The Good Democrat

John McCain Eyeing Sarah Palin

From The Jed Report.

Note the body language carefully. Playing with his wedding ring. Looking DOWN at Mrs. Palin. Getting close often.

UPDATE: heh, apparently McCain considers Palin a “soulmate.” From the looks he gave her, I would say, indeed, sir. But you ought to speak with your current wife about that.

Sarah Palin – “What Exactly Does A VP Do Every Day?”

John McCain on Mrs. Palin:

“She’s not from these parts and she’s not from Washington. But when you get to know her, you’re going to be as impressed as I am.”

Of course, he only met her once before he nominated her….

UPDATE:

One final thing to add, it looks like McCain won’t get Hillary supporters. When Palin remarked at the acceptance speech rally in Ohio that she thanked the efforts of Mrs. Clinton, they booed Mrs. Palin.

Um, why again would Hillary supporters ally themselves with people who boo their woman?

UPDATED:

From Comedy Central.

Bush Won’t Attack Obama Because “He’s Got Class”

that’s the argument Dana Perino makes as to why Bush will not criticize Obama in his speech on Monday.

Yeah, a real class act. His administration says that a vote for Democrats is a vote for terrorists:

Bush has no class. He forfeited it when he began employing the politics of fear.

My Top Ten Most Viewed Posts

The following are the ten most viewed posts on my blog. It’s funny, because all you have to do is make sure you get the right key words and Google does the rest for you. 🙂 Continue Reading My Top Ten Most Viewed Posts…

Media Bias

Just this morning, I’m watching the Today Show, and Matt Lauer, in bringing up an analysis of Barack Obama’s speech, who does he go to for an analysis of Obama’s speech? Peggy Noonan. Yes, a conservative. Note that he doesn’t call a liberal. Peggy Noonan. Her record has a, to put it kindly, very spotty record at unbiased analysis in politics. For example.

So will anyone wager if Matt Lauer will call on a liberal commentator to discuss McCain’s acceptance speech next weeK?

Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech

From the New York Times:

To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation;

With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States. Continue Reading Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech…

John McCain – Hothead

Just take a look:

And he tires of having to answer questions.

There’s a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us?
Read it in my books.

I’ve read your books.
No, I’m not going to define it.

But honor in politics?
I defined it in five books. Read my books.

Yeesh! Elitist.

Was the United States Weak For Going Into Iraq?

That’s basically the argument Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, is making. He’s talking about Russia, of course, and their walloping of Georgia, a tiny nation. Here is what he says:

“There is a Russia narrative that ‘we were weak in the ’90s, but now we are back and we are not going to take it anymore.’ But being angry and seeking revanchist victory is not the sign of a strong nation. It is the sign of a weak one,” said Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.

Hmmm, so is he saying that nations that “seek revanchist victory” are not strong? Because um, well, you know… Or is it yet another matter of IOIYAA (It’s Okay If You Are American)?

Bill Clinton – Power of Example vs. Example of Power

Bill Clinton gave one of his best speeches last night, including the line that “people the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.”

This clip is of Clinton’s entire speech, which is excellent.

UPDATED: I corrected the phrase.

Tom Brokaw: Don’t You Dare Criticize McCain, He Was a POW!

Remember, the likes of Tom Brokaw are his base.

Gustav To Hit New Orleans As Republicans Party

Poetic justice I tell you. As Bush speaks in Minneapolis on Labor Day to partying Republicans, New Orleans will be hit by another strong hurricane.

US Killed 90 Civilians in Afghanistan

This is why we are losing in Afghanistan. You CAN’T kill civilians in a successful counterinsurgency. Protecting civilians’ lives is of the utmost importance in a successful counterinsurgency. We are failing, badly. Furthermore, the constant reliance on air power is counterproductive. Sure, fewer of our own die when you kill “enemies” from a distance, but you also kill those who you need alive, the civilians. This is bad.

This particular incident will have very bad consequences like no other incident previous (the various wedding parties where we dropped bombs killing celebrants).

Mormons, the Obamas, and Family Values

The scourge of Mormon ties to the Republican party are starting to wear off. One of the most pernicious, vile attacks by Republicans on Democrats is that Democrats don’t stand for family values. This, of course is not true. While there are a number of those on the left who don’t have the same family values as those on the right, statistics have shown that states that lean left do far better than states that lean right when it comes to several important characteristics of strong families—education, divorce rates, health care, etc.

In any case, I want those few who read my blog to watch this video from Monday night’s opening speech by Mrs. Obama. The video is right after her speech when her kids come on stage and they talk with their father, Barack Obama.

This is a great example of family values. This is a good family. This is the kind of family that we should exemplify. This kind of family will bring out the best in our country.

Mormons should consider well who they vote for in November. John McCain cheated on his first wife and left her for a young, blonde heiress. Is that the kind of example we want for our country? I’m glad Democrats did not choose Hillary (though she, herself, has been faithful, her husband has not and would have continued to bring distracting attention).

The Obamas are a fine family and worthy of the charge of the White House. We seek after good people. In this election, there is no finer family than Barack Obama’s.

PS: I should add that the following commentary (on Fox News no less!) was excellent:

Right on.

We Won in Iraq!

I don’t get Republicans. Al-Maliki is giving Americans the greatest gift he could give us. A way out of Iraq. I don’t get Republicans. I don’t get why they don’t jump on this excitedly and say, “see, ha! ha! We’ve won! You Democrat wimps who were against this war from the start were WRONG! And now we’re coming home victorious from the field of battle. Strike up the band, whip out the beers and let’s party!”

Why don’t they run that meme? Their definition of “victory” is vague enough to cover this. They can claim victory and come home. Or could it be that, “victory” in Iraq isn’t about bringing troops home…maybe “victory” is being able to keep troops in Iraq for 100 years

Hmmm…

Saakashvili Has Some Brains After All

wow, I’m impressed. Mikhail Saakashvili shows he isn’t that dumb. True, he was brash enough to think he could pick a fight with Russia, but give him kudos for realizing that to attempt an insurgency now would be even more foolhardy.

“We had a choice here,” he said. “We could turn this country into Chechnya — we had enough people and equipment to do that — or we had to do nothing and stay a modern European country.”

He added: “Eventually we would have chased them away, but we would have had to go to the mountains and grow beards. That would have been a tremendous national philosophical and emotional burden.”

Well said. Would you destroy your own country just to kick the Russians out? Look at Iraq. Look at what a hell that has turned into. Those who fought against the Americans (and destroyed their country) deserve a lot of blame for the conditions in Iraq, most of the blame actually (America deserves the rest for going in in the first place).

Wars are a negative sum game.

John McCain – A Noun, A Verb, and POW!

Poor hothead is flustered at being attacked. How dare anyone question him when he was a POW for his country!

Francis Fukuyama Shows That He Still Doesn’t Get It

Francis Fukuyama shows that he still doesn’t get it. Fukuyama is one of those neo-conservatives who supposedly turned his back on his compatriots. One got the hope that he began to understand the wrongness of his original cause. But alas, he still does not get it.

Are we entering the age of the autocrat? It’s certainly tempting to think so after watching Russia’s recent clobbering of Georgia. That invasion clearly marks a new phase in world politics, but it’s a mistake to think that the future belongs to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and his fellow despots.

Because clearly Bush was not a bully in the world prior to Putin throwing Georgia around like a rag. He makes good points that Putin isn’t really a autocrat in the classic sense of the word. Putin very much like capitalism and some form of democracy in his country. However, Fukuyama once again reverts to his neo-conservative ways:

Democracy’s only real competitor in the realm of ideas today is radical Islamism.

Oh please. That’s not competition. Stop drinking the neo-conservative kool-aid dude.

Indeed, one of the world’s most dangerous nation-states today is Iran, run by extremist Shiite mullahs

No not really. You’d like for people to think so, but it isn’t really the case. To be a “most dangerous” nation state in the entire world, that nation state should be able to compete militarily with a superpower, even a small scale super power. But look, Mr. Fukuyama, Iran’s military expenditures are about $9 billion annually. For comparison, Israel’s military expenditure is about the same. In the Middle East, the real power is Saudi Arabia with a military budget of about $27 billion. Who runs the Middle East? Saudi Arabia, of course. And you’re willing to parrot the lie that Iran is stronger (and therefore more dangerous) than Saudi Arabia, let alone being able to compete with a Russia, China or European power. Please. You do yourself a disservice.

But as Peter Bergen pointed out in these pages last week, Sunni radicalism has been remarkably ineffective in actually taking control of a nation-state, due to its propensity to devour its own potential supporters

That’s because it’s not as powerful or effective as you proclaim. You neo-conservatives still just don’t get it.

China’s nationalism, on proud display at the Olympics, is much more complex. The Chinese want respect for having brought hundreds of millions of citizens out of poverty in the past generation. But we don’t yet know how that sense of national pride will translate into foreign policy.

Actually we do. China is not expansionist. They are putting all their cards right now on economic might, because they see the inevitability of them becoming the most powerful nation on the planet solely because they have the most people. It is simply a matter of time.

Mr. Fukuyama doesn’t care that Americans are bullies in this world. We bully around our neighbors all the time (think of all the actions we’ve taken in Central America and Cuba). It’s okay though. We’re Americans.

Continuing to Kill Afghan Civilians

We continue to undermine our own mission. As this Afghan official says:

“This puts us in a very difficult position,” said one government official, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. “It provides propaganda to the Taliban and if they don’t take responsibility, it actually helps the Taliban.”

Indeed. Airstrikes are just simply not effective counterinsurgency tactics. They undermine the greater mission, which is to “win”—whatever that means.

Let it Be Joe Biden

because of things like this

Brilliant.

Condoleezza Rice Insults Our Intelligence

Not really surprising, but she should wonder what it will do to that dear legacy of hers to continue saying things like this:

“This is an agreement that, of course, will establish a missile defense site here in Poland, a missile defense site that will help us to deal with the new threat to the 21st century of long-range missile threats from countries like Iran or from North Korea,” Rice said yesterday at the Polish presidential palace in Warsaw.

Right, you are establishing a missile defense system in Poland because Iran has threatened Poland with extermination, and North Korea is about to strike them with missiles. And you sign this deal just moments after Russia humiliates Georgia. Right. Ms. Rice, stop insulting our intelligences. Stop lying. Stop being so stupid.