Yesterday's Leftovers

Or, "What you get on my day off after having conked out before 8 PM the night before"

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Quin Hillyer points out what has always seemed obvious to me: Florida Governor Jeb Bush, term-limited out of his current job at the end of the year, and having expressed his disinclination to run for president in 2008, is the GOP's best chance at taking out Donk Senator Bill Nelson this fall. After having done his level best on big brother's behalf to kneecap Katherine Harris (which proved redundant anyway), and with RINO Florida House Speaker Allen Benes mercifully declining a run, and Jeb having failed to come up with anybody else with minimal viability, is it not, indeed, his duty to run? And wouldn't that keep his name in the national mix for 2012 (or 2016 if a miracle happens and George Allen beats Hillary in '08)? Being a southern governor and senator is the route Allen would have taken, after all. And the Bush name might even be fresh again by that time.

Stop laughing, you know I'm right. Hell, if the name "Clinton" is coming 'round again, any name can.

Guess we better start getting ready for "Chelsea '24" signs, huh?

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Would somebody please explain to me how the nominee of a Republican president to head the CIA can possibly be "dead on arrival" in a Republican Senate? No matter where that Republican president sits in the polls?

If the Dems do win back the House this fall, but not the Senate, will a Republican Senate convict an impeached Bush and remove him from office in 2007? The NSA terrorist surveillance program, the supposed bone of contention against General Hayden, would be the Democrats' primary impeachment article, after all. That would be the day the Republican Party ceases to exist, as far as I'd be concerned.

But then again, it was the White House that pushed, or allowed to be pushed, Porter Goss out the door in the first place, so this can certainly be viewed as yet another self-inflicted wound from the gang that hasn't shot straight since that May 2003 carrier landing.

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Wanna know the reason why 5th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Michael Wallace should be confirmed, and why it trumps all others (which are legion)?

At least five of the 15 members American Bar Association qualifications review panel who evaluated the legal background of Mississppi's Michael Wallace, a former legal aide to Senator Trent Lott, were charter members of the American Constitution Society, the liberal knock-off of the Federalist Society.

The panel has garnered attention in the past thirty-six hours after rating Wallace, nominated to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, as "unqualified."

"Unqualified" because he's not a left-wing extremist oligarchist like they are.

Partisan BS, like any other sewage, should be flushed forthwith, should it not?

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From the "How DARE Republicans actually resist Democrats!!!" Department:

There's. . .a palpable fear among Democrats and MSM members - one that I've heard expressed openly in social settings. . . .It's fear that the Rove-led Republicans will once again snatch victory from the Dems through some sort of dirty trick or illegitimate issue - like trying to get Bush's judicial nominees confirmed.

Howard Fineman at Newsweek is the latest to express this fear in a piece aptly titled (at Real Clear Politics) "Rove's nightmare election strategy." What nightmarish illegitimate issue does Fineman fear a desperate Karl Rove will raise this cycle? He's going to "paint Democrats as the party of tax increases, gay marriage, secularism and military weakness." In other words, Rove will revert to "us against them" politics.

In other words, Rove will tell the truth about the Democrats. Instead of continuing to passively stand there like punching bags and be slimed as, in Brother Meringoff's words, "the party of corruption, rich corporate fat-cats, disregard for civil liberties, deceitful wars, and the destruction of the environment" - as, in fact, they have since the 2004 election - the GOP will actually "revert" to giving as good as they've gotten - or even better. And that's not "legitimate," you see, because only Democrats are entitled to criticize, condemn, and ultimately, to rule. Republicans' role is to sit down, shut up, and stay out of their way. To be the minority, in short, and like it.

For twelve years now, the GOP has not "known its role." And the Dems have never come to grips with why that is, or why they haven't been able to regain the power they once enjoyed and still consider their birthright. The way things are shaping up, it looks like that won't be changing any time soon.

Ann Coulter would say it's about damn time - and not nearly enough.

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Via Michelle Malkin comes another act of Extreme Media treason, this time by our "friends" at al Qaeda Today:

USA Today tries its hand at scare-mongering today with a piece disclosing a secret - well, not anymore - NSA program analyzing phone call patterns and data that private phone companies AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth collect:

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

Translation: NSA - gasp! - is doing its job.

AJ Strata tells us why this is such a damaging security breach:

...here is why this reporting is dangerous. Of course the leftwing nuts want to point out the brave groups ’speaking to power’, so they alert the terrorists to shift all their communications over to Qwest because Qwest is not partnering with the NSA to help find potential 9-11 terrorists here in the country:

Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.

Qwest’s refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest.

USA Today just tipped off the terrorist how to avoid detection and put the people in Qwest’s areas in danger because now it is known those areas have the least protection and should be targeted! What are these people THINKING?! Someone needs to go to jail.

I live in one of those fourteen Qwest states. Imagine my comfort level.

Thanks loads, al Qaeda Today and Qwest. Not much I can do to the former, but I'll definitely be making other phone service arrangements - and they're just going to LOVE the poison pen note I include with my final payment.

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Al Gore is rich? Does that mean if he hires Bob Shrum (again) to mount another "people vs. the powerful" presidential bid, he'll have Fat Albert running against himself?

And Howard Dean appeared on the 700 Club? Without a lightning bolt cleaving him in two?

If these aren't signs of the Apocalypse, I'll sell my power fork and use the proceeds to buy exercise equipment.