Sunday, September 30, 2007

Candidates Anxiously Await Third-Quarter Fundraising Numbers

Solid numbers.

WASHINGTON — Fred Thompson's fundraising in his first go-round as a declared presidential candidate could offer some surprisingly strong numbers as the entire field of 2008 candidates gets down to counting up their booties in the third-quarter money chase.


FOX News has learned that Thompson, the former Tennessee senator, will report having raised in excess of $8 million dollars in this quarter of the fiscal year. That's in addition to $3.5 million he raised in June.

According to Thompson aides, the campaign raised $200,000 a day since "announcing" his candidacy after Labor Day. Thompson had more than 70,000 donors, which far outpaces most candidates in both fields in their first quarters as candidates.


Tough to negatively spin that.

Murtha Must Testify in Defamation Case

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a defamation case against Rep. John P. Murtha and ordered the Pennsylvania Democrat to give a sworn deposition in the case.

A Marine Corps sergeant is suing the 18-term congressman for alleging ''cold-blooded murder and war crimes'' by unnamed soldiers in connection with the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha. The deaths became prominent in May 2006 when Murtha, who opposes the Iraq war, said at a Capitol Hill news conference that a Pentagon war crimes investigation will show Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians in the town in 2005.


U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer .... said she was troubled by the idea the lawmakers are immune from lawsuits regardless of what they say to advance their political careers.

Amen Judge Collyer, AMEN.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Latest Iowa Poll

As predicted the current Newsweek Poll shows the field tightening in Iowa.

Total------------------------Likely Republican Caucus-Goer

25 Mitt Romney/Lean Romney............... 24

16 Fred Thompson/Lean Thompson.......... 16

15 Rudy Giuliani/Lean Giuliani................. 13

BlogsforFredThompson offers up this additional stat:

Perhaps just as significant as Fred's strong move up, is another set of figures from the Newsweek poll. They asked respondents just how strong they supported their candidate. Here are the numbers for Fred, Mitt, and Rudy, with "Strong" listed first followed by "Not Strong/Lean":

Fred Thompson: 39 / 61
Mitt Romney: 26 / 74
Rudy Giuliani: 22 / 78

Newt's Running ... In 2012

From CQ...

My friend and all-around brilliant political analyst Patrick Ruffini deduces that Newt Gingrich has decided to enter the 2008 presidential race. He takes a look at Newt's pledge scheme and figures that Newt only needs to find 14,000 donors to contribute the maximum $2300 in order to reach the threshold of $30 million Newt demanded as a prerequisite to opening a nomination bid:


Newt would need only 14,000 of his fans to flood the site with $2,300 "pledges" in order to declare a broad public groundswell for his candidacy.

Sound far-fetched? You've seen what Ron Paul supporters do. You think Newt fans wouldn't do the same if they believed his entry into the race depended on it? And if Newt's people actually left the system this open -- i.e. didn't require you to leave a credit card that could then be charged -- I guarantee this hack would spread like wildfire on the blogs the minute the site went up.


Well, that's certainly one look at the situation. The pledge system seems rather non-committal, and if Newt could generate a Paul-like Internet movement, he could garner that much in meaningless pledges. Something tells me that Newt isn't looking for vaporware donations, however, and that he's serious about needing $30 million to catch up to Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, if not Fred Thompson. I doubt seriously that Newt wants to give up his current commitments just to wind up with a few million dollars in actual receipts and drafting in just above the second tier.

I hope his analysis is correct. Gingrich has little chance of winning the nomination and even less of winning the general. His presence would serve only to dilute conservative votes and present Guiliani the nomination on a silver platter.

Appears we have some confirmation: FOX: GINGRICH WILL NOT RUN FOR PRESIDENT

Friday, September 28, 2007

Huckabee rips Bush's war on terrorism

On one hotly debated issue, Huckabee endorsed Bush's surge of troops into Iraq, urging more time for that to work and criticizing Democratic proposals to get troops out as an invitation to chaos.

But beyond that, he differed with Bush across the map, using language more often heard from Democrats. He accused the administration of shunning allies and turning world sentiment against the United States.

''They've done a poor job of communicating and consulting countries much as they have, frankly, the American people,'' Huckabee told about 150 people at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a center-right think tank in Washington. "Our prestige in the world has been marred."

On Iran, he said Bush blew a chance to improve relations right after the 2001 terrorist attacks and that the United States should be talking to Iran today.

"When we first invaded Afghanistan, Iran helped, especially in dealings with their ally, the Northern Alliance,'' he said. ``They wanted to join us in fighting al Qaeda. ... The CIA and State Department supported a partnership. Some in the White House and beyond did not. And when President Bush included Iran in the axis of evil, everything went downhill pretty fast."

Even with today's sour relations, he said the United States should talk to Iran and use the promise of better relations and increased trade as well as the threat of economic isolation to persuade the country to abandon its nuclear program.


Well here's another second tier candidate you can cross of your list as a runner up choice. Just what we need, another Republican who sounds like a Denocrat. What an idiot.

Senior Al Qaeda in Iraq Leader Killed by Coalition Forces

Yea Baby!

WASHINGTON — U.S.-led forces have killed one of the most important leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq, a Tunisian believed connected to the kidnapping and killings last summer of American soldiers, a top commander said Friday.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson said the death of the terrorist in a U.S. airstrike Tuesday south of Baghdad, and recent similar operations against Al Qaeda, have left the organization in Iraq fractured.

"Abu Usama al-Tunisi was one of the most senior leaders ... the emir of foreign terrorists in Iraq and part of the inner leadership circle," Anderson said.

Romney Losing His Granite State Grip

As we predicted two weeks ago after seeing Romney's national numbers slide, the state numbers are beginning to follow suit...

It's no secret former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's strategy for winning the Republican nomination hinges on racking up early wins in both Iowa and New Hampshire. But two recently released polls indicate Mr. Romney may be losing his grip on the Granite State, despite years of familiarity from nearby Boston TV coverage.

A Rasmussen Reports survey released last Tuesday showed Mr. Romney's lead over Rudy Giuliani dwindling over the course of the last month from 12 points to just three points. A survey by CNN and WMUR TV released yesterday indicated a similar downward trend: the 15-point lead Mr. Romney held over Mr. Giuliani in July is now down to a single point. Overall, Mr. Romney's lead in the RealClearPolitics Average for New Hampshire has slipped to 4%, its lowest level since the end of May.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Iraq Electricity Production at All Time High

Iraq's electricity production has surpassed the government's interim goal of 120,000 KW average hours of production for the first time ever. This level has never been achieved before and represents a significant increase over pre-war levels (27% increase)

Page 40 of the Brookings Iraq index

Take some time to look at the entire PDF file. There are significant improvements in several other areas as well.

Miller's Folly

Miller Brewing's statement:

"While Miller has supported the Folsom Street Fair for several years, we take exception to the poster the organizing committee developed this year. We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organizers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately."

“We are and will continue to be supportive [of Folsom Street Fair and the LGBT community],” said Julian Green, director of media relations of Miller Brewing Company, Wednesday afternoon.

Miller has not requested a refund of any sponsorship money, Green said.

Pathetic.

Miller Brewing Co's quixotic quest to prove that pi$$ing down the back of the majority of faithful Christian consumers to support a tiny majority of peculiar fringe shirtlifters is sound business practice.

It isn't and they're going to discover that fact in short order.

If I was a major stockholder I'd be going ballistic as this is one of the most imbecilic business decisions I've seen in a very long time.

Hillary flip-flops, contradicts Bill - & herself - in N.H. debate

She sure has one thing in common with Bubba, altering beliefs to suit the audience of the moment...

HANOVER, N.H. - Sen. Hillary Clinton scored with a Democratic audience last night by contradicting her husband's belief that a terrorist could be tortured to foil an imminent plot - but what observers didn't know is she was contradicting herself, too.

"It cannot be American policy, period," Clinton (D-N.Y.) told debate moderator Tim Russert, who asked if there should be a presidential exemption to allow the torture of a terror chieftain if authorities knew a bomb was about to go off, but didn't know where it was.

Last October, Clinton told the Daily News: "If we're going to bepreparing for the kind of improbable but possible eventuality, then it has to be done within the rule of law."

She said then the "ticking time bomb" scenario represents a narrow exception to her opposition to torture as morally wrong, ineffective and dangerous to American soldiers.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

N.Y. Unveils Plan to Give Illegal Immigrants Drivers' Licenses

Next, voter registration cards?

New York State officials say a plan to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants with valid foreign passports will enhance security by creating records of their identities. But critics say those records could compromise security instead.

New York has between 500,000 and 1 million undocumented immigrants illegal aliens, many of whom drive without licenses and car insurance or with fake licenses, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said in announcing the plan Friday. He said it would bring "people out of the shadows'' into American society.

"They no longer need to hide and pretend they are not here,'' Spitzer said. "We will not become part of what is propagated on the federal level -- that if we don't admit they are here, then we can somehow not provide services. That is bad policy.''

Over 165 insurgents killed in Afghanistan

Escalating violence is not a problem when the body count ratio is 165:1

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two battles killed more than 165 Taliban fighters and a U.S.-led coalition soldier in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday as President Hamid Karzai prepared to discuss the escalating violence with President Bush in New York.

One of the clashes began Tuesday when several dozen insurgents attacked a joint coalition-Afghan patrol with machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades near the Taliban-controlled town of Musa Qala in Helmand province, with Taliban reinforcements flowing in all day, a coalition statement said.

The coalition returned artillery fire and called in fighter aircraft, killing more than 100 of the Taliban fighters, the coalition said. One coalition soldier was killed and four wounded.

The coalition said there were no immediate reports of civilian deaths or injuries.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Arrest of a major al-Queda terrorist (Abu Bakr)

Surfs up, waterboards ready!

BAGHDAD / file Press

A statement by the American forces as the large member in a cell of the Abu going Qaeda organization and who was arrested by the forces of the Iraqi army reconnaissance during raids by helicopters near Taji in September 16 that Salem Ismail Alehyale also known as Abu Bakr.

Sarkozy says letting Iran go nuclear could cause war

For the first time in many years France (or least one person in France) gets it...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons could destabilize the world and lead to war, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the United Nations on Tuesday.

(Advertisement) In his maiden speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Sarkozy said: "There will be no peace in the world if the international community falters in the face of nuclear arms proliferation."

Iran was entitled to nuclear power for civilian purposes, he said, "but if we allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, we would incur an unacceptable risk to stability in the region and in the world".

In a broader warning against the dangers of appeasement, the new French leader said: "Weakness and renunciation do not lead to peace. They lead to war."

Columbia's Conceit

"Never debate a fool for the audience won't know who he is." Debating a fool AND a liar is twice as futile.

On Saturday John Coatsworth, acting dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, made the remark that "if Hitler were in the United States and . . . if he were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him." This was by way of defending the university's decision to host a speech yesterday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Read the rest, it's so simple it's scary.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Morris Meets Thompson

"Crikey what a little Dick that is"

Thanx Rintense at FR.

Clinton says she can appeal to GOP voters

WASHINGTON, 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said Sunday she can appeal to Republicans as well as Democrats on the presidential trail.

And the reaction...

Scientists slam AP for using 'scare tactics' in global warming article

More crAP..

Nearly two dozen prominent scientists from around the world have denounced a recent Associated Press article promoting sea level fears in the year 2100 and beyond based on unproven computer models predictions. The AP article also has been accused of mischaracterizing the views of a leading skeptic of man-made global warming fears. The scientists are dismissing the AP article, entitled “Rising Seas Likely to Flood U.S. History” (LINK) as a “scare tactic,” “sheer speculation,” and “hype of the worst order.” (H/T: Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters.org - LINK)

Dr. Richard S. Courtney, a climate and atmospheric science consultant and a UN IPCC expert reviewer ridiculed the AP article.

“Rarely have I read such a collection of unsubstantiated and scare-mongering twaddle. Not only do real studies show no increase to rate of sea level change, the [AP] article gives reasons for concern that are nonsense,” Courtney told Inhofe EPW Press Blog on September 23.


Sir, you have described perfectly what AP is best at.

Free-Speech Hypocrisy

Institutional memory is short, so just a flashback to the Qadhafi speech at Columbia. The sad thing is that while faculty fall all over themselves to bring repressive dictators to campus, many dissidents from the same countries are ignored. Columbia has never invited chief Libyan democracy activist Fathi El-Jahmi, for example (his mailing address for the last two and a half years would be Libya's state prison system).

Likewise, Richard Bulliet, Columbia's point man to arrange giving a platform to Ahmadinejad, does not extend invitations to people like Mansour Osanlou, the head of the Islamic Republic's first independent trade union (his mailing address for the last 75 days has been Evin prison).

While university faculties at New York University and Notre Dame rally around convicted terrorists (in the former case) and those denied visa for terror support (in the latter), no faculty has yet to rally around the case of Issam Abu Issa, the Palestinian banker who blew the whistle on Arafat's corruption and promptly had his visa revoked by the Powell State Department in an effort to save Arafat's hurt feelings and keep the "peace process" going.

The issue we see with Columbia is deeper than freedom of speech but rather the inconsistency with which university faculties choose to support it. If men like Richard Bulliet and Lee Bollinger, and women like Lisa Marie Anderson cared about freedom of speech, they might want to enable those who don't have it, rather than celebrate the men who have taken it away.


Short, sweet and absolutely CORRECT.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Hillary's Purple Prose

Everyones been parsing Hillay's infamous "willing suspension of disbelief " comment to General Patreus. It's amazing to me the number of misharacterizations that have been flying around as to what she actually meant.

It's pretty simple folks, she attempted to call him a liar without blatantly appearing to do so. It's a common bit of verbal artistry where the speaker weaves extra wordiness into the phrase so that one actual has to think about it to understand it's meaning. ie. "How are you". "I am not unwell". Have to think about it for a sec right? I am well and I am not unwell mean exactly the same thing but yet one has to put a bit of thought into the latter.

So a "willing suspension of disbelief" actually is saying you have to be willing to believe anything in order to believe Patreus. Patreus' lies are so "unbelievable" one is either unimaginably gullible or hopelessly obtuse to fall for them.

It also has a bit of the old "nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more" flavor to it as obviously educated lefties will decipher what she meant but clueless conservatives will just scratch their heads and mutter DUH, HUH?