Things That Don't Surprise Me

***Revrund Al Sharpton, whom anybody who knows anything about the man knows is a flaming anti-Semite and all-around bigot, has another Don Imus moment, this time against Mormons, and neither the press nor any prominent Democrat has uttered a peep of condemnation.

***Another useless poll nevertheless shows Hillary pulling away from the Donk pretenders, while at the same time persisting in pushing the doomed, party-splitting candidacies of, respectively, the most liberal (Giuliani) and most untrustworthy (McCain) members of the GOP field.

***One of the self-styled "moderates" on the Democrat side, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, has called for immediate and complete retreat from Iraq, says that running away from the terrorists and jihadis will "make us stronger," and actually believes that Congress can take away the President's constitutional powers as commander-in-chief in time of war by legislative fiat.

***On the other hand, the following blurb should be a surprise, but it's rapidly becoming clear that it is to be expected:

Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying ten thousand had died.

The death toll was twelve.

"In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died—an entire town destroyed," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a speech to five hundred people packed into a sweltering Richmond art studio for a fundraiser.

What can we call this? "Rounding up"? Channeling his inner fabulist? Kerry-envy?

And that isn't even the punchline:

As the Illinois senator concluded his remarks a few minutes later, he appeared to realize his gaffe. [emphasis added]

"The Illinois senator" "exaggerates" the Kansas twister death toll by a factor of 833 and he "appeared" to "realize his gaffe" "a few minutes later"?

Speaking as an observer who never has taken the Obama presidential bid seriously, allow me to say that I was right the first time - this doesn't surprise me.

Question is, will it cost him the #2 spot on Hillary's ticket? The Queen of Mean doesn't abide incompetence, y'know.

UPDATE: Not only did Obama gaffe himself, he piggy-backed upon that of his local host:

"Turns out that the National Guard in Kansas only had 40% of its equipment and they are having to slow down the recovery process in Kansas," Obama said, his shirt sleeves rolled up and his head glistening with sweat."

That's also wrong. Kansas had 88% of its National Guard forces available, and over 60% of its Army Guard equipment, and 85% of its Air Guard equipment.

The 40% figure came from Kansas Donk Governor Kathleen Sibelius (How did a Dem get elected in a state that "red", anyway?), who couldn't resist piling on the "out of Iraq at all costs" bandwagon by "exaggerating" the war's impact upon "her" national guard resources.

I only have one problem with Admiral Morrissey's punchline:

Kansas can't do much about Sibelius today, but American voters can do something about Barack Obama. They can give him about 12 votes, and he can go home thinking he received 10,000.

That would simply be the grounds for his post-election litigation. Hey, it's at least as viable an "argument" as anything Al Gore came up with.