Evenin' all.

Vice Presidents Gone Wild

See if you can match up these Vice Presidents with their personal scandals:

Oh and there's this: 5 Myths about Dick Cheney
Most of what you've been told about Dick Cheney is wrong. Well except for all the warc*ck stuff - that's just a documented medical fact/oddity.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:30 PM | Comments (516)
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"Constitution, live by it! Ron Paul 2012!"

I wish that more people would read the Constitution. It doesn't give you the right to drive drunk. more...

Posted by: Ace at 04:57 PM | Comments (69)
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Bumped from earlier. Again, check out that Professional-Looking Graphic by JohnnyE. It's almost like a real-life Decision Desk.

It is a lot like that. I'm calling both now. We win.

Update (Andy) - results will be available here: NY-9, NV-2 more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:48 PM | Comments (976)
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Allah's pretty psyched.

He thinks that campaigning will be less thorough in Pennsylvania because of this, because, if it's not winner take all, but mostly divided, campaigns may say "eh."

I don't know about that, but I just began thinking about it like two seconds ago.

Question: Generally we sort of assume Pennsylvania's 20 EV's will go to Obama. Because they always go Democratic.

What happens to the electoral math if Pennsylvania is instead something like a 12-8 split?

Isn't that a very, very serious problem for Barack Obama?

Obama would have virtually no chance to capture anything like all 20 EVs. As liberal wags like to say, Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh surrounded by miles and miles of Alabama.

So, he can forget capturing much more than a bare majority of the EVs. Pennsylvania essentially becomes a split.

And now you see the brilliance of Obama's proposed seven bonus states, huh?

Posted by: Ace at 03:45 PM | Comments (59)
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Eh, what's another $1.2 billion between political allies, anyway.

The LAT article says the project is "expected" to result in 900 construction jobs.

This little flashback: Solyndra was "expected" to result in 1200 jobs.

It did, actually. For two years. Now they're in bankruptcy and I don't imagine there will be any spin-off or anything recovered from this sham.

So, $535 million for 1200 jobs... for two years.

You're welcome, America!

Now pass this jobs bill so we can have more successes like this!

Posted by: Ace at 03:28 PM | Comments (98)
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1, even if Bush did cough up loans, how does that help Obama?

2, he didn't cough up loans, so....

The DemocratsÂ’ main defense against accusations of administration cronyism is that Solyndra applied for the Energy Department loan as part of a program created by the Bush administration. Memos prepared by the Republican and Democratic staffs of the House Energy and Commerce committee said Solyndra first applied for an Energy Department loan in 2006. Its plan to build a factory to manufacture a new kind of solar technology was one of 16 projects chosen from about 140.

In January 2009, shortly before President Obama took office, Energy officials reviewed the application. They said that “the project appears to have merit” but did not approve the loan, requesting additional information, including an independent market analysis of the company’s long-term prospects, according to the Republican staff memo.

Um.

Okay.

And then Obama poured $535 million into it, which by the way is now gone, poof!, and at extremely low interest rates, despite the fact that the business plan never made sense.

Loans? Loans are something you expect might be repaid. So, let's call it what it was: a half-billion plus gift from the American taxpayer to Obama's "green" energy donors.

More: White House was all over this, from the get-go.

Newly uncovered emails show the White House closely monitored the Energy Department's deliberations over a $535 million government loan to Solyndra, the politically-connected solar energy firm that recently went bankrupt and is now the subject of a criminal investigation.

The company's solar panel factory was heralded as a centerpiece of the president's green energy plan -- billed as a way to jump start a promising new industry. And internal emails uncovered by investigators for the House Energy and Commerce Committee that were shared exclusively with ABC News show the Obama administration was keenly monitoring the progress of the loan, even as analysts were voicing serious concerns about the risk involved. "This deal is NOT ready for prime time," one White House budget analyst wrote in a March 10, 2009 email, nine days before the administration formally announced the loan.

"If you guys think this is a bad idea, I need to unwind the W[est] W[ing] QUICKLY," wrote Ronald A. Klain, who was chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, in another email sent March 7, 2009. The "West Wing" is the portion of the White House complex that holds the offices of the president and his top staffers. Klain declined comment to ABC News.

I always take "declined comment" to be a reassuring sign, don't you?

As federal authorities examine whether Solyndra misled the government about its true financial state, the Obama White House is fielding fresh questions over why it pushed so hard for Solyndra. Officials with DOE and the Office of Management and Budget are expected to testify Wednesday. Executives with Solyndra, invited to appear as witnesses, will not attend Wednesday's hearing but have told the House committee they will voluntarily appear next week.

Thanks to diggrbiii and TopSecretK9.

Posted by: Ace at 02:53 PM | Comments (111)
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Via Hot Air, some of that there crony capitalism that I've been talkin' about.

PerryÂ’s gubernatorial campaign, for example, received nearly $30,000 from the drugmaker since 2000, most of it prior to his decision in 2007 to order young girls to obtain MerckÂ’s vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Actually, it was $28,500 I've read elsewhere, the "bulk" of which came before the 2007 decision, but no one defines what "the bulk" is. Why don't they include the actual figure, since they have all the numbers in hand?

Why, it's almost as if they're being intentionally vague and rounding up wherever possible. Note that happens again, here:

Merck has also given more than $355,000 in donations to the Republican Governors Association since 2006, which was the year that Perry began to play a prominent role in the Washington-based group, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Ah-he-hem, and that figure is "since 2006," that is, until the present day, and Perry's EO was retracted long, long ago (it never went into effect), so why does Merck continue donating? And, further, why does the media not give us the actual figures again, but instead resort to this helpfully-vague dating terminology ("since 2006")?

The RGA, by the way, supports all Republican gubernatorial candidates, so Rick Perry's "piece" of that sweet sweet Crony Capitalism pie is about, what, one 25th of that figure?

If you think Perry was bought that's fine, but I seem to remember a lot of allegations that Dick Cheney started the War in Iraq "to increase his Halliburton stock value," and to "help his friends at Halliburton," and I remember these allegations being dismissed with a laugh, as there was no actual evidence of any improper influence or compromised decision-making.

But since the Divine Miss S began repeating these allegations (from that darned lamestream media), I see a lot of us have collectively dropped that attitude of "Prove it" and now take any government action made in the vicinity of a donation to be more or less proof positive of corruption.

That's fine, but... Okay, bear in mind Sarah Palin will live by that same standard, too.

Since we're flingin' all sorts of personal-benefit allegations around with no evidence, I'll note it occurs to me that Sarah Palin's monetary stream dries up if there's a conservative president.

On the other hand, if Obama stays in office, she continues to be a sought-after voice of the opposition.

And if a non-conservative (or presumed non-conservative) like Romney defeats Obama, then Palin still has her niche.

But with a conservative titular head of the party? Not as much money.

Since we're casting these sort of evidence-free allegations about, you understand.

And speaking of pickin' winners and losers like Mr. Obama over there and the crony capitalism like I've been talkin' about, a small government conservatism that certainly doesn't subsidize politically-popular failed businesses, that's what I've been talkin' about as an illustration of this crony capitalism.

CNN's Fact Check: Untrue In Parts, Misleading In Others. Crony capitalism.

Update: Merck donated $5000 to Perry for his 2010 election, long after he'd dropped the "mandate." So the amount donated prior to this was $23,500.

It is not clear why they continued making their Crony Capitalism payments to him after he dropped support of Gardasil like a hot potato.

Posted by: Ace at 01:07 PM | Comments (517)
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You know what Jews really don't like?

Jews for Jesus. I have a lot of Jewish friends, and they almost all go banana-sandwich over this. They don't like the invitation to conversion. They do react as if what is being discussed is nearly a hate-crime.

So, of course, only a lunatic would attempt to call Orthodox Jews in New York City as "Jews for Jesus for Turner," expecting such calls to increase Jewish support for Turner.

And no lunatic believes that.

But a bunch of dirty-tricksters are playing Jerky Boyz touchtone terrorists games in NY-9:

The campaign of Democrat David Weprin sent out a press release Tuesday accusing supporters of Republican Bob Turner of organizing an effort to jam the Weprin campaign’s phones. In response, Turner communications director William O’Reilly noted that Jewish residents of the district were receiving phone calls from a phony group calling itself “Jews for Jesus for Turner,” which he called an attempt to scare Jewish voters.

I so hope this jagoff goes down.

Posted by: Ace at 12:41 PM | Comments (133)
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Romney actually doing himself some good in the debates, which I must assume is mostly from the first debate, because last night he was weak.

What the Gallup Organization calls the "positive intensity score" shows Perry holding strong at 24. However, for the first time since Perry surged to the front of the GOP field, Romney's score has increased significantly.

In a new rating just released, Gallup shows that with a month to compare the two men, Romney's score has surged from 11 just two weeks ago to 16 now.

At the same time, the scores for two GOP women have faded. With Perry in the race, Michele Bachmann's score has dropped from 13 to 10. And the train appears to be leaving the station for Sarah Palin's hypothetical candidacy; her score plunged from 16 to 10. The scores for both women are new lows for 2011.

A woman just cried hysterically to me that these new polling scores gave her pet chinchilla a learning disability.

Posted by: Ace at 12:31 PM | Comments (157)
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The complaint filed states that Darrell Issa smuggled semi-automatic AK-47s to Mexican drug cartels, who then used those guns to kill Mexican Attorney Generals and US Border Agents.

Oh wait, that's the charge against Obama.

The charge against Issa? Some of that there crony capitalism that's goin' round.

The five-page complaint, which was obtained by The Hill, accuses Issa of using his position as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to add to his multimillion-dollar fortune.

An Issa spokesman on Monday said the allegations have absolutely no merit and are part of a smear campaign spearheaded by the White House.

The complaint alleges that Issa pressured the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to halt an investigation of Goldman Sachs shortly after he bought a huge stake in one of GoldmanÂ’s high-yield mutual funds.

It also claims Issa used his authority to improperly defend Merrill Lynch, a firm with “which he has a significant financial interest,” the document states.

Isn't Goldman Sachs Obama's biggest donor (top ten, at least), and hasn't Obama done a lot of favors for Goldman?

Just curious.

Of course, by the new standard pushed forth by the Palinites (desperate to kneecap all other candidates to make space for a hypothetical Palin candidacy/media tour), Issa is guilty, because all you need to allege is government action occurring in proximity to some personally-benefiting action. You don't need to prove corruption or bad motive; you just need to demonstrate that X happened at about the same time as Y, case closed.

(Except for Palin, who is immune to this res ipso loquitor automatic-liability rule.)

Thanks to Adam "Jayne F'n' Cobb" Baldwin.

Posted by: Ace at 11:44 AM | Comments (266)
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