Are you kidding me?

This AP Story is spin pure and simple.

Look at the title - "CIA Leak Probe Fallout Unlikely to Fade"

Are you kidding? The story tries to spin the Woodward revelation to mean that somehow the story will now be kept alive, when the Libby indictment was supposedly moving it off the headlines. This was BAD (cue music) for the Bush Adminstration.

Huh?

Woodward's comments are a freakin' nuclear weapon going off in the middle of the Libby case, which the prosecutor sold as "this is the guy who definitely leaked first and here's when" even though Libby isn't being prosecuted for leaking.

First, if Woodward knew a month ahead of time, Libby wasn't the first.

Second, the guy Woodward said he told about it says he doesn't remember - do we indict one of them? This is essentially what Libby was indicted for - the horrible crime of remembering differently than Tim Russert.

Third, it's freakin BOB WOODWARD, the one witness the liberal press can't go after.

Fourth, try the whole "we know it was THIS guy" thing again, and everyone can say - "Yeah, well what about Scooter Libby"

This is another case of the media reporting its wishes and not the facts.

Iraqi slam dunk

Podhoretz Sr. has a great smack down of the Dem's hypocrisy here.

Don't Say it On Tape if You Don't Want Us to Remember...

There is a great video over at the GOP website that has a billion democrats talking about Saddam's weapons programs. For a full dose of hypocrisy, click here.


RMR

Carter 'Disturbed' by Direction of U.S.

What a headline! The AP has a story out today called Carter "Disturbed" by direction of U.S.

Mmmm yeah, I miss the good old days of double digit inflation AND zero growth of the economy at the same time. They thought that was impossible until the Carter administration proved it could be done (slogan: "Re-elect Carter - Doing the impossible to make your life miserable"). I was like FIVE when Carter was President and I remember how crappy it was. I remember a little old lady searching through soup cans to find ones with the price stamped on them last week because they were CHEAPER than this week (as in inflation was so bad that the price on a can of soup went up in a week).

So...when Carter is disturbed, this is good news. He was indisputably one of the worst presidents in the twentieth century. But, at least he's a nice guy.

Stick with Habitat for Humanity, Jimmy, and leave running the country to those who know how.

Democrats Losing Race For Funds Under Dean

Thought this was interesting. How are they going to win it all back if they don't raise any money?

Here's the relevant quote:

"Now, the latest financial numbers are prompting new doubts. From January through September, the Republican National Committee raised $81.5 million, with $34 million remaining in the bank. The Democratic National Committee, by contrast, showed $42 million raised and $6.8 million in the bank."

It's in the washington post, so it must be true, right?

President on the offiensive

Bush really gave a great speech today. He sounded passionate and took the hypocracy of the Dems to task.

Here's a transcript.

Couldn't have said it better...

I was getting ready to write a piece just like this, but Podhoretz did a better job. You can read it here.

Basic point is - Last night incumbents got reelected or incumbent parties were reelected. Virginia went from a Democratic governor to a Dem, NJ when from a Dem to a Dem, and Bloomberg got reelected in New York City. Wow. Big news.

Much will be made of the Republican loss in Virginia. Bush won Virginia by the same margin in 2000 as he did in 2004, and then current Governor Mark Warner won his seat in 2001, which was then followed by the historical GOP showing in 2002, which saw the addition of four seats in the Senate and an expanded House majority. So....not very telling that a popular Democratic governor was succeeded by a Democrat that he endorsed. It just doesn't mean that much.

I do note that the much hyped ballot initiatives in Ohio, all but one of which I had heard on the AP in the last few days would pass, all failed massivley, leaving the ballot box in Ohio unfiddled with by dissaffected Dems. You will note that you probably won't hear this as any lead story today. To be honest, this ballot initiative will probably have a more lasting effect on national and presidential politics than the last night's Big Three races - Ohio will continue to have fair elections, which means we at least still have a shot at winning.

I mean, so NJ voters voted for Democrat - something they are apparently willing to do no matter how sleazy the situation (Lautenberg extra-legally replacing Torecelli on the ballot after the deadline) or how big the scandal (the governor leaving over a gay affair with the state's head of homeland security). Well, more power to them - at least we won't have to see Corzine on the news as much anymore.

Despite the cavorting in the press today, the big picture says that this is just the press reporting what they WISHED stuff meant and HOPED happened, not the faithful recitation of facts, which is what I thought we paid them for.

Appeasement working in France

Wow, aren't the Frenchies the ones always telling us how to relate to the Muslim world? Seems to be going well there, guys!

Alito out of mainstream?

Really? Based on what? Many site that as a judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Alito voted to uphold a Pennsylvania statute passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor that required women to notify their husbands before getting an abortion.

How extreme!

But wait, in a 2003 Gallup poll, 72 percent of respondents favored a law requiring that husbands be notified if their wife decides to have an abortion. More than 60% of those calling themselves "liberals" or "Democrats" in the poll supported husband notification. This has been seen in polling going back ten years.

So...unless the definition of "mainstream" is "NARAL", looks like Mr. Alito is at least in the mainstream on this one (even though Justice O'Conner apparently wasn't later on down the judicial line).

Let's get a vote for Alito! He's the most qualified guy in half a century - confirm him and then cut some more taxes!!!

What they said then.

With all the Dem posturing in the Senate today about clamoring for an investigation that is almost CONCLUDED, much less begun, I have a few quotes to remind everyone of what these same people said BEFORE the war when they were running for reelection:

John Kerry, January 23rd, 2003: "Without question we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator leading an impressive regime. He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. And now he's miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction."

"If Saddam rejects peace, and we have to use force, our purpose is clear: We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." -- Bill Clinton, February 17th, 1998

"We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and the security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction." -- Madeleine Albright, February 1st, 1998

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again as he has ten times since 1983." -- Sandy Berger, Clinton national security advisor, February 18th, 1998

"We urge you, after consulting with Congress and consistent with the US Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions, including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." That from a letter to President Clinton signed by Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others, October 9th, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology, which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." -- Nancy Pelosi, December 16th, 1998

"Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." -- Madeleine Albright, Clinton's secretary of state, November 10th, 1999

"We begin with a common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations, is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." -- Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), September 19th, 2002

"We know that he has stored nuclear supplies, secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." -- Al Gore, September 23rd, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter, and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." -- Al Gore, September 23rd, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." -- Ted Kennedy, September 27th, 2002.

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of '98. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons." -- Robert Byrd (D-WV) October 3rd, 2002.

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has and has had for a number of years a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction." -- Senator Bob Graham, Democrat, Florida, December 2002

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock. His missile delivery capability, his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists including Al-Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." -- Senator Hillary Clinton, October 10th of 2002

"There was unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years. We also should remember that we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction." -- Senator Jay Rockefeller, October 10th, 2002

"I will be voting to give the president of the US the authority to use force if necessary to disarm Saddam because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." -- Senator John Kerry, October 9th, 2002

God bless the internet - do you think we'd have all of this ten years ago?