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Friday, June 29, 2007
Waiting for More Gales of Laughter from the LeftLet's see, how should they approach this: The “patio gas” bomb defused in Haymarket would have generated a fireball the size of a house and a shock wave spreading out over a diameter of at least 400 yards, explosives experts said today. Well, I mean, if it was the diameter of at least 400 yards, that's only a radius of 200 yards, right? No biggie, London's a huge city. Might be a bit problematic for anybody in the area, but otherwise just worthy of a yawn? “Hundreds of people could have been injured if they had been in the area at the time. The knock-on effects of breaking glass are particularly devastating, for example. Oh, injured? Are we talking about little purple-ouchy injured? Oh, wait, liberals aren't supposed to joke about purple-ouchies! Labels: London Car Bomb
London Car Bomb Plot FoiledKudos to the Brits, who have lots of experience with bomb plots. Police were alerted this morning to a suspicious vehicle in The Haymarket area in the heart of theatreland, close to Regent Street's popular shopping area.
A witness reported seeing gas canisters being removed from the car, believed to be a silver Mercedes, at around 4am.
The vehicle was covered in a blue tarpaulin as forensic teams examined it.
The area, including Piccadilly Underground station, has been cordoned off and will remain closed for some time, police said. Not surprisingly, the Left views this as "Ho hum." Atrios: Watching the CNN coverage of the thwarted car bombing in London I'm struck by how the coverage makes something that didn't happen thousands of miles away sound like something around the block. You know, foiled bomb plot in London! Terrorists crawling up through your toilet!
There are also the implications that such an event might practically shut down London, aided by images of the locked down site, which is of course absurd. Most people don't have the luxury of huddling under their beds, cowering in fear, even if they wanted to. But more to the point it's a big goddamn city and something almost happening in one part of it, even a central part, is for most people something quite far away. Nothing to see here, move along! Salon manages to sink even deeper: We bring up the attempted bombing in London because that's just the sort of thing the Iraq war was supposed to be preventing, at least according to Joe Lieberman circa 2006. Amid news of a foiled plot to hijack jetliners and fly them into the United States, Lieberman said then: "If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out [of Iraq] by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England. It will strengthen them and they will strike again." Yep, if there's another terrorist attack, it proves the Iraq War was useless. Labels: London Car Bomb
Thursday, June 28, 2007
The Marching MoronsThis is pretty idiotic even for the Moonbats. A writer at Op-Ed News alerts us to the "March of the People". The March of the People, a spontaneous sprout from the silent majority, stepped off from Chicago June 21 and will walk the 800 miles to the Capitol, arriving on the anniversary of 9/11. They will be met by marchers who are on the way from other directions.
We could be in D.C. on September 11 in the tens of millions to join them. Our interest groups and independent media could focus on getting people to the Capitol on September 11. Our members of Congress who stand by the Constitution could call us to the Capitol. Tens of millions, eh? Well, as it turns out, the March of the People turns out to be a misnomer. It's actually the March of the Person.  A person named Mario Penalver. Despite some positively glowing coverage by the Left, so far it's a solo march. So in order to get the tens of millions that Kathlyn Stone fantasizes about, they're going to have to rustle up, oh, about 19,999,999 more folks. Labels: Impeachment
Hispanics Abandoning GOPNo surprise here. In the 2004 election, at least 40% of the voters in the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group backed Bush, double the share of Hispanics who had supported Republican Bob Dole eight years earlier. But the inroads Bush made are vanishing.
The chief beneficiary for 2008 so far is Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.
A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll indicates that Hispanics, by nearly 3 to 1, say they're Democrats or lean that way. Of those, 59% support the New York senator over her presidential rivals — her strongest showing among any major demographic group and a huge potential asset for early contests in Nevada, Florida, California and other states with large Hispanic populations.
One big factor behind the flight from the GOP: a heated debate over immigration in which congressional Republicans' remarks on illegal immigrants have offended many Hispanic voters. The fallout from that battle, shifting Latino loyalties and a changing political calendar have scrambled political calculations made about Hispanics after the last presidential election — and raised the stakes for their role in choosing the Democratic nominee for the next one. The worse news? If you hate the immigration bill (and most conservatives do) just wait until you see the one that President Hillary Clinton and an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress will ram through. Reminding us once again why the Republicans are the "stupid party". Labels: Hillary Clinton, Hispanic Voters, Immigration
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Ron Paul PhenomenonGets a good going over from Wired. "The people who are actually working for the campaign are a little overwhelmed with what's happening," says Alex Wallenwein, a supporter who organized two of the 362 Meetup.com groups dedicated to Paul.
To many immersed in the political blogosphere, Paul's passionate supporters seem to be everywhere at once. Editors of political websites are inundated with angry e-mails demanding they devote more coverage to Paul. Blog posts that criticize Paul are often followed by hundreds of livid comments from his fans. Most frustrating to those not on board the Ron Paul bandwagon, he routinely ranks first in online presidential polls on sites ranging from CNN.com to niche political blogs. But inevitably comes reality: Conversely, Paul rates in the low single digits in scientific telephone polls and few political pundits afford him any chance of winning the nomination. When the editors at National Journal's The Hotline compiled their well-respected White House 2008 Rankings in May, they put Paul in last place among the 12 Republicans running, tacking on a fed-up message to his fans: "Just please stop e-mailing us." Paul gets huge support from the moronic "Truthers"; check out the spelling on some of the angry comments on the Wired article: First of all, could someone plaese explain to me what the heck is ment by the fallowing qoute taken from the above article? This piece just makes me angrier and strengthens my resolve to tell all my friends about Ron Paul. And it definately puts Wired into the "them" camp as ... Labels: Ron Paul
It's A Good Thing They Grow UpThe New York Times heralds a poll that shows that younger people are more liberal than the public at large. Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage, according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll. The poll also found that they are more likely to say the war in Iraq is heading to a successful conclusion. This, of course, is not news. Young people tend to be more liberal, but they become more conservative as they age. Essentially, liberalism appeals to the young because it offers something for nothing; it is not until kids get a little older that they realize that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Forty-four percent said they believed that same-sex couples should be permitted to get married, compared with 28 percent of the public at large. They are more likely than their elders to support the legalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.
The findings on gay marriage were reminiscent of an exit poll on Election Day 2004: 41 percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters said gay couples should be permitted to legally marry, according to the exit poll. That's still 56 percent who oppose gay marriage. The poll also reveals some flawed thinking: The survey also found that 42 percent of young Americans thought it was likely or very likely that the nation would reinstate a military draft over the next few years — and two-thirds said they thought the Republican Party was more likely to do so. And 87 percent of respondents said they opposed a draft. Given that the Democrats are the only ones proposing this.... Labels: NY Times Poll
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
McCain Hanging In ThereAlthough you'd never get that impression from the news stories. The second strong message is that the Republican race is much more fluid. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani began the year with about 37 percent in Cook/RT polling, staying about 13 to 19 points ahead of Sen. John McCain of Arizona. But in the latest four-poll sequence, Giuliani holds a much narrower lead, 25 percent to 21 percent. The combined sample of Republicans and GOP leaners has a 2.6-point error margin. Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were running about even for third place, with 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Other candidates received 2 percent or less.
But in the most recent survey of the four, Giuliani (22 percent) and McCain (21 percent) were virtually even at the top, as were Thompson (14 percent) and Romney (12 percent) one level back. When will Mitt drop out? Labels: 2008 Candidates, John McCain
Mitt's MoneySounds like the fundraising hasn't been going all that well for the Romney campaign: Mitt Romney said yesterday he had once more turned to his personal fortune to help finance his presidential campaign and might do so again, suggesting that his fund-raising has fallen off since the first three months of the year. And: Depending on how his competitors do, a fund-raising drop-off for this quarter could be a serious turnabout for his campaign. Mr. Romney stunned many when he led all the Republican candidates in the first quarter of the year by raising roughly $23 million, including a $2.35 million loan he provided himself and described as “seed money” for his campaign.
The amount far exceeded his Republican opponents’ take. Rudolph W. Giuliani was closest with about $14 million. Mr. Giuliani and Senator John McCain are expected to top their first quarter totals for the three-month period that ends Saturday. Mr. McCain raised $12.5 million in the first three months of the year. The money game is important, because it is the only "hard" metric that reporters can point to at this stage in the campaign. I have received mail solicitations from Romney and Giuliani. Labels: Mitt Romney
Monday, June 25, 2007
The Rumors of John McCain's Demise Are Greatly ExaggeratedThe London Times publishes speculation that John McCain could drop out of the race by the fall. The speculation, vigorously denied by McCain’s camp, is sweeping Republican circles after a disastrous few weeks in which the principled Arizona senator has clashed with the party’s conservative base on immigration and also alienated independent voters by backing President George W Bush’s troop surge in Iraq. I don't think there's any doubt that McCain has taken a hit on immigration (I am pleased that the Times acknowledges that it's a principled stand), but the real question is whether he can recover in time for the primaries early next year, and I see no reason not to believe that is possible. Remember, McCain beats Hillary. Thompson and Romney lose to Hillary. Captain Ed has a similar take: We have almost seven months before the first primary. That's longer than the campaigns have operated thus far in 2007. No one has even reached the half-way wark, and one major candidate (Fred Thompson) hasn't even entered the race yet. McCain has plenty of time to regroup and attempt to make up lost ground.
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