September 2007 Marks Record 49th Consecutive Month Of Job Growth

The greatest story never told...

More Than 8.1 Million Jobs Created Since August 2003 In Longest Continuous Months Of Job Growth On Record

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released new jobs figures – 110,000 jobs created in September. September 2007 is the 49th consecutive month of job growth, setting a new record for the longest uninterrupted expansion of the U.S. labor market. Significant upward revisions to employment in July and August mean employment growth has averaged 97,000 per month over the last three months. Since August 2003, our economy has created more than 8.1 million jobs, and the unemployment rate remains low at 4.7 percent.

Republican Debate

Frankly all four top tier candidates did pretty well. Fred/Rooty tied for first. Mitt/McCain tied for second. Rest....who cares--although Sam Brownback gets a prize for the best "Smiling Bob" impersonation.

Clinton proposes 401(k)s, matching funds

First the $5000 baby bond, now this. Buying votes with your tax dollars appears to be her strategy for the WH.

Every citizen could get a 401(k) retirement account and up to $1,000 in annual matching funds from the government under a plan offered Tuesday by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At a cost of $20 billion-$25 billion a year, the plan is Clinton's largest domestic proposal other than her plan for universal health insurance. The New York senator said it would be paid for by taxing estates worth more than $7 million per couple and would help narrow the gap between the rich and those who don't have enough savings for retirement.

At the same time, Clinton said she has given up another idea for a savings incentive — giving every baby born in the United States a $5,000 account to one day pay for college or a first home.

Giuliani Still on Top as Republicans Prepare to Debate in Michigan

Interesting...

PRINCETON, NJ -- As the Republican presidential candidates square off in the latest in a series of debates -- this time in Dearborn, Mich. tonight -- new Gallup polling shows former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani continuing to hold onto his status as front-runner, 12 points ahead of former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson and 16 points ahead of John McCain. Thompson -- for whom this will be the first national debate since officially declaring his candidacy -- is still less well-known to Republicans nationwide than Giuliani and McCain, suggesting that the debate could be an important opportunity for him to fill in the blanks in the minds of GOP primary voters. The poll also finds former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee moving within two points of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, whose nationwide support among Republicans remains mired in single digits.

Tuesday's Thompson Debut

I don't think it can be overstated just how important Tuesday's debate is for all the top tier candidates most especially Fred Thompson. I expect the viewership to be high as it is the first encounter where all the major players will be present.

There is a general concensus that Thompson is the most consistent conservative of all the top tier candidates. What remains an open question is can he articulate those conservative principals in a manner that energizes the base of the Republican party. The other candidates will undoubtedly be gunning for him so he needs to be engaged, forceful without appearing the bully, and above the fray without appearing dismissive--no easy task.

If Thompson does well he will go a long way to cementing the nomination, if he does poorly he is in for a major uphill battle, possibly insurmountable. He will naturally stand out from the rest due to his unique style of discourse. The million dollar question is will he come off as knowledgable, thoughtful and steady or tired, flippant and disengaged. We will have our answer on Tuesday.

Disgraced Sandy Berger joins Hillary Clinton campaign

Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Berger, who was fired from John Kerry’s presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton’s campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers.

“It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger’s serious misdeeds,” said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University, who nonetheless called Clinton “by far the most impressive candidate in the Democratic field.”

Poor judgement yes, but even more than that it illustrates an insolent arrogance peculiar to the Democrats and particularly anyone with the last name of Clinton.

Good News is No News

As CNN's Howard Kurtz accurately pointed out on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," few media outlets seemed at all interested in giving much attention to the great news out of Iraq last week regarding September's sharp decline in casualties.

To Kurtz's obvious frustration, his guests - Robin Wright of the Washington Post and Barbara Starr of CNN - both supported the press burying this extremely positive announcement.

I kid you not.

After introducing the subject, Kurtz asked, "Robin Wright, should that decline in Iraq casualties have gotten more media attention?"

This was Wright's amazing answer:

Not necessarily. The fact is we're at the beginning of a trend -- and it's not even sure that it is a trend yet. There is also an enormous dispute over how to count the numbers. There are different kinds of deaths in Iraq.

If the casualty rate would have doubled instead of halved do you think it would have been heavily reported?

Fred Thompson Leads Rudy Giuliani 27% to 19% in Colorado.

Thompson leading by this much in purple state like Colorado is surprising.

DENVER (AP) — Fred Thompson has a slight lead over Republican rival Rudy Giuliani, and Hillary Clinton has an apparent edge over fellow Democrats John Edwards and Barack Obama in the race in Colorado for the White House, according to a poll released Friday.

The Ciruli Associates Poll suggested Thompson had 27 percent support among Republicans to 19 percent for Giuliani and 11 percent for John McCain.
Some 29 percent of Democrats said they supported Clinton, compared to 23 percent each for Edwards and Obama, the poll said. Remaining candidates, including Republican Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, were in the single digits.

Phony Soldiers

The way he told it, David McClanahan, of Fort Worth, Texas, had been wounded in combat three times in Iraq, awarded three Silver Stars and even nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Today, McClanahan, a nursing student at West Texas A&M, appeared in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, on charges he made up his hero's tale. McClanahan did not enter a plea and was released on bond after being advised of the charges against him. The arraignment is now scheduled for June 13.

More phony soldiers: Atlantic City Mayor, Phony Green Beret, Under Investigation... but a Democrat?

And another

Sanctuary State?

Feds Sue Illinois for Flouting Immigration Law:

They’re taking the scofflaws to court. This time, it’s not just a meat-packing plant or a construction contractor, or some small business hiring illegal aliens. This time, it’s the whole blooming state of Illinois, which has one of the worst records of looking the other way when illegals take jobs.

Taking the amnesty approach to a new low, Illinois passed a law banning employers from participating in the Basic Pilot Program (aka E-Verify), the successful federal system used to track down phony Social Security numbers and thus detect illegal workers.

Other states, such as Arizona, are mandating that employers use this system. Going the other way is Illinois, the so-called “Land of Lincoln” that henceforth shall be called the “Land of Winkin’” — winking at illegal workers, that is.

Speaking from personal experience I know Illinois has created a pi$$ poor business environment by levying both confiscatory taxation and a never ending litany of regulations and mandates. It looks as though the only business friendly program they are willing to embrace is unfettered illegal employment.

Romney - Thompson Funds Comparison

You be the judge.

All is Not Rosy in Romneyland

Via NRO

From Team Romney:

Today, Romney for President announced it is expected to report over $18 million in total receipts for the Third Quarter, ending September 30, 2007. The Campaign again opted to raise no general election funds and is expected to report $10 million in primary contributions. The total receipts include Governor Romney's loan of $8.5 million.

Two other key points:

Cash On Hand: $9 Million

Total Number Of Donors So Far This Year: More Than 100,000 (23,000 New Donors In The Third Quarter)

UPDATE: Romney's rivals are quickly pointing out that without his own donation, he would have $500,000 cash on hand. Yeah, and if he didn't have a personal fortune, he'd be in really tough shape. But he does have a personal fortune, and has dipped in plenty, and has plenty more to spend if he feels he needs it. In other words, all of these fundraising numbers are kind of moot for Romney, as he could get zero donations and still have more than enough cash to run a serious campaign.

Romney has 100,000 donors in 9 months, Thompson has 70,000 donors in 3 weeks. One thing the author fails to aknowledge--just as important as the funds thelselves donors and fundraising numbers are an indication of overall strength and support. Just over 10,000 new donors per month should be worrisome.

Update: Thompson Raises $9.3M in Summer Quarter

His campaign said he had 80,000 donors, 22,000 of them contributing through the Internet.

27% of Republicans Would Vote for Pro-Life Third Party Instead of Giuliani

HMMMMM...

If Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination and a third party campaign is backed by Christian conservative leaders, 27% of Republican voters say they’d vote for the third party option rather than Giuliani. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that a three-way race with Hillary Clinton would end up with the former First Lady getting 46% of the vote, Giuliani with 30% and the third-party option picking up 14%. In head-to-head match-ups with Clinton, Giuliani is much more competitive.

Over this past weekend, several Christian conservative leaders indicated they might back a pro-life, third-party, candidate if Giuliani wins the nomination.

The latest poll highlights the potential challenges for Giuliani, but the numbers must be considered in context. A generic third-party candidate may attract 14% of the vote in the abstract at this time. However, if a specific candidate is chosen, that person would likely attract less support due to a variety of factors. Almost all third party candidates poll higher earlier in a campaign and their numbers diminish as election day approaches. Ultimately, of course, some Republicans would have to face the question of whether to vote for Giuliani or help elect a Democrat.

Fred Thompson Only Candidate to Back Limbaugh

A show of guts has been pretty rare commodity from any of the Republican Presidential candidates so far in the campaign. It's nice to see a display of said from Fred Thompson....

Congressional Democrats are trying to divert attention from insulting our military leader in Iraq and pandering to the loony left by attacking Rush Limbaugh. He is one of the strongest supporters of our troops, yet Democrats claim he is not being strong enough. I wonder who General Petraeus and his troops think is most supportive?

Way to go Fred. Rush called it a “A rare act of courage” and he's right.

Mensnewsdaily has posted this poll:

Who inspires you more?

a. The United States Congress

b. The United States Senate

c. Rush Limbaugh

d. None of the above

If you are in the military a have a .mil account please participate. I think we all know roughly what the results will be, the only question is how lopsided.

Update: Results--Rush Limbaugh 86%

None of the above 12%

The United States Senate 1%

The United States Congress 1%

Al Qaeda in Iraq operative killed near Syrian border sheds light on foreign influence

Fight them over there or fight them over here has never been truer.

The US military has long maintained that al Qaeda in Iraq is led by foreign al Qaeda. Over the past year, senior al Qaeda operatives such as Omar Farouq, one of Osama bin Laden's lieutenants and al Qaeda's operations chief in Southeast Asia, and Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, one of bin Laden's senior deputies who was "personally chosen by bin Laden to monitor al Qaeda operations in Iraq," have been captured inside Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq's leader, Abu Ayyub al Masri, is an Egyptian selected by al Qaeda Central. Al Masri was a close aide to Ayman al Zawahiri, and was a member of Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Its prior leader, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was an experienced al Qaeda operative of Jordanian origin. Much of al Qaeda in Iraq's senior leadership is of foreign origin.

In a press conference today, Major General Kevin Bergner, the spokesman for Multinational Forces Iraq, provided further evidence of al Qaeda in Iraq's foreign influence. Bergner highlighted the arrest "Muthanna," al Qaeda's the emir of the Iraq/Syrian border. "During this operation, we also captured multiple documents and electronic files that provided insight into al Qaeda’s foreign terrorist operations, not only in Iraq but throughout the region," Bergner said. "They detail the larger al-Qaeda effort to organize, coordinate, and transport foreign terrorists into Iraq and other places."

"Muthanna was the emir of Iraq and Syrian border area and he was a key facility of the movement of foreign terrorists once they crossed into Iraq from Syria," Bergner said. "He worked closely with Syrian-based al Qaeda foreign terrorist facilitators."
Bergner said several documents were found in Muthanna's custody, including a list of 500 al Qaeda fighters from "a range of foreign countries that included Libya, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom."

In addition this document several copies of the latest DNC talking points were also discovered.

U.S. Data Show Nearly 19,000 Iraq Kills

Amazing what can be accomplished when we take the gloves off.

American and coalition troops have reported killing and capturing more suspected insurgents in the first half of 2007 than in any other similar period of the Iraq war, while military officials said so-called "body count" reports are meant to give "scale" to the fight.

Last week, USA Today reported that since June 2003, the U.S. military in Iraq has kept a count of insurgents killed, injured and detained. Those figures were later released by the military to Stars and Stripes.

Through August 2007, those figures show, 18,832 suspected insurgents had been reported killed, 5,196 injured and 119,752 arrested by U.S. and coalition forces.

In 2007, the figures show, coalition troops arrested an average of around 100 suspected insurgents each day. Military officials have said both the increased casualty and capture figures are attributed in part to the "surge" and more aggressive tactics by units throughout the country.

An In Depth Look at Who Votes & Decides GOP Primary

Very interesting...

Rasmussen Reports polling has recently shown Fred Thompson leading the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination while most other polls place Rudy Giuliani in the lead and Thompson in second.

The difference is primarily the result of the fact that Rasmussen screens for Likely Primary Voters while others do not. Understanding this difference leads one to conclude that the conventional wisdom is currently overestimating Giuliani’s strength as a potential nominee.

For example, the latest Gallup Poll of adults shows Rudy Giuliani leading Thompson by eight percentage points, 30% to 22%. That poll also shows John McCain in third place with 18% of the vote, well ahead of Mitt Romney at 7%.

But, of course, we know that all adults don’t show and vote… especially in a party primary. When Gallup considers the results “Among Republicans Who are Extremely Likely to Vote in the Primary/Caucus in Their State,” Giuliani’s lead shrinks to three points, 29% to 26%.

It gets even more interesting when Gallup combines their last four surveys and takes a look at the more informed voters. Gallup says “Indeed, among Republicans who have an opinion of the four leading candidates -- less than half the party base -- the ballot looks very different, with Thompson at 33% support, Giuliani at 26%, Romney at 15%, and McCain at 10%.”

So this basically tells us that the informed portion of the electorate that are likely to vote in the Republican primary are strongly for Thompson.

Also this: Romney's 10,000 TV ads

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Over the past few days, two presidential candidates marked a “first” in their competing bids for the Republican presidential nomination.

For Arizona Sen. John McCain, the weekend marked the first time he took to the airwaves to tout his candidacy with an ad buy in New Hampshire. But it is the milestone former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney just passed that is head shaking.

Romney is the first presidential candidate to run at least 10,000 political ads this election cycle, according to an analysis conducted by TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, CNN’s consultant on political advertising spending. And there is no White House hopeful in sight to catch up to him anytime soon – unless a candidate immediately opens up the campaign war chest and begins to saturate the airwaves.

So much money, so little to show for it.

A T I'd Buy

Thanks Michelle.

Last letter from doomed Al Qaida chief: 'We are so desperate for your help'

Help us Obi Wan Pelosi, you're our only hope....

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military is eliminating Al Qaida's chain of command in Iraq.
Officials said several leading aides to Al Qaida network chief Abu Ayoub Al Masri have been killed by the U.S.-led coalition. They said two out of the four foreign aides of Al Masri remain alive.

On Sept. 25, the U.S. military killed an Al Qaida chief deemed responsible for transporting foreign operatives to Iraq. The Al Qaida commander, identified as Abu Osama Al Tunisi, was killed in a U.S. air strike as he met his colleagues in Musayib, about 60 kilometers south of Baghdad.

Shortly before he died, Al Tunisi wrote a letter that warned of a threat to Al Qaida operations in Karkh. The lettter, found by the U.S. military, sought guidance from Al Qaida leaders amid coalition operations that hampered Al Tunisi's network.
"We are so desperate for your help," the letter read.

Iraqi civilian deaths down by half in September

How can this be? The Democrat leadership and MoveOn.org has told us for months that the surege is a failure.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - At least 840 civilians were killed in Iraq in September, less than half the toll of the previous month, according to figures compiled by three Iraqi ministries and seen by AFP on Monday.

The monthly toll, which coincides with a drop in September in the number of US soldiers killed in a month, is the lowest this year.

And also this:

U.S. military death toll down in Iraq....lowest in 14 months.