy ending to this one.  jetBlue has seem the error of its ways.  I suspect that the sponsorship was the result of a lack of knowledge of what the DailyKos actually is.  Now they know!

We’ve been down this road before and all the evidence says the government isn’t serious about controlling the border or doing anything about illegals already here except to give them a pass. Of course, that just creates more incentive for more illegals to cross the boarder the government has shown no interest in securing. So why on earth should we trust them when they tell us that “under the bill” this and that will happen.

Chertoff, et. al. know this full well. Lindsey Graham knows this. All of them know this. We’ve said it ad nauseum! They simply choose to ignore what we say and go on calling us bigots and talking about what the bill will do. The fact is, current law calls for a fence that isn’t getting built. Current law calls for border enforcement. There is no need for another law to do these things. Yet Bush, Chertoff and the rest have no interest in enforcing current law. So WHY SHOULD WE TRUST THEM to enforce a new law? There is simply no reason to trust them.

A common definition for insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. The Bush administration and its lackeys in Congress apparently assume the electorate is insane. We should trust them to do the same thing they always done and expect them to actually enforce the law this time! I don’t think so.

I like the idea I heard on the Laura Ingraham show today. Lets just start calling them former, as in former Senator Lindsey Graham and former Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff. I’ve already started working to unseat Lindsey Graham and there is a groundswell against him in South Carolina.

So if you are tempted to buy this line the “under the bill” they will secure the border and there will be a fence and there are triggers, don’t you believe it. They have to earn our trust. If your friend lies to you, you might give them another chance. But if they lie to you repeatedly, it takes a long, sustained effort of earning trust before you will be willing to trust them again. The same is true of our government. Let’s all assume the state motto of Oklahoma: Show Me! The only way they can show me is to start enforcing the law now and sustain that effort for an extended period of time. Then and only then, come back and maybe we’ll talk. But until they do that, there is absolutely no reason to trust them.

 

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Listening to Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter tell about his father and brother immigrating here was just wonderful. What an inspiring story. But what on Earth does it have to do with the situation at hand? Specter’s father and brother immigrated here legally. They came here, submitted to processing, filled out the paperwork and followed our immigration laws. They learned English and worked to assimilate into American society.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham did precisely the same thing last week. The video is below in this blog. He talked about a Hispanic guy in the Air Force that was an inspiration to him. Great! No problem! Does anyone believe that Hispanic man in the Air Force was an illegal alien? Did he sneak across our border and join the Air Force? Of course not. If he was an immigrant at all he was a legal immigrant.

This in contrast to the ever growing flood of illegal aliens crossing our borders. They are not interested in becoming Americans. They have no desire to learn English or assimilate into American society. Mostly they want to take advantage of the services offered here and send money back to their home countries. Did you know that one of the biggest aspects of the Mexican economy is money sent home from America? That’s certainly one reason the Mexican government has been so opposed to any effort on our part to do something about the border.

The Congress can’t seem to understand why the American public doesn’t trust them on this. Could it be that we have been here before? We were told we’d have border security with the immigration reform in the ’80s. Did we get it? Does 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country look like we got it?

Now, rather than engage in an honest debate, they prefer to lie about those of us who oppose this measure. They say we are bigots and xenophobes. They do not acknowledge that there is a difference between illegal and legal immigration. In short, they lie to support their position and, apparently, they believe that if they lie long enough we will buy the lie. Small wonder we don’t trust Congress!

If you guys in the Congress want to gain some credibility, stop trying to shove this sham of a bill down our throats and instead, ENFORCE OUR CURRENT LAWS!! If you do that consistently for a period of time, you might just build up a little credibility. But so long as you insist on playing politics with the American people, so long as they continue to lie and mischaracterize those of us who oppose their position, they have no credibility.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for them to change though. Graham, Specter, McCain and all the rest of the Republicans pushing so hard on this issue are not concerned with what we, the people they represent, think. They somehow think that doing this will enhance their future electability. As for Graham, I think he’s angling for the VP spot with McCain. The problem for Graham is, McCain doesn’t stand a chance of getting the nomination and Graham doesn’t stand a chance of keeping his Senate seat in ’08. His political career as a Republican is all but over. He is already a lame duck and he is blind to the fact.

I can think of no better reason for resurrecting the issue of term limits. Career politicians are the biggest problem in this country. They are far less concerned with what is actually best for this country than they are about the next election. So long as power is the motivating factor, do not expect most of our elected officials to actually honor their promises and act in an ethical, principled manner.

I was on the phone with my father in Georgia last night. He’s been a big supporter of Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. But Chambliss is one of those Republicans working so hard to sell out this country. My dad can’t believe it! I don’t know what all the backroom deals have been. I know President Bush is looking for a legacy in a lame duck presidency and who can imagine what he has promised to Republicans who toe the line on this.

Here’s what I do know. If Republicans allow this legislation to become law, the Republican party is finished for the foreseeable future. All of Harry Reid’s predictions of massive Democrat Gains in the Senate will come to pass. Nancy Pelosi will be Speaker of the House for the next ten years at least. Maybe a solid conservative like Fred Thompson will be able to pull out the White House, I don’t know. But I’d lay odds that we will again be saying President Clinton and that is a future I don’t relish.

Finally, if this legislation becomes law, the Democrat party will be the ultimate winner. The vast majority of the illegal aliens in this country are already indebted to Democrats for the services they currently receive. The Democrats will continue with their vote buying legislative agenda. It could be a generation or more before the Republican party can recover, if them. Why congressional Republicans can’t see that simple fact is quite beyond me.

I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history. The overt reversal of America’s basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me.

Carter made his statements while promoting his new audio book, Sunday Mornings in Plains. The audio book is a collection of weekly Bible studies by the former president.

Republican National Committee spokesperson, Amber Wilkerson, responded by saying, “Apparently, Sunday mornings in Plains for former President Carter includes hurling reckless accusations at your fellow man.”

Carter went on to say:

We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered,” he said. “But that’s been a radical departure from all previous administration policies.

White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, who declined to comment on Saturday, today said, “I think it’s sad that President Carter’s reckless personal criticism is out there. I think it’s unfortunate. And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments.”

Carter also criticized British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a BBC interview, referring to him as, “Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient.” Carter went on to say, “I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world.”

Carter has been on a quest for a legacy since the end of his ignominious one term presidency in 1981. Carter succeeded in collecting a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 but that apparently isn’t enough for the former President. Carter has shown an unprecedented willingness to go beyond simple criticism or President Bush by fully demonizing him.

I’m from Georgia and I turned 18 in 1976. That was my first opportunity to vote in an election and I voted for Jimmy Carter who was the former governor of Georgia. It’s the only time in my adult life I voted for a Democrat. I’ll never forget driving through south Georgia a couple of years later and seeing a billboard on the side of I-75 that read, “We, the farmers of Georgia, apologize to the farmers of America for putting Jimmy Carter in the White House.” I’m sure President Carter was aware of that billboard since it was very close to Plains, Georgia.

Carter has never recovered from the shame of his presidency. He would give virtually anything to replace himself as the worst President. I’m not sure Carter was the worst president of all time but he was certainly the worst president of my lifetime. He can pontificate and make an ass of himself all he wants but he will never change the reality of his position among former presidents. That anyone pays attention to him is the amazing thing. Or perhaps he’s just good for a little entertainment. Still, it is sad to see any former president reduced to such irrelevance. Mr. Carter would do us, and himself, a huge favor by just keeping quiet.

President Bush, along with RINOs Lindsey Graham and John McCain and Democrat Ted Kennedy, have reached a “compromise” for comprehensive immigration reform. That phrase, “comprehensive immigration reform” is code for amnesty. President Bush announced that the plan does not grant amnesty but any bill that allows aliens currently in this country illegally to pay a fine and get on a “path to citizenship” or permanent residency is an amnesty bill.

Virtually no one likes this bill. Backers are reluctant to discuss specifics beyond saying illegals will have to pay a fine and return home for a period of time. It is unlikely that the return home will be enforced or, if enforced, that illegals will have to stay for any significant period of time. How do you track more the more than 12 million people? Maybe set up another inefficient federal agency? And a $5,000 fine is a price many around the world would gladly pay for legal entrance into the united states. Yet those who have not entered this country illegally don’t get any special treatment and path toward citizenship.

Additionally, the Z visa only requires the head of household to return to the home country. His family can stay and there is no real idea of just how long he might have to stay in his home country but one official said it could be as short as one day. Convince me that won’t encourage more illegal immigration! Only a fool could believe that tail.

While this compromise seems historic, it appears there is still an uphill battle. Both conservatives and liberals have problems with it. Conservatives, of course, oppose the amnesty aspect of the proposal. Liberals oppose the change in immigration standards away from uniting families and toward more emphasis on skills.

Still, there is great interest on both sides of the aisle for passing some kind of comprehensive immigration reform this year. With that attitude, it is all but certain that, without outside effort, this will become a reality in some form before it’s all over. Conservatives must stay in touch with their Senators and Congressmen and keep the pressure on. This must be stopped. Amnesty did not work 20 some odd years ago and it won’t work today.

For my money, the way to deal with illegals currently in this country is to make it so painful for companies to employee them that simply won’t take the risk. When illegals find they cannot find work and support their families, much less send money back home, they will go home voluntarily. If there is not reason to be here, why would the stay? The incentives to come here illegally must be removed. That, along with real border enforcement will solve our problem. Then and only then we can look at a guest worker program and at that point, those who can speak English will have an advantage, regardless of whether they were previously here illegally

Meanwhile, Fred Thompson said that the bill and the attempt to create any comprehensive immigration reform should be scrapped until the border is secured. YEAH! That’s a position I can really get behind.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So Graham believes that those of us who oppose illegal immigration are bigots? While I’m sure there are those who simply do not like Hispanics, the vast majority of American’s who oppose illegal immigration do so not on the basis of race; they oppose it on the basis of American sovereignty. They do so on the basis of national security. They do so because illegal aliens are decimating our country.

It has nothing to do with race. I personally welcome immigrants from most anywhere who enter this country legally and follow the prescribed path to obtaining US citizenship. I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is 12-20 million people who come here illegally and continue to break our laws. I’d oppose that no matter what race those people are.

Senator Graham understands all this. He knows full well that we are not racists or bigots. He is simply demagoguing this issue in order to shut us up or marginalize us. Well it won’t work Senator Graham. We will not be silenced. We will not shut up. And I promise that you will have your work cut out for you if you think you will retain your seat in the Senate after the ’08 election. I and others like me will work tirelessly to defeat you because you have no interest in what’s right for America. You are only interested in promoting yourself at the expense of America.

Name for me one other junior Senator with less than one term under his belt who gets 50% of the face time that Senator Graham gets. It is not simply coincidence and it certainly isn’t that he’s so smart and appealing. It is only because Senator Graham does whatever it takes to get attention. As the saying goes, if his grandmother gets between him and a TV camera, she better be darned quick because he will surely knock her to the ground running for that camera.

Hat Tip ALa at Blonde Sagacity

On another front, Reid again shot himself in the foot. This week at the National Press Club Reid said that the war in Iraq is lost.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So Reid believes that the war is lost and the the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State know this to be true. At the same time, Reid does not support withdrawing funding for the war. This is the height of hypocrisy and Harry Reid is on the verge of committing treason. Democrats in general have constantly engaged in activity that encourages our enemies for the purpose of consolidating political power. Now Reid has given considerable aid and comfort to our enemies by declaring that we have lost this war.

Harry Reid is either a moron or he is so consumed with political power that he will do and say anything to gain it. Either way he has no business being in the Senate. His constituents should do whatever it takes to replace him. Tom Daschle discovered that there was a price to pay for demagoguery and it is high time his replacement made the same discovery.

Ironically, a bill in the Virginia legislature, HB1572, never made it out of subcommittee. Virginia’s concealed carry laws exempt state college campuses from the right to carry a concealed weapon. HB1572 would have eliminated that exemption. Had HB1572 been passed into law, students and faculty who had concealed carry permits would have been able to carry a firearm on campus and very likely this crazed gunman would have been stopped long before he killed 32 students and faculty.

Gun control advocates operate under the assumption that gun control can somehow remove guns from the hands of criminals. The facts, however, contradict that assumption. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained guns. We don’t have enough information at this juncture to know whether the gunman at Virginia Tech had a legal gun but the statistics say he probably did not.

The NRA‘s magazine, The American Rifleman, has a column every month dedicated to recounting how legal gun owners stop crime. Case after case is listed where someone legally carrying a gun stops a crime and often kills a violent criminal before that criminal can harm innocent people. The statistics say that people who legally obtain and license hand guns either never use them against another person or use them in the prevention of a crime. It virtually never happens that a person with a legal gun uses that gun in the commission of a crime.

Conversely, criminals are not deterred by gun laws. The old saw is true that when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. A gun in the hands the right person yesterday could have easily stopped this gunman before so many innocent students and faculty were killed or injured.

The calls for more gun control will continue for some time. The Democrat Party will attempt to use this horrible tragedy to advance their political agenda and increase their power. This event will be shamelessly politicized to an enormous degree.

If you want to see the true results of gun control, watch this YouTube video of congressional testimony.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This woman watched her parents be killed by another deranged gunman with an illegally obtained weapon while she was helpless to do anything about it because her right to carry a weapon had been abridged. She said she’d rather be in jail on a gun charge with her parents alive than free with her parents dead. I fully agree. An armed citizenry is the best defense against this kind of senseless violence. Don’t let this horrible tragedy goad you into the knee jerk reaction of more gun control. That is not a solution. It only makes us less safe.

We are taught that the police are there to protect us but in truth, the police cannot protect us and if pressed, they will admit as much. The police are in the business of solving crimes that have already been committed, not crime prevention. If we are to be safe in our schools, our neighborhoods and our homes, we must have the ability to protect ourselves. That is far more difficult if we are disarmed.

In wards 7, 19, 51 in Philly, PA, the crowds are going wild. Inside several voting locations, individuals have poured white out onto the polling books and the poll workers are allowing voters to go into the polls and vote without first registering. Several individuals are on hand demanding that voters vote straight Democrat.

RNC lawyers have headed to the scene of the incidents, which are occurring in mostly Hispanic precinct locations. The District Attorney has also been contacted.

(more)

I have no independent confirmation and haven’t seen anything on the news about this yet. Stay tuned for updates.

UPDATE: I’ve searched every news source I can find and have been unable to find any confirmation for this story.  The only mentions I do find all source back to redstate.com so no help there.  My instinct tells me that if the report was true, it would be fairly widely reported by now.  The bottom line is, I cannot confirm the validity of this story and until it can be conformed it must be considered no better than rumor.

For the next couple of hours I will be unable to follow up on this story.  Please check other sources until later today.

UPDATE II:  Here is a story from CBS3 News in Philadelphia that seems to corroborate the original story.  I am still unable to find ANY other mention of this on MSM sites.

It never ceases to amaze me how liberals can at once accuse the president of being stupid, dumb, illiterate, and a whole host of other descriptions indicating his lack of intelligence while simultaneously giving him credit from some of the best planning and strategy anyone has ever seen in orchestrating all the events they claim he is responsible for. How can an idiot be so successful at thwarting Democrat plans? And if Bush is indeed and idiot, what does that say about Democrats and their inability to defeat him in general?

The list of events liberals believe George Bush orchestrated to raise his standing and hurt Democrat prospects is impressive indeed. A Google search for the term “Bush orchestrated” turns up all of the following.

• the 9/11 attacks
• the Katrina disaster
• the Valerie Plame affair
• the story of the interdiction of an Islamic plot to blow up airliners en route to the US to raise his approval ratings
• lower gas prices prior to this election

Given sufficient I have no doubt the list could grow larger than the totality of this blog. Nevertheless, the point is made that liberals have given George Bush tremendous credit for planning and implementing some pretty big conspiracies. Yet at the same time they never tire of telling us just how simple minded, how stupid Bush is. Once again, a simple Google search for the term “Bush is an idiot” turns up 3,130,000 hits.

Whether or not the Hussein verdict will have any impact on the election remains to be seen. My own feeling is that if there is an effect, it will be so small as to be immeasurable. But Democrats love a conspiracy and they particularly love an excuse. And make no mistake, this charge of Bush involvement in the timing of the Hussein verdict is all about Democrats having an excuse if they don’t prevail on Tuesday. As Eric Hoffer put it in The Passionate State of Mind:

There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day; we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.

The fact is, Bush is no idiot. If Democrats actually paid attention instead of looking for excuses they’d understand that. In the present case, not only have the accused him of orchestrating the verdict to be announced today, they also lament the fact that he has no control over the Iraqi government in general and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in particular. So once again, the Democrat schizophrenia is manifested with diametrically opposed positions regarding Bush.

The sad fact is, most liberals hate the military. They hate everything about the military. They hate the very idea of a military. They see soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines as subhuman and evil. John Kerry merely put in words what most liberals have believed for decades. All you have to do is read the moonbat blogs to see this is true. For example, Pamela Leavey at The Democratic Daily had this to say (H/T ALa at blonde sagacity):

Talk about speaking the stark truth to students who want more out of life. The education system in California is a mess, especially in L.A. County. Each day I pick my daughter up at school I see the recruiters leaving, smiling because they have snagged another kid who’s trapped by the system and sees no future other than enlisting. It shouldn’t be like this. A 50% drop out rate is unacceptable. What is the bottom line for these kids, a job at McDonald’s or Iraq. Kudos to Kerry for delivering a wake up call to the young voters at the rally (wingnuts are all wet on their claims).

Some will be tempted to read Leavey’s remarks and conclude that she is just some nut on the left, that no one takes her seriously. But nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, Leavey speaks for a growing majority of Democrats.

This is the choice we face next Tuesday. I am as disgruntled as anyone over the way Republicans in Congress have grown fat and happy, adopting many of they way their Democrat predecessor acted before them. But the fact is, there is still a difference. The Democrats still believe that military might is unimportant and, indeed, counterproductive. They believe there is no problem, no difficulty that cannot be solved through negotiation. They expect everyone in the world to respond to rational arguments. (This has always bemused me considering Democrats don’t respond to rational arguments.)

In five days we will go to the polls. While I still predict the Republicans will hold majorities in both houses, I am not so confident that I don’t think we need to work for it. If they do pull it off, my hope is they will have had something of a wakeup call in this close election. but even if they don’t, even if they continue spending like drunken sailors, we are still far better off as a country with them in charge as opposed to the Democrats. At least they get the idea of national security and fighting a war.

As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.

There you have it. I leave it to my readers to decide from themselves whether that was a genuine apology or self serving crap. Given Kerry’s history, I know where I fall on that question.

Today I write about the response of Democrats to Kerry’s actions. Watching Hannity and Colmbs last night I was amazed to see Alan Colmes defend Kerry, constantly repeating Kerry’s defense as if it was believable! Colmes repeated Kerry’s assertion that it was crazy to think that a war time veteran would ever do such a thing. Selective memory is wonderful thing, isn’t it? Colmes and other Kerry defenders seem to forget that John Kerry has a history of attack our troops in war. Going back to his testimony before a Senate committee during Vietnam, Kerry has repeatedly made baseless accusation against our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Most recently he accused the troups in Iraq of terrorizing women and children in the dead of night! Democrat supporters pretend these and other Kerry fax paux never happened. Even this Senator John Breaux is on TV defending Kerry along with countless Democrat strategists and politicians.

No one but John Kerry is responsible for the words he spoke. He alone can be credited with the content of his remarks. But as the Democrat nominee for President in 2004, Kerry is not just any Democrat. He was the leader of his party and as such, others in his party must deal with what he says. They, however, along with him, continue to defend him and blame Republicans. As I said yesterday, you can tell a lot about a man by his response to his own mistake. The same is true of groups. Do they take responsibility and deal with the situation or do they attempt to blame others, thereby shaming themselves?

The answer in this case is clear. Like Senator Kerry, the Democrats refuse to deal with the issue, preferring to blame Republicans for the fact the issue even exists. Their presidential nominee said what he said but it’s all Republican’s fault. Yes indeed, you can tell a lot about people and groups by how they deal, or fail to deal, with their mistakes. Like Senator Kerry, the Democrat party doesn’t measure up and it will end up hurting them next week.

They obviously understand, on some level at least, that this is a problem for them. Senator Kerry had numerous campaign stops planned for the coming days, stumping for various Democrat candidates. No more. No one wants to be seen with Senator Kerry. Democrats know he was wrong and they know he should apologize. They just can’t bring themselves to say so.

You can tell a lot about a man or a group by how they deal, or fail to deal, with their mistakes.

Technorati Tags: Kerry, Democrats, Troops, Education

Many times my estimation of someone has gone up following a mistake they’ve made. That is because they took responsibility for their mistake and did what it took to make it right. Others who made mistakes refused to take responsibility. They attempted to pass the blame off to someone else. Those people do not get my business or my respect.

Today John Kerry has not measured up as a man. Last night John Kerry made a statement basically saying that our soldiers in Iraq are those who were not smart enough to do well in school. By his own statement there are 150,000 service men and women serving in Iraq who were not smart enough to do something else. Lest you doubt my analysis, here are Kerry’s own words. “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

I don’t see how that statement can be understood to be anything but an insult to our best and brightest serving in Iraq. Yet today John Kerry made a strident speech refusing to apologize for his statement. Instead, he blamed Republicans for “politicizing” his words. Kerry spent several minutes detailing what he sees as the Bush administration’s willingness to distort and politicize anything in America.

It seems to me that Kerry was doing just what he is accusing the Bush administration of doing in his remarks last night. He used the men and women serving in Iraq, making them political pawns in his efforts to gain a Democrat majority. Political discourse in America has sunk to an amazing low and it is being lead by the likes of John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. These demagogues are willing to say anything, do anything, to further their political aspirations. What they end up doing is demonstrating again and again that they aren’t intelligent enough to make a simple statement, much less lead this country in a time of war.

Mr. Kerry, I thank you. You once again demonstrate for all of us just who and what you are and why we have worked so hard to keep you from achieving higher office. Thank you for the assist this close to the election. Thank you for showing us one more time what is wrong with the Democrat party.

Watch the video

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Certainly everyone, including the Bush administration, prefers diplomatic solutions over military solutions. But rational people understand that sometimes, diplomacy isn’t enough. Diplomacy failed utterly with Nazi Germany. Was that because Great Britain and others didn’t have effective diplomats? Was it because their approach to a diplomatic solution was the wrong approach and another might have worked? Or was it simply that Hitler was not going to be deterred by diplomacy? Was it that Hitler was willing to milk the diplomatic process to gain more time to achieve his goals.

Generally speaking Republicans subscribe to the second set possibilities. Democrats, it appears, subscribe to the first. They seem to believe that there is no situation that cannot be solved diplomatically. The only question is, what is the correct diplomatic approach? Based on this belief, every situation that results in military conflict is a failure of diplomacy in the sense that whoever directed the diplomatic effort chose the wrong diplomatic course. The implication is that another approach would have been successful.

Interestingly, when a Democrat is in the White House, Democrats in general are much less willing to apply the standard they espouse when a Republican is in the White House. What does that imply? Well, it implies one of two things, neither of which is flattering to Democrats.

The first possible implication is that Democrats don’t really believe what they say they believe. It implies that they agree with us that, in the end, some situations do not have a diplomatic solution and require military solutions. But they are willing to pretend to a belief in order to politically harm a sitting president.

The second possible implication is that Democrats do believe what they say they believe but they are unwilling to apply it to a president from their own party because it would be politically damaging to do so.

Either way, the implication is that, for Democrats, politics trumps belief. Political advantage is more important than principle. Another word for that is demagogue. Indeed, either way you slice it, you come up with Democrats being demagogues.

Yes, there are times when diplomacy fails. Every administration wants to exhaust the diplomatic options before moving on to more hostile, militaristic options. Every administration understands that, while diplomacy must always be pursued, sometimes it will fail. Failure, however, does not automatically mean that the approach was wrong. Sometimes it simply means diplomacy was never going to work. It has to be tried but it will not always work. That means diplomatic failure does not necessarily say anything about the attempt or the administration making the attempt.

Democrats, however, see in diplomatic failure, an opportunity to score political points. Since the greatest good, in their view, is for them to regain power, it is always acceptable to demagogue an issue for political gain. The end justifies the means, in other words.

We now face a dangerous situation with North Korea. One commenter on another site said he didn’t see how Bush could possibly be helped by the North Korean nuclear test. He said, “All it shows is that yet another piece of their national security approach has been a dismal failure.” In his view, Bush is responsible for Kim Jong Il’s actions. It never occurs to him that Clinton’s approach was no better and, arguably, may have been worse.

It must ultimately be accepted that diplomacy has little chance of working with any leader who cannot be trusted to honor the agreements he makes. Kim Jong Il made specific agreements with the Clinton administration. He did not keep them. Is that Bush’s fault? It is not and .iIt is irrational to expect a liar to keep his word.

The situation Bush now faces remains, for the moment, a diplomatic one because we don’t have a lot of military options just now. But eventually we will have to make military options. North Korea is not going to change and if they are allowed to continue in the direction they are headed, it will embolden other megalomaniacal leaders to pursue similar policies.

In the end the real diplomatic failure will be the failure to recognize when diplomacy is at an end. It has been said that war is merely diplomacy by other means. True diplomatic failure is the unwillingness to accept that diplomacy has ceased to be fruitfuland it is time to move on to “other means.”

H/T Protein Wisdom

Click here to view the embedded video.

One thing is certain, Bush does benefit from change in subject. Democrats have worked tirelessly to take national security away from Bush with little success. While many on both sides are unhappy with the situation in Iraq, most people support the overall “war on terror.” Democrats have had little success changing that

Kim Jong Il’s actions work to refocus the debate back on national security and away from the Foley scandal, good news for Republicans trying to hold on to their congressional majorities. Democrats, meanwhile, are working feverishly to keep Foley at the top of the news. The Daily Kos today has little mention of North Korea. The top three posts are about the Foley scandal and Democrat predictions about conservative voters. The top post, Cheer and Jeers: Tuesday, is a collection of quotes from liberals about the Foley scandal. Quoted are Cokie Roberts, Maureen Dowd, Eleanor Clift and Clair McCaskill, liberals all. Dowd, undoubtedly an expert on the subject, expounds about what conservative women think about Republican leadership’s action in the Foley case.

The first paragraph of this post is, of course, fabricated, although I feel confident that some of the loonier moonbats on the left actually believe it. Liberals are not happy that the debate is moving away from Foley. They are working overtime trying to refocus national attention back on House leadership and their perceived failures. Look for liberal bloggers and pundits to work overtime over the next couple of weeks in an attempt to knock North Korea out of the top new spot. They want Foley leading the news cycle and they believe they can keep him there until election day.

Unfortunately for liberals, national and international events are not particularly cooperative. Events have a way of moving and happening in unpredictable ways so the best plans liberals can come up with stand little chance of controlling the news for more than a day or so. Voters, too, know more than they are given credit for, when they are being manipulated and liberals run the risk of alienating voters with constant barrages of negativity.

All in all the next few weeks look to be politically very interesting. The mid-term elections have shaped up to be as close and as divisive as the last two presidential elections have been, largely because of the divisive nature of the extreme left. Win or lose, it should be a fun few weeks watching liberals squirm and gyrate trying to find the story that will sink Republicans.