Stretching

GOP senator: A 'stretch' to say Palin is qualified

AP - WASHINGTON - Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel said his party's vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, lacks foreign policy experience and called it a "stretch" to say she's qualified to be president.

The stretch is calling Sen. Hagel a 'GOP Senator'. I for one am surprised it took the MSM this long to get a useful quote out of the senior gasbag from Nebraska.

Well, not 'now now'.

Obama-Biden Reservations Confirmed

The Obama campaign spent more than five hours on Monday attempting to figure out the best refutation of the explosive New York Post report that quoted Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as saying that Barack Obama during his July visit to Baghdad demanded that Iraq not negotiate with the Bush Administration on the withdrawal of American troops. Instead, he asked that they delay such negotiations until after the presidential handover at the end of January.

On one hand, I'm throughly outraged by this. On the other hand, not only am I not surprised by it, I find it pretty damned funny. Not because these two hacks are playing politics with the war, but because the suckers who bought into the "elect us and we'll get out of Iraq" bravo-sierra in 2006 are eagerly swallowing the same line in 2008. Newsflash: these are the same people who voted for going into Iraq when it was politically advantageous, then did everything they could to undermine the war effort when it was politically advantageous and now that the war is almost over, succeeding in spite of their machinations, they want to take credit for the troops coming home with honor but delaying it because it's politically advantageous to not have them home before they can position themselves to milk it for all it's worth.

Scumbags.

Ya know...

... the more these whackjobs become unhinged, the more I like Gov. Palin.

Palin’s E-Mail Account Hacked, Published on Web Site

“Here are the screenshots of the emails saved before the account went dark, along with the contact list. It’s newsworthy and we will not be taking it down!” the site declares.

Newsworthy? Someone's illegally obtained private emails, family photos and contact lists are "newsworthy"? Nailing those schmucks... now that would be newsworthy.

Equal Pay for Equal Work... again.

So I'm watching Hannity and Colmes tonight, repeatedly fighting the urge reach through the screen and start tasering people. Christine Pelosi, showing that the agonizing leftist nuts don't fall far from the agonizing leftist trees, repeatedly coughed up the "equal pay for equal work" canard. Hannity, who tends to disappoint with his questioning and debating (but still a step up from that intellectually dishonest hack he shares the show with) didn't call her on this tired claim. Earth to the wonks (on both sides): Setting aside the fallacy of the "pay equity" argument, both Senators Obama and Biden are shafting... okay, poor choice of terms post-Clinton... both of these stalwart defenders of women's rights are, as was mentioned earlier, paying their women staffers less than they're paying the male staffers. Meanwhile, over at the Evil League of Evil (aka McCain's office) women are getting paid more than the guys.

Denial Ain't a River in Egypt...

But it is, apparently, a river in DC.

Pelosi: Dems bear no responsibility for economic crisis

When asked whether the Democrats “deserve some responsibility” regarding the economic crisis, Pelosi responded: “No.”

:snicker: Sure ya don't. You deserve a lot of the responsibility. I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for the MSM to get to the bottom of the shenanigans folks like Dodd and Biden and Schumer and Rangel et al have been up to that's contributed to the mess we haven't even begun to see the tip of the iceberg that's coming our way unless we wake the heck up, but there's always a chance someone might.

One Talks, One Walks... an ongoing theme.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - With McCain, women make more

The Sen. Barack Obama campaign is under performing with women, especially older white ones. So, it released a list of female surrogates that will be his force on issues that are important to those women voters -- like equal pay. There also will soon be an ad released that will hit Sen. John McCain on the touchy issue of equal pay.

According to McCain-Palin spokesman Brian Rogers, that is a problem for Barack Obama, since he is the one that pays his females staffers less than the men.

Rogers points to Senate Records showing that women working in Sen. Obama's senate office were paid an average of $9,000 less than men.

It appears that in the McCain senate office, the women on average are paid more than the men.

"Barack Obama says he's for equal pay for women, but women working in his Senate office earn an average of $9,000 less than men. By contrast, women in John McCain's Senate office actually earn an average of nearly $2,000 more than men. The American people understand that real leadership for the change we need is all about what you do, not just empty words." -- McCain-Palin spokesman Brian Rogers

This isn't the first time this has come up, but it's definitely not getting much, if any, play in the "mainstream" media. Now if the pay scales were reversed the media would have worn the grooves off the record.

Dear Madam Speaker,

About that whole "culture of corruption" thing. Yeah, might to deal with that beam in your eye there.

Hope - That's so last week.

On the stump, Obama moves past hope

CHICAGO — The “hopemonger” is gone.

Barack Obama sounds more like a man trying to shake a rain cloud these days, dispensing a teeth-clenching, I-get-your-pain stump speech in town after town that offers only snippets of the unbridled optimism that long permeated his campaign pitch.

Beginning in the days before his party's convention, the inspirational has given way to the traditional: attacks on John McCain, a register of policy prescriptions and partisan language with the sting of a needle.

Could it be that now this is now longer a coronation Sen. Obama is being forced to do more than read bumperstickers off of his teleprompter to his fainting masses? The shine was coming off The One's halo before things went pearshaped with Sen. McCain's announcement of VP pick. I mean, Joe Biden? What in the name of all that's good and tasty in Odin's beard was he thinking? "I'm all about change, so I'm picking the consummate Washington insider". Brilliant.

In Sen. Obama's defense, his whole "change" gimmick is an utter load of crap engineered to fool the gullible. Did he change anything when he got involved in the corrupt machine that is the Chicago political system or did he kiss the ring of every power broker in the machine and do everything he could to maintain their power? That's right boys and girls, the latter. Do you honestly believe for one moment that he would somehow change that policy were he to be elected President?

This just in from the Department of I Toldya So...

Politico - Nader on bank woes: 'I predicted this'

So did Glenn Beck. Your point?

Honor.

Once again, Team Obama launches a new campaign ad with its collective foot wedged firmly in its collective mouth. Who's writing these things? Joe Biden? Accusing John McCain of lacking honor is like accusing the ocean of lacking wet. Look, I don't usually agree with Sen. McCain, but saying he lacks honor is absurd. Nice touch with all the quotes from their water-carriers in the media. That's like asking an assortment of 1950's Klan members what they think about that Brown vs. Board of Education decision thing.

The Manipulator IV - A New Hope

Atlantic Monthly Editor to Offer Apology to McCain for Photog’s Doctored Pics

FOXNews.com - Editor James Bennet said Greenberg behaved improperly and will not be paid for the session. He said the magazine is also considering a lawsuit.

Oh snap!

The Manipulator III - This Time it's Personal

Thanks (once again) to Michelle Malkin for, well... being Michelle Malkin. She gives a history lesson on photographer and leftwing hatchetwoman Jill Greenberg shedding a light of doubt upon The Atlantic's claims of the aggrieved party. I still don't know what Mr. Goldberg's involvement with Ms. Greenberg's selection as photographer was, so I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt. The Atlantic, no so much.

I mean, okay, artists are a usually a bit off, and Greenberg has a right to express her opinions and display her artwork but this chick's a few clicks past "a bit off" and well into "nutbag sociopath".

Fringe

Caught the new Fox series "Fringe", which is being rerun as I type this. Pretty decent thus far but I have to ask... who wrote this thing? What's with all the "Sweetie" and "Darling" and "Honey" and whatever other misogynistic nicknames being thrown in the protagonist, Olivia Dunham's, direction? Who talks like that anymore? I mean, outside of the fevered minds of Gloria Steinem and the screenwriters of practically every Lifetime original movie, of course. I am, of course, concerned that this looks like it's going to be another anti-corporation hatchet job. All that said, Dr. Bishop's lines are hysterical. From the "I thought you'd be fatter" to the bit about "the only thing better would be a human. Unless you need milk, then you really need a cow". Hysterical. They come, seemingly, out of left field, but when he explains, they make total sense. He's probably not so much insane as supersane. If "Excellent! Let's make some LSD." doesn't have t-shirt written all over it, I don't know what does.

New Shooter Alert(s)

I suspect Kim du Toit, if I may be so bold, would be proud of these new shooters. One more reason the leftists are wetting the bed over Sen. McCain's choice for VP.

The Manipular II - Electric Boogaloo

Jeffrey Goldberg, the fellow who wrote the McCain article for The Atlantic, is rightly teed off by the actions of the aforementioned Jill Greenberg. I don't really know Mr. Goldberg's work, so I can only take his outrage at face value.

The Manipulator

I can't think of a more fitting, or more ironic, title for Jill Greenberg. Jill is, among other things, a photographer for The Atlantic and quite a talented photographer/artist. She's also a flaming left-wing hack doing her part to manipulate the election. During a photoshoot for The Atlantic cover, she tricked Sen. McCain into a decided unflattering shot making the septuagenarian look demonic, thus fitting the stereotypical caricature most leftists have of anyone to the right of them. While this event might get a bit of coverage, maybe a blip on the radar of Fox News, I can only imagine the howls of neverending outrage were this done by a self-professed "hard-core Rep" to Sen. Obama.

This just in from the Department of Travel and Leisure...

XL Collapse: Rocker To The Rescue

Sky News - Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, has told Sky News how he helped a group of XL holidaymakers stranded in Egypt.
Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson.

Dickinson, a qualified pilot, was captain of the specially-chartered Monarch Airlines jet which flew them from Sharm el Sheikh to Gatwick Airport.

As a frequent traveler, mainly for work, and having grown up a metalhead back in the 80's, I've had many a trip where I would have loved to have had Bruce Dickinson swoop in and save the day. And now for a flashback. It was 1980-something, the place was the Spectrum in Philly, and Iron Maiden was on their "Somewhere on Tour" tour. Back then folks didn't have cameraphones, hell, back then folks were still replacing rotary phones, and digital recorders and the like and it was a major no-no to sneak in any recording devices, audio- or image-recording, into a concert.

At one point in the show Dickinson spots this kid at the base of the stage, up on or near the rail. He points down at him and yells, quite angrily, for the kid to give him the camera. "Busted!" me and my friends said to each other. Instead of confiscating or otherwise trashing this kid's camera, which he was well within his rights to do, he turns it on the kid, snaps his picture, then hands the camera back.

Too friggin' cool.

Sure, it's not flying some 200 UK citizens out of Lebanon (Uhm... huh? Who the hell is willingly going to Lebanon? Well, I willingly go to Detroit. Question withdrawn.) during, yet another, Hezbollah dust up, but still.