More Joy In Heaven

4 "(A) What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

5 "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

7 "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

-Luke 15:4-7

Senate Update

As Jack Webb used to say, "Just the facts, ma'm, just the facts":

***Michael Steele has fallen behind Ben Cardin three points in my Maryland projection again on the "strength" of a Washington Post poll showing Cardin up eleven that is a gift-wrapped PR Valentine on Halloween for the Democrats' frantic efforts to hold this seat.

The Post poll is a laughable outlier, and I concur with Dean Barnett's take that a Steele victory next Tuesday will not be an upset. But a projection (mine) showing him down three is not outside the guardrails of reason, either.

***Bob "Scarface" Menendez has surged over the weekend and edged half a point past Tom Kean in my New Jersey projection. I expect that race to teeter-totter back and forth right to the finish line.

***The updated number that has the Donks drawing even in the Senate is one that I will start off telling GOP backers not to get lathered up over: Jim Webb leads George Allen in my Virginia projection 50.2%-49.8%. I don't care if even Scott Rasmussen has this race moving seven points in Webb's direction over the space of five days (based on what, for frak's sake? The offended Asian expatriot pederast community?), I will believe that despicable asshole's unseating of Senator Allen only when I see it and not before.

So even though it may now say "Dems +5" on the sidebar, be sure to take note of the asterisk that is tacked onto it. Now you know what it means.

UPDATE: Michael Steele has picked up the endorsement of the county executive and five county councilors from the Democrat/African-American bastion of Prince George's County:

A coalition of black Democratic political leaders from Prince George's County led by former county executive Wayne K. Curry endorsed Republican Michael S. Steele's bid for the U.S. Senate yesterday.

The support from Curry, five County Council members and others barely a week before Election Day reflects their continued disappointment that the Democratic Party has no African American candidates at the top of the ticket and a sense that the county is being ignored, officials said.

"They show us a pie, but we never get a slice," said Major F. Riddick Jr., a former aide to then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening and a former county executive candidate. "We are here today to say we've waited and we've waited and we're waiting no longer."

Steele, who as lieutenant governor is the first African American elected statewide in Maryland, said he was humbled by the support. "I said I did not want this [campaign] to be so much about party but about the people," he said. "And these people understand that."

Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, said the endorsements could be significant. "This is going to go through the black community like a rocket," he said. "It's going to be the talk of the county, the state, maybe even the nation."

Disregard the Post poll. Lieutenant-Governor Steele is going to win that senate seat (via CQ).

UPDATE III: Jim Geraghty's "Jedi Council" sez, "Win, the Pachyderms will..."

Appalling Jerk

Michelle Malkin has some links and responses to John Kerry's sickening statements about our troops in Iraq. Here's what he said:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

What an insufferable jerk. No matter what you think of what the Republicans have done or not done to your liking, you must vote to keep our majorities in Congress if for no other reason than to keep people like John Kerry from having more power over our military. Our brave soldiers deserve more than that from us.

My nephew is in the Army had has had three tours overseas so far. He has been in South Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Right now he is at Fort Bragg, and expects to be deployed to Iraq again. He does it because he knows it's the right thing to do. The thought of handing the power of the Speakership to Nancy Pelosi, who hates everything he does, makes me sick. There are a LOT of reasons to vote Republican over Democrat, but our military and our national security are #1 in my mind. Think about that Novmber 7th.

JASmius adds: Here are my first responses....

***"Make an effort to be smart"? Isn't IQ something you inherit? And what you do with it vis-a-vie education that matters? Sheesh, I reckon that's what Lurch was attempting to say, but he butchered it beyond recognition. Which, by the standard the Left applies to President Bush, says a great deal about the Boston Balker's IQ, or lack thereof.

***So everybody that enlists in the military does so because they're too stupid to do anything else? And they ALL go to Iraq? Is this to imply that any GIs who actually are more than three-watt bulbs should follow in Kerry's footsteps and dessert, mutiny, or get out and spend the rest of their lives maligning and libeling the military like he has? Would, by contrast, they luck out if they get "stuck" in strategically meaningless backwaters like Sudan or Kosovo instead?

***Is this not another avenue of sabotage against the military by attempting to harm recruitment and reenlistment efforts, thus denying the manpower for the GWOT that others of his know-nothing colleagues keep insisting we need more of?

***Why on Earth would Phil Angelides (aka the Terminator's tomato can) want John f'ing Kerry to campaign for him? Since when has an anchor ever served as a life preserver?

UPDATE: Here's the audio of Kerry's comments, if you're feeling nostalgic for his pompous-ass droning.

UPDATE II: Here's his idea of an apology:

Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts desperately distorting Kerry’s comments about President Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record...[emphasis added]

This is an official statement from a sitting United States senator?

"Diverting attention..."? Nobody baited Mr. French into slandering American servicepeople; he ad libbed those words straight from his black, flinty, traitorous heart, which was why it was so emblematic a brain fart.

“If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the President who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did…

No, Senator, we're not crazy; we actually listened to what you actually said. A remarkable thing for you to complain about given how you expect the entire cosmos to hang on every idiotic bromide that seeps past your sphincter lips. Perhaps some day you'll finally accept the wisdom of those who keep telling you to stick to the damned script.

Not that the script is any great shakes either, but still....

It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have…These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

You only wore the uniform in order to spend the rest of your career hiding your seditions behind it like terrorists hiding behind human shields. The vast majority of veterans hate your perfumed, overprivileged guts. And who was it that voted against body armor for our brave troops after having voted for it?

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men.

Bottom line is your political instincts and timing are as abysmal as always.

It's really a remarkable accomplishment when you think about it: John Kerry has almost made Karl Rove redundant.

He's definitely saved the RNC some cabbage.

What's In YOUR Mouth?

1 When the LORD (A) brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were (B) like those who dream.

2 Then our (C) mouth was filled with laughter and our (D) tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, "The LORD has (E) done great things for them."

3 The LORD has done great things for us; we are (F) glad.

4 Restore our captivity, O LORD, as the (G)streams in the South.

5 Those who sow in (H) tears shall reap with (I) joyful shouting.

6 He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

-Psalm 126

Beware "Reform"

George Will doesn't get many issues right these days, but when he does he's still a joy to read. The election process is definitely one of those issues, as he provides another example of what happens when the feds nationalize a problem in the name of "reforming" it:

For over two centuries before Congress passed HAVA, Americans voted. Really. Unlike today, those who were elected - Clay, Webster, Lincoln and lesser lights - often were more complex and sophisticated than the voting machinery.

Using pencils to make marks on paper and later using machines to punch holes in paper ballots, voters - without federal help; imagine - caused Congresses and presidents to come and go. States ran elections; some ran them better than others. Some ballots have been better designed than others, as have some voting machines. Most have been adequate. The gross defects of American voting practices were laws that established or permitted discrimination and other abuses. Tardily, but emphatically, those laws were changed and other abuses were halted.

Then came 2000 and Florida and the 36-day lawyers' scrum about George W. Bush's 537-vote margin of victory. In response to which, Congress passed HAVA, which in 2006 may produce fresh confirmation of the prudential axiom that the pursuit of the perfect is the enemy of the good.

Classic (as opposed to classical) liberalism. Fabricate or exaggerate a problem, assume that the states and/or the people are too bumblingly stupid to come up with their own solutions, take it away from them and impose upon them a one-size-fits-all fix that fits none, doesn't work, costs a fortune, and screws up the system even worse than it was before.

Seriously, is it really that difficult to pull a lever, punch a hole in a card, or connect an arrow with a pen and feed it into a machine that beeps and spits out one of those little "I voted" stickers that my car would be overflowing with if I'd actually kept them all these years? I've used all three methods over the past quarter-century and I've never had a problem exercising my franchise. It's nothing more than simply following a few straight-forward directions, something any adult without an extra chromosome should be able to figure out.

However, the feds didn't agree. And now look what we're stuck with:

Four years later, HAVA has turned a highly-successful voting infrastructure into a nightmare. Maryland voters may have to abandon the voting booth altogether and use absentee ballots to avoid the malfunctining electronic voting machines. Ohio found out that their electronic voting machine security codes have been exposed, meaning that someone could theoretically hack into the machines and change the votes. And in the aftermath of the Florida recounts, the geniuses that pushed these machines through HAVA never planned on paper receipts for recounts in close elections....

Segue alert! Segue alert!

....Not coincidentally, HAVA came from the same session of Congress (107th) that
produced the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, otherwise known as the McCain-Feingold Act. The BCRA also represented an effort to "reform" the political system by treating voters as incapable little children, despite 200 years of proof to the contrary. The BCRA continues to do damage to free political speech, although not as spectacularly as HAVA has done to the credibility of our elections.

Campaign finance "reform" was a bad idea whose time came 'round at last when Darth Queeg and Fussy Russy finally found a way around Mitch McConnell and called George W. Bush's signature bluff. Has it "gotten money out of politics"? Oh, hell, no - it's just driven it underground where public accountability for it is even more remote than it was pre-"reform":

Unions, corporations and wealthy individuals have pumped nearly $300 million this year into unregulated political groups, funding dozens of aggressive and sometimes shadowy campaigns independent of party machines.

The groups, both liberal and conservative, air TV and radio spots, conduct polls, run phone banks, canvass door-to-door and stage get-out-the-vote rallies, with no oversight by the Federal Election Commission. Set up as tax-exempt "issue advocacy" committees, they cannot explicitly endorse candidates. But they can do everything short of telling voters how to mark their ballots.

Because they can accept unlimited donations from any source, the committees — known as 527s — have emerged as the favored vehicle for millionaires and interest groups seeking to set the political agenda. ...

Named for a section of the IRS code, 527s have been around for years but became a political force in 2004 after the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 — also known as the McCain-Feingold Bill — limited donations to political parties. Groups such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on the right and America Coming Together on the left contributed $600 million that year, with a heavy focus on the presidential race.

Hard not to notice the LA Times' bias in this story - that 527s should be silenced as well (or just the conservative ones, anyway). But look at "reform"'s practical results - decreasing the influence over the political process of ordinary voters and increasing the influence of the elites, to say nothing of the political class itself.

And, of course, the biggest 527 of them all, the Enemy Media:

CNN has been on an anti-Bush rampage unseen in its political activism since Rathergate put the phony Texas Air National Guard documents on the air. Its "Broken Government" special and anti-Rumsfeld rants dominate its pre-election "coverage". Which didn't escape Mrs. Cheney. Here's the money quote from October 27, CNN last Friday night:

MRS. CHENEY: Well, you know, right there, Wolf, "Broken Government." Now, what kind of stance is that? Here we are. We're a country where we have been mightily challenged over the past six years. We've been through 9/11. We've been through Katrina. The president and the vice president inherited a recession. We're a country where the economy is healthy. That's not broken. This government has acted very well. We've had tax cuts that are responsible for our healthy economy. We're a country that was attacked five years ago. We haven't been attacked since. What this government has done is effective. That's not broken government...

BLITZER: You worked ...

L. CHENEY: I watched your program last night and I was troubled.

BLITZER: All right. Well, that was probably the purpose, to get people to think, to get people to discuss these issues because a lot of conservatives and ...

L. CHENEY: Well, all right, Wolf. I'm here to talk about my book, but if you want to talk about distortion...

BLITZER: We'll talk about your book.

L. CHENEY: Well, right, but what is CNN doing running terrorist tape of terrorists shooting Americans? I mean, I thought Duncan Hunter asked you a very good question and you didn't answer it. Do you want us to win?

BLITZER: The answer, of course, is we want the United States to win. We are Americans. There's no doubt about that. Do you think we want terrorists to win?

L. CHENEY: Then why are you running terrorist propaganda?

BLITZER: With all due respect - with all due respect, this is not terrorist propaganda....

Oh, c'mon, Wolf. You're caught, and you know it. Media bias is a thing of the past. You, and the others like you in the 527 Media, are producing campaign commercials for the Democrats and trying to pass them off as news.

And the only way the center-right has to counter those campaign commercials for the Democrats is 527 groups, which the left just loves except when the occasional Swiftboat Veterans For Truth comes along and blows them out of the water. If they have their way (conservative) 527s will be regulated into submission right alongside political parties and the "fairness" doctrine will be resurrected to decapitate talk radio, all in the service of campaign "reform"'s real, ultimate goal: extinguish public expression of all views that run counter to and dissent from the liberal "party" line as imposed by the Enemy Media. Restore the left-wing media, cultural, and political monopoly that Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich slew and buried over the past generation.

These men and those of like mind have been the true reformers, and their liberal foes the true reactionaries. Campaign and election "reforms" are meant to undo their real reforms and turn back the clock to the bad old days of one-party statism by stacking the deck against conservatives and Republicans. They are designed and intended to undermine democracy by supressing political speech and undermining the integrity of the electoral process, which somehow always seems to work to the advantage of Democrats.

It's appallingly ironic that HAVA and BCRA were passed by a GOP Congress and signed into law by the same president whom the Dems tried to rob blind in 2000. It'll be a credit to a number of factors if the Republicans can escape the 2006 bed they so sorely helped to short-sheet, but partisan prudence and fealty to the First Amendment and constitutionalism in general will not be among them.

Pennsylvania's Gathering Storm

Here's the strong, principled, courageous foreign policy/national security speech Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) was offering on the campaign stump last week. And here is the disjointed, evasive, Clintonesque reply to it from Santorum's Donk challenger, Bob Casey, Jr.

Is it really possible that lib numbnut is actually up nine points with a week to go? Do keystoners want to hear the truth, or just have their ears tickled with left-wing "anti-war" myths? Are they willing to die at the hands of the terrorists whose attacks their infantile indulgences in pacifism and "civil liberties" extremism will make possible?

If too many people pull the wrong lever next Tuesday, a great many of them will. And they won't be alone.

What a Weekend

All I can do is marvel at the empty suits and absolutely awful people the Democrats offer as candidates. Harold Ford is now attempting to make himself look like an evangelical Christian...one who loves the Lord more than the Republicans, of course. And Jim Webb? Ewww...what kind of man spews out THAT kind of crap? Certainly not one who deserves the honor of serving in the U.S. Senate. We have had enough of sexually immature deviancy in high places in the recent past, thank you. Bob Menendez is a crook, plain and simple. That he is even a viable candidate is an outrage, in my opinion. I could go on and on.

It bothers me that the reins of power are even close to being in the hands of someone like Nancy Pelosi. And Harry Reid? Why isn't there wall to wall coverage of his shady business practices? Yes...because he's a Democrat, that's why. He is a foul man with a foul disposition who should be sitting at home watching football games, not a powerful force in the Senate. I've noticed they've kept him pretty much out of the picture these last couple of weeks. For obvious reasons.

Oh...I'll be glad when this election is over. Hopefully, we'll still have our majorities. If not, we'll just have to deal with it and hope they don't do too much damage. Not very comforting, is it? GET OUT AND VOTE!

From Awe To Adoration

10 I was [a](A) in the Spirit on (B) the LORD's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice (C) like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, "(D) Write in a book what you see, and send it to the (E) seven churches: to (F) Ephesus and to (G) Smyrna and to (H) Pergamum and to (I) Thyatira and to (J) Sardis and to (K) Philadelphia and to (L) Laodicea."

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw (M) even golden lampstands; 13 and (N) in the middle of the lampstands I saw one (O) like [b] a son of man, (P) clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and (Q) girded across His chest with a golden sash.

14 His head and His (R) hair were white like white wool, like snow; and (S) His eyes were like a flame of fire.

15 His (T) feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His (U) voice was like the sound of many waters.

16 In His right hand He held (V) seven stars, and out of His mouth came a (W) sharp two-edged sword; and His (X) face was like (Y) the sun shining in its strength.

17 When I saw Him, I (Z) fell at His feet like a dead man And He (AA) placed His right hand on me, saying, "(AB) Do not be afraid; (AC) I am the first and the last, 18 and the (AD) living One; and I (AE) was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have (AF) the keys of death and of Hades.

-Revelation 1:10-18

VBC Missionary Of The Week: Andrew Prout

Andrew is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary with a THM in New Testament Studies. He has served in mission work in Turkey and India. For the past four years he lived in Pakistan near where Khalid Shiek Mohammed was captured.

Andrew is now serving in Amman, Jordan, and attending Kelsey Arabic School. Andrew finished his first semester exam in August 2005. He splits his time between studying at Kelsey and the French Cultural Center.

Andrew recently married a young Jordanian woman named Rabya. If the typical size of missionary families holds to form, they should be pumping out kids like a Pez dispenser in no time.

Good Out Of Evil

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (A) are not worthy to be compared with the (B) glory that is to be revealed to us.

19 For the (C) anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for (D) the revealing of the (E) sons of God.

20 For the creation (F) was subjected to (G) futility, not willingly, but (H) because of Him who subjected it, [a] in hope 21 that (I) the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation (J) groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

23 (K) And not only this, but also we ourselves, having (L) the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves (M) groan within ourselves, (N) waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, (O) the redemption of our body.

24 For (P) in hope we have been saved, but (Q) hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

25 But (R) if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for (S) we do not know how to pray as we should, but (T) the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and (U) He who searches the hearts knows what (V) the mind of the Spirit is, because He (W) intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that [b] God causes (X) all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are (Y) called according to His purpose.

-Romans 8:18-28

Democrat Meltdown?

Go watch this RNC ad against Tennessee Dem senate candidate Harold Ford. I'll wait until you come back.

…Finished? Okay, here’s my question: Which part of that ad did you think was the funniest? Personally, I laughed out loud at the old man who drawled, "Canada can take care of North Korea – they’re not busy." They say humor can be the most devastating political weapon, and the Democrats long ago lost their collective sense of humor.

What’s that, you say? What about the floozy who squeals that she met the silver-spooned n’er-do-well "at the Playboy party"? She’s white and Ford is black and her breathy invitation to "call me" implies interracial sex and that’s "racist"? This is Willie Horton 2006?

You’re kidding, right?

Apparently not, if this Limbaugh montage is any indication:

Now, listen to this last night. This is a montage of Susan Estrich, Paul Begala, Tim Russert, and Mike Barnicle.

ESTRICH: I showed my current students the old Willie Horton ad and then I showed them this ad. My students looked at me as if the 1988 Willie Horton ad was kid's stuff.

BEGALA: It's scurrilous, it's worse than Willie Horton.

RUSSERT: It makes the Willie Horton ad look tame. BARNICLE: The spot resurrected visions of the racially charged Willie Horton ad.

Except, of course, that the 1988 Willie Horton ad was not about race, it was about crime and how then-Democrat presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was as soft on it as every penis within a country mile of Hillary Clinton. Horton, a convicted rapist who was released on weekend "furlough," you’ll recall, attacked a Maryland couple, raping the wife after first castrating the husband, stuffing the man’s severed genitalia in his mouth, tying him up and making him watch. That Horton also happened to be black was not the point, except to the real racists of the American political firmament, the Democrats – who, you’ll also recall, had no problem with using the Horton incident when Al Gore did so in that year’s Democrat primaries.

What incensed the Donks about the Horton ad was that it was effective – devastatingly effective.

Is the RNC’s Harold Ford ad that effective? Probably not. But it does convey the entirely accurate message that Ford is not a serious man or serious candidate and that the only reason he isn’t pumping gas for a living is because of his family name. Kind of like Ted Kennedy minus forty years and a hundred pounds.

Is it racist? Only if you have a problem with the idea of interracial "fraternization." Apparently the Democrats do.

As well as effective ads against their silver-spooned, n’er-do-well candidates, of which they have an evidently bottomless supply.

~ ~ ~

As so often happens with the scandalous, it started with a press release:

Kay James, mother of three, former cabinet secretary for Governor George Allen and appointee to the Virginia Board of Education, issued the following statement through the Allen campaign today:

"For the past several months – we have heard Jim Webb describe himself as a novelist, as a writer. He’s mentioned it on the campaign trail, and now in his TV ads. But when his record of authorship is reviewed, a disturbing theme is clearly evident. Throughout his writings, both fiction and non-fiction, there is a pattern of demeaning treatment toward women.

"Women are consistently depicted in a negative and disrespectful light. In several thousands of pages of writings, you would think there would be a few positive female role models. But there are not.

"How can women trust Jim Webb to represent their views in the Senate when chauvinistic attitudes and sexually exploitative references run throughout his fiction and non-fiction writings? More importantly, what type of mind commits these thoughts to paper – in such graphic detail?

"Most Virginians and Americans would find these passages shocking, especially coming from the pen of someone who seeks the privilege of serving and representing us in the United States Senate."

I guess this is Senator Allen still pursuing the "Jim Webb is a misogynist’ angle. It never particularly impressed me, but then (1) I don’t live in Virginia and (2) even if I did, my demographic isn’t the one at which he’s aiming. And besides, the Webb campaign slipped the tracks of maturity, sanity, and good taste what seems like years ago.

Still, what could Mrs. James have been referring to? Dean Barnett took a look:

"A shirtless man walked toward them along a mud pathway. His muscles were young and hard, but his face was devastated with wrinkles. His eyes were so red that they appeared to be burned by fire. A naked boy ran happily toward him from a little plot of dirt. The man grabbed his young son in his arms, turned him upside down, and put the boy’s penis …"

What the HELL??? That’s DISGUSTING!!! This is a FAMILY blog, not DailyKos or the Democrat Underground!!!

Well, maybe it was just an isolated lapse. Or part of the surrounding context. The latter’s what Webb tried to claim in a damage control radio interview. So there couldn’t be any more of this sewage in Webb’s writings, could there?

Well….

"Fogarty watched a young naked young stripper do the splits over a banana. She stood back up, her face smiling proudly, her round breasts glistening from a spotlight in the dim bar and left the banana on the bar cut in four equal sections by the muscles of her vagina."

Imagine what the naked young stripper would have done to the penis of the happily running naked boy. Webb makes it sound like she’s packing a pencil-sharpener in her crotch.

You start getting the feeling that there’s a lot more of this stuff in Webb’s novelizing, not unlike zits in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Oh, man, why did I have to mention "Hershey"?

"[He] could see Jawbone and Ashley Asthmatic [two guards at a Vietnamese prison camp] napping together in the grass. They faced inward, their arms entwined. It looked like they were masturbating each other. It didn't surprise him … It was common to see men holding hands, embracing, playing with each other.

"Some of them [the guards] had wanted him. He could tell in those evanescent moments between his bao cao bow, the obligatory deference when a guard entered his cell, and the first word or blow that followed it… Quick, grinding voices, turgid with repressed passion. An exploratory reaching of the hand near his groin…"

To borrow a phrase from Ron White, that resides in the realm of things that make you go, "Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r". Or "EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!"

Why does this matter to James Webb’s senate candidacy? Well, does he practice any of these, um, "exotic" activities himself? Not that I’ve seen or heard. Yet, anyway. Does he give hearty approval to them when practiced by others? Apparently, since the above quotes were all from "historical fiction" novels of his. It’s one thing to report on such things, another to actively include them in a story narrative. Or, as an old literary saying goes, you write what you know, and what’s in your heart. If this is the sort of turpitude that clutters Jim Webb’s heart, does he really belong in the U.S. Senate as Teddy Kennedy’s designated driver?

Besides, just look at Webb’s attempt to laugh off the incestuous homosexual fellatio depicted in the first quote:

That was something that I actually saw as a writer in a slum of Quong Tuih (sp) in Bangkok, Thailand. It was not a sexual act. It's being characterized as a sexual act. [emphasis added]

Boy, does THAT sound familiar. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman…" Other than Monica Lewinsky taking Bill Clinton’s banana into her mouth and peeling it with her tongue while simultaneously serving as his personal humidor. Personally when I greet my son, he’s not naked and I just give him a brief hug or tousle the hair on his head. But then again I’m also a "religious right fundie Bible-thumper Repugnican obsessed with sex," so what do I know? Other than that Jim Webb sure looks and sounds like an authentic contemporary Democrat – which is to say, he’s an arrogant, hypocritical, morally-confused prick, and has run the campaign to prove it.

~ ~ ~

I told you that story to tell you this one. Fast-forward to Lynne Cheney on CNN yesterday with our old friend Wolf Blitzer. The Second Lady was appearing to promote her new children’s book, The 50 States – or so she thought. After tangenting off on the Enemy Media's "torture" canard based upon her husband’s "dunking" comments earlier in the week (and getting his ass handed to him by Mrs. Cheney in the process - BLITZER: "Of course, is we want the United States to win." MRS. CHENEY: "[T]hen why are you running terrorist propaganda?"), Wolfy baby, had still another topic he wanted her to discuss:

WB: Democrats are now complaining bitterly in this Virginia race. George Allen using novels, novels that Jim Webb, his Democratic challenger, has written, in which there are sexual references. And they’re making a big deal out of this. I want you to listen to what Jim Webb said today in responding to this very sharp attack from George Allen.

LC: Now do you promise, Wolf, that we’re going to talk about my book?

WB: I do promise.

LC: Because this seems to me a mighty long trip around the merry-go-round.

She didn’t know the half of it; Blitzer was just getting started.

WB: I want you to respond. This is in the news today, and your name has come up, so that’s why we’re talking about it. But listen to this:

JAMES WEBB: There’s nothing that’s been in any of my novels that in my view, hasn’t been either illuminating the surroundings, or defining a character, or moving a plot. I’m a serious writer. I mean, we can go and read Lynne Cheney’s lesbian love scenes if you want to, you know, get graphic on stuff.

LC: You know, Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit. His novels are full of sexually explicit references to incest, sexually explicit references…well, you know, I just don’t want my grandchildren to turn on the television set. This morning, Imus was reading from the novels, and it’s triple X rated.

If Mrs. Cheney had been more like Webb, she’d have used a coarser word than "baloney." And if Blitzer had been paying attention in this railroad job of an interview, he’d have beat a hasty retreat back to talking about her book as he had originally promised.

Instead, he launched into DNC talking points:

WB: Here’s what the Democratic Party put out today, the Democratic Congressional Senatorial Campaign Committee. Lynne Cheney’s book featured brothels and attempted rape. In 1981, Vice President Dick Cheney’s wife, Lynne, wrote a book called Sisters, which featured a lesbian love affair, brothels, and attempted rapes. In 1988, Lynne Cheney wrote about a Republican Vice President who dies of a heart attack while having sex with his mistress. Is that true?

LC: Nothing explicit. And actually, that is full of lies. It’s not…it’s just absolutely not true.

WB: But you did write a book entitled Sisters.

LC: I did write a book entitled Sisters. This description…

WB: And it did have lesbian characters.

LC: No, not necessarily. This description is a lie. I’ll stand on that.

WB: There is nothing in there about rapes and brothels?

LC: Wolf, Wolf, could we talk about a children’s book for a minute?

Good Lord, the man sounds like he's projectile-salivating. Double-H should start up a campaign to get "There is nothing about rapes and brothels?" etched on Blitzer's eventual bust in the broadcasting hall of fame. It's SO emblematic in SO many ways.

WB: We can talk about the children’s book. But I just wanted to…

LC: I think our segment is like fifteen minutes long, and we’ve now done ten minutes, so…

WB: I just wanted to clarify what’s in the news today, give you a…

LC: Sex, lies and distortion. That’s what it is.

WB: This is an opportunity for you to explain on these sensitive issues.

LC: Wolf, I have nothing to explain. Jim Webb has a lot to explain.

I can just see what got edited out:

WB: Okay, Mrs. Cheney, we'll talk about your book now. Isn't it true that you graphically depict orgyistic pederasty below the Mason-Dixon Line, and most of the scenes take place on church pews? Oh, I'm sorry, we're out of time. Mrs. Cheney, thank you for coming.

LC: [redacted]

God, what a train wreck. For Wolf Blitzer, CNN, and James Webb, that is, all of whom are remarkably open about never having read Sisters. Blitzer’s supposed to be a reporter, a journalist, for heaven’s sake; wouldn’t you think he’d have a staffer actually check Mrs. Cheney’s book to see if there was anything remotely as carnal as Webb’s perverted rhetorical frolicking before trying to pull a "gotcha" trap like this and making twice the ass of himself that he already had with the "torture" detour?

But of course not; just as it was somehow incumbent upon House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert to quit Congress altogether over Mark Foley’s "funny" IMs and emails, so Lynn Cheney is expected to answer both for Jim Webb’s dirty mind and "lesbian scenes" she never penned. And she blasted it right back in both of Wolf Blitzer’s faces.

Webb does indeed have some ‘splainin’ to do. Or would if his septic tank of a campaign hadn’t already beat him to it. As Dean Barnett put it in his linked post above:

I get the sense that the electorate is getting a little tired of its elected officials being a tad, shall we say, eccentric. With the widespread dissemination of this passage, Webb now has both feet planted in the eccentrics’ camp in the electorate’s eye. And there’s nothing he can do to change it.

All George Allen and Kay James did was pour in the cement.

~ ~ ~

Moving on to the next Democrat self-defenestration – The Michael J. Fox Spastic Multi-State Stem Cell Smear – Michael Steele, Maryland Lieutenant-Governor and GOP senate candidate, had a walk-off grand slam of a retort to his third-rate Donk opponent Ben Cardin’s foolish leap onto that despicable bandwagon.

Watch the ad here. The transcript follows:

STEELE: I’m Michael Steele, and I approve this message.

TURNER: I’m Dr. Monica Turner.

Congressman Ben Cardin is attacking Michael Steele with deceptive, tasteless ads. He is using the victim of a terrible disease to frighten people all for his own political gain.

Mr. Cardin should be ashamed.

There’s something you should know about Michael Steele. He does support stem cell research, and he cares deeply for those who suffer from disease.

How do I know? I’m Michael Steele’s little sister. I have MS, and I know he cares about me. [emphasis added]

That thump you just heard was Cardin collapsing, Wile E. Coyote-like, as another "Wellstone funeral moment" blew up in his face.

He should, indeed, be ashamed, and not just for wallowing in the disgusting stem cell hoax, but his cowardice as well. He’s even ducking NAACP-sponsored debates with Lieutenant-Governor Steele, citing the pathetic excuse of "scheduling conflicts."

Stick a fork in Ben Cardin. He’s done. And ditto Harold Ford and Jim Webb and Claire McCaskill and li’l Bobby Menendez and the cluster-[bleep] of roaring iniquitous idiocy the entire 2006 Democrat campaign effort has become. They’ve reached the ultimate depth a minority rump party can sink: They are beyond parody – and nationally unelectable.

This Is Pathetic

I was doing my morning reading rounds over at Blogs for Bush, and they link to a story at Battle Born Politics. It seems that all of a sudden a woman has come out and accused the Republican candidate of abusing her and sending death threats to her family. Here is part of the police report:

The investigation into this incident ceased when Mazzeo signed a Request for No Prosecution form. Until that time, Violent Crimes detectives were not able to substantiate Mazzeo's allegation of Battery. Detectives were unable to locate any independent witnesses to a physical confrontation between Gibbons and Mazzeo. There is no video surveillance of the incident. Mazzeo gave no indication as to how she received the scratches on her shoulder and back. From the time Mazzeo made the initial call to dispatch under Event 061013-3534 until she was contacted by police under Event 061013-3774, it is unknown where she was or what happened to her. No evidence exists to prove the scratches Mazzeo had were caused during the alleged incident. Mazzeo admitted to Detective Colon she had been drinking prior to the incident. This is confirmed by Julie Vick, the food server for that evening and Gibbons. During Mazzeo's conversations with dispatch she sounds to be intoxicated. Gibbons admits he grabbed Mazzeo in the parking lot only after she tripped and almost fell.

Wouldn't it be refreshing if the Democrats would campaign on the issues, actually debate what is important in America right now, rather than trying to win with smears and lies? Geez, these people make me sick. One of the commenters is right, it's sad that this election is even close.

What Now?

5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD before the new court, 6 and he said, "O LORD, the God of our fathers, (A) are You not God in the heavens? And (B) are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.

7 "Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and (C) give it to the descendants of (D) Abraham Your friend forever?

8 "They have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying, 9 '(E) Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for (F) Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.'

10 "Now behold, (G) the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, (H) whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them), 11 see how they are rewarding us by (I) coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance.

12 "O our God, (J)will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but (K) our eyes are on You."

13 All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their infants, their wives and their children.

14 Then in the midst of the assembly (L) the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; 15 and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, '(M) Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for (N) the battle is not yours but God's.

16 'Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel.

17 'You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, (O) stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem ' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, (P) for the LORD is with you."

-II Chronicles 20:5-17

Mea Culpa?

I heard Rush talking yesterday about ABC's Mark Halperin and his admission regarding the old media's liberal bias. Say, there's a bit of news, huh? You can read the story here. I have to admit I'm viewing this "admission" with quite a bit of wariness. If you read down a little further, you will see that one of the commenters has done quite a bit of homework on Mr. Halperin and his father, who is to the left of Brezhnev. Don't get me wrong, what Halperin says is right on the money, it's just kinda weird to see a member of the Left admitting their bias. He IS trying to sell a book, that might have just a tad to do with it.

I'd like to thank Jim for his election update below...from your fingers to God's ears!

JASmius adds: Don't thank me - it's just what the (bias-adjusted) numbers say. If you want steroidal optimism, try Dean Barnett yesterday - he thinks Republicans are going to gain in the Senate, including either Rick Santorum holding on in Pennsylvania or Debbie Stabenow getting knocked off in Michigan. And this from the same guy that was ready to stick a fork in the GOP not two weeks ago.

I do concur with Barnett on the reasons why, though:

There’s also the little matter that as we enter the last twelve days of the campaign, the Democratic holster is empty. What else can they come up with? Another New York Times leak of a[nother] classified document? Another “gay” Republican? Maybe Frank Rich will write a column a week from Sunday comparing Bush once more to a movie.

The problem for the Democrats right now and their abettors in the media is that they’ve puked up so much bile, the public has chosen to look away. If the New York Times were to leak yet another classified document, the Republican base would become more motivated while the independents who don’t pay attention to politics would roll their eyes, sensing that the act has gone stale.

That's what you get when you have no agenda you can field honestly and nobody to sell a dishonest cover for it. As well as thinking that simply bashing the other side incessantly ought to be enough to get you elected. It's the same mistake that John Kerry made in 2004 and the Dems made in the 2002 midterms. All constant pissing in the face of the other side demonstrates is that you have a bottomless bladder and fairly decent aim; it may make the other guy wet and stinky, but it does nothing to remove the stench of bile from your own person. And after the other guy has cleaned himself up, he'll be presentable again; but you'll still stink.

It's that ideological hygiene problem that is keeping the Donks from the power they rabidly overcrave. Until they hit the showers themselves, spreading the whiff around will get them nowhere.

Hillary's 2008 delousing campaign notwithstanding....

Giving To Gain

6 Now this I say, (A) he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not (B) grudgingly or under compulsion, for (C) God loves a cheerful giver.

8 And (D) God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 9 as it is written, "(E) He scattered abroad, He gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever."

10 Now He who supplies (F) seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and (G) increase the harvest of your righteousness; 11 you will be (H) enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing (I) thanksgiving to God.

12 For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying (J) the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing (K) through many thanksgivings to God.

13 Because of the proof given by this (L) ministry, they will (M) glorify God for your obedience to your (N) confession of the (O) gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, 14 while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.

15 (P) Thanks be to God for His indescribable (Q) gift!

-II Corinthians 9:6-15

Latest Election Projections

Here are my latest, with, like the old box of Cracker Jacks, a little surprise inside:

ARIZONA: Kyl (R) 56%, Pederson (D) 44%

CONNECTICUT: Lieberman (I) 53%, Lamont (D) 41%, Schlesinger (R) 6%

MICHIGAN: Stabenow (D) 54%, Bouchard (R) 46%

MINNESOTA: Klobuchar (D) 52%, Kennedy (R) 48%

MISSOURI: Talent (R) 52%, McCaskill (D) 48%

MONTANA: Tester (D) 51%, Burns (R) 49%

NEW JERSEY: Kean (R) 50.3%, Menendez (D) 49.7%

OHIO: Brown (D) 52%, DeWine (R) 48%

PENNSYLVANIA: Casey (D) 54%, Santorum (R) 46%

RHODE ISLAND: Whitehouse (D) 51%, Chafee (R) 49%

TENNESSEE: Corker (R) 52%, Ford (D) 48%

VIRGINIA: Allen (R) 52%, Webb (D) 48%

WASHINGTON: Cantwell (D) 54%, McGavick (R) 46%

And now, for the tease you've all been waiting for....

MARYLAND: Steele (R) 50.2%, Cardin (D) 49.8%

By my calculations, that's four Democrat pickups (Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island) partially offset by two (yes, razor-thin) Republican pickups (Maryland, New Jersey). As of today, that would limit overall Dem gains to two seats, and the 110th U.S. Senate would hold 53 Republicans, 46 Democrats, and one Independent. And even if Steele and Kean do fall short, the GOP will still retain control.

Meanwhile, on the House side, I have reduced my projection of Democrat gains to thirteen seats. Here's why.

On the one hand, GOP incumbent Mike Sodrel has inched back ahead of Democrat challenger Baron Hill in Indiana-9; but on the other, Congressional Quarterly, on whom I am reliant for the non-tossup portion of my House scorecard, has moved Colorado-7 into the "leans Dem" category even though my projection still shows Republican Rick O'Donnell just nosing out Democrat Ed Perlmutter. And, not to get Triexian on your buttocks so early in the AM, but on the third hand, the latest (10/18) Survey USA poll of New York-26, which CQ also has in the "leans Dem" column, shows GOP Representative Tom Reynolds three points ahead of Donk challenger Jack Davis. That's an eight-point move toward the GOP candidate in SUSA's numbers since its previous look two weeks earlier. Accordingly, I have now expanded my "tossup" list to include CQ's "leans Dem" column for GOP-held seats.

So, to sum up, as of today, the 110th House of Representatives would hold 219 Republicans and 216 Democrats. Barring any successful "recruitment" drives either way, the spectre of Speaker Pelosi - faux church pew, gay power lapel button, saggy wrinkled cleavage and all - will, just barely, stay in the realm of very, very bad dreams.

Or at least until the next update....

Some Pole-Smokers Are SO Touchy

Andrew "Sodomy Is NOT Torture!" Sullivan finally managed to move his nuts from his chin to his crotch and came on the Hugh Hewitt radio program to hawk his book The Conservative Soul, which is either an argument that such a thing doesn't exist, or an expansive homily on the adage of unmarried marriage counselors. While I have no idea if AS takes any sort of medication, from yesterday's ninety minutes of rhetorical volcanism I can only conclude that either (1) if he does, then, like Michael J. Fox, he forgot to take some beforehand; or (2) he doesn't, but is in dire need of a prescription.

Actually, though, I would fall in line behind the "Sullivan WAS happy" camp on this interview. I've had more than my share of online rumbles with militant homosexuals who claim to be "Goldwater Republicans" like Sullivan, complete with gutteral Christophobic bigotry and the joyous hostility that always accompanies it like the ingredients of a "Dirty Sanchez." Scrolling through the Hewitt-Sullivan transcript, it read like old home week to me.

Which, of course, made the spontaneous James Lileks parody the followed in the very next Double-H segment all the more side-splitting. He summed up the Hewitt-Sullivan "Hell In A Cell" bout as only he can:

After homework I took a quick nap, made spaghetti, and listened to Hugh Hewitt interview Andrew Sullivan. Interesting. Interesting in the sense of watching your foot get sawed off while it’s completely numb.

Ah, yes - for those who know who Andrew Sullivan is and what he's become. But for those listeners who didn't, it was like watching someone else's foot get sawed off, anesthetic or no anesthetic. And as we all know, that makes for scintillating radio.

John Paul's Big Surprise

The Pope dies and goes to Heaven. When he gets there, Saint Peter shows him to his new quarters which turns out to be a tiny one bedroom apartment.

The Pope is horrified and wants to know why he doesn't have the penthouse apartment, which is huge. Saint Peter informs him that the resident of the penthouse is a lawyer.

"A lawyer!" says the Pope. "But I'm the Pope. Surely I'm more important!"

"With respect, Sir," says Saint Peter, "We have lots of Popes up here, but we only have ONE lawyer!"

[h/t: Uncle]

Hurry Sickness

7 But (A) whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of (B) knowing (C) Christ Jesus my LORD, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having (D) a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, (E) the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may (F) know Him and (G) the power of His resurrection and (H) the fellowship of His sufferings, being (I) conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may (J) attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already (K) obtained it or have already (L) become perfect, but I press on so that I may (M) lay hold of that for which also I (N) was laid hold of by (O) Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: (P) forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I (Q) press on toward the goal for the prize of the (R) upward call of God in (S) Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, as many as are (T) perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a (U) different attitude, (V) God will reveal that also to you; 16 however, let us keep (W) living by that same standard to which we have attained.

-Philippians 3:7-16

Court-Ordered Sodomarriage Spreads

....to the Garden State. Think evangelical voters are going to "stay home" to "teach the GOP a lesson" now when doing so will put Congress in the hands of pols who heartily endorse such judicial imperialism?

Here's an October surprise I don't think the Dems had in mind....

Poverty Is Dead

It's one of the astonishing ironies of our time that for a society that is so obsessed with "economic hypocondria," always ready to plunge into despair at the slightest bit of ostensibly bad news (of which the Enemy Media gins up an avalanche when the Republicans are running the country), it can no longer recognize an avalanche of onrushing, broad-based prosperity when one is happening all around and throughout it. An economic boom that has, in fact, and without anybody really realizing or acknowledging it, rendered poverty (by even the most elastic definitions) in this country extinct.

6.6 million new jobs created between April 2005 and March 2006; the federal budget deficit cut in half three years earlier than President Bush promised in 2004, due entirely to the blizzard of additional revenues thrown off by the roaring Bush economy and fueled by the 2003 tax cuts; the Dow soaring above its previous Clinton-era high, above 12,000, and beyond; and polls still show most Americans disapprove of how Bush is "managing the economy."

Bush has "managed the economy" by getting the frak out of its way. 'Twould sure be nice if the White House would at least try and publicize that more. That's where a Treasury Secretary Forbes would have come in quite handy, rather than the conga line of corporate drones and Wall Street libs that have kept the Bush Boom, as Larry Kudlow has dubbed it, "The Greatest Story Never Told."

But fear not; if the Democrats get back in two weeks from now, they'll "fix" things - but good.

Iran's Halloween

They call it "Quds Day," celebrated on the last Friday of Ramadan. It was instituted by the Ayahtollah Khomeini as a holiday celebrating unbridled hate of Khomeini's designated "satans," Israel and America.

This year's was the most raucous yet, and included some interesting guests - not that you would know this if you're still enough of a dinosaur to get your news from the Enemy Media:

It is disturbing when the entire leadership of one nation, along with hundreds of thousands of its citizens, comes out with celebrations and parades every year that call for the annihilation of another country.

It is more twisted that no world leaders or international bodies, including the United Nations, have denounced the activities surrounding Quds Day, an Iranian holiday introduced by Ayatollah Khomeini that is marked on the last Friday of Ramadan. ...

President Ahmadinejad gave a series of speeches leading up to and on Quds Day. At an Iftar address on October 14, he discussed his "connection with God" and said: "The President of America is like us. That is, he too is inspired ... but [his] inspiration is of the satanic kind. Satan gives inspiration to the President of America."

Mr. Ahmadinejad delivered his Quds Day speech under a banner that read, "Israel must be wiped off the face of the world." He described the holiday as "a day for confrontation between the Islamic faith with the global arrogance." ...

A who's who of the Iranian leadership marched in the main Quds Day parade before crowds chanting "death to Israel" and "death to America." The marchers included a former Iranian president, Mohammed Khatemi, and a spokesman for the parliament presidency board, Mohsen Kouhkan, who predicted a quick "final and total defeat of America and the Zionist regime." [emphasis added]

Wasn't Khatemi the same "moderate" fellow for whom the Bush Administration rolled out the red carpet last month in the hopes of cultivating him as a "back channel" for still more futile, time-wasting negotiations aimed at "persuading" the mullahs to abandon their nuclear ambitions? Doesn't this give the lie once again to the Kremlinesque fantasy that there are "moderates" and "hardliners" in the mullahgarchic hierarchy that can be "played against each other" to our benefit? Will anybody at Foggy Bottom finally start paying attention and learn this lesson once and for all? Have you caught on yet that these are all rhetorical questions?

I recall right after the 9/11 attacks when Pat Robertson (or maybe it was Jerry Falwell, I forget which) suggested that al Qaeda might be an instrument of divine judgment against America for its tolerance and even celebration of homosexuality, and other assorted fragments of cultural rot and moral decay. While the suggestion was, and is, certainly debatable, and the timing of the comment of questionable taste at best, the firestorm of outrage from the left (which claims a monopoly on moral virtue) was deafening and out of all proportion to the provocation and the public stature of the source.

Yet here we have not just Islamic religious leaders, but the theocratic government of a Middle East regional power that openly seeks nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them on their declared enemies leading a psychotic public orgy of rabid demands for the mass extinction of two entire nations, and it attracts nary a peep from that every same Enemy Media?

That is, of course, another rhetorical question. Besides, the celebrants were burning American flags and effigies of President Bush. The denizens of most newsrooms probably glommed those images for their computer wallpaper.

At least Hitler didn't tout Mein Kampf on his rise to power, first in Germany and then Europe. So dhimmized have we become that the mullahs believe discretion to be irrelevant, even as they continue to BS us in these interminable "negotiations." And will continue to do so until either we put a stop to their nuclear ambitions for them, or said ambitions are realized with a flash and a roar.

A generation of "tricks" is more than enough. It's long past time for some "treats" of our own.

Cheney Interview

If you did not see it, do take the time to watch the video of Sean Hannity's interview with Vice President Dick Cheney. The difference in the level of maturity, intelligence, and knowledge of the issues at hand between Dick Cheney and, say, Nancy Pelosi is just staggering. I truly wish Cheney would run for President in 2008. He would be awesome.

JASmius adds: Can you imagine the debates with Hillary? Sounds like something out of Greek mythology - Cheney as Perseus to Mrs. Clinton's Medusa....

Be An Example

12 (A) Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, (B) love, faith and purity, show yourself (C) an example of those who believe.

13 (D) Until I come, give attention to the public (E) reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through (F) prophetic utterance with (G) the laying on of hands by the (H) presbytery.

15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

16 (I) Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will (J) ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

-1 Timothy 4:12-16

Republican Resurgence?

{Bugs Bunny voice} Mnyeeeaah, could be….

~ ~ ~

In New Jersey, Donk place-holder Bob Menendez…

1) ….is under federal criminal investigation for rampant corruption;

2) ….was caught in a pathetic double-lie, telling Jewish voters that he supports Joe Lieberman in Connecticut after earlier telling a different audience that he backs Li’l Neddie Lamont, and also accusing his GOP opponent, Tom Kean, Jr., of “lying” about his support for Lieberman by exposing the lie;

3) ….would lose to Kean if the election were held today.

~ ~ ~

In Virginia, the incredible shrinking Donk that is known as James Webb….

1) ….declared in 1997 that he did not have “one ounce of respect” for Bill Clinton;

2) ….called Clinton’s “the most corrupt administration in modern memory” three years later;

3) ….was kissing Mr. Bill’s fat ass last week (and probably didn’t stop there) to get the old scoundrel to raise campaign cash for him;

4) ….was castigated recently by former Virginia governor (and Democrat) Doug Wilder for running too negative a campaign;

5) ….is apparently utterly indifferent to reining in pork barrel spending;

6) ….has been caught lying about his role in proposing and leading the "fight" to include a black soldier in the Vietnam War soldier's memorial;

7) ….would lose to GOP incumbent George Allen if the election were held today.

~ ~ ~

Is Nancy Pelosi the new “church lady”?

Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said,..."Republicans are without a single winning issue, so it's no wonder they are desperately trying to falsely smear a churchgoing grandmother who has made fiscal responsibility, bipartisanship and middle-class tax cuts a priority."

How many “church-going grandmothers” do you know who also march in gay pride parades and tacitly endorse man-boy “love”?

Sounds like a winning issue to me.

~ ~ ~

Michael J. Fox, creator of Reagan conservative Family Ties character Alex P. Keaton, and real-life sufferer of Parkinson’s Disease, has taken it upon himself to pity-monger on behalf of Missouri Donk senate candidate Claire McCaskill (and now also Maryland Donk senate candidate Ben Cardin - who voted against embryonic stem cell research, BTW) by going before the cameras sans medication, jerking and spasming all over the screen while lying about everything from being an American (he’s Canadian, eh) to accusing GOP Senator Jim Talent (and presumably Maryland Lieutenant-Governor Michael Steele) of “opposing stem cell research”:

In Missouri you can elect Claire McCaskill who shares my hope for cures. Unfortunately Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research. Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope…What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me.

Notice the word Fox doesn’t use – “embryonic.” Nobody blanketly opposes ALL stem cell research, much less wants to "criminalize" it; indeed, adult stem cell research has yielded a significant number of medical advances that do provide hope for treatments and even cures for those afflicted with neurological disorders. What Talent, and many other Americans, do oppose is destroying human embryos for their genetic material, which have yet to produce a single medically useful discovery.

But then Fox can’t mention that little detail because if he did, Jim Talent would have to come on at the end and endorse McCaskill’s ad. Hell, he should anyway just for kicks since such grotesquely exploitive, Edwardsesque snake-oil carnival-barking cannot help but backfire on McCaskill.

It’s funny; when a televangelist does this kind of thing, people like Michael J. Fox and Claire McCaskill and Ben Cardin are the first and loudest to condemn it as “right-wing, theocratic, religious fundamentalism.” But when there’s political power to be had, they’ll trample Benny Hinn himself to get first in line to start raising the dead.

In exchange for their votes, of course.

Oh, yes, McCaskill would lose to Talent if the election were held today.

~ ~ ~

Harold Ford, Jr., the fresh-faced young African-American Donk Congressman going after Bill Frist’s Tennessee senate seat….

1) ….got his clock cleaned by this devastating Bob Corker TV ad simply stating that Ford has never worked an honest day (i.e. in the private sector) in his life;

2) ….tried to retaliate by crashing a Corker presser and throwing a temper tantrum, succeeding only in underscoring the fundamental truth of Corker’s ad that Ford is a silver-spooned n’er-do-well and an empty suit;

3) ….is cratering in the polls and would lose big to Corker of the election were held today.

~ ~ ~

Didja know that the fever swampers has already got their election defeat excuses ready, and are even imagining the election to be irrelevant if they win, because of the quiet confidence of President Bush and Karl Rove?

When I asked Gore Vidal at dinner why the White House seemed so serene and at ease about the vote, he replied that, this time around, the Bush-Cheney henchmen could simply call on martial law. He glumly noted that we are so far down the road toward totalitarianism that, even if Democrats do win back the Congress, it would take at least two generations before the last six years of damage to the nation could be reversed. Gore frankly despaired that any amount of time could ever return the country to where and what it previously was. This prediction left me reaching for some Fernet Branca.

But whether it is hubris, loony tunes, or both, the White House’s freakish calm about the elections makes me as nervous as the hell we seem to be headed for. Therefore we should all be on alert. If for whatever reason we don’t win back Congress in November the only real answer will be to take to the streets.

Not a whole lot of folks are taking that threat seriously. That’s because the sort of person who makes threats like that don’t merit being taken seriously. Though they do take themselves seriously – far too much – and place a value bordering on the metaphysical upon the regaining and retention of raw political power. Far more so than grounded, godly men like George Bush and Karl Rove do.

That’s the difference between “Red” America and “Blue” America. If George Bush had lost in 2004, his life would have gone on because he knows there are more important things than politics. For the libs who hate him, politics is all there is, which is why they’re recurring failure at it, propelled by the very mania driving them to keep coming back for more, has driven them functionally mad.

Personally, I don’t take Lyn Lear Davis seriously. But I think there are lefties who will, eventually, take to the streets, and not just to protest. I remember well the political violence against Republicans that swept across the country in the last weeks of the ’04 campaign. I see no reason why that won’t continue to metastasize if the Dems’ losing streak continues.

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Or when it continues. That appears to be a growing consensus of at least some electoral experts.

Barron’s Online:

Jubilant Democrats should reconsider their order for confetti and noisemakers. The Democrats, as widely reported, are expecting GOP-weary voters to flock to the polls in two weeks and hand them control of the House for the first time in twelve years - and perhaps the Senate, as well. Even some Republicans privately confess that they are anticipating the election-day equivalent of Little Big Horn. Pardon our hubris, but we just don't see it.

Our analysis - based on a race-by-race examination of campaign-finance data - suggests that the GOP will hang on to both chambers, at least nominally. We expect the Republican majority in the House to fall by eight seats, to 224 of the chamber's 435. At the very worst, our analysis suggests, the party's loss could be as large as fourteen seats, leaving a one-seat majority. But that is still a far cry from the twenty-seat loss some are predicting. In the Senate, with 100 seats, we see the GOP winding up with fifty-two, down three.

Yes, basing election predictions on which candidate in each race has the bigger warchest is not exactly casual, since incumbents usually win and incumbents usually are able to raise more money. There’s some overlap there but not so much as to be able to handicap based upon it.

But wait – there’s more! Scott Elliot at ElectionProjection.com is noticing a GOP resurgence as well:

On the House side, did anyone see that Selzer & Co. poll from Indiana CD-7? When I saw the GOP candidate ahead by three points, my heart sank a bit thinking that another safe GOP seat was getting competitive. Then I realized that IN-7 is a Democratic seat. Well, lo and behold! I think we will see this trend of more GOP-favorable polls continue over the last seventeen days. By the way, let me confirm once again that I stand by all three of the edicts I decreed earlier this year.

The GOP will hold the House - April 24

The GOP will hold the Senate - April 28

In the Senate, though not much happened last week, look for polls this week in Tennessee and Missouri to show Corker and Talent with small leads, respectively. And look for Allen's lead to grow some in Virginia next week as well. The huge financial advantage enjoyed by several GOP senate candidates should start to pay dividends in some of these close races. I think the chances of the Democrats taking the Senate are very, very slim.

Overall, it is clear to me that the GOP has indeed turned the corner - if it was ever really down in the first place….I believe now that the effort by the media to portray the GOP faithful as depressed and un-energized has failed to produce GOP faithful who are depressed and un-energized. That is the main reason I'm feeling good this week.

And there is what I think is an emblematic post from libertarian Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit:

Well, I voted today on the "Hart Intercivic eSlate" voting machine. The early-voting location was pretty crowded, and one of the poll workers told me that it's been very busy - like a Presidential election, he said, not a midterm. Apparently, not many voters are deciding to stay home. If this reflects a more general trend, that's probably good news for the Republicans….

I liked Harold Ford, Jr. when we interviewed him, and I wouldn't shed any tears if he were elected; he'd raise the caliber of the Democrats in the Senate. But when push came to shove, I voted for Corker. I liked him, too, and ultimately the combination of Ford's "F" rating on gun rights and the sleazy "outing" behavior of the Democrats was such that I just felt I had to vote Republican in this race….

As I mentioned before, the Republicans don't really deserve my vote - though as Bob Corker hasn't been in Washington that's not really his fault - but nonetheless the
Democrats have blown it again. Not long ago I was thinking that a Democratic majority in Congress wouldn't be so bad; but the sexual McCarthyism from the pro-outing crowd, coupled with the Dems' steadfast refusal to offer anything useful on national security, has convinced me that they just don't deserve a victory with those tactics. That's not Ford's fault, either, really. But I just don't think the Democrats are ready for a majority right now. We'll see how many other voters agree.

Voters like Reynolds - independent and disgruntled with the GOP - are just the sort of voters that the Donks need to either attract or suppress on Election Day if they are to regain their version of the Holy Grail. If Reynolds is so repulsed by the Democrats' gutter tactics and sulfuric pacifism that he feels motivated to (1) vote and (2) vote Republican, that speaks volumes about the direction this campaign is headed in its closing days.

If you want a parallel to a past election, think not 1994, but 1996: an all-out Donk slimeacane that was going to annihilate Republicans that, instead, peaked too early and receded, allowing the GOP to make a strong close and hold both sides of Capitol Hill.

I think quite a few voters will agree with the Instapundit's sentiments. Enough, at the very least, to keep the House and Senate, nominally, in Republican hands, and Lyn Lear Davis swimming in Fernet Branca.