AWESOME SOX!!!

AL CENTRAL!! On to Tampa.

Thinking of P.J.

P.J. O'Rourke has cancer. He's written about it here, in his own uniquely P.J. way.

God bless you P.J. We're thinking about you.

Barry Obamski

Via RCP Blog, Rich Karlgaard, Forbes:

For the life of me, I can't figure out why Obama supporters are crying racism when Obama is ahead and gaining in the polls. Does anyone think a cigarette sucking machine politician from Chicago, a white guy named Barry Obamski with ties to terrorists, with loans from a sleazebag, with a voting record that is the Senate's most left wing, would have any chance of winning the presidency?

The referenced link on racism is typical Sun Times. It's not racism. Gallup slight shift back to McCain? Card carrying radical leftie Obamski can't sustain the 50% threshold?

--crossposted at UNCoRRELATED

Pelosi Pain

Tom Bevan, RCP on Madam Speaker's very bad day yesterday. CNBC anchor tweaks "nonpartisan" reporter. Plus Michael Ramirez:

Hey Barack

Hey Barack

Special Iowahawk Guest Video Commentary

By XD-235
Staff Teleprompter for the Obama Presidential Campaign. Video:

Worse

RNC ad, Worse:

Palin the Exec

Former Governor of New Jersey, Christine Todd Whitman, defends Gov. Sarah Palin. Video here. HT RCP Blog.

Strong

McCain ad:

Other news of the day

Obama loses Jewish support--numbers lower than Clinton, Gore and Kerry. Gateway Pundit.

Rockford mall bomb plotter sentenced to 35 years in prison. Remember, he wanted to kill a few people for Bin Laden before Christmas in 2006. Despite initial reports, it wasn't an isolated incident.

Rein

McCain ad, Rein:

Cheesy Painting of Palin

Cheesy painter in leftie bar does a nude portrait of Sarah Palin. You can vote on whether you're offended. Chicago Tribune.

Bless Our Sox

It's coming down to the final game, Sox vs. Twins. You have to give the Twins credit, battling through a long stretch on the road to grab first from the Sox. As for the Sox, bless 'em. John Kass, "Despite Sox's flaws, team has a divine day".

Conservative Cafe

A conservative cafe in Crown Point, Indiana:

Mr. Beckham's coffeeshop sells t-shirts that use classic conservative shock-and-awe rhetoric, such as, "Silly Liberal: Paychecks are for workers," and "Peace through superior firepower." This comes despite his wife's initial concerns that he would alienate half of all potential customers. "I told her that beauticians alienate half of their potential customers and they get by just fine."

Drop by if you're in the neighborhood.

Obama Priming the Pump

My LadyBlog post starts this way: In the midst of the subprime meltdown a curious story emerges yet again. (If you haven't yet read David Freddoso's book, "The Case Against Barack Obama", I suggest you do.) Barack Obama's national finance chairman is a failed subprime lender. This happened back in 2001 in Chicago, Illinois, his home state. Fortunately Penny Pritzker and family have enough wealth to have weathered that storm (paying $460 million to avoid criminal prosecution) and presumably this one, though fundraising might be a little more difficult from here on out--but what does this say about Barack Obama? Read on here.

ACORN First

Wanna bet--the Dems want the ACORN slush fund. That's why so many Dems didn't support the bill.

Barack, you could be a leader. Do a sister souljah. Just say no to ACORN first. (Did you deliver one vote? nOpe)

UPDATE:Bill Dyer, Townhall:

UPDATE (Mon Sep 29 @ 7:50 p.m. CST): Another thing about which there can be no disagreement is that what was defeated today was a Democratic bill. H.R. 3997 has had a complicated procedural history that was controlled at every step of the way by Congressional Democrats.

Specifically, H.R. 3997 was originally introduced by Rep. Charles D. Rangel (D-NY) as an amendment to the tax code "to provide earnings assistance and tax relief to members of the uniformed services, volunteer firefighters, and Peace Corps volunteers." By a pair of affirmative votes earlier today, however, a resolution offered by Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) effectively converted H.R. 3997 into the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008." It too was drafted by Congressional Dems and their staff, varying substantially from what had originally been proposed by Secretary Paulson and the Bush-43 Administration, and incorporating only such requests and suggestions from the House GOP as the Democratic leadership decided to agree to.

This is the Democratic Congress' bill, but when it came to a roll-call vote in the House, the Democratic leadership wouldn't do what it took to get it passed even though (a) they have a huge majority and (b) a full one-third of Republicans in the House went along. Anyone who calls this "Bush's bill" or "a GOP bill" is either deliberately lying or abysmally informed about the basic workings of Congress.

Democrat and Pelosi Failure

UPDATE: Video below of Pelosi blame-game speech that sunk the bill. My God, what gall. ***Amazing. The Democrats can't even muster enough of their own to pass this bill, and they have the majority. NRO:

Pelosi said she needed political cover. A third of House Republicans ought to be enough cover.

How the hell does Pelosi's bill not carry 40 percent of her caucus?

UPDATE: Finally, Pelosi torpedoed the bill by making a harshly partisan speech on the floor of the house prior to the vote--losing Republican votes. And where is the savior Barack? Swanning around somewhere.

UPDATE: More background here. Video of Pelosi's speech today, via HotAir:UPDATE: From earlier today on the origins of this mess. God help us all.

UPDATE: Rollcall vote here. HT and comments on the Illinois delegation at Capitol Fax.

UPDATE: Barack Obama's ties to the Chicago Pritzkers and the subprime meltdown. HT The Bench.

Snotocracy

The snotocracy weighs in on Gov. Palin. Who's afraid of strong women here, hmm?

Yes she was overcoached and mangled some words and thoughts together. She'll do fine in the debates, she's used to meeting challenges.

I'll ask you this--what geniuses got us into this financial mess? (I see the initial bill has failed. People must be mad as hell. ) What wordsmiths have ever had the buck stop with them? What kind of a radical thug are the smug MSM pushing to elect?

Give 'em hell, Sarah.

UPDATE: On the stump. Gov. Palin talks about her upcoming debate.

Barack Obama, Radical Thug

Barack Obama is squarely at the center of our financial crisis--his "community organizing" days come back to haunt him. What a thug:

WHAT exactly does a "community organizer" do? Barack Obama's rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here's a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to customers with poor credit.

(His campaign's latest attempt to intimidate free speech is all of a piece.) [I see Mick is on the same page today--Fascists Lie and here.] The Meltdown's Acorn, NY Post:

As Congress slogged toward an appar ent financial-market rescue bill over the weekend, the time arrived for a closer look at the roots of the crisis.

Who were the culprits?

Many and varied.

But as Election Day grows ever nearer, the role of one candidate in particular stands out: that of Barack Obama.

As Stanley Kurtz details on the opposite page, Obama spent many years cultivating ties with, working with - and even funding - the very folks who pushed for the risky lending that underlies the current mess.

That is, "community organizer" groups like ACORN.

ACORN is especially noteworthy, not only because of its prominence in the drive to relax mortgage requirements, but also because of its shady tactics.

And its links to Obama.

Add Chicago ACORN and Barack's old boss Madeline Talbott to the list. Kurtz:

In those years, he also conducted leadership-training seminars for ACORN's up-and-coming organizers. That is, Obama was training the army of ACORN organizers who participated in Madeline Talbott's drive against Chicago's banks.

More than that, Obama was funding them. As he rose to a leadership role at Chicago's Woods Fund, he became the most powerful voice on the foundation's board for supporting ACORN and other community organizers. In 1995, the Woods Fund substantially expanded its funding of community organizers - and Obama chaired the committee that urged and managed the shift.

Barack's radical and shady friends. Bill Ayers. Tony Rezko. Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson. Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Oh, yes, and Barack Sweetie's own sweetheart mortgage. Not to mention his lack of credibility on his sideyard. Stay tuned to Tony Rezko. Updates to the BarackBook:

The most recent friend updates include Barack Obama's notable associations with supporter Todd Stroger, a corrupt Cook County politician; an updated page for William Ayers, an unapologetic terrorist and known radical who worked closely with Obama in an education foundation; Lester Crown, who gave donations to a political slush fund and has also been a financial supporter of the Obama campaign; former Chicago Alderman Dorothy J. Tillman, who was endorsed by Obama during her re-election bid in 2007; and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), whose gubernatorial bid was supported by Obama and who accepted illegal campaign donations from Tony Rezko and Ali Ata.

Bill Clinton hesitates to call Barack Obama a great man. For once Bill's telling the truth. He called John McCain a great man.

Barack Obama, radical thug.

Barack's "MiddleClassness"

Barack and Biden have been bleating about John McCain's not mentioning the word "middle class" in the debates. Aside from Obama's tendency to speak of the middle class as bitter peasants, what can we learn from Barack's spiritual adviser and political kingmaker of 20 years--the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Bill Kristol brings it up:

The McCain campaign might consider responding by calling attention to Chapter 14 of Obama’s eloquent memoir, “Dreams From My Father.” There Obama quotes from the brochure of Reverend Wright’s church — a passage entitled “A Disavowal of the Pursuit of Middleclassness.”

The Rev. Wright espoused Black Liberation theology:

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community. . . . Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

Let us recall these words of the Rev. Wright on "middleclassness", since scrubbed from the TUCC website:

Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must keep the captive ignorant educationally, but trained sufficiently well to serve the system. Also, the captors must be able to identify the “talented tenth” of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captor’s control.

Those so identified as separated from the rest of the people by:

• Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.
• Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.
• Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of “we” and “they” instead of “us”.

So, while it is permissible to chase “middle-incomeness” with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method-the psychological entrapment of Black
“middleclassness”: If we avoid the snare, we will also diminish our “voluntary”
contributions to methods A and B.

And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright, the leadership, resourcefulness, and example of their own talented persons.

So what's your latest story, Barack?

Democrats Blocked Reform in 2004

In their own words. Democrats block urgent reform in 2004 and attack the regulator. (Recall Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines received $90 million in compensation while running it into the ground. Barack Obama was a top recipient of Fannie payola and "advice".) We've seen Rep. Barney Frank's earlier abysmal performance. Watch this from a 2004 hearing:

Measured Rescue for Main Street

The pending deal. WSJ:

Thanks to the House GOP's intervention, the Paulson plan is also better than it would have been. Republicans helped to eliminate the Barney Frank-Chris Dodd slush fund for liberal housing lobbies; a plank to let judges shield deadbeat homeowners from bankruptcy laws; and a ploy to stack bank boards with union members.

The details of the taxpayer "protections" in the bill also seem workable, at least based on what we had heard by deadline yesterday evening. Banks that sell more than $300 million in securities to Treasury will only be able to deduct from their taxes $500,000 in compensation for their five most senior executives.

A measured rescue for Main Street. The vote's this afternoon.

Dead Pirates

LGF. Pirates Die Strangely. Iran--shades of the black death.

Barack--(can't we all get along? Please?)

Scapegoating Markets

Excellent Tribune editorial today. In part:

Another factor was something deregulation critics omit: a push to expand home ownership to borrowers who once were considered too risky. Economist Stan Liebowitz of the University of Texas at Dallas writes that "in an attempt to increase homeownership, particularly by minorities and the less affluent, an attack on underwriting standards was undertaken by virtually every branch of government." The result was to feed the housing bubble—and to expand the number of victims when it burst.

Then there was the big role played by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government-sponsored entities whose failure is a testament to the dangers of mixing public and private enterprise. Conservatives had long warned that the government's implicit backing of these companies would someday mean a big bill for taxpayers. Guess what? They were right.

Who's Afraid of Strong Women?

Gee. Longtime champion of working women Tribune columnist Mary Schmich patronizes Sarah Palin, claiming McCain "seduced her".

I blame Bill for letting Hillary run before she was ready.

P.S. Populist diva Erin Brockovich, up until now the darling of so-called "progressives" like Schmich, thinks Governor Palin is a strong woman who doesn't back down.

Could it be liberals are afraid of strong women?

P.P.S. Apparently Andrew is still on a witch hunt. A little lesson in history and current events:

• Many of Alaska's native peoples who lived in the regions colonized by Russia have Russian surnames, stemming from the days when they were colonial subjects of the czar and many intermarried. Russian names mark Alaska's geographical landscape.

• Russian Orthodox "Old Believers" who emigrated from the Soviet Union have their own old-style Russian villages in Alaska.

• Except during the Cold War, Alaska and Russian natives on either side of the Bering Strait carried on with routine visits, seasonal festivals and subsistence trade.

• During the Cold War, Alaskans referred to the closed border between Russia and Alaska as the "Ice Curtain." Their goal: to melt the Ice Curtain.

• The University of Alaska has more Russian students at its campuses than any other university in the United States.

• Much of the flora and fauna and geology in Alaska are similar to the Russian Far East and eastern Siberia.

• Alaska serves as the U.S. gateway for all flights between the Russian Far East and the United States.

And once again. Gov. Palin is making common sense and modest remarks--it's liberals who keep blowing her remarks out of proportion. And since when are governors expected to negotiate trade deals, Katie? And um, Hillary's foreign policy experience was going on trips as First Lady. As for Bill's? He had none, other than an incomplete at Oxford. La di da. (Then there's that habitual liar and blowhard Joe Biden). As for Barack, until his belated trip to Iraq and his triumph in Berlin, he "majored in international relations". (Of course there is his foreign fan club.)

Info: Alaska 2007 export report. [see page 19 concerning numerous delegations] US Dept. of Commerce report here.

UPDATE: Bill Dyer, Townhall with observations on Alaska's proximity to Russia, including this:

And among all state governors, the governor of Alaska — as the state leader with closest continual proximity to a hostile foreign state — does indeed have responsibilities and obtain defense briefings beyond those received by, for example, the governor of Arkansas (which need not fear hostile bomber overflights from Missouri). No one can seriously argue that this compares to actually being the POTUS. But it's not nothing, either. And of executive experience in general, or experience personally making decisions that have put anyone's lives on the line in particular, "nothing" is the exactly appropriate description for both Sens. Obama and Biden, because neither member of the Democratic Party's ticket can match Gov. Palin's experience of that sort (or any other state governor's, for that matter).

UPDATE: Barack is ready? Please. HT Don Surber.

We know what Sarah was trying to say. Her words actually mean things.

Blowhard Joe

On video, blowhard Joe Biden takes credit for the success of the surge--he and Barack both. HT HotAir.

Rezko Flip?

Caught a flash of this after the Sox game on WGN. A crack in the corruption club. Tribune:

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a convicted influence peddler who was once one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's most trusted confidants, has met with federal prosecutors and is considering cooperating in the corruption probe of the governor's administration, sources told the Tribune.

Rezko's possible change of heart—after years of steadfast refusal—has sent ripples through a tight circle of prominent defense attorneys who represent dozens of potential witnesses and targets in the wide-ranging probe.

His cooperation would give prosecutors investigating the governor and his wife access to someone they have described as an ultimate political insider at the center of a pervasive pay-to-play scheme.

Rezko's trial this year laid bare a culture of scams, bribes and backroom deals stretching from City Hall to the Statehouse. It even became fodder in the presidential campaign of Democratic nominee Barack Obama, whose fundraising and personal ties to Rezko go back more than a decade.

Barack's shaking in his shoes.

And this. Tribune columnist John Kass on the debate:

Through it all, Obama was cool and smiling at the oldster, and there was no sweat on the man, even as McCain mentioned the word "corruption" about seven times. McCain didn't know about the Sunday Tribune's report that Obama's convicted real estate fairy Tony Rezko is thinking about cooperating with the feds.

Obama was so full of grace and fine debate tactics and elegant body language, measured tones telling those so-called undecided voters out there that he was the one they've been waiting for.

Unfortunately, events have a way of overtaking drama, no matter how artfully produced, and McCain got on Iran and rode Obama down.

Small Shelter

Subversives for Obama

Unrepentant terrorist and Obama buddy Bill Ayers has moved his website, still has the commie Red Star adorning his site, plus Maoist Mike Klonsky on his blogroll. Meanwhile, PUMA Power has discovered Steve Diamond, who has closely researched the origins and dismal performance of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, and the Ayers and Obama role. Did Bill Ayers hire Barack Obama, despite the campaign trying to obfuscate the issue? Diamond thinks so:

The Campaign's statement says that the founding board, including the former University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry, voted to appoint Obama to the board. No doubt, on a formal level, that is true. But does the Campaign believe that the board did so without any input from Ayers? That Ayers did not care and did not speak up about the matter?

In fact, there is a problem for the Campaign about this story: [former University of Illinois President Stanley] Ikenberry, a leading national figure in education policy and scholarship and once head of the College of Education at the University of Illinois, is already on the record expressing his surprise at the appointment of Obama. He told the New York Times that it was "unusual" for Obama, a young lawyer with no serious background in education or fundraising, to be appointed to the board and that it was only over time that Obama earned the "respect" of his far more prominent and experienced colleagues on the board.

And while Obama may have been formally elected by the founding board members, he was elected President of the Challenge by the board at its first meeting on March 15, 1995. That meeting started out with a briefing on the CAC by Bill Ayers. Ayers was present at the entire meeting according to the minutes I have reviewed and was asked to join with Obama, among others, to assist in the preparation of the By-laws of the Challenge.

Somehow the least experienced and least well known board member became its Chairman and President, yet without any input from Bill Ayers.

And Melanie Phillips, The Spectator, "Subversives for Obama", raises this issue and also the charge that Barack Obama's Harvard Law School was paid for by a Saudi advisor and mentor to the radical Black Panther party:

A few months ago, a claim was made by former Manhattan Borough president Percy Sutton that Obama had been funded through Harvard law school by Khalid Al-Mansour, a ‘mentor’ to the founders of the Black Panther party and advisor to ‘one of the world’s richest men,’ Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal. It was Prince Alwaleed whose $10 million check to help rebuild Manhattan after 9/11 was refused by New York mayor Rudy Guiliani because the Saudi prince hinted publicly that America’s pro-Israel policies were to blame for the attacks.

According to this story by Kenneth Timmerman, Camp Obama denied this claim -- and referred to a story on Politico.com in which reporter Ben Smith wrote that ‘a spokesman for Sutton’s family, Kevin Wardally’ said that Sutton had been mistaken when he made those comments. But when contacted, Sutton’s family not only denied that Sutton had misspoken but also said they had never even heard of Kevin Wardally – who appears to work for a Harlem political consulting firm.

So the claim that Obama was funded through Harvard by a radical Black Muslim activist with ties to the Saudis remains on the table.

Subversives for Obama. They tapped him and supported him very early on. The list keeps growing. And the MSM silence is deafening.

Pretty Funny

This is pretty funny. The Obamanoids are already spinning the veep debate next week and saying nice things about Gov. Palin--she's "experienced". (but only in debates of course.)

McCain is Right

First Take, First Debate

McCain was comfortable and got under Obama's skin--contrary to the expectations.

Is Obama going to war with Afghanistan and Pakistan? And yet he would sit at the table with Ahmadinejad. That was the sound bite of the night from McCain.

At times Obama seemed petty and professorial.

Finally, I do think McCain made a good point--that he has exercised judgment on conflicts--against the limited incursion in Lebanon under Reagan, in favor of intervening in Kosovo to stop genocide, against shifting the mission in Somalia, in favor of the Gulf War, and this one. And that we need to win so that we don't have to go back.

P.S. And I think Obama's closer was particularly weak--and didn't even make sense on its face.

What Caused It

Democrat Depression

If the Democrats really wanted bi-partisanship, they could have passed a clean bill on Tuesday.

But now they're taking ownership of a Depression.

Harry Reid, morphing himself into Herbert Hoover.

Durbin the Extortionist

Bill Dyer, Townhall:

And if Durbin gets his way, in the end it will be the responsible consumers — the ones who actually make their mortgage payments regularly, and who didn't use subprime mortgages to move into McMansions which they objectively can't afford — who will suffer. To bail out the profligate (both past and future), the responsible homebuyers will be forced to pay. And that payment will not just be speculative and indirect, through possibly higher taxes or increased national debt if the bailout mechanism doesn't ultimately pay the Treasury back as planned. Instead, the cost of Durbin's provision will be direct and certain, paid through higher mortage interest rates extracted from all new homebuyers over the entire length of their mortgages. [snip]

This is naked, blatant income redistribution from the responsible to the irresponsible. Dick Durbin and his Democratic allies are extortionists who want to take from the worthy and responsible, and give to the profligate and irresponsible (who, by the way, also tend to vote Democratic). Even if no one who knows Sen. Durbin can be particularly surprised by it, this is worthy of your outrage, and it should be a deal-breaker on the bailout bill if Durbin & Co. don't drop it. If so, and if the entire economy tanks as a result, the blame will be squarely on the head of Barack Obama's slippery fellow senator from Illinois, and on Obama's head, too, for not using the full leverage he has as the Democratic nominee to back Durbin off this extortion.

Roll Tape

Bill Clinton Defends John McCain's Debate Decision-- Blames Dems For Meltdown! (Video) And this:

Going very much against the media meme that the current financial crisis is all George W. Bush and the Republicans’ fault, Bill Clinton on Thursday told ABC’s Chris Cuomo that Democrats for years have been “resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”.

Barney Frank inconvenient truth on video vis a vis his role in the Fannie Freddie fiasco.

UPDATE: And former Fannie Mae head Jim Johnson is still secretly helping the Obama campaign. Barack Obama, D-Fannie Mae. Step up, Barack Sweetie.

Sarah, in spite of the press

More media bias. Perky Katie purses her lips. I watched the tape and thought the same thing. Bill Dyer, Townhall:

No vice presidential nominee in American history — not even J. Danforth Quayle — has been so viciously and unethically savaged by the mainstream media press corps as Sarah Palin. To her considerable credit, she's nevertheless continued to make herself more and more available to their shenanigans, however. And increasingly, it's the old-media sharks who are being discredited in the public eye.

When Katie Couric demanded that Gov. Palin instantly summon up a verbal summary of John McCain's 26-year history as a legislator, detailing the instances in which he's supported government regulation or oversight of programs, Gov. Palin must have been tempted to pull a Dan Aykroyd-to-Jane Curtin reprise: "Katie, you ignorant slut! You couldn't possibly answer that question yourself off the top of your head, and neither could anyone else, including John McCain. Virtually every bill creating or affecting a government program involves striking a balance between the proper degree of freedom and regulation, and we'd be here for hours if anyone even tried to give you a literal and comprehensive answer to that question. So please, drop the switchblade and act like a real journalist again, will ya?" Instead, Gov. Palin politely said that she's have to get back to Ms. Couric on that.

Yeah, lucky for Katie she's asking the questions, not answering them. I could think of one answer to that question--campaign finance reform, but most in McCain's party don't think that was a good idea, and it was a good thing Palin didn't offer it. And she doesn't necessarily accept the premise of the questions of the press--that's showing savvy and a refreshing honesty.

What a honey:)

John Kass dons beekeeper garb. Column. Video:

You Say Tomato

The French are vying for UN recognition. You may have thought a country on the Security Council long past its sell-by date would leave well enough alone. I know, I know the French are not such an easy target these days under their pro-American president Sarkozy, but sometimes it's just too easy. The rest of my LadyBlog post here.

Hastings' Inflammatory Remarks

RJC:

Hastings says Palin doesn't care about Jews and blacks.
Cohen calls Jesus a Democrat.

Washington, D.C. (September 25, 2008) -- Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks responded today to comments made yesterday by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Rep. Steven Cohen (D-TN):

CNN reported yesterday that Rep. Hastings, speaking to the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), said, "Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don't care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks." Addressing the same panel, Rep. Cohen called Jesus "a great Democrat."

"Representative Hastings stooped to the worst kind of divisive politics yesterday. Hastings' unconscionable remarks do nothing but sow seeds of fear and divide people," said Brooks. "There should be no place in our country for this sort of political discourse. We can constructively disagree on the issues without denigrating others. As for the comments made by Rep. Cohen, I do not believe the NJDC would have been as permissive if it had been a Republican calling Jesus 'a great Republican.' This sort of rhetoric is inappropriate, offensive and should be repudiated."

CNN story here.

Obama's Earmark Fraud

Obama's gazebo to nowhere. An earmark to a group headed by a campaign volunteer, now under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General. (Lisa Madigan. A Democrat.):

The garden was never built. And now state records obtained by the Sun-Times show $65,000 of the grant money went to the wife of Kenny B. Smith, the Obama 2000 congressional campaign volunteer who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association, which was in charge of the project for the blighted South Side neighborhood.

What happened to the money Barack? HT Reverse Spin. Video here.

By the way, watching Barack talking about the housing crisis. A halting speech. Looks like he's having a few problems reading the teleprompter. He's talking about climate change.?! Trying to change the subject Barack? Oh, he's at the Clinton gala.

The ACORN Obama Knows

Michelle Malkin's NRO column today is on ACORN. The ACORN Obama Knows. Yes he does.

Hey Barack (D-Fannie Mae) we need an investigation. Hey Barney (D-Housing Boondoggle) we need a hearing.

And then there's the issue of vote fraud.

We Want a Clean Bill, please

Is Nancy going off on another book tour? Or maybe joining the feckless Barack on the campaign at any cost trail. Heritage Morning Bell:

The House leaders are even more open about their political machinations. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Democrats early this week she refuses to bring any plan to the floor unless a majority of the minority support it. The brazen refusal to offer any political leadership is stunning. Pelosi told the Wall Street Journal: “We are not taking ownership of this.”

The left’s complete abdication of legislative responsibility would not be so galling if lawmakers also were not insisting on larding up Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s plan with unnecessary government interference in the market. The left is still pushing for expanded government power to rewrite mortgage contracts and diverting taxpayer revenue from the sale of distressed assets into a housing slush fund. At least Warren Buffet still has faith Congress will eventually do the right thing. He told the Wall Street Journal : “I really do think Congress will do the right thing, when it’s terribly important, and they will do it fast. They will haggle but they have the national interest at heart.” Let’s hope he’s right..

We want a clean bill please.

High Taxes Cost us Too Much

Over the top language from the Daily Herald, with the headline "Republican Group Launches Attack on Seals" (emphasis mine) (ad below):

A Republican campaign group stormed into a hotly contested Northwest suburban congressional race today with a "substantial" ad buy to help U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk.

Freedom's Watch, which has connections to former top advisers to President George Bush, launched a cable ad accusing challenger Dan Seals of wanting to raise taxes.

The ad urges viewers to call Seals and tell him, "High taxes cost us too much."

Wow. High taxes cost us too much. What filth!

No wonder Rep. Mark Kirk looks to be winning the ground game in the 10th district race, with citizens writing letters to the editor, appalled by the poisonous tactics of the Dan Seals' camp. One comment on Team America's blog:

Well stated, TA. I think the reason Kirk supporters are writing LTE's in record number is that most are damn angry at the vicious, untrue and absolutely outrageous TV and mail pieces compliments of the DCCC that are flooding mail boxes and TV screens. One went so far as to superimpose Mark's face on someone else's body in some idiotic and feeble attack, again, not even close to being truthful. 10th District voters don't like that kind of outside interference. People know the truth. The Daily Herald did their own work, found that Mark Kirk is, indeed, Mr. Independent. So how then can the DCCC and the Seals lackeys come up with their version of the truth. So, people in the district do what they do best: take pen in hand and fight back. The DCCC has announced their $1.4 million dollar media buy against Mark Kirk. We've seen and heard the beginnings of their rantings and ravings. The more they rant, the more the Kirk supporters will show that it just won't be tolerated. Dan's old and tired tirade against Mark Kirk is just that: old, tired and very untrue.

Here's the ad:P.S. Dan Seals does not live in the district. He lives in liberal Jan Schakowsky's district and has Chicago Machine ties. His top contributor, House Ways and Means Chairman (the tax writing committee) Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York, is under an ethics investigation in Congress--for tax evasion. High taxes do cost us way too much. VOTE for Mark Kirk in November.

Media Alert: Looks Can Kill

IWF Associate Director for Foreign Policy and International Women's Issues Halima Karzai joins The Troy Derengowski Show this morning.

Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008

Time: 9:30 - 9:45 am ET

Network: 930 WHON (Indiana)

Show: The Troy Derengowski Show

LISTEN LIVE ONLINE!

The Stoning of Soraya M.

It is a true story of Iran.

Trailer here.

Apparatchik MSM

Tony Blankley, Barack Obama, "The Man Who Never Was":

But worse than all the unfair and distorted reporting and image projecting are the shocking gaps in Obama's life that are not reported at all. The major media simply have not reported on Obama's two years at New York's Columbia University, where, among other things, he lived a mere quarter-mile from former terrorist Bill Ayers. Later, they both ended up as neighbors and associates in Chicago. Obama denies more than a passing relationship with Ayers. Should the media be curious? In only two weeks, the media have focused on all the colleges Gov. Palin has attended, her husband's driving habits 20 years ago, and the close criticism of the political opponents Gov. Palin had when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

But in two years, they haven't bothered to see how close Obama was with the terrorist Ayers.

Nor have the media paid any serious attention to Obama's rise in Chicago politics. How did honest Obama rise in the famously sordid Chicago political machine with the full support of Boss Daley? Despite the great -- and unflattering -- details on Obama's Chicago years presented in David Freddoso's new book on Obama, the mainstream media continue to ignore both the facts and the book. It took a British publication, The Economist, to give Freddoso's book a review with fair comment.

It's the apparatchik MSM. Many of us long ago lost any respect for you. Eventually you will even lose respect for yourselves.

One more point--Barack Obama chose his friends very carefully--he told us so himself.

McCain Leads

Country First.

Joe Biden, Buffoon

VDH on Joe Biden's buffoonery.

One of many, Biden badmouths clean coal. Listen up, Illinois.

UPDATE: Joe Biden doesn't do equal pay either, even worse than Barack Obama.

Evanston Town Hall Tomorrow

CANDIDATE FORUM TOMORROW NIGHT IN EVANSTON!

Please join 9^th District Senate Nominee Brendan Appel,
9th Congressional District Nominee Michael Younan
Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica,
&
The Evanston GOP

for an

Evanston Town Hall Meeting

Please do not miss this opportunity to have your voice heard at a special town hall meeting with Brendan Appel, Michael Younan, and Tony Peraica. Come discuss state and county government, corruption and overtaxation, and how we can return honesty and progress to government - together

Thursday, September 25, 2008 · 7:00-9:00 PM

Levy Center · Linden Room

300 Dodge Avenue · Evanston

GOP: Volunteer in Illinois

(From the Illinois GOP:)

Volunteer Today to Help Elect Republicans

Election Day may be weeks away, but there are a number of grassroots activities you can do right now to help elect our Republican candidates on November 4th. The work we're doing now will lay the groundwork for victory in November.

You can get started in your volunteer efforts by making phone calls at one of our regional Digital Victory Calling Centers.

Reaching out to voters is vital to spreading the word that our candidates are the right choice for Illinois. That's why we're asking you to please take a few free hours to make calls for our Republican candidates at one of our locations using new, state-of-the-art technology to reach voters.

To ensure that all phone lines are used at designated calling times, please e-mail or call the contact person listed below at the location you wish to volunteer at to make sure a phone line is available when you wish to volunteer. Dates and hours of operation vary by location.

Digital Victory Calling Center Locations

Central/Southern Illinois

Illinois Republican Party HQ, 320 S. Fourth St., Springfield, IL Map

Contact: Curt Conrad or Steve Ettinger 217-525-0011 settinger@ilgop.org

South Suburban Chicago Area

Ozinga for Congress, 19001 Old LaGrange Rd., Suite 430, Mokena, IL Map

Contact: Chris Perkins 815-936-0900 chrisperkins@martyozinga.com

North Surburban Chicago Area

Kirk for Congress, 333 Skokie Blvd., Suite 106, Northbrook, IL Map

Contact: Kelley Folino or Aaron Lawlor 847-498-0300 aaron@kirkforcongress.com

West Suburban Chicago Area (Wheaton)

Roskam for Congress, 333 S. Cross St., Wheaton, IL Map

Contact: Connor McGee 630-221-0006 connor@roskamforcongress.com

West Suburban Chicago Area (Downers Grove)

Downers Grove Township Republican HQ, 1001 Curtiss St., Downers Grove, IL Map

Contact: Bob Kalnicky 630-244-9950 rkalnicky@comcast.net

Northwest Suburban Chicago Area

Republicans of Wheeling Township HQ, 909 E. Rand Rd., Arlington Heights, IL Map

Contact: Ruth O'Connell 847-632-1774 rowt@sbcglobal.net

Southwest Suburban Chicago Area

Illinois House Republican Organization, 24047 W. Lockport St., Suite 201, Plainfield, IL Map

Contact: Rich Rich.ILHRO@gmail.com

Note: If you cannot travel to one of our Digital Victory Calling Center locations, please e-mail us at info@ilgop.org with your name, address (including city), and phone number and we will be happy to put you in touch with other GOP volunteer activities in your area.

Thanks!!!

NOT PAID FOR AT GOVERNMENT EXPENSE

Catholics Speak Out

Choose life:

Bill Daley, Lobbyist

Per Huffpo's Carol Felsenthal, a contributing editor to Chicago magazine re the McCain ad tying Obama to the Chicago Machine:
Is It Fair to Call Bill Daley a Lobbyist? Well, Actually, Yes It Is

D-Fannie Mae

Democrats created this mess. And Barack raked it in.UPDATE: The bill Democrat Chris Dodd (Fannie's top recipient of campaign donations) wants would perpetuate the same kind of slush fund lending that got us into this in the first place. How do you spell ACORN.

Obama First

Sen. John McCain on Barack Obama--"Obama First". In Blaine, Minnesota. HT RedState. Barack Obama, the most hardcore radical candidate for president, ever.

Obama's Founding Brothers

Nary a word from the MSM on the depth of Barack Obama's murky radical connections and his long relationship with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, other than the WSJ piece the other day. Stanley Kurtz explores Barack Obama's founding brothers--who really hired the young and inexperienced Barack Obama to head the operating side of the Annenberg Challenge grant program (his only claim of executive experience to date)? I believe here's the Tribune story Kurtz references, detailing attempts by a former director of CAC to influence UIC officials to withhold some or all of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge documents. Here is the text of a new email found through FOIA (I'm sure the Obama campaign is cursing a blue streak):

I present the text of Rolling’s message, headed, “New York Times story: CAC,” in its entirety here:

Anne and Warren:

I gave your contact info to Sam Dillon, Education Reporter for the NYTimes who is doing a story on McCain vs. Obama’s education platform (McCain has a one-pager; Obama has a 17 page, 10-point platform). Dillon was sent to me from the Obama campaign to discuss Barack’s role in the Annenberg Challenge. – I have spent at least 4 hours in interviews with Sam Dillon who is trying to understand everything he can about the Challenge to see where Barack’s experience with it influenced his education reform views or where Barack had influence on education policy and/or practice during those years. Sam is pretty thorough in his questions and one question or response leads to many other things he is interested in learning about the Challenge. – The Challenge is just one phase of Barack’s ‘education interests’ that Dillon is exploring. He’s also trying to learn about Barack’s community organizing days and how education reform was part of them.

Sam would like to talk with either or both of your to understand how the “ad hoc group” you two and Bill Ayers lead [sic], aarived [sic] at the structure of the founding board and the Collaborative. He is trying to understand how Barack got “picked” for the CAC board, by whom, why, etc. – I have avoided that question head-on though I believe Barack was Debbie Leff’s/Joyce nomination.

I think the article will be friendly and is truly looking to see the influences on or by Barack re: education/school reform in Chicago, ete. [sic]

Let me know if you talk to Dillon?

All the best.

Ken

Obviously this presents more questions that need to be answered. Read the whole post.

Given the Obama campaign's thuggish attempts to stifle and smear this looks to be a pattern.

UPDATE: Michael Barone, "Mainstream Media Should Pay Attention to Obama's Ties to William Ayers."

UPDATE: Joshua Muravchik, Commentary on Obama's radicalism, with this reference to Ayers and the Annenberg Challenge:

So it is conceivable that the two met as late as 1994, but this hardly seems likely. Would anyone yield control of the purse to someone he did not already know well and trust thoroughly? And what exactly were Obama’s credentials in the field of school reform, unless he had been active in the ABC’s with Ayers in the 1980’s? At the very latest, the two must have met sometime after Obama returned from Harvard in late 1991 or early 1992, well before he was chosen to chair the board in 1995.

For the next four to five years, the two worked together to raise the matching funds and disburse small grants to local organizations pushing the reform program. It could only have been an intimate partnership. When Obama decided to run for the state senate, his first fund-raising event was held in the home of Ayers and Dohrn. In 1997, Ayers published a book about juvenile justice, A Kind and Just Parent, which Obama blurbed as “a searing and timely account.” The two also served together on the board of the leftist Woods Fund from 1998 until 2001.

This is what is now public about the relations between Obama and the unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. There may be much more, so far successfully hidden by all concerned; but even these facts suggest that Ayers was among Obama’s closest collaborators.

Related post: "Confused" MSM

Latest NY Times Smear

The McCain Campaign sets the record straight:

A Partisan Paper of Record

Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.

In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis -- weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual -- since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.

Further, and missing from the Times' reporting, Mr. Davis has never -- never -- been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Mr. Davis has not served as a registered lobbyist since 2005.

Though these facts are a matter of public record, the New York Times, in what can only be explained as a willful disregard of the truth, failed to research this story or present any semblance of a fairminded treatment of the facts closely at hand. The paper did manage to report one interesting but irrelevant fact: Mr. Davis did participate in a roundtable discussion on the political scene with...Paul Begala.

Again, let us be clear: The New York Times -- in the absence of any supporting evidence -- has insinuated some kind of impropriety on the part of Senator McCain and Rick Davis. But entirely missing from the story is any significant mention of Senator McCain's long advocacy for, and co-sponsorship of legislation to enact, stricter oversight and regulation of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- dating back to 2006. Please see the attached floor statement on this issue by Senator McCain from 2006.

To the central point our campaign has made in the last 48 hours: The New York Times has never published a single investigative piece, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod, his consulting and lobbying clients, and Senator Obama. Likewise, the New York Times never published an investigative report, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson and Senator Obama, who appointed Johnson head of his VP search committee, until the writing was on the wall and Johnson was under fire following reports from actual news organizations that he had received preferential loans from predatory mortgage lender Countrywide.

Therefore this "report" from the New York Times must be evaluated in the context of its intent and purpose. It is a partisan attack falsely labeled as objective news. And its most serious allegations are based entirely on the claims of anonymous sources, a familiar yet regretful tactic for the paper.

We all understand that partisan attacks are part of the political process in this country. The debate that stems from these grand and sometimes unruly conversations is what makes this country so exceptional. Indeed, our nation has a long and proud tradition of news organizations that are ideological and partisan in nature, the Huffington Post and the New York Times being two such publications. We celebrate their contribution to the political fabric of America. But while the Huffington Post is utterly transparent, the New York Times obscures its true intentions -- to undermine the candidacy of John McCain and boost the candidacy of Barack Obama -- under the cloak of objective journalism.

The New York Times is trying to fill an ideological niche. It is a business decision, and one made under economic duress, as the New York Times is a failing business. But the paper's reporting on Senator McCain, his campaign, and his staff should be clearly understood by the American people for what it is: a partisan assault aimed at promoting that paper’s preferred candidate, Barack Obama.

Statement by Senator John McCain, May 25, 2006:

Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.