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NY Times vs Howard Dean

Even the NY Times has problems with Dean. They are criticizing him for going to Alaska to address the Democrats there. Too few Dems there in the Times mind for the DNC to waste it's chairman's time there. I guess they aren't a national party just a party for states with a large percentage of Democrats.

It seemed somewhat bizarre, then, when Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, chose to make the long odyssey to Alaska at the end of May, near what was the beginning of one of the most intense and closely contested national election campaigns in memory, when every other Democrat in Washington was talking about potentially decisive states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

I mean it's not like Bush didn't write off super blue states like California or New York during an election year. Right?
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In blue NJ, Menendez sweats

Looks like a deadheat for Senate in NJ. Menendez and Kean are battling for the seat Menendez was supposed to win with ease:

It wasn't supposed to be this hard for Democrat Robert Menendez.

New Jersey's political history, campaign cash and national dissatisfaction with the Republican-led Congress are all in his favor as he tries to win the Senate seat he took by appointment from the governor in January.

But here he is, locked in an apparent dead heat with Republican challenger Tom Kean Jr., and having to campaign in unlikely places such as a seafood festival down a gravel road in southern rural New Jersey, far from his base in the urban north.
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The UK has some sane lefties...

Allahpundit over at Hotair has links to a British documentary called "No Excuses for Terror". In this documentary, a few leftwing media types try to explain to fellow lefties why the terrorists and Mideastern extremists are not their friends and allies. I wish them good luck on that. 9 gets you 10 they will just be shouted down and then ignored. 'Tis the nature of the left.
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Former President Carter calls out President Bush

Former President Carter says President Bush has brought U.S. "international disgrace"??? Our former President Carter dares criticize another President? I'll use this piece as backup. It is going to be hard to stay in fair use on this, but here goes nothing. THis is the same President that:

President Carter (4) also stopped B-1 bomber production, (5) gave away our strategically located Panama Canal and (6) made human rights the central focus of his foreign policy.

That led Carter, a Democrat, (7) to make a monumental miscalculation and withdraw U.S. support for our long-standing Mideast military ally, the Shah of Iran. (8) Carter simply didn't like the Shah's alleged mistreatment of imprisoned Soviet spies.

Then after the Shah was overthrown guess what happened next?

In November 1979, Iranians, including (18) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, their current puppet president who was elected in an unfree, rigged election in which opponents were intimidated into not running, (19) stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 U.S. personnel hostage for 444 days.

Carter, after nearly six months, (20) belatedly attempted a poorly executed rescue with only six Navy helicopters (three were lost or disabled in sandstorms) and Air Force planes with Delta Force commandos.

Feel free to check the link to see what he did to the defense budget and our economy. To be fair,  the  Democratic party was almost as bad.  Lastly  I can't leave this out:

Years later, (90) civilian Carter took it on himself to go to North Korea and negotiate a peace agreement that would stop that communist country from developing nuclear weapons. He then convinced Clinton and Albright to go along with it. (91) The signed piece of paper proved worthless, as the Koreans easily deceived Democrats and used our money, incentives and technical equipment to build nuclear bombs and increase the threat we face today.

Even after we fired the loser, he can't stop screwing up. Please repeat after me "Jimmy Carter, you were the WORST PRESIDENT EVER!"


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Foley

Rep Foley was caught messing around with a teenage Congressional page and resigned his House seat. Everyone in the MSM and the Blogosphere seems to be writing zillions of inches of column print on the subject. If you are interested, feel free to follow the links. I on the other hand know all I need to about this disgusting predator. Unless this becomes more than it appears to be at the moment I am done with the subject.
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Schwarzenegger appears unstoppable in California

Bill Bradley takes a quick look at a few statewide races out in California.

The LA Times poll released tomorrow will show a huge lead for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over Democratic candidate Phil Angelides, 50% to 33%. The former action superstar’s job approval rating is up to a whopping 56%. Schwarzenegger is viewed as the superior leader by 60% of likely voters. Only 20% pick Angelides. Schwarzenegger also has a clear edge on integrity and trustworthiness, 43% to 25%. The former Mr. Universe also leads Angelides on all major issue areas.

Even McClintock has a shot at LT Governor. Interesting for a deep blue state like California.
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Analysis of The House vote on detainees

Michael Barone looks at the 34 Dems and 7 Reps that crossed party lines to vote on this bill:

Note that 27 of the 34 Democrats who voted for the military tribunals have districts that voted for Bush in 2004. Two others are running for the Senate. That leaves just five Democrats from Kerry districts voting yes. Similarly, six Republicans from Bush districts voted no. Otherwise the roll call pretty well tracks the 2004 election results, in which Bush won 255 districts and Kerry 180.
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The US Australia relationship

Everyone here probably understands that I am intensely interested in history and in particular military history. This is an extremely long podcast about the history of our relationship from a conservative Australian point of view. He focuses on GWOT but at times talks about Korea, Vietnam and WW2. Lots of killer inside info IMHO. For a total history geek like me it is fascinating. If you don't have an hour or so to spend, don't listen. BTW it starts kinda slow.

H/T Wrenchard at The Belmont Club.
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Roger Simon interviews Lieberman

This is a very interesting interview. Lieberman's point, on which Roger expounds, about voter self-identification is very interesting. Lieberman got a chuckle out of me when Roger asked whether He could forgive his Dem friends in Congress, he said (paraphrasing) "Forgive yes, but probably not forget."
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Analysis of the Detainee vote.

The NY Times looks at Democratic votes on the Bill and they determine:

The most vivid example of the Democratic assessment came from the party’s many presidential hopefuls in the Senate. All of them voted against the bill, apparently calculating that Mr. Bush’s handling of Iraq has undercut the traditional Republican strength on national security and will insulate them from what are certain to be strong attacks from Republicans not only this year but also in 2008.

Democratic opponents of the legislation said their political position was driven by a substantive determination that the bill, which creates rules for interrogating and trying terrorism suspects, is fundamentally flawed and a dangerous departure from founding American principles.

“The only reason to worry about the politics of it is if you don’t understand it and don’t have the guts to stand up and defend your vote,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, who is considering a presidential race.

Over all, 32 Democrats voted against the measure while 12, including some of those in the most difficult re-election fights, backed it. Among the latter was Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, whose perceived support for Mr. Bush has brought him political trouble at home.


Interesting to see it put out in plain words  but the Times. If you want to be a Presidential hopeful try giving national security the shaft, but if you want to be reelected hmmmm...

H/T Ace of Spades




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The Mideast in 90 secs

This boils it down a bit, but here is the history of the Mideast in 90 secs. Take note of the names of Empires you don't know and head over to Wikipedia. It will give you some context honest.
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The Senate is busy

First the Detainee Act now the border fence. Are they finally waking up? The Majority Leader:

And, just moments ago, the Senate invoked cloture on the Secure Fence Act of 2006 by a vote of 71-28. Tomorrow the Senate will pass this legislation and send it to the President’s desk for his signature.


A big YAY! from the one man peanut gallery here at the Rant!

Update: Yay! again!

…just moments ago, the Senate invoked cloture on the
Secure Fence Act of 2006 by a vote of 71-28.
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Senate approves Detainee legislation

Most excellent news! The Cpt says:

In the end, though, only a third of the Senate stood with the Democratic Party's leadership. That should give Democrats some pause about the direction their party has taken since 9/11, and perhaps voters should consider this as well.

Wise advise, they won't take it though.

The President is on the offensive too:

“The Democrats can’t have it both ways. Either they believe that Iraq is a distraction from the War on Terror or they agree with the intelligence community and the terrorist themselves that the outcome in Iraq is important to the War on Terror. Truth is the Democrats used the NIE to mislead the American people and justify their policy to withdraw from Iraq,” he said."

Follow the link for more excellent quotage (Is that even a word?).
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Islam and the West.

This is a tough topic to address in the middle of a war but we will have to have it soon. We are fighting in Iraq and Afganistan and we have said that these two battles in the GWOT will end when Iraq and Afganistan are functioning democracies. Dean and his commenters argue the truth of that in his comments. My short answer is this: Both Indonesia and Turkey are  functional Democracies and arguably moderate to boot. So the short answer is yes. As to whether the Muslims in Iraq and Afganistan are compatable with democracy? The only answer I can give is that we will see, but I truly hope so.

MM answers her critics here
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Interrogation Tactics

Slate puts together a useful primer for the subject. Everything seem right on except the 'Legal Opinion' section on each tactic alot of which seems overblown.

H/T Allahpundit

Update: Mr Den Beste explained a while back. I find this to be interesting:

Mutilation is an extreme case, of course, but it can be effective too. Here's a good example:

During the mid-1980's, multiple US citizens were taken hostage in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a terrorist group which received support from Iran and Syria. During this period, three Soviet citizens were taken hostage by Hezbollah for a period of one week. The reason why the Soviet hostages were released promptly was due to a single KGB operation. Within several days of the kidnappings, the KGB seized a leader of the Hezbollah, castrated him, stuffed his testicles into his mouth, shot him in the head and left his corpse at a Hezbollah base with an ominous note that if the hostages were not released immediately more of the same would occur. Although the method by which the KGB carried out the assassination was horrendous, the operation brought about the rapid and safe release of all three Soviet hostages.

And it's noteworthy that thereafter Hezbollah didn't muck with Russians. Not only did it end this particular incident, it also prevented any others from taking place.


BTW his piece is old so his link on this story is broken...




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