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8/30/2008
Newsweek released an article yesterday that takes a look at Obama’s convention speech, his proposals, and whether or not they stretch the truth. Let’s just say, I’m not at all surprised to find out that Obama was being just a little intellectually dishonest in some of his attacks and proposals. Here are just a few of the inaccuracies in Obama’s speech.
We checked the accuracy of Obama’s speech accepting the Democratic nomination, and noted the following:
- Obama said he could “pay for every dime” of his spending and tax cut proposals “by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens.” That’s wrong – his proposed tax increases on upper-income individuals are key components of paying for his program, as well. And his plan, like McCain’s, would leave the U.S. facing big budget deficits, according to independent experts.
- He twisted McCain’s words about Afghanistan, saying, “When John McCain said we could just ‘muddle through’ in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources.” Actually, McCain said in 2003 we “may” muddle through, and he recently also called for more troops there.
- He said McCain would fail to lower taxes for 100 million Americans while his own plan would cut taxes for 95 percent of “working” families. But an independent analysis puts the number who would see no benefit from McCain’s plan at 66 million and finds that Obama’s plan would benefit 81 percent of all households when retirees and those without children are figured in.
- Obama asked why McCain would “define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year”? Actually, McCain meant that comment as a joke, getting a laugh and following up by saying, “But seriously …”
- Obama noted that McCain’s health care plan would “tax people’s benefits” but didn’t say that it also would provide up to a $5,000 tax credit for families.
- He said McCain, far from being a maverick who’s “broken with his party,” has voted to support Bush policies 90 percent of the time. True enough, but by the same measure Obama has voted with fellow Democrats in the Senate 97 percent of the time.
- Obama said “average family income” went down $2,000 under Bush, which isn’t correct. An aide said he was really talking only about “working” families and not retired couples. And – math teachers, please note – he meant median (or midpoint) and not really the mean or average. Median family income actually has inched up slightly under Bush.
In addition to the ones mentioned in the Newsweek piece I found this one to be particularly dishonest.
…I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination…
Now, having spent a great deal of time in the hospital over the last five years because of lung problems I can tell you that no one — NO ONE — regardless of sexual orientation is being told that they can’t visit the person that they love in the hospital. This is outright demagoguery of an issue that’s important to a lot of people regardless of sexual orientation. When I was in the hospital I had my parents, brothers, sister, family friends, my friends, and people I didn’t even know visiting me.
Of course, I’m a white heterosexual male, so what would I know…
Tags: Democrats, Election 08, McCain, Obama, Politics, Politics Of The Far Left8/29/2008
Yes, yes, yes!! Finally the maverick does something to get the base energized! If McCain was looking to make a VP pick that shook up the 2008 election dynamics– and energized the Republican base — he couldn’t have made a better choice than the one he made today in picking Alaska’s governor Sarah Palin.
Gov. Palin is a reformer in her own state. Someone who is unashamedly Republican, but is not afraid to take on corruption in her own party either. She is pro-life, and has a newborn son with Down syndrome. She and her husband knew in advance that their youngest would be disabled. They were offered the option of abortion and absolutely rejected it. They lived the decision to be pro-life. She supports the war on terror — including our efforts in Iraq.
Team Obama has already come out swinging. They’ve decided to criticize Gov. Palin on her lack of experience… conveniently forgetting — of course — that Obama himself is more than a little short in the experience category.
Tags: Election 08, McCain, Palin, Politics, Republicans8/26/2008
Yesterday I covered the first part of Frank Rich’s Saturday column. I thought I would try to take apart the rest of it today.
In the next paragraph, Rich attacks McCain for being wealthy. The idea is that McCain doesn’t understand the trials of the everyday man.
What should Obama do now? As premature panic floods through certain liberal precincts, there’s no shortage of advice: more meat to his economic plan, more passion in his stump delivery, less defensiveness in response to attacks and, as is now happening, sharper darts at a McCain lifestyle so extravagant that we are only beginning to learn where all the beer bullion is buried.
I don’t think Obama has a whole lot of room to talk on that front either. Obama owns a million dollar Hyde park mansion — the purchase of this mansion and some adjacent property involved a shady deal with convicted felon Tony Rezco. Does anyone really think that someone who made over $4 million in fiscal year 2007 can identify with the everyday man? I know that with their family pulling down that kind of green I sure can’t identify with them.
Here’s the deal though; I don’t begrudge the Obama’s or Senator McCain their extravagant lifestyles assuming they came about the money legally. That’s — in part — what America is about; giving your children more opportunities than you had, and making a better life for yourself in the process. Judging by the tone of Frank Rich’s column though, he does.
That story is there to be told, but it has to be a story that is more about America and the future and less about Obama and his past. After all these months, most Americans, for better or worse, know who Obama is…
I believe Rich was being unintentionally truthful here. With past relationships with such noted individuals as Fr. Phleger, Rev. Wright, Tony Rezco, Bill Ayers, and Bernadine Dohrn, as well as his support for infanticide, and his being named the most liberal Senator in the US Senate I wouldn’t want the discussion to be about my past either.
So much so that he seems to have fought off the relentless right-wing onslaught to demonize him as an elitist alien.
Well, we might call him an elitist, but the alien charge came from the Clinton camp. Notice how Rich accuses the right-wing of “demonizing” Obama (calling him an elitist) when earlier in this same article Rich did the same thing to McCain by criticising McCain’s extravagant lifestyle.
So while Obama can continue to try to reassure resistant Clinton loyalists in Appalachia that he’s not a bogeyman from Madrassaland, he must also move on to the bigger picture for everyone else. He must rekindle the “fierce urgency of now” — but not, as he did in the primaries, merely to evoke uplifting echoes of the civil-rights struggle or the need for withdrawal from Iraq…
Perhaps I’m misreading this paragraph, but — to me — it reeks of eastcoast elitism, and disdain for “those hicks in Appalachia”. After all, he must move on to the bigger picture for everyone else.
And most Americans have turned their backs on the Iraq war, no matter how much McCain keeps bellowing about “victory.” The Bush White House is now poised to alight with the Iraqi government on a withdrawal timetable far closer to Obama’s 16 months than McCain’s vague promise of a 2013 endgame. As Gen. David Petraeus returns home, McCain increasingly resembles those mad Japanese soldiers who remained at war on remote Pacific islands years after Hiroshima.
Actually, we haven’t turned our backs on the Iraq war. Most of us are very proud of the outstanding work that our troops have done. We have made incredible progress in Iraq, and if we pull out on a timetable that more closely resembles Obama’s, then it will be because our troops — under the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus — have secured victory and allowed the Iraqi’s to train up a military and police force capable of protecting their country.
Is a man who is just discovering the Internet qualified to lead a restoration of America’s economic and educational infrastructures? Is the leader of a virtually all-white political party America’s best salesman and moral avatar in the age of globalization? Does a bellicose Vietnam veteran who rushed to hitch his star to the self-immolating overreaches of Ahmad Chalabi, Pervez Musharraf and Mikheil Saakashvili have the judgment to keep America safe?
Finally, Rich just can’t help but take some underhanded swipes at the Republican party and McCain. The “all white political party” line is a joke. The Republican party has more minorities in positions of power than the Democratic party does. Michelle Malkin covered this not to long ago.
As far as whether or not we need a bellicose Vietnam veteran leading the country; when you consider the alternative — a cut and run Democrat who seems to have his sights set on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory — I would say yes, that’s exactly what we need right now while in the middle of a war with Islamofacism, and Russian aggression on the rise. The sheeple who have been persuaded that Obama is the one we’ve all been waiting for may have gone glassy eyed over his speeches, but I doubt that Putin or Osama will fall for his schtick.
Tags: Election 08, Frank Rich, McCain, Media Bias, Obama8/25/2008
Frank Rich’s column from Saturday talks about Obama’s need to re-tool his message for the general election. As with most columns in the Op-Ed section, it’s pretty incoherent. But, let me take a shot at untangling this mess.
As the real campaign at last begins in Denver this week, this much is certain: It’s time for Barack Obama to dispatch “Change We Can Believe In” to a dignified death.
This isn’t because — OMG! — Obama’s narrow three- to four-percentage-point lead of recent weeks dropped to a statistically indistinguishable one- to three-point margin during his week of vacation. It’s because zero hour is here. As the presidential race finally gains the country’s full attention, the strategy that vanquished Hillary Clinton must be rebooted to take out John McCain.
“Change We Can Believe In” was brilliantly calculated for a Democratic familial brawl where every candidate was promising nearly identical change from George Bush…
First of all, Obama’s lead was 3-4%, but it wasn’t too long ago that he lead McCain by as much as 6 points. It’s now dropped to 1-3%.
Rich seems to be blaming Obama’sdrop in the polls on his week long Hawaii vacation. That’s certainly possible. Obama had a week where — theoretically — his name wouldn’t have been in the news as much as McCain’s was. However, because of the situation that developed between Russia and Georgia, the media was looking for reaction from both of the candidates. Obama’s response to Russian aggression was pretty underwhelming.
On the other hand, McCain came out with the strongest statement of support for Georgia out of all the parties involved. Including the Bush administration.
By thy way, here’s for something Rich and the rest of the nutroots left to consider; President Bush isn’t running for re-election. He’s not running for a third term, so running against his policies seems pretty stupid.
It branded Obama as the sole contender with the un-Beltway biography, credibility and political talent to link the promise of change to the nation’s onrushing generational turnover in all its cultural (and, yes, racial) manifestations. McCain should be a far easier mark than Clinton if Obama retools his act.
Of course, I would think that another reason for a change in strategy would be that it’s pretty difficult to portray Obama as someone with an un-beltway biography. Obama is as linked to old school Chicago politics as hot dogs are linked to baseball.
The whole change meme also branded Obama as post-partisan. Like I said above though, he’s 100% old school Chicago politics, and is rated the most liberal Senator in the Senate.
What we have learned this summer is this: McCain’s trigger-happy temperament and reactionary policies offer worse than no change. He is an unstable bridge back not just to Bush policies but to an increasingly distant 20th-century America that is still fighting Red China in Vietnam and the Soviet Union in the cold war. As the country tries to navigate the fast-moving changes of the 21st century, McCain would put America on hold.
“Trigger happy temperament and reactionary policies”, “…an unstable bridge back not just to Bush policies…”? Of course, Rich doesn’t provide any evidence to back up his claims. How is McCain unstable? How can his policies possibly be seen as reactionary?
As far as being a bridge back to an increasingly distant 20th century, and an America that was fighting Red China and the USSR, I wonder if Rich has been paying attention to the goings on in Georgia. Has he been paying attention to Russia’s former President Vladimir Putin who is also a former KGB officer (and most say is still running the country through his puppet Medvedev) and his acts of aggression that bring back not so fond memories of that cold war that Rich claims is over? Apparently not.
It seems to me that the best course in foreign policy is to keep one eye on the past (Russia), and one eye on present and emerging threats such as China, Iran, and Islamofacists.
What Obama also should have learned by now is that the press is not his friend. Of course, he gets more ink and airtime than McCain; he’s sexier news. But as George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs documented in its study of six weeks of TV news reports this summer, Obama’s coverage was 28 percent positive, 72 percent negative. (For McCain, the split was 43/57.)…
The media is not his friend? That’s absolutely laughable! But, let’s examine Rich’s claim.
The first bit of evidence that destroys Rich’s claim are statements from members of the media themselves. Chris Matthews famously said that Obama’s self serving speech on race in America was worthy of Abraham Lincoln. He called it an American tract, something that you should check in with every now and then — like reading Great Gatsby, or Huckleberry Finn.
CHRIS MATTHEWS OPENING THE SHOW: A divide as American as the Grand Canyon, a speech worthy of Abraham Lincoln. Let’s play Hardball!
[***] [***] [snip] [***] [***]
MATTHEWS: Let’s all listen now to a bit of the speech. We should all, by the way, at some point after the program, please wait for the end of “Hardball,” at least. But check this out on our Web site, MSNBC.com, you can watch the whole speech. I think this is the kind of speech I think first graders should see, people in the last year of college should see before they go out in the world. This should be, to me, an American tract. Something that you just check in with, now and then, like reading Great Gatsby and Huckleberry Finn. Read this speech, once in a while, ladies and gentlemen. This is us. It’s us with the scab ripped off. It’s white people talking the way they do when they’re alone with other white people, some people. It’s black people talking the way they are when there’s not white people around. It’s an honest statement from a guy who comes from both backgrounds. We have never heard anything like this.
Matthews also hailed it as one of the great speeches in American history, and said that it sent a thrill up his leg.
MATTHEWS: We’ll talk about the politics of all this and whether voters will be convinced, by what many of us think is one of the great speeches in American history and we watch a lot of them, when we return. You’re watching “Hardball” only on MSNBC.
[***] [***] [snip] [***] [***]
I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.
Lee Cowan — a reporter for NBC — admitted that it was hard to remain objective while covering Obama.
It seems as though NBC is now expanding its bias to include paid supplements. In a print promotional distributed by NBC News, reporter Lee Cowan enthused, “When NBC News first assigned me to the Barack Obama campaign, I must confess my knees quaked a bit.” This is the same journalist who in January famously confessed to “Nightly News” host Brian Williams that it’s “almost hard to remain objective” when covering the “infectious” energy surrounding the Illinois senator.
Cowan’s latest quote appeared in a NBC advertising section entitled “The Peacock.” The first person article, which recounts Cowan’s excitement over covering the Obama campaign, also featured the correspondent bubbling, “The task seemed daunting. Not only would the Illinois senator land me square in the center of rough and tumble presidential politics, but his campaign was truly historic. I wondered if I was up to the job. I wondered if I could do the campaign justice. I wondered if the experience would swallow me whole.“
And, of course, there’s no since in even discussing MSNBC’s blatant bias in favor of Obama.
Rich also cites a George Mason University study that claims to show that Obama received more negative coverage this summer than McCain did. But, when you dig a little deeper into the particulars of the study you find that If anything Obama received better coverage than McCain did.
First of all, Rich openly admits that Obama received more ink and airtime than McCain did. So, that right there will affect the numbers.
What Obama also should have learned by now is that the press is not his friend. Of course, he gets more ink and airtime than McCain; he’s sexier news.
The George Mason University study sheds a little more light on the difference in the amount of coverage.
Obama’s bad press has come at a time when he was much more visible than McCain. Since June 8, he has been the subject of 120 stories on the three network evening news shows, 50% more than John McCain’s 80 stories.
That’s right, 50% more coverage than McCain over the same time period.
Next, let’s take a look at what was defined as negative coverage.
Negative: “You raised a lot of eyebrows on this trip saying, even knowing what you know now, you still would not have supported the surge. People may be scratching their heads and saying, ‘why’?” – Katie Couric, CBS
Negative: “Far more Americans say John McCain would be a good commander in chief than Obama” – Jake Tapper, ABC
So, in the first example cited, a legitimate question asking why — even after it’s proven that the surge was a success — Obama still wouldn’t support the surge is placed in the negative coverage category? It seems to me that this is a legitimate question.
The second example is Jake Tapper citing a poll. It seems foolish to me to describe this as negative coverage when you have a very real example of negative coverage against John McCain. That example being a thinly sourced story with absolutely no proof of an alleged affair 8 years ago plastered all over the front page of the New York Times.
There’s much more to be covered. I’ll hit part two tomorrow.
Tags: Election 08, Frank Rich, McCain, Media Bias, Obama8/22/2008
Is there any doubt that the MSM is in the tank for Obama? MSNBC has announced that it will host 16 hours of live coverage tomorrow. All of it dedicated to Barack Obama’s VP announcement.
MSNBC Friday announced it will present live coverage from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET Saturday in preparation for the announcement of Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate for the November election.
The coverage will kick off with MSNBC Live at 6 a.m. ET with Alex Witt anchoring.
I wonder how much coverage they will devote to John McCain’s announcement?
Tags: Election 08, Media, Media Bias, Obama, Politics
Scott Thomas Beauchamp of TNR infamy is back. Many of us had hoped that — after being proven a liar– he would have gone off quietly into the night to finish out his service in the Army. Well, apparently not. Beauchamp sat down with his wife (a former TNR intern) and “journalist” Spencer Ackerman for a one on one interview about the “Shock Troops” scandal. In the interview, Ackerman takes several uncalled for shots at conservative bloggers, Michael Goldfarb, the Army, and incredibly his former employer Franklin Foer who’s the editor at TNR. Ackerman was supposedly fired from TNR for his anti-war views.
Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee has a great take downof Ackerman’s interview over at Pajamas media. Needless to say, he’s not at all impressed with either Beauchamp or Ackerman.
Tags: Beauchamp, GWOT, Iraq, Media Bias, Military8/21/2008
I wanted to expand a little on my post last night about McCain’s VP choice. McCain needs to understand that if he picks a pro-choice VP it’s going to send a very clear message to conservatives. That message is that he doesn’t care what we think. He doesn’t care about the issues that are important to us.
That’s a dangerous message to send when the majority of us already feel like we’re having to hold our noses to vote for him. My good friend – and fellow blogger — Isaac thinks that McCain will pick a pro-life VP. I hope he’s right. I want to vote for McCain. I want to feel good about that vote, and I don’t want to feel like I’m voting for the lesser of two evils. If McCain goes with a pro-choice VP, I certainly won’t feel good about voting for him, and I’m not even sure I could vote for him. I’m afraid that his choosing a pro-choice VP would be one slap to the face too many.
Tags: Election 08, McCain, Politics8/20/2008
Hugh has a great post up about what McCain needs to do when considering his VP choice. I have said before that John McCain was certainly not my first choice to receive the nod for Republican nominee. However, given the need to win the war in Iraq, and now the situation developing between Russia and the west. And, considering Barack Obama’s disastrous positions on these issues as well as his absurd domestic policy ideas, conservatives like myself can’t sit this one out.
But, neither can John McCain afford to poke conservatives — and particularly social conservatives — in the eye by picking a pro-choice candidate for Vice President. The Republican party has long stood for protecting the innocent among us. We’ve long stood for protecting those least able to protect themselves, and now is no time to change. If McCain truly believes what he professed this weekend at the Saddleback forum — that life begins at conception — then picking a pro-choice VP should be as unthinkable as picking a cut and run Democrat as VP.
The take away from Hugh’s post is that Reagan was encouraged to make a similar choice to “shake up the race”, and he refused to. Believing instead that he could win the election by persuading Americans that he had the right vision for the country. McCain doesn’t need to shake up the race. He needs to stand strong on core Republican and conservative ideals, and convince America that following those ideals continues to be the best way forward.
Tags: Election 08, McCain, Obama, Politics
Russia Threatens Military Action Against Poland
Okay, this is turning into a nightmare scenario. Will someone please tell Putin to put away the vodka? The US has always said that the BMD shield was not, and is not designed to threaten Russia. It was meant to protect Europe from Iranian ballistic missiles. Heck, the missiles don’t even have any warheads. They are kinetic — or hit to kill — weapons. There’s no reason for Putin and Medvedev to be concerned about the BMD shield… unless they’re running interferance for Iran.
Tags: Cold War, Geopolitics, Military, National Security, Poland, RussiaHours after the signing, Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned that Moscow’s response would go beyond diplomacy. The system to be based in Poland lacks “any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles,” it said in a statement, contending the U.S. system “will be broadened and modernized.”
“In this case Russia will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic” channels, it said without elaborating.
8/19/2008
Greg Palkot with FOX News is on the ground in Georgia, and seems to think that Russia’s plan is to destroy Georgia’s infrastructure before they begin to abide by the terms of the cease fire.
Tags: Cold War, Georgia, National Security, Russia, World Affairs…Operations at the commercial port have been halted and management is trying to start them up Tuesday evening.
These attacks appear to be part of Russia’s grand plan to systematically disable Georgia’s infrastructure.
The same holds true for a small military base in Poti. Already in less-than-great-shape, the Russians nevertheless saw fit to knock down two Soviet-era radio towers and while they were ransacking other buildings there…
I think there’s an important clarification that needs to be made about the status of Abkhazia and South Ossettia. No one but Russia and themselves recognize them as an independent nation. The international community (the EU, US, and UN) have consistently said that these areas are a part of Georgia.
Tags: Cold War, Russia, South Ossettia, World Affairs8/18/2008
Russia has deployed short range SS-21 missiles to South Ossettia. This is in direct violation of the EU brokered cease fire agreement. SS-21’s can carry not only a conventional payload, but also either nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
A battalion of Russia’s 76th Guards Airborne Division was moved from Pskov to Beslam, a few miles on the Russian side of the Georgian border. Several other battalions elsewhere in Russia have been ordered to be ready to deploy. This is significant because it means that Russia is moving more troops into the area to re-enforce those already in Georgia.
It would be the equivalent of America sending “peace keeping troops” to Canada, and then – on the day we’re supposed to be withdrawing back into the US — sending a battalion of heavy infantry to Detroit, and ordering several other battalions to be ready to deploy to the area at a moment’s notice.
This news comes as Russian forces were supposed to be pulling out of Georgian territory. They were supposed to be pulling back to the positions that they held when the fighting began on August 7th. However, news agencies including the Telegraph, AP, and FOX News are reporting that not only have Russian forces not begun to pull back to their August 7th positions, some are in fact moving closer to the Georgian capitol of Tbilisi. They are also still in control of the Georgian cities of Gori, Igoeti, Zugdidi, and Senaki.
The United States has been flying humanitarian aid into the area. At least 6 flights have landed since President Bush authorized the aid. Several more flights were expected to land on Tuesday. In the mean time, the Russian military has blocked 11 trucks carrying flour from entering Tbilisi.
Russian puppet President Dmitry Medvedev sent other ex-Soviet states thinking of challenging Russia’s authority a message that that sort of thing won’t be tolerated.
“If anyone thinks that they can kill our citizens and escape unpunished, we will never allow this,” he said. “If anyone tries this again, we will come out with a crushing response. We have all the necessary resources, political, economic and military.”
Of course, as I’ve noted before, Russia provoked this fight with Georgia by:
- Handing out Russian passports to people living in Georgian territory.
- Backing the South Ossettian rebels with both financial help and military equipment.
- Closing it’s border with Georgia
- Suspending air and ground transportation links.
- Imposing an embargo on Georgian agricultural exports.
- Allowed Russian banks to operate “virtually unregulated” with unlicensed Abkhazian banks.
- Strengthened ties with separatist leaders in South Ossettia and Abkhazia.
- Shot down an unmanned and unarmed Georgian surveillance drone flying over it’s own territory.
- Sent heavy combat troops with artillery as “peace keepers” to Abkhazia (why do peace keeping troops need artillery?).
- Sent Russian military personnel into Georgia to repair a rail line without Georgia’s permission.
Regarding the repair of the rail line; I don’t know which rail line this is, but it’s possible that this repair was made in preparation for this invasion. I can’t find the source, but if I remember correctly, Russia did use rail lines to get some if it’s troops into Georgia. I mean, why else would Russia repair a Georgian rail line in Georgian territory. It’s fairly obvious — after the way Russia has behaved in this conflict — that it wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts.
So, at the end of the day today, things seem to be getting worse. Russia is still in Georgian territory in violation of the cease fire. They have further solidified their positions in Georgian territory. They’re moving more re-enforcements into the area. There’s also that other new twist to things… they have moved short range SS-21’s into South Ossettia in violation of the cease fire agreement.
Tags: Cold War, Georgia, Military, Russia, Spreading Freedom, World Affairs8/17/2008
Via Blackfive, here’s a letter home to the parents of a fallen Marine. I too thank God that we have Brave men and women who are willing to stand in the gap against our nation’s enemies.
Yesterday in a nameless spot in the Iraqi desert near the village of Ayn-al Faris east of Lake Tar-Tar, Michael was on patrol when they took fire from a seemingly abandoned house they were about to search. With him at the time were several other Marines two of whom were wounded and are recovering. They live and fight as a team, these young men, and his buddies did what Marines have done from the beginning of our history, something they do without thinking and always without hesitation—they risked their own lives to save his. In spite of grave danger from the continuing firefight they struggled to save his life, but he was already gone to God. They were with him when he died. He was not alone and was surrounded by the finest men on earth…
I did not know your son, but I am sure he was just like every Marine I have known in the three decades and more that I have served. Like my own two sons who are Marines and have served here in this war, I bet he was a good looking young man, fun loving, into sports and a good son—but not perfect—boys never are. He was also different Mr. and Mrs. Ferschke, because he chose to leave the comfortable and safe confines of his home and walk a different path than all the rest. The path he chose led him to be one of the nations finest, to be a Marine. When he did not have to raise his right hand and swear before his God to serve and protect this nation and its people, he did just that. We all owe him an eternal debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. We also owe you and all who loved him a debt—one that can never be settled…
In my private moments I well up and come near to tears when I think of them. They are not just tears of sorrow, but also of joy and hope that we still have men of substance who are not afraid to step forward and face our enemies without flinching or backing down. I never had the privilege of knowing Michael, but I will remember him, and pray for him and for all those who mourn his loss, for the rest of my life.
According to the battalion commander, Sgt. Ferschke’s brother Marines braved suicide bombers and a hail of automatic weapons fire to recover his body. Twelve terrorists were killed, and a great deal of intel was gathered as well.
Tags: GWOT, Iraq, Marines, Military, Radical Islam8/16/2008
This little bit of information is disturbing. You don’t dig in fighting positions for tanks unless you plan on staying there for a while, and Igoeti is inside Georgian territory. It’s becoming more and more clear that Russia has no intention of upholding the cease fire that they agreed to.
I hope to have a more lengthly post tomorrow on why the cease fire isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. As they say… stay tuned.
Tags: Georgia, National Security, Russia, Spreading Freedom
Howard Dean was up to his old tricks again using racial demagoguery to attack the GOP, calling it the “white party”.
“If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the [laughs] Republican party.”
Of course, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell, J.C. Watts, and Michael Steele — all Republicans — don’t count for some reason.
This is going to be a long election cycle if the Democrats insist on throwing race into the mix at every turn. And, Dean’s racial demagoguery is setting us up nicely for the national conversation that Obama wants to have about race. Let the healing begin.
Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin
Tags: Democrats, Race, Republicans8/14/2008
Russia Moving Deeper Into Georgian Territory
Many have said all along that the Russian cease fire wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. We’re finding out now that they were right. Nearly two days after a cease fire was agreed to, Russian tanks are still moving further into Georgian territory.
GORI, Georgia — High hopes plummeted into fearful confusion in key Georgian cities Thursday as Russian troops appeared ready to pull out, then returned. Georgia’s government said Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced toward the country’s second-largest city but later stopped dozens of miles away.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, said the world “can forget about” Georgia getting back its two separatist provinces. And U.S. President George W. Bush demanded that Russia respect the “territorial integrity” of Georgia and urged it to honor a European-brokered cease-fire plan to end fighting that has displaced some 100,000 people.
Mikhail Saakashvili, speaking to foreign reporters in an appeal for international intervention, said a Russian armored convoy was moving toward the city of Kutaisi. Kutaisi, the country’s No. 2 city, is toward central Georgia — not near the separatist provinces if Abkhazia and South Ossetia where fighting has erupted in recent days.
Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said it was “a rather large column of Russian armor, over 100 pieces.” He said it had departed from the city of Zugdidi.
“We have no idea what they’re doing there, why the movement, where they’re going,” he said in a telephone briefing. “One explanation could be they are trying to rattle the civilian population.”
In other news from the Russia / Georgia conflict, it appears that Russia may be targeting journalists. Tamara Urushadze — a Georgian TV reporter — was shot in the arm by a Russian sniper during a live broadcast today, and a cameraman for Netherlands based RTL news was killed in a bombing run made by Russian planes.
Nine other journalists have been wounded, and yet another three have been killed since fighting broke out between Russian and Georgian forces. Of course, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we know the Russian airforce has been targeting civilians in Gori.
Tags: Georgia, Russia, Spreading Freedom8/12/2008
Russian media has had a lot to say about how Georgia reportedly started this fight. Well, that’s not entirely true. First of all, Russia has been provoking a fight with Georgia for months now, and has backed the separatist rebels in Ossetia and Abkhazia militarily and financially.
But the Bush administration had fretted for months over what officials saw as intensifying Russian moves that it feared were aimed at provoking Georgia into a conflict over South Ossetia or Abkhazia, another secessionist province.
Russia has been angry over Georgia’s close links with Washington, and has been determined to stop the admission to NATO of its former vassal, which is located on strategic energy and transportation routes to Central Asia.
The Russian actions against Georgia “seemed designed to provoke a Georgian over-reaction,” said a senior U.S. official. “We have always counseled restraint to the Georgians.”
[***] [***]
U.S. officials had been warning of Russian actions designed to provoke Georgia for months.
In June, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Russia’s “unremitting” political and economic pressure included closing its border with Georgia, suspending air and transportation links, imposing an embargo on Georgian agricultural exports and allowing Russian banks to operate “virtually unregulated” with unlicensed Abkhazian banks.
Earlier this year, he said, Russia strengthened official ties with separatist leaders in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, shot down an unmanned Georgian surveillance drone, sent heavy combat troops with artillery as peacekeepers to Abkhazia and dispatched military personnel to repair a rail line without Georgia’s permission.
He also said senior Russian officials were assigned to the internationally unrecognized self-declared governments in the two enclaves and that senior Russian military officers operated with the separatists’ military forces.
The senior U.S. official said the Russians had also dragged their feet on a recent German-led effort to head off a conflict.
So, after months of attacks by these separatist rebels who are in internationally recognized Georgian territory. And, after months of provocation by Russia itself, Georgia decides to strike back. Russia then further oversteps its rights and attacks Georgia proper.
Now, we find out today that bombing runs made on Gori by Russian planes were made after Georgian troops had evacuated Gori. The only people left in Gori were civilians.
Tags: Georgia, RussiaGORI, Georgia — On the day that Russia declared an end to its war in Georgia, Jumberi, a taxi driver who gave only his first name, took a long drag on a Marlboro Red cigarette and said that after the first bomb hit, all he saw was body parts.
He motioned to the shattered windshield of his Toyota Corolla and the bloody handprints on the side of the car — left there when the wounded and dying collapsed as they begged him to take them to the hospital.
“I heard the sound of the jets, but I did not see them,” he said. “They were just bombing and bombing the city. Everything was out of control.”
It wasn’t clear what military targets were left for Russian aircraft to hit on Tuesday. Georgian soldiers had fled their positions sometime overnight and all that remained of their presence were abandoned vehicles _two transport trucks crashed in the middle of the road and the charred remains of an armored personnel carrier, its bits blown across the street.
Yet explosions boomed across Gori and the valley around it, and their toll was grimly evident.
Jumberi pointed to his backseat, where blood was pooled on the floorboard — left, he said, by a man who staggered over to his cab before an ambulance took him away.
A few minutes later, three Russian helicopters launched missiles over a ridgeline in the distance. The clouds overhead, dark with rain, flashed with every explosion.
Eteri Tatishvilli marveled at the continuing attack.
“The Georgian troops have withdrawn completely,” she said. “The last time I saw them was last night.”
Miles away, at one of Tbilisi’s main hospitals, doctors struggled to care for the wounded, who arrived in waves throughout the day. Many were elderly. None was a soldier.
“Just now, we admitted eight patients,” said Tamara Saria, a doctor. “The age of all of them was no less than 80.”
“Do you see any military people here?” asked Nikoloz Kvachatze, another doctor. “These are all civilians.”
8/10/2008
Georgia — overwhelmed by Russian firepower — has asked for a ceasefire. Russia has said no and widened it’s attacks against the small democracy (and US ally) of Georgia.
TBILISI, Georgia —Russia battled Georgian forces on land and sea, reports said late Sunday, despite a Georgian cease-fire offer and its claim to be withdrawing from South Ossetia, the separatist Georgian province battered by days of intense fighting.
Russia claimed to have sunk a Georgian boat that was trying to attack Russian vessels in the Black Sea, and Georgian officials said Russia sent tanks from South Ossetia into Georgia proper, heading toward a strategic city before being turned back.
Russian planes on Sunday twice bombed an area near the Georgian capital’s airport, officials said.
BTC pipeline route
The guys at Powerline point out that this is all about Russian oil… all about the quasi-capitalist criminal enterprise that I mentioned earlier. And, Putin is involved in this up to his neck. He’s also thrown off any pretense of Medvedev being in charge at this point.
Tags: Cold War, Georgia, KGB, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Global domination, regional hegemony, a police state at home, and all funded by a quasi-capitalist criminal enterprise. Yeah, it’s like the cold war on crack.
Tags: Cold War, Georgia, KGB, Russia, Vladimir PutinIf a re-constituted Soviet Union under control of an old school KGB leader is okay with you, then no worries.
If it does worry you, dust off the old REFORGER maps; we may need them again.
8/9/2008
The Kossacks are in a fine frenzy today over John Edwards’ affair on his sick wife. The interesting thing is, they’re not angry that he cheated on his wife. They’re angry that he nearly cost them the Whitehouse (as if he actually had a chance at the nomination). Because cheating on your sick wife is a private matter… unless it might cost your party the power they so desperately crave. After all, the last eight years in the wilderness has been so unbearable.
You want a couple of examples of the unhinged ranting? Ok, your wish is my command.
[profanity deleted] John Edwards. I have zero respect for his self-serving [profanity deleted].
I don’t really care what he does in his private life. If he wants to screw around, fine. I don’t agree with it, obviously, but it’s ultimately between him and Elizabeth.
But he chose to be a presidential candidate, cheating on a wife with cancer, and then running for the Democratic nomination with that fact tucked away waiting to break out as an October surprise. Not only is that an incredibly selfish act, but he could have single-handedly given us another 8 years of Republican rule if he won the primaries.
His hubris makes my blood boil. To think that he ran with this thinking he wouldn’t endanger not just the presidency but this country too is just repulsive.
I’m not going to listen to anyone who says “oh, this is just between him and Elizabeth” because that’s not how we treat Newt Gingrich.
And second: what if he had become the nominee and this came out? He would have basically handed the presidency to the Republican nominee.
Self-serving egomaniac with a distinct lack of moral fiber.
He had an affair, THEN asked us to nominate him.
He’s not getting any more invitations to my Christmas parties, that’s for sure.
I am SO glad he’s not our nominee. But he put us all at risk by asking running.
A self-serving egomaniac with a distinct lack of moral fiber… because he put his party at risk. Ughh, what a bunch of idiots.
Tags: Daily Kos, Edwards, Far Left, Politics8/4/2008
CBS has a story about Obama’s campaign plane, and it’s accommodations for the candidate, his staff, and the press. Apparently, Obama’s chair has his campaign slogan embroidered on it as well as the word President.
There’s more and more evidence being revealed every day that candidate Obama is expecting a coronation… not an election. As Hugh said; if he’s this arrogant as a candidate, imagine how bad he’ll be if he gets elected.
Tags: Election 08, Obama, Politics8/3/2008
About That Whole Drilling Thing…
Friday at about noon eastern time Nancy Pelosi adjourned the House for the August recess without allowing a vote on drilling for our own oil. She and dingy Harry in the Senate have done everything possible over the last month or so to prevent a vote on this issue.
Well, Republicans in the House decided they were going to stay behind and continue to do the nation’s business. Friday afternoon they continued the debate on drilling for oil off the continental shelf and in ANWR, as well as opening up the west for oil shale exploration. San Fran Nan’s response was to order the lights and microphones shut off. Awfully democratic of her don’t you think?
The narrative put forth by the democrats is that drilling won’t lower prices in the near term, and that any oil discovered wouldn’t hit the market for 10 years. But, that’s not necessarily true. First of all, there are a number of experts that have said that we could have oil out of the ground off the coast of California within a year or two. Secondly, as we have seen in the last week or two (and many economists have admitted this), the fact that the US is talking about drilling for our own oil will drive down oil prices which will in turn drive down gasoline prices. The oil market (and many other markets as well) are anticipatory in that regard. If they suspect that there will be more oil on the market (higher supply) the price comes down.
The reality is that the majority of Americans support drilling for our own oil and using the resources we have here at home. Pelosi and Reid know this.
The American people know that drilling for our own oil will lower prices. The alternative — relying on unproven and in some cases undeveloped alternative energy sources and an undeveloped infrastructure for those alternative sources will do nothing but increase prices and price instability.
Pelosi and Reid know that a drilling amendment would pass in both the House and the Senate. They know that Republicans would vote for it overwhelmingly, and that there are a number of Democrats that would cross the aisle to vote for it too. That’s why they won’t allow the vote. That’s why the Republicans calling attention to the issue on Friday was such a good idea. Even the Obamanation “softened” (flip-flopped) his stance on off shore drilling.
So, in the next five weeks what should the Republicans do to force the issue? First of all, they should not go on vacation like the Democrats have done. They should take the opportunity to speak out on the issue every day. Hold a rally each day at the Capitol building or at a DC area gas station. Next, I would ask the President to call a special session of congress to address the issue. The President has that option, and has already expressed his support for drilling in that he has lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling. Finally, as the assumed Republican nominee, John McCain should be out front and center onm this issue. He has in the past expressed reservations about drilling in ANWR, but has since said that he would be willing to reconsider. I think it’s time that he does that. The American public is demanding relief from these high prices, and McCain knows well that drilling is the only reasonable short term solution.
Tags: Economy,