Some are bothered by the Palin-skeptics at NRO. Rebut their arguments here.

Posted by: Ace at 10:47 AM | Comments (183)
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I just closed the NRO thread.

For one thing, I don't like piling on political allies just because they (honestly) disagree.

For another, as a reader wrote, doing so seems to suggest we're not interested in debate or dissent, but get angry when our political champions are challenged. We see this sort of thing from the Obamabots. We're better than that.

For a third thing, even though we never get linked by NR and I really don't know anybody over there, it just seems impolitic and impolite. The personal attacks seem over the line to me.

Let me know if you think I'm wrong.

Posted by: Ace at 10:40 AM | Comments (138)
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Ace: I'll reopen the thread with a couple of provisos.

One, keep it a bit lighter in tone or less personal as regards good-faith criticisms.

Two, bear in mind it reads a little Obamabot-ish to see people torn a new one because they aren't as enthusiastic about Palin as you might be.

Three, restrict personal attacks to those who've attacked you on a personal level. Far as I can tell, the only person at NRO to have done this is Brookheiser. As he insulted pretty much the whole of the conservative base in fairly personal terms, he invited a similar response.

Four, I'm going to delete some of the over the line comments, and I hope not to see similar comments.

Five, bear in mind I'm not blaming anyone, really. I didn't start this thread. I understand it's called a flame thread and that implies, well, flames. But I don't think it's a good idea, and would have said so if asked beforehand. I just don't think it's either smart or fair to rip political allies (and good people, mostly, I think) for having an honest disagreement. I'm not scolding anyone, I'm just explaining (and, um, enforcing) my belief that it's just not a terrific idea to tear the ass out of NRO because some of their writers aren't on board with Palin (and one is a prick about it).

Retired (Not Gay) joined in the intended spirit of the thread and took a meant-to-be-funny shot at a Cornerite. I'm not blaming him -- it was a Flame thread -- I'm just expressing my strong belief that this is simply a bad idea, a bad road to go down.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:53 AM | Comments (165)
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This story got lost in all the convention coverage last week.

Farmers Branch, TX, a suburb of Dallas, has been trying for several years now to reduce the effects of illegal immigration in the city. In 2006 the city council passed ordinances to designate English the official language, to train police officers in immigration enforcement, to fine businesses who employ illegals, and to fine landlords who rent to illegals. The ordinance was then passed by a voter referendum 68% to 32%.

The city was promptly sued in federal district court and years of litigation resulted. The rental restriction has faced the most criticism. It requires landlords to obtain and keep evidence that tenants are U.S. citizens or legal residents.

Last Thursday, Judge Sam Lindsay issued a final judgment against the city declaring the rental ordinance unconstitutional and unenforceable. He ruled that it infringed upon the plenary power of Congress in immigration matters and that its use of the phrase "eligible immigration status" was too vague to meet the requirements of due process.

Farmers Branch isn't done yet. It already passed a replacement ordinance which would go into effect 15 days after a final judgment.

Ordinance 2952 [the replacement ordinance], by contrast, would require prospective renters to pay $5 to the city and declare their citizenship or legal U.S. residency to obtain a license to rent a house or apartment. Landlords could rent to anyone with a license. The city would be responsible for checking the tenants' information against a federal database to confirm their legal status.

This one was designed to avoid the constitutional deficiencies identified by the judge. It doesn't place any burden on landlords to decide the immigration status of prospective tenants, nor does it give that power to the city government. Instead, it simply withholds a rental license from anyone the federal government doesn't have listed as a legal resident. Increasingly, courts have upheld state and local laws involving immigration so long as they leave actual immigration enforcement or determinations of immigration status to the federal government.

Lawsuits are already pending over the replacement ordinance. Incidentally, Judge Lindsay has made statements that indicate to me he's already come to a conclusion on it:

"The new ordinance is yet another attempt to circumvent the court's prior rulings and further an agenda that runs afoul of the United States Constitution," he said at the time.

By coming to a hostile conclusion before the replacement ordinance even became operative, is it reasonable for the city to ask if he can carry out his duties with integrity and impartiality?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:28 AM | Comments (26)
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Lindsey Graham disagreed with putting her on the ticket. I was just watching Bob Schieffer with CBS News reporting live from St. Paul, and he did a piece with David Brooks from the NYT where they listed all the negatives about the Palin selection.

They actually referenced Lindsey Graham's displeasure as a negative? Hello? Are these guys fucking paying attention anymore? Jeebus, citing Lindsey Graham as a barometer of what the Conservative Base of the Republican Party thinks is sort of like citing Saddam Hussein as an expert in land warfare tactics.

"Hey Senator McCain. There's someone on line 2 who claims that he's the French Minister of Defense, and he's using a *makes quotation signs in the air with his fingers* time machine to call you from 1939. He thinks that Sarah Palin is the worst choice you could have made, but I'm not sure who he thinks you should have picked. He keeps mumbling something about some Maginot dude. Didn't we vet him back in April?"

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 07:41 AM | Comments (56)
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Maybe I have been living the AoSHQ lifestyle for too long but after viewing the Ortega Taco Sauce commercial below, I am convinced that it contains x-rated subliminal advertising. Whatever it means, it must be effective because I just bought 29 gallons of taco sauce at Costco. Judge for yourself...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:40 AM | Comments (48)
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If Hurricane Gustav makes landfall as a Category 3 or higher hurricane, should the Republican National Convention be cancelled or postponed to avoid being seen celebrating while homes are being destroyed?

I can see some of the concern here, but let's face facts: Even if the Republican Party called off the party, shipped all their delegates to the Gulf Coast to fill sandbags, and donated the whole RNC/McCain campaign war chest to disaster relief, the Mainstream Media would STILL find a way to blame them personally for any damages that occur. There's no way that a genuine show of concern from the Republican Party will get ANY credit at all, so why worry about what the media will say?

Grow a pair, go ahead with your convention, and proceed to go after Obama & Biden like they're a cross between "rented mules" and "red-headed stepkids" (Rented stepkids? Red-headed mules?). Maybe if the Republicans start acting like adults and stay focused on the big picture, the public will finally realize that "feeling your pain" is a bullshit way of saying "I care about your misfortune, but not enough to let you keep an extra 5% or more of your gross income so that you could start saving for a rainy day".

But what the hell do I know? I don't have focus groups and pollsters.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 09:24 PM | Comments (140)
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That's the good news.

The bad news: It's Zogby.

Posted by: Ace at 07:03 PM | Comments (146)
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ItÂ’s almost inconceivable that everything that has been done to rebuild that area in the last 3 years may very well be blown away.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to consider escaping "the mother of all storms" before then.

"You need to be scared," Nagin said of the Category 4 hurricane tearing along Cuba's western coast. "You need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century."

The city's west bank is to evacuate at 8 a.m.

Nagin said the city had evacuated roughly 10,000 people Saturday on buses, trains and planes. Buses from collection points would continue running until midnight and resume at 6 a.m. Sunday, he said.

Gustav hit Cuba tonight but wasnÂ’t expected to weaken much and is predicted to strengthen when it gets into the Gulf of Mexico.

Obviously the danger to life and property is the most important part of this story but there is a political element as well.

The Republican ticket of McCain/Palin will be heading to Mississippi on Sunday to see how storm preparations are coming along and quite frankly since there's not much they can do, to be seen to be caring.

More importantly for them however is the affect the storm will have on the Republican convention. At this point landfall is predicted for Monday evening and no one will wants to see a party going on while lives are in danger.

Louisianan Governor Jindal was scheduled to speak at the convention but he along with other officials from across the Gulf Coast region will obviously be staying home to deal with the emergency. President Bush and Vice President Cheney were scheduled to be in St. Paul on Monday but obviously those plans are subject to change.

This is a pretty unprecedented situation in recent history so there is talk of turning the convention into a relief drive but McCain in an interview with FNC raised the possibility of suspending the convention entirely.

"It wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster," McCain told Wallace.

McCain said that he has been in touch with the governors of the Gulf Coast states—where Gustav is expected to make landfall—and that his campaign would continue to monitor the now-Category 4 storm.

"I'm afraid, Chris, that we may have to look at that situation and we'll try and monitor it. I've been talking to Governors Jindal [La.], Barbour [Miss.], Riley [Ala.], Crist [Fla.], I've been talking to all of them," McCain told Wallace. "So we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers too."

Eventually the politics will shake themselves out. In the meantime, good luck to everyone in the target line, especially any members of moron nation.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:51 PM | Comments (102)
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Interesting, because this is a decidedly non-Tiffany's demographic Obama wants to appeal to - the poor and middle class he claims he wants to "help". For whatever reason, they ain't buying his pitch so far.

Among those who said they shop regularly at Wal-Mart - a demographic group that Zogby has found to be both "value" and "values" voters - Obama is getting walloped by McCain. Winning 62% support from weekly Wal-Mart shoppers, McCain wins these voters at a rate similar to what President Bush won in 2004. Obama wins 24% support from these voters.

The interactive survey shows that 22% of those voters who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in their primary elections or caucus earlier this year are now supporting John McCain.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 06:17 PM | Comments (33)
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