"I can no more disown [Jeremiah Wright] than I can disown the black community."
Well, now that Wright has been disowned, you better watch yourself "black community" -- you're probably next on the chopping block of political expedience.
It's too bad I can't comment on the Barometer website, because I think Rachel Spitler would be very interested in learning what happens when Wright's comments are "available in their full context."
Bill Bradbury, Oregon’s gerrymandering, electioneering Secretary of State, has now sunk to a new low. Thursday afternoon, Bradbury addressed students in the MU Lounge on the subject of global warming. Now wait, since when is Bradbury qualified to talk about science? He’s not a scientist, he’s a former businessman turned politician.
Which is why, perhaps, The OSU Daily Barometer’s account of the event said it “echoed Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’” As noted in a Liberty Blog post on Wednesday, many are questioning the scientific validity of Gore’s data. But Bradbury quoted some of Gore’s data, made a bad analogy about an orange, and compared global warming to fascism.
Bradbury’s brand of politics as Secretary of State has been shameful. The idea that he was qualified to speak about science, more so than the well-respected science professors of all political stripes employed at this university, is political cronyism at its highest level. The Barometer didn’t indicate who sponsored he even, but those people should find remember that unless political manipulation is the goal, it’s best to let scientists talk about science.
On this Earth Day, it is worth mentioning the people no one will mention today. Scientists around the world have been facing professional, social, and political repression for stating that they do not agree with the consensus of the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change).
Lawrence Solomon has recently published an account of these scientists called The Deniers.National Review Online interviewed him about the process of creating the account, as well as some less than well known information about the IPCC and Al Gore’s methods. Since it is guaranteed that you will see some Global Warming hysterics today, I strongly urge you to read his interview as another perspective.
And we thought we were done with Mitt Romney? Not So Fast! An active campaign to get Romney selected as Sen. John McCain’s running mate is underway, as demonstrated (in part) by this Facebook group. The group’s admins list seven reasons why McCain should select Romney:
1. Romney has shown that he can win Michigan and places like Minnesota, Nevada, Colorado, and some other "purple" states that could go either way in the general election. -Romney can win Michigan because he’s from there. McCain will do fine in “purple” states on his own because he appeals to the center, something Romney could never do. In many “purple” states (aka Swing States), Romney is actually a liability.
2. Romney doesn't have any skeletons in his closet that could hurt McCain. -This is because Romney’s skeletons are in the living room serving coffee. Gun control, his alleged “flip-flop” on abortion, and Mormonism, be they real problems or not, are going to be a liability. We didn’t make him our presidential nominee for a reason.
3. Romney could still sell his turnaround the economy strategy and McCain could say that he would let Mitt write the economic strategy. I’m sorry, did I miss the memo? Romney can manage money, I get it. I haven’t seen a strategy.
4. They both agree at the importance of protecting America and increasing the size of our military. So does everyone else in our party, except for Ron Paul, who isn’t really in our party.
5. Mitt can use his very impressive fund raising machine to help McCain raise money since McCain is still very short on funds. He should have been doing so already.
6. Romney would be a perfect candidate to strengthen the three legs of the conservative movement. I don’t even get what this means, or how McCain would need help.
7. Romney will be a very strong candidate to succeed McCain after McCain serves one term. Et tu, Brute? Seriously, though, are we talking about ’12 already. And I thought this cycle was bad.
All that aside, I can see why Romney would be a good VP nominee. But saying, as the group title does, that a McCain/Romney ticket is “OUR LAST HOPE” reeks of a political sore loser and trying to come in second place. This isn’t the Soap Box Derby, there is no prize for second.
According to a recent poll, Sen. Hillary Clinton is leading Sen. Barrack Obama in the Pennsylvania Primary by an even 20 percentage points, with four percent left undecided. Additionally, ten percent of those surveyed, likely Democrat primary voters, say they would never vote for Sen. Clinton, whereas 24 percent said they would never vote for Sen. Obama.
The question remains whether or not Sen. Obama has support among, and the ability to turn out, young voters who are not considered “likely primary voters.” If he does, then most of the poling data that comes out during this cycle is off. If not, then the hype and mystique that Sen. Obama has worked up over this past month was a sham. He has convinced many of his inevitability, but has offered up little proof of this. A month of loud and uplifting (only in that it is so empty it can lift itself and take voters with it) does not a successful campaign make.
Behold, Oba-rack Kenobami, master of Jedi mind tricks:
Click to watch
In the interest of entertainment and shameless self-promotion, I am cross-posting my recent Barometer article ("Obama-dise Lost") that talks about what those of us unfazed by his mind tricks see in Obama.
Ever since Barack Obama’s grand speech in Philadelphia, where concerns over comments made by his pastor of two decades were supposedly addressed and put to bed, the media has dutifully pared down its coverage of the incident. But why?
Obama’s campaign has been carried by constant references to ‘hope,’ ‘change,’ and a number of other nebulous-yet-inspiring adjectives. In an apparently still-‘racial’ America, he is the post-racial candidate. He is post-partisan and post-‘politics-as-usual.’ No doubt he starts his day with a healthy bowl of Post Raisin Bran, inspiring even the common breakfast cereal to transcend its wheat-based nature. Essentially, Obama has built his campaign on the idea that he is above the other candidates on a near-metaphysical level. He dispenses rhetoric like grace from on high in order to heal the wounds of the nation.
But Obama has two problems that give lie to his messiah-like facade – his wife, Michelle Obama, and his pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
Recent campaign events involving his wife suggest that all may not be right in Obama land. In February she said she was finally proud of her country for the first time in her adult life (this came, of course, after her husband took the lead in the Democratic primary). The New Yorker reported last month that she considers the United States to be “just downright mean.” And last week during a speech at CarnegieMellonUniversity, as CMU’s newspaper The Tartan reports, Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators were handpicking who sat in the bleachers behind her – according to race, that is. The Tartan quoted her staff as saying, “‘Get me more white people, we need more white people.’ To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, ‘We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.’” Apparently, Michelle Obama’s plan to fix the racial picture in America involves simply switching out who is in the frame.
Obama’s (now former) pastor/mentor Wright is on a whole other level of appalling. YouTube has plenty of video showing Wright giving spittle-flecked sermons that the 9/11 attacks were proof that “America’s chickens are coming home to roost,” that the United States government created the AIDS virus to wipe-out colored people, and that we live in the “U. S. of KKK A.” He even conveniently summarized his views by repeatedly screaming “God DAMN America!”
Barack tried lamely to separate himself from Wright’s sermons by condemning them, but then he claimed he could “no more disown [Wright] than I can disown the black community.” I have a difficult time believing Wright is representative of the black community, and I doubt the black community is taking kindly to being lumped in with an America-hating, conspiracy-spouting racist.
But even if Obama had completely dismissed Wright, the whole episode shows how feeble Obama’s message of ‘hope’ and ‘change’ actually is. First, it took Obama 20 years of listening to his pastor’s garbage to even say anything about, and even then only after it became public. I don’t think Obama actually believes the things his pastor said, but that he never expressed disagreement with it before seems to say that he doesn’t take his religious life very seriously and thus his recent statements condemning Wright are merely a political play.
Secondly, why is it that two of the people closest to the Incarnation of Hope and Change are so angry? If Obama’s wife and mentor are both bitter about America, how can anyone think him capable of healing a nation? If this is how far Obama has gotten after 20 years with Wright and 15 years with Michelle, what do we expect him to do in only four (or even eight) years as President?
By March 17, Hillary had taken a slight lead over Obama in Gallup’s daily poll, mostly as a result of Wright’s comments hitting the news cycle. This decline is evidence that once Obama’s stainless exterior was cracked by ‘pastor-gate,’ many voters didn’t see him as ‘hopey’ or ‘changey’ as before. It seems the real Obama is just a regular politician – one who speaks loftily but without real substance, views his faith through the lens of his politics, and tries to be all things to all people.
It’s not that the Emperor Obama isn’t wearing any clothes; indeed, he’s fully clad. He just shops at the same store where Hillary gets her pantsuits. He is just like every other politician the Democrats have put forward, spouting the exact same liberal platform (wrapped up in that patented Obama rhetoric). He’s a normal, run-of-the-mill Democrat.
And, perhaps, being normal is what threatens Obama's campaign the most.
A recent ABC NEWS story reported that most US Military personnel preferred one of the Democrat presidential hopefuls in the upcoming election. Despite the fact that most American military personnel voted for President Bush in 2004, ABC interviewed five soldiers who all seemed to support a Democrat. (four for Senator Barack Obama, one for Senator Hillary Clinton) None who were interviewed supported the presumptive nominee, Senator John McCain.
I honestly don’t think it would be that hard to find a soldier who supported McCain. This whole story smells greatly of a pro-Dem piece of yellow journalism, and a sad statement about media’s involvement in politics. Stories such as this serve less to report the news and more to disseminate a viewpoint. One that may be grossly out of line with what the reality of the situation suggests. How many soldiers are in favor of McCain? With news reporting like this, we will never know.
