I'll see your Chelsea Clinton and raise you Piper "Firestarter" Palin.

Video swiped from The Weekly Standard blog. Go check them out so I feel less guilty.

Posted by: Jack M. at 06:32 AM | Comments (41)
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Anyone know how many electoral votes "New Pennsylvania" has?

I'm betting its capital is Scranton.

h/t The Corner

Posted by: Jack M. at 06:08 AM | Comments (70)
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According to a tip I received on our new Red Acephone (h/t to Mr. Brian C. Ledbetter from Snapped Shot), low-level employees at the University of Minnesota were actively involved in the anarchist protests for the 2008 RNC in St. Paul. The tip comes from an article in the Chicago Examiner, which I am unfamiliar with, but since they have a website and a cool page design I am going to assume that they are the Midwest equivalent of the Wall Street Journal for the purposes of this post.

Am I surprised that University Employees are involved in anarchist political groups? About as surprised as I would be to find out that Madonna is whoring around on her husband Guy again, or as surprised as I would be to find out that Kristie Alley gained back all her weight PLUS 20 pounds.

In hindsight, it figures that the protests had a Minnesota Gopher planning them. They were spectacularly uninspiring, and they folded in the fourth quarter on Thursday, just like their football team seems to do on Saturdays.

I sent the link over to Brian's site instead of going directly to the Examiner's site. Brian's got it linked, and I like to reward tips with traffic, ifyouknowwhatImeanandIthinkyoudo.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 05:53 AM | Comments (21)
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Melanie Philips:

Not only is she young, attractive, clever, witty and feisty; her love for her Down's Syndrome baby embodies hope for the future.

As for her pregnant 17-year-old daughter's proposed shotgun wedding, the priority there is the welfare of the unborn child.

By contrast, the 'right to choose' feminist Left, which also thinks all women have a right to deprive a baby of its father, appears not just callous and selfish, but even downright murderous.

Which is why so-called 'progressives' on both sides of the Atlantic have gone into paroxysms of rage and panic over Sarah Palin.

For she has taken the supposed characteristics of the Left - youth, dynamism, change, excitement and social conscience - and presented them as conservative virtues.

Since the Left habitually shores up its own position by demonising conservatives as nasty, backward-looking, mean-spirited, lifedenying, prejudiced, stupid and boring, it recognises her as a mortal threat - not just to Obama but to its whole political platform.

Posted by: Ace at 11:04 PM | Comments (41)
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I'm in the Chicago area again on business. Hell, this is going to be my second home for the foreseeable future, so I'm trying to get a feel for the area and find interesting places and events to blow some free time.

When I was here earlier this year, I checked out Frank Lloyd Wright's homeplace. That guy was just an incredible architect. Obsessive-compulsive as all hell, which means he'd create the most uncomfortable chairs in the world just because they fit the overall design, but there is no denying his genius.

Today I spent a few hours at Fermilab as they explained their efforts to try and prove the existence of the Higgs boson particle before their evil competitors at CERN power up next week and put an end to the universe. Fermi has an incredible campus, with many walking trails through damn near pristine prairie. Absolutely lovely setting for a juxtaposition of the pursuit of the so-called "God Particle" against the looming threat of the destruction of the world.

Normally such talk of imminent annihilation would make me nervous, and have me thinking perhaps a trip to France to drop an Ionic Breeze in some inconspicuous corner of their ginormous collider was in order.

But then I found out about this abomination to humanity in Elgin called the Scandinavian Day Festival.

The article claims that Food is the star at this festival, and goes on to describe many of the so-called delicassies. I'm sorry, these descriptions are supposed to make me like these sleet-huffing ice-jockeys?

Aebleskiver.

"A delicate pastry filled with seal blubber, yellow ice, and topped with the moulded scrapings of dried lutefisk."

Uff da burgers.

"Uff da" is a Norwegian phrase that means "I find your odor reminiscent of a leprous reindeer anus stuffed with pickled penguin's testes."

The article goes on to describe the goals of these glacier-worshiping snow-pagans.

The festival aims to advance the Arctic Liberation Front, a confederated movement including Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Activities include reindeer hurdles, a traditional dance called "The Arctic Rimmer", an indoctrination service where people are "Scandinized" in Ice-olation chambers with Bjork's '107 Steps' * piped in on a continuous loop, and a Viking encampment.

They must be stopped, and so, am asking for a moronolanche - letter campaign to write CERN immediately and ask them if they could move their start date up to Tuesday, and really, if it's not too much trouble, Monday. Remember, they are French, so try to be diplomatic and leave suggestions regarding their persistent fecal-Roquefort odor to a minimum. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 10:42 PM | Comments (90)
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Mission declined.

I hate to keep making this point, but Obama's spectacularly failed his first attempt at diplomacy. Someone who should be your ally who nevertheless only helps half-heartedly and works against your interests behind your back? Hey, Obama -- Hillary is France. And you seem to have had just as much success with Hillary-France as Bush did with real-France.

The article has several choice nuggets in it apart from the lede:

Although she is 60 and unlikely to have another shot at the White House, Clinton is apparently concerned that she would appear ungenerous to the Republicans' first female vice-presidential candidate if she were to go after her.

It is a rationale that will fuel the belief - lingering among Democrats since Al Gore's failed 2000 presidential run - that the Clintons always put themselves before their party.

...

Her refusal to roll up her sleeves against Palin, who describes herself as "a pit bull with lipstick", has already come under questioning by Democratic apparatchiks. "The strategic imperative right now is to do something about Palin and prevent her cutting through the race," said Democratic strategist Tad Devine.

...

Attacking Palin represents an even more slippery challenge for Obama.

Just before Palin's selection, David Plouffe, Obama's astute campaign manager, looked at the electoral map of the US and declared the national polls less important than the 18 battleground states where Obama had the ground troops, enthusiasm and money to win.

Palin's emergence has upset those calculations and forced the Obama campaign for the first time to re-examine its successful campaign tactics. Obama now has a great need to drive up voter turnout among black people and the young, while staunching defections to McCain from blue-collar workers and women.

I've cut a lot from the article, but Hillary will be campaigning for Obama; just not play the role of an anti-Palin attack dog. In one bit I liked, Obama asked Hillary to campaign like crazy in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which he needs, and Hillary said, Sure, I'll do that, in between campaigning in Texas, where you have no chance of winning but where I have big donors to help retire my debt.

Hint, hint.

Former top Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson also says it's not going to happen, because... it wouldn't be classy, or... something.

For whatever unfortunate reasons, editors and news executives are convinced that two women fighting sells magazines and attracts eyeballs. You can imagine the thinking....if Angelina Jolie vs Jennifer Aniston and Britney Spears vs Christina Aguilera sell copies, what could be better than Hillary Clinton vs Sarah Palin?

Don't hold your breath. It's not going to happen.

It's not in Hillary Clinton's interest, and its certainly not in the interest of Barack Obama and the Democratic party.

You may not remember, but Hillary Clinton is at her best staying positive and contrasting with her opponents on issues...

Democrats are running against John McCain, not Sarah Palin. Running against Gov. Palin instead of Senator McCain would be a mistake...

Clinton-Palin might drive ratings and sell magazines, but it wouldn't be good for the Democratic party, or the cause of women's rights. Some might enjoy the spectacle, but don't expect Hillary Clinton to play along. Hillary Clinton has spent a lifetime resisting quick and easy stereotypes, and she's not about to stop now.

You'd have to think that if money could fix this Obama would have just given her a couple of suitcases of cash by now. He's got a couple of hundred million, after all.

End of the 57 State Strategy: Barack Obama promised to compete in 57 states (50, 57, whatever it takes), but is now cutting all spending in all the states you'd figure he'd lose.

A bit of reinforcement for the above article's point about Obama reevaluating his whole strategy for the first time.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 08:55 PM | Comments (66)
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Like I said:

Team Obama has given its marching orders.

Seriously, everyone chill. You're letting the liberals gaslight you with their constant shrieking, screeching accusations.

The gaslighting and slanders and OMG WE FINALLY GOT SARAH! WOOT!'s issuing from the left of the internet are going to get worse, not better. They're going crazy. Batshit, bugfuck, eyefrigging crazy. Don't let their insanity infect you.

Posted by: Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (101)
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Apparently Obama's junior partner is above his pay grade.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee for vice president, departed Sunday from party doctrine on abortion rights, declaring that as a Catholic, he believes life begins at conception.

While Mr. Biden’s views may not be new to Democrats in his circle, his comments, in an interview on “Meet the Press” on NBC, came at a time when his party is confronted with a new face: Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, whose anti-abortion stance and decision to give birth just five months ago to a baby with Down syndrome have revved up the conservative base of her party.

In the interview Sunday, Mr. Biden tried to walk the line between the staunch abortion-rights advocates in his party and his own religious beliefs. While he said he did not often talk about his faith, he said of those who disagree with him: “They believe in their faith and they believe in human life, and they have differing views as to when life — I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception.”

Posted by: Ace at 06:22 PM | Comments (88)
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Panic at the disco.

You, Sir, are a goof.

Summary: People want a summary. I don't have one. There's just the headline and a bit of obvious crap and then an anti-McCain video.

The point is that they're just figuring out they're running against McCain, not Palin.

Well... I mean, yeah, both. But the change in emphasis is funny.

Palin Derangement Syndrome Strikes: At DU.

I just refused a sale to a couple of 'pukes.

This couple was strolling around the Gallery, picking up things and talking about them.

The woman actually held a blown-glass conch shell to her ear and commented to her husband that it "must not be real, because I can't hear the ocean". That's when I decided that they were idiots and not worth any expenditure of energy on my part.

They finally walked up with a shallow Moroccan bowl, a beautiful piece.

When the woman reached into her purse to retrieve a credit card, I noticed a "Sarah in '08" pin affixed to her purse. So I asked her where she got it and she said she made it on her computer (I was, until today, unaware that one could do that).

So I said, "That's a joke, right?".

And she replied that Sarah Palin is America's only hope for salvation.

I pointed to the doors and said, "The sidewalk is right out there. Enjoy your stay in Tiburon".

The husband said they would just like to take the bowl, please.

I told him that the bowl could surely find a better home, and was - for the time being - not for sale.

He asked me if I was really going to turn down a $1,200 sale because of a difference in political ideology.

I did.

Congratulations. You passed up $1,200 in exchange for a crudely-made bowl crafted by dirty foreigners. And the bowl probably has AIDS.

Some responses:

You must be in heaven!

...

Good for you! Hell, if you could have afforded it, you should have broken in front of them! n/t

...

Not wanting to seem unappreciative... but, assuming you're not maxed out, you could have taken the entire proceeds and donated it to the Obama campaign. Wouldn't that be a better way to get even?

...

[Orginal Poster responds:] No.

The bowl is a masterpiece and deserves a better Home.

Thanks to Slu.

Ungreat Minds Think Alike Too: From Kos' lips to Andi's ears:

In The End, It's About McCain

As Detestable Andi already has a column written on this theme, he didn't get it from Kos (per se...). But I thought I'd mention it anyway. It's almost as if they all share some sort of internet chatroom together, like some large... I don't know... virtual Townhouse or something...

Posted by: Ace at 05:53 PM | Comments (133)
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I said "Drudge." What, you want a link?

Yeah.

You know the Godfather post I put up today?

Right. That.

Not a huge deal, as they really can't influence the vote on election night (well, I suppose a little). They've boosted Obama as much as they can.

Still, it's a nice little slapping down and a nice black eye for MSNBC. Chrissy and Bathtub Boy don't get to sit in the Big Boy Chairs anymore. Back to the kiddie table.

They covered things straight and down the middle? Riiiiiight. That's why Olbermann had to be taken of off convention duty, and both men have now been stripped of anchor duties.

Did I Say "Strippped"? Olbermann, polluting Football Night in America, made a "joke" that made no sense today. Narrating a pass interference call in the end zone, he said, "Pass interference? It was like he stripped his pants off... Stripped? I'm sorry, that's a poor word choice."

Quite frankly, it having made no sense at all but having been delivered with that knowing "This is code for my DKos peeps" tone of his, I wondered if there was some "SARAH PALIN WAS A STRIPPER!!!111!!11!" story on Kos he was alluding to (I don't see one on the front page).

Now I wonder if this is some kind of idiotic joke only he gets about being stripped of his role. Like he got into a fight over this, and said "You're stripping me of the anchor duties?," and management said "Stripping is the wrong word."

I know you think I'm crazy, but if you saw it, Olbermann's "joke" made no sense on its own and strongly smelled of a missing backstory.

Duh, I'm a Moron: MattM. slaps me with the moron-bat. The play involved Adam "Pacman" Jones. It was merely a reference to his having been arrested at a strip club. God, if I didn't already know I was such a fucking moron, I'd be feeling pretty stupid right about now.

Is This the Reason? Claim: MSNBC Rigged Questions at Supposedly Random Town-Hall Style Q&A.

Thanks to CJ. Darn, I wanted to link that for two days.

More: at Texas Rainmaker.

Brave Sir Bathtub Boy: Some small stuff here, like Brokaw finding it "increasingly difficult" to defend MSNBC from charges of unbridled partisanship.

But this should most dent Keef Murrow-Olbermann's self-created image as Hero of the Fightin' Netroots:

Some staff members said the tension led to the network’s decision to keep Mr. Olbermann in New York for the Republican convention, after he ran the desk in Denver during the Democratic convention. MSNBC said that he stayed in New York to anchor coverage of Hurricane Gustav. But some workers say there were other reasons — namely, that Mr. Olbermann was concerned about his safety in St. Paul, given the loud crowds at MSNBC’s set in Denver.

Posted by: Ace at 07:10 PM | Comments (119)
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