A Second Hand Conjecture

I’m experiencing a little déjà vu over the invective that’s starting to pour out of the left against “Joe the Plumber.” It has a decidedly reminiscent over-reactive, hysterical feel to it of the anti-Palin crusade. Here’s a typical example of what I mean from a Kos diarist:

“I have watched the Joe Plumber video several times and this right wing nut is nothing but a liar.”

Uh-huh. Regular Nazi threat to the republic that plumber.

Probably not the wisest attack. As my friend Jason puts it: “Joe the Plumber is Pennsylvania and Ohio personified.” By consequence, team Obama might want to restrain the volume on this sort of immoderate ideological raving to the fullest extent that they can.

12 Comments »

Is there an issue equivalent to McCain’s strength in certain foreign policy areas, where Obama can be said to dominate the debate? A worried group of Democratic leaders have concluded that there isn’t, and Obama’s appeal is a kind of a general-studies phenomenon in need of greater authority on specific issues. That’s trouble, as money can buy the commercial breaks during a policy debate, but it can’t buy the authority to command the debate itself.

No Comments »

Now that Lance is back with a vengeance I’m almost motivated to not be such a deadbeat. So here’s a neat little story I found. It’s apparently been a long tough few months of 3-4 day work weeks for Congress so they’re taking their August vacation. This is convenient for Pelosi and the Dems because they can further avoid debate on the increasingly popular offshore drilling topic. So at the end of the workday today (11:23 a.m of course), they leave and turn out the lights and microphones.

The half dozen or so GOP representatives however don’t leave. They stay and continue on with their debate in the dark with no microphones. Democrat aids have called the Republicans staying “morons” and are trying to shoo the press out and keep them from covering it after shutting off CSPAN cameras. Republican aids are in turn calling for all members still in Washington to come back and join them. Now a phrase thrown about in instances like these is “cheap political stunt” but it would be wrong to describe this as such. This is an “effective political stunt“, showing the clear divide between the two parties on this issue, while also highlighting the lax work ethic of Congress and contrasting it with their own (new found) desire to stay and debate.

At one point ASHC favorite Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) managed to get the microphones back on. The how is possibly my favorite part of the story

Also, Republicans can thank Shadegg for turning on the microphones the first time. Apparently, the fiesty(sic) Arizona conservative started typing random codes into the chamber’s public address system and accidentally typed the correct code, allowing Republicans brief access to the microphone before it was turned off again.

“I love this,” Shadegg told reporters up in the press gallery afterward. “Congress can be so boring…This is a kick.”

And it’s getting better.

Rep Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) just pretended to be a Democrat. He stood on the other side  of the chaber and listed all of the GOP bills that the Dems killed.

He then said “I am a Democrat and here is my energy plan” and he held up a picture of an old VW Bug with a sail attached to it. He paraded around he house floor with the sign while the crowd cheered.

Check back at politico for more updates.

No Comments »

That’s the only question left after her and Barack Obama’s debate tonight, which took place about a mile and a half from my house.

I can’t believe I’m watching, in real-time, Hillary Clinton get smacked around with the campaign schtick her opponent has knicked from her own husband. The ‘92 election was Bush Sr.’s to lose until Governor Bill and his sidekick Al started talking about the people’s desire for an unspecified “change.” The “the courage to change” theme was so effective that just before that election, Bill had gotten to the point where he would use the word three or four times per sentence—just like Obama’s doing now. And Hillary is just sitting back and taking it for some inexplicable reason.

Instead, she should have a pod of campaign volunteers looking for Obama lines “plagiarizing” Bill Clinton. That would make headlines. And instead of her stupid Xerox line in tonight’s debate, she should have suggested that if Obama was going to continue to “borrow” his sound-bites, maybe Deval Patrick should be running for President.

It’s starting to look like the Vodkapundit is right:

This is the hillary Clinton who had some bloggers — including me — buying into this counterfactual nonsense that she’d prove to be “the most uncompromising wartime leader in American history?” Oh, please — she can’t even stand up to Barack Obama.

Perhaps all this time it’s not been Barack but Hillary for whom there is no “there” there.

3 Comments »

Happy New Year! To start off the year right, let’s have a look at a mock-up of a debate between Naomi Klein, reporter-activist extraordinaire, and Milton Friedman, king of economic liberty (via Instapundit).

This video was put together by Devil’s Advocate at Copious Dissent, where you can find the others in this series.

This is the fifth, and possibly final, compilation of videos that I titled, “Naomi Klein: Shockingly Ignorant.”

Since she loves to distort what Milton Friedman stood for, I thought I would let Milton debate her in his own words. He makes her look like a fool.

Good stuff, and highly recommended.

1 Comment »