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More union thuggery

Posted by Richard on August 11, 2009

If it's the opponents of socialized medicine who are an angry mob, how come they're the ones who keep getting beaten? Via Gateway Pundit comes news of another assault by a union thug, this time in New Hampshire:

This is how Chicago-style politics are played out:

Obama: "They Bring a Knife…We Bring a Gun"
Obama to His Followers: "Get in Their Faces!"
Obama on ACORN Mobs: "I don't want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I'm angry!"
Obama To His Mercenary Army: “Hit Back Twice As Hard”

A tea party protester was accosted by one of Obama's union thugs today.
He was just following orders.
GraniteGrok reported, Via Free Republic:

One of the Free Staters was accosted by either an SEIU or AFSCME union thug. The story, corroborated by several sources, is that the Free Stater said something that the Union thug did not like and hauled off and spit into his video camera and then kicked him in the groin.

The camera was running so hopefully it will surface soon. I have asked that if anyone knows the Free Stater to see if he would come over and talk with us.

At Confederate Yankee, a report about a union-sponsored health care town hall in North Carolina suggests that maybe the rank and file members aren't as sold on government-run health care as their leaders would like.

But inside the President's town hall meeting, everything was friendly and wonderful. Especially that adorable little girl asking Obama why the people outside had such mean things on their signs — the little girl that was a plant!

UPDATE: Speaking of plants, it looks like the guy with the "Obama as Hitler" poster was a plant, too. Before Rep. John Dingell's town hall meeting, he paraded the poster around for the media, providing "evidence" to back up Pelosi's absurd assertion. After the meeting, he was handing out Dingell flyers.

What are the odds that the swastika at the Georgia congressman's office was planted, too, a la the noose at Columbia University and numerous similarly faked incidents? I'd say they're pretty good.

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Hundreds rallied for Gladney at St. Louis SEIU office

Posted by Richard on August 10, 2009

The St. Louis Tea Party held a rally at the local Service Employees International Union office Saturday protesting the beating and hospitalization of Kenneth Gladney by SEIU goons on Thursday. The Tea Party's Bill Hennessey reported (emphasis added):

Over 300 people gathered in front of SEIU Headquarters on Pershing Saturday to thank Ken Gladney for taking punishment for our freedom.  On Thursday, thugs in SEIU uniforms beat and kicked Gladney.  The thugs hate black men who wander off the liberal plantation to speak their minds.  That hatred put Gladney into a wheelchair.  Unable to speak due to pain, medication, and heat, Gladney’s attorney, David Brown, read from a hand-written statement Gladney had prepared the night before. 

According to witnesses, an African-American man wearing an SEIU uniform approached Gladney Thursday about 8:30 p.m. as Gladney showed his buttons and flags to the wife of a minister.  The SEIU thug said, “Why is a n***** handing out ‘Don’t tread on me’ flags,” before punching Gladney to the ground.  According to video taken at the scene by numerous witnesses, other SEIU thugs joined in to kick and beat Gladney.  “Don’t tread on me,” has become a rallying cry for the Tea Party Movement.

Gladney was at the rally in a wheelchair.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an excellent 3-minute video (top left of page) that includes an interview with Gladney, followed by another black Tea Party member giving a great verbal smackdown to a leftist. 

Rush Limbaugh asked the question today, "Why isn't Kenny Gladney … the new Rodney King?" The answer, of course, is that the mainstream media and the civil rights leadership don't give a rat's ass what happens to a conservative or libertarian black man. 

The contempt and loathing of the left for this man is very much on display at the YouTube video of Saturday's rally, with comments like this: 

TOO FUNNY… This idiot started a fight, got banged up, and guess what… HE HAS NO HEALTH INSURANCE!!!

Right folks- the moron is working to destroy a program that would have given him medical treatment — now he has to take up a collection to pay his medical bills. He's as dumb as the rest of his ignorant friends.

The SEIU guys should've put him out of his misery. 

And this: 

wait until the teamsters get ahold of his ass lmao 

Of course, there are bad people on both sides. According to Jeralyn Merritt (TalkLeft), a "progressive" leader's car was vandalized at the Rep. Perlmutter event Saturday. But while union thugs beating and kicking a man is apparently a source of humor for many on the left, some lout breaking car mirrors evokes outrage.

Merritt wanted to know "What rock did these people crawl out from under?" — implying that such behavior is characteristic of "these people" rather than a rare exception. And at least one of her commenters, cpinva, went stark raving bonkers (and drew no criticism or censure; this comment is rated "topical") (emphasis in original): 

what we have here is a junior version(s) of the infamous bier hall putsch, to be followed by a new kristalnacht against the "others". i suppose at some point, we can expect a right-wing night of the long knives as well.

I mentioned Godwin's Law the other day regarding Pelosi's "They're carrying swastikas" remark. If Godwin's Law were actually enforceable, that comment would have ended all further discussion of the subject at TalkLeft for a very long time.

UPDATE: According to Bill Hennessey, one of the people who was arrested for beating Gladney is an SEIU director, Baptist minister, and (gasp!) community organizer: 

Tea Party researchers have discovered some interesting news on one of the people arrested for beating Ken Gladney.

Elston K. McCowan is a former organizer – now the Public Service Director of SEIU Local 2000 – and board member of the Walbridge Community Education Center, and is a Baptist minister, has been a community organizer for more than 23 years, and now, he is running for Mayor of the City of St. Louis under the Green Party.

McCowan accused the Mayor of setting fire to his van . . . because that’s what big city mayors do in their spare time, I guess.  He also called Slay a racist.  And, on election night, McCowan thanked the family who voted for him.  It was quite touching, actually.

McCowan is not a rank-and-file, card-carrying union guy.  He is a director with SEIU. He IS the union.  He ISSUES the cards.  Andy Stern himself might as well have kicked Gladney.

I guess that means McCowan has Obama's favorite book, Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, in his library. 

HT: Sweetness & Light

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Not a good sign

Posted by Richard on November 7, 2008

The pundits, including many conservative pundits, are opining that Obama will "govern from the center." Sure he will. That's why he picked a hard-core leftist, rabidly partisan pit bull, Congressman Rahm Emmanuel, as his chief of staff.

Emmanuel made it quite clear after the 2006 election how interested he is in reaching across the aisle and ending the  partisanship in Washington: "The Republicans can go fuck themselves!"

I suspect a number of blue-blood country-club Republican politicians will be only too eager to go fuck themselves in order to demonstrate how bipartisan and cooperative they can be.

Oh, yeah — Emmanuel was on the board of Freddie Mac when it was creating our current financial crisis, and he helped Steny Hoyer manipulate the Congressional bailout plan voting so as to maximize the PR damage to the Republicans. (HT: Sweetness & Light)

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More madness on the left

Posted by Richard on October 31, 2008

It's been apparent to me for years that many members of the literati and glitterati are not only ill-informed, but also not quite right in the head. But for evidence of the sheer raving lunacy rampant among the "arts and letters" crowd, it's hard to beat an interview that author Erica Jong recently gave in Italy. Jason Horowitz has translations of some of Jong's "more spirited" quotes:

"The record shows that voting machines in America are rigged."

"My friends Ken Follett and Susan Cheever are extremely worried. Naomi Wolf calls me every day. Yesterday, Jane Fonda sent me an email to tell me that she cried all night and can't cure her ailing back for all the stress that has reduces her to a bundle of nerves."

"My back is also suffering from spasms, so much so that I had to see an acupuncturist and get prescriptions for Valium."

"After having stolen the last two elections, the Republican Mafia…"

"If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me. And it's not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets."

"Bush has transformed America into a police state, from torture to the imprisonment of reporters, to the Patriot Act."

Batsh*t crazy, the lot of them. 

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Obama regrets lack of radical wealth redistribution

Posted by Richard on October 28, 2008

In a 2001 Chicago public radio interview, then State Sen. Barack Obama said one of the failures of the civil rights movement was that it became court-focused, and the Supreme Court never addressed "the redistribution of wealth and the more basic issues of economic justice in this society." He called it a tragedy that the civil rights movement failed to put together "the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change." And he regretted that the Constitution addresses only "negative liberties" — what the government can't do to you — and not "positive liberties" — what the government "must do on your behalf." 

Here are key excerpts from the interview. Please share this with your non-socialist friends.

Contrary to what the Obama campaign and its mouthpieces in the mainstream media have been saying, Obama's "spread the wealth around" comment to Joe the Plumber hasn't been distorted, misrepresented, or overblown.

Obama really is a radical leftist, a socialist at heart, and someone who makes the George McGovern of 1972 sound like a moderate centrist.

Exactly what I'd expect from someone whose intellectual mentors, allies, friends, and colleagues include Saul Alinsky, Father Pfleger, the Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Frank Marshall Davis, Alice Palmer, Rashid Khalidi, Raila Odinga … 

As Ken Blackwell said recently about Obama's fraudulent promise of "tax cuts" that are really disguised income redistribution, "Having the government take money from business entities or affluent individuals and giving it to those who pay no federal income taxes is not Keynesian. It's Marxist."

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Steal a sign, get a pizza

Posted by Richard on October 22, 2008

Some lefty restaurateur in Michigan is rewarding anti-McCain hooliganism:

Break the law, get a pepperoni and cheese

Bring in a McCain/Palin sign and Salvatore’s Pizzeria, in Warren, Michigan will exchange it for a free pizza.

It seems owner, Diana Franzoni, is miffed that the McCain campaign pulled its resources out of Michigan. She is quoted as saying, “Health care is killing us. McCain gave up on Michigan, so you should give up on him.”

FOX 2’s Brad Edwards explains how that offer may have prompted some hungry bargain hunters to break the law. He reports that Franzoni estimates that since she put the bounty on the signs, she is receiving about 30 pilfered signs a day for at least the last couple of weeks, which equals 100‘s of filched signs — and pizzas.

What's next — key a McCain car, get a calzone?

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Liberals helping the handicapped

Posted by Richard on October 19, 2008

Jack Justice of Albany, GA, spends his days in what's called an "adult day rehab" center. He's what I would describe as "mentally retarded" (which I learned as the correct term for such a condition).

The staff at the day care rehab center, like all good caring liberals, would no doubt chide me for using such a politically incorrect term, calling it insensitive and disrespectful.

But the staff had no moral qualms about taking Jack on a field trip to go vote. And marking his ballot for Obama, even though Jack wanted to vote for McCain:

ALBANY, GA (WALB) – There are allegations of voter fraud, as a Dougherty County family claims the vote of a mentally challenged relative was stolen.

They say the adult day rehab program where Jack Justice attends took him to vote, without the family's permission. What's worse is Justice says the person helping him wouldn't cast the ballot for his choice for President.
…

"They told me to vote for Obama, I said no I wanted to vote for McCain," said Jack Justice, a voter.

Jack Justice says the person helping him, selected Obama's name. His sister says the family is often asked to sign a permission slips for trips, but for this they were never notified.

"No permission slips, no nothing, he just came home and said he had gone," said Nancy Justice, Jack's sister.

We questioned election officials about the procedure, who say they recall the group coming in to vote and an aide was helping the individuals, but they must sign an oath that they'll cast the ballot however the voter prefers. 

The story doesn't indicate how many individuals were in this group. But I bet I can guess the percentage of Obama votes.

The story does explain what recourse is available:

Election officials say the family's only option is to file a challenge to the election results. …

Yeah, right. That'll fix things.

You may think this is an unfortunate isolated incident, but one of the commenters to the story asserted otherwise:

This has been going on since the 1980's, and I'm glad it's finally coming to light. My mother worked for the Wisconsin State School in Madison, WI in the 1980's. The Democrat aides ordered absentee ballots for the long-term patients (many of whom were of age to vote but had the mentality of 4-5 year olds). When the ballots arrived, they checked the Democrat candidate(s) name, had the patient scratch a signature, and mailed it in. Thereby the aide had many votes herself. The patients weren't aware or understanding of anything that was going on. Like I said this has been going on since the 80's at the hands of Democrat activists. If someone wanted to find this out, I'm sure they could find a lot of it all over the country. It's DISGUSTING!

Disgusting. Despicable. Contemptible. Loathsome. Vile… I can't think of an adjective strong enough for the vermin who do this.

(HT: Pejman Yousefzadeh)

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The persecution of Joe the Plumber and related crimes

Posted by Richard on October 18, 2008

The efforts by the left during this campaign to stifle criticism and silence political speech have become increasingly disturbing. Last week, Michael Barone wrote a column citing a few examples and bemoaning what's happening:

Once upon a time, liberals prided themselves, with considerable reason, as the staunchest defenders of free speech. …

Today's liberals seem to be taking their marching orders from other quarters. Specifically, from the college and university campuses where administrators, armed with speech codes, have for years been disciplining and subjecting to sensitivity training any students who dare to utter thoughts that liberals find offensive. …

The treatment of Samuel Joseph "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher has taken these efforts to a whole new level. He's been made an example of that's bound to intimidate and silence many others. You think anyone who can shed light on the Obama-Ayers relationship or spill the beans on Obama-Rezko will step forward after seeing what happens to a man who simply asked a question? 

Charlie Martin put it this way:

When it’s gotten to the point that someone who happens to ask him an uncomfortable question is pursued to this extent, his personal life exposed, his address published on the Internet, his job and livelihood at risk, it’s gone too far. These people are legitimately to be feared.

Martin also quoted an anonymous email posted at The Corner that summed up how he feels:

I don't know why I'm e-mailing you, except that I just need to vent to someone on The Corner. Pass this around to the others if you like — I bet I'm not the only one.

I really don't like McCain. I'll probably vote for him just as a vote for divided government. I'm far too libertarian in my leanings to be comfortable with McCain (or Obama, for that matter).

That said, the way the pro-Obama media and bloggers, and Obama himself, have responded to Joe has got me nearly shaking with rage. They are attempting to destroy a man — a private citizen — who had the audacity to ask The One a question. Mind you, Joe was on his front lawn playing football with his son when Obama strolled up to give him his hopenchange spiel. Obama approached Joe, not the other way around. And Joe asked Obama an honest question. And Obama gave him an honest — and very, very revealing — answer. Again, mind you, the embarassment was on Obama's end, not Joe's. It wasn't a gotcha question.

And yet, for that Joe is being pilloried, every aspect of his private and professional life being sorted through and exposed. To prove … what? What does that have to do with Obama's answer? What does Joe's situation have to do with Obama's philosophical answer — that he wants to "spread the wealth"? Obama's answer goes down the memory hole while the nation concentrates its fire on obliterating Joe the Plumber.

It's sickening, it's maddening and it's downright chilling.

Sorry for the length. But I am just SEETHING.

I couldn't agree more. It's outrageous and disgusting.

But it's business as usual for the Obama campaign and the radical leftists who now control the Democratic Party. Tonight, I visited Life's Better Ideas for the first time in a week and finally saw David's link to this HillBuzz post. If you think talk of an "Obama thugocracy" is just some cranky, paranoid right-wingers trying to make something out of nothing, you're wrong. There are plenty of centrist Democrats who are angry and disturbed by what's been happening during this campaign, and they're working to expose the truth:

If you haven’t been a regular here at HillBuzz, you might not know about Gigi Gaston’s documentary “We Will Not Be Silenced” on the caucus fraud deliberately orchestrated by the Obama campaign during the primaries. Voter intimidation, registration fraud, vandalism, threats of violence, you name it, Obama’s supporters did it. …
…

What’s happening here is something we have never seen before: centrist Clinton Democrats and Republicans are working together to expose the DNC and Obama campaign’s illegal activities and orchestrated, coordinated fraud. Both parties are working with federal agents to investigate ACORN, which has been funded with upwards of $800,000 in questionable donations from the Obama campaign (in what appears to be the expressed and explicit direction to engineer voter fraud in the general election). The tactics being employed now in the 15 states currently under investigation are the VERY SAME TACTICS we saw on the ground in Iowa, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, and other states working for Hillary Clinton in the primaries.

Read the whole thing.

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A pretty impressive plumber

Posted by Richard on October 16, 2008

Regarding Samuel Joseph "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, Scott at Conservatism Today got it about right:

Seriously. This guy is the epitome of American values, hard work and self-sufficiency – and the MSM is going to do everything in its power to destroy him. Just remember, they are destroying you at the same time. Favorite line: "I have parents, I don't need another set of parents called the government." Next favorite: "We are the greatest country in the world, stop apologizing for it."

Here's another great Joe the Plumber quote (from Marina Lee):

“It’s not right for someone to decide you made too much—that you’ve done too good and now we’re going to take some of it back…That’s just completely wrong.”

Here's some Joe the Plumber video. The first one (1:31) is from his home last night after the debate (via The Barton Bulletin).

 

This one (3:57) is from his press conference this morning.

 

Where do we order the "I support Joe the Plumber" t-shirts and bumper stickers? I wish McCain (and many other Republicans) sounded this good. 

A friend commented that many recent newsmakers (like Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Obama …) have reminded her of Ayn Rand's villains, but that Joe reminded her of John Galt. That's a stretch. I suspect Joe is more of an Eddie Willers. But, damn, we need lots more Eddie Willers in the world. 

BTW, did you pooh-pooh Scott's remark above about the MSM going after Joe? The effort to dig up dirt on Joe is already well under way. Charlie Martin (emphasis added):

Okay, according to Jonathan Martin (no relation as far as I know), a Politico reporter has found a tax lien against Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, who is apparently “Joe the Plumber.” For about $1200.

Now, the county webserver is being wiped out by people trying to look at that docket, so it’s a little hard to find out the whole story — like, was it paid? Was it part of a pending tax dispute? — but in the mean time, think about this for a minute. This guy had the temerity to actually argue with Obama over a point, and get attention — so now national political websites/newspapers are sending reporters to search his tax records?

I mean, at least it used to be campaign operatives doing this kind of thing.

Martin soon followed up with another example, and then another. 

Now, according to Allahpundit, they've dug up "paperwork irregularities" that may put Joe out of work. And Allahpundit wondered (emphasis added):

Should have known better than to ask a media darling a tough question before your affairs were in order, Joe. Exit question: The law’s the law and it is, after all, his own fault for not having the papers he needs. If, say, an illegal alien had asked McCain a tough question and some righty media source responded by bringing his status to light, would the left feel the same way?

Anyone who dares criticize Obama must be punished, and the press is eager to help. I feel sorry for Joe Wurzelbacher. The left and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) are conducting an anal probing of this decent, hard-working man and won't rest until they destroy him. 

I'm going to keep my eyes open for a Joe Wurzelbacher legal defense fund. I suspect he'll need one, and if so, I'll help.

UPDATE: Another roundup of how they're trying to destroy Joe the Plumber. (HT: Instapundit)

UPDATE: Instapundit noted that "They've done more investigations into Joe the Plumber in 24 hours than they've done on Barack Obama in two years . . . ." Read the whole thing. This has quickly gotten disgusting.

UPDATE (10/18): CafePress has "I heart Joe the Plumber" shirts. (HT: Instapundit) But I don't want to "heart" Joe. I want to support Joe. Don't miss my new post about Joe and related matters.

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The speech Palin never gave

Posted by Richard on September 23, 2008

The New York Times of Israel (both in stature and ideology), Haaretz, did what liberal Jewish groups in the U.S. wouldn't do: let Gov. Sarah Palin speak. Haaretz published the speech that Palin wasn't allowed to deliver yesterday:

In the speech which Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was to have delivered at a Monday rally protesting the UN appearance of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, she was to have said that the Iranian president "dreams of being an agent in a 'Final Solution' – the elimination of the Jewish people."

Her appearance in the rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza was cancelled in a flap between protest organizers and Hillary Clinton, who had also been scheduled to speak. Clinton aides were quoted as saying that they had been "blindsided" by the decision to invite Palin, which they called a partisan move. In the ensuing controversy, Clinton withdrew her participation, and Palin's invitation was rescinded. 

In the Bizarro world of today's Democrats, if Sen. Clinton and Gov. Palin both speak, it's partisan, but if Sen. Clinton alone speaks, it's not.

Palin's speech took a more high-minded approach (emphasis added):

Earlier this year, Senator Clinton said that "Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is in the forefront of that" effort. Senator Clinton argued that part of our response must include stronger sanctions, including the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization. John McCain and I could not agree more.

Senator Clinton understands the nature of this threat and what we must do to confront it. This is an issue that should unite all Americans. Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Period. And in a single voice, we must be loud enough for the whole world to hear: Stop Iran!
Only by working together, across national, religious, and political differences, can we alter this regime's dangerous behavior. Iran has many vulnerabilities, including a regime weakened by sanctions and a population eager to embrace opportunities with the West. We must increase economic pressure to change Iran's behavior.

As I've said before, today's left is much less tolerant than today's right. 

And it's really sad that liberal American Jewish groups seem to be more left than they are Jewish.  

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Obama promises to remake America

Posted by Richard on June 4, 2008

I heard this portion of Obama's Tuesday night victory speech on the radio today, and I was chilled by both his words and the intensity of the adulation, cheering, and screaming by the crowd:

Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that, generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless…

… this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…

… this was the moment when we ended a war, and secured our nation, and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

This was the moment, this was the time when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals.

Wow. Just wow. Did he ride in on a white horse? 

Set aside for the moment the absurd suggestion that until St. Barack's triumphant arrival, "we" didn't care for the sick or provide jobs for the jobless. What really disturbs me is someone whose mentors, spiritual advisers, friends, allies, and close associates include the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Frank Marshall Davis, Alice Palmer, Rashid Khalidi, and Raila Odinga (to name just a few*) promising to "remake" America.

I'm glad I ordered some of those bumper stickers. 

* You can find info on these and more at Obama WTF — check the links in the sidebar under headings 2a-2d. Or Google the names.

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Obama’s bitter roots

Posted by Richard on April 16, 2008

Last Saturday, one of our breakfast group said something along the lines of "can you believe Hillary's trying to make a big deal out of Obama saying some Americans are bitter?" This was news to us, but we agreed it seemed silly and not exactly important news.

Days later, it's still news. I've since read the complete Obama quote and gotten the whole story (including his non-apologies and the "clarifications" from his staff that just made it worse). Now, Clinton's criticism no longer seems as silly as it did when I'd only heard the short, Obama-sympathetic (probably NPR) version of the story.

Obama was speaking to an audience of rich liberal San Franciscans when he characterized the working-class people of fly-over country as bitter, gun-toting, Bible-thumping, bigoted yahoos. He thought his remarks were off the record, so it's likely that either (a) he was being candid and this is what he really thinks, or (b) he was saying what he thought these rich liberal donors wanted to hear.

Knowing something of Obama's background and ideology, I lean toward explanation (a). There's a decades-old joke that goes, "I love humanity. It's people I can't stand." This mindset is endemic in leftist circles, especially among the many in the socialist and far-left intelligentsia who come from an upper or upper-middle class background, attended prestigious schools, and are certain that the average American is an ignorant bumpkin who doesn't know what's best for him.

Tom Sowell addressed this phenomenon in his latest column:

Like so much that Obama has said and done over the years, this is standard stuff on the far left, where guns and religion are regarded as signs of psychological dysfunction – and where opinions different from those of the left are ascribed to emotions ("bitter" in this case), rather than to arguments that need to be answered.

Like so many others on the left, Obama rejects "stereotypes" when they are stereotypes he doesn't like but blithely throws around his own stereotypes about "a typical white person" or "bitter" gun-toting, religious and racist working-class people.
…

However inconsistent Obama's words, his behavior has been remarkably consistent over the years. He has sought out and joined with the radical, anti-Western left, whether Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers of the terrorist Weatherman underground or pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli Rashid Khalidi.

Obama is also part of a long tradition on the left of being for the working class in the abstract, or as people potentially useful for the purposes of the left, but having disdain or contempt for them as human beings.

"The working class," said Karl Marx, "is revolutionary or it is nothing." That is, they mattered only insofar as they were willing to carry out the Marxist agenda.

Fabian socialist George Bernard Shaw included the working class among the "detestable" people who "have no right to live." He added: "I should despair if I did not know that they will all die presently, and that there is no need on earth why they should be replaced by people like themselves."

Similar statements on the left go back as far as Jean Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century and come forward into our own times.

Think Sowell and I mischaracterize Obama's ideology by comparing him to socialists and Marxists? If you haven't read Obama's Dreams For My Father (and I haven't; only excerpts), read this PrestoPundit post. According to Greg Ransom, Obama made it clear in the book that "his father's ideals were a driving force in his life," but never described those ideals. So Ransom did some research into the political life and writings of Barack H. Obama, Sr. This was one hard-core socialist dude — a man who railed against "weak-tea" African socialism and in favor of "scientific socialism" (a.k.a. communism), who was allied with communist Oginga Odinga against moderate socialist Jomo Kenyatta.

As I've learned more about Obama's history, friends, mentors, and associations, it's become clear that he's the most radical leftist presidential candidate of any stature since Henry A. Wallace. He's also charismatic, articulate, and able to speak in airy generalities that appeal to many people. That's a frightening and dangerous combination.

UPDATE: One of the really amusing ironies of this affair is that Hillary Clinton, a hard-core anti-gunner and liberal elitist par excellence, has been defending Christian gun owners. It was almost enough to make me tune in tonight's Democratic debate to see if she'd defend gun ownership. … Almost.

Instead, I settled for Stephen Green's drunkblogging of the event. Which included this profound observation: 

I’m an atheist and Obama is a churchgoer, and yet I get the feeling I have more respect for Christians (at least white Christians) than Obama has.

Amen.

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Slandering the general

Posted by Richard on September 10, 2007

Remember when the left's mantra was "listen to the generals"? That was when Abizaid and Casey were pursuing a failing strategy, blaming it on a "civil war," and saying that more troops wouldn't help. Now that Gen. Petraeus (who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate, remember) has implemented a successful strategy, put the lie to the "civil war" meme, and shown that a few more troops, if effectively used, make all the difference in the world, the left doesn't want to listen to the generals anymore. It doesn't even want to accord them any courtesy or respect.

In the run-up to Petraeus' testimony before Congress, Democrats have finally embraced the idea of pre-emptive strikes — against our troops. Sen. Durbin accused the general of "manipulating statistics" before hearing what the general had to say. Sen. Feinstein, who praised Petraeus lavishly when confirming him, dismissed what he had to say because "I don't think General Petraeus has an independent view in that sense. General Petraeus is there to succeed." 

And this morning's New York Times features a full-page ad paid for by George Soros and MoveOn.org headlined "General Petraeus or General Betray us? Cooking the books for the White House." As Pete Hegseth of Vets for Freedom put it:

Let's be clear: MoveOn.org is suggesting that General Petraeus has 'betrayed' his country. This is disgusting. To attack as a traitor an American general commanding forces in war because his 'on the ground' experience does not align with MoveOn.org's political objectives is utterly shameful. It shows contempt for America's military leadership, as well as for the troops who have confidence in him, as our fellow soldiers in Iraq certainly do.
…

MoveOn.org has been working closely with the Democratic congressional leadership –as an article in today's Sunday New York Times Magazine makes clear. And consider this comment by a Democratic senator from Friday's Politico: "'No one wants to call [Petraeus] a liar on national TV,' noted one Democratic senator, who spoke on the condition on anonymity. 'The expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us.'

So, veterans who served in Iraq ask the Democratic leaders in Congress: Does MoveOn.org speak for you? Do you agree with MoveOn.org? Or do you repudiate this despicable charge?

None of this is surprising, really, and not just because of differences over the war. Consider Feinstein's remark, because it illustrates a key characteristic of today's left. Petraeus is determined to succeed, and to Feinstein that's an unforgivable flaw.

The left doesn't like successful, achievement-oriented people, and generally works to punish success and pull down high achievers. They liked the generals who just muddled along, keeping their heads down and accomplishing little. They supported the troops as long as the troops weren't killing too many of the enemy and weren't making too much progress. They deny success is happening because they don't want it to be possible, and they'll work to undermine it. 

Isn't that just what they do regarding economic policy, taxes, regulation, education, and so on? The left's resentment of achievement applies to the military just as it does to business and other aspects of life. It's losers and failures that they're eager to embrace, elevate, and reward.

UPDATE: A Democrat has denounced the Soros/MoveOn ad as "an outrageous and despicable act of slander that every member of the Congress – Democrat and Republican – has a solemn responsibility to condemn." No surprise — it's Sen. Joe Lieberman. 

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It has to be Rove

Posted by Richard on September 9, 2007

Frank J. provided the definitive Osama tape analysis — short, to the point, and spot on:

We all know Rove is behind the newest Osama video, right? I mean there's no way Osama released a video on his own imitating every single left-wing talking point; that's just too perfect for us. He did everything but end his tirade with, "In conclusion, murderous terrorists and liberals are pretty much ideologically the same. Once again, if you take anything away from my speech, it should be that terrorists and liberals are almost exactly the same thing."

This is just too perfect for us; it has to be Rove.

BTW, I think it's funny how the liberals are acting like all we right wing bloggers conspired together to use the talking point that Osama sounds like a left-wing blogger. Did they ever consider that the reasons we all said he sounds exactly like a left-wing blogger is because he sounds exactly like a left-wing blogger? If in his video he had said, "Hey! Hey! Hey!" in a deep voice, we'd all be saying he sounded like Fat Albert. Instead, he said, "Democrats need to get America our of Iraq now and you need to read Chomsky and worry about global warming," so we're all saying he sounds like a liberal blogger. Occam's razor.

All I can add is I really like Occam's razor. 

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BDS worsens in Seattle

Posted by Richard on September 7, 2007

Bush Derangement Syndrome just keeps getting worse, with sufferers exhibiting increasingly disturbing symptoms. Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Jim Moore describes Seattle's King County as "deep, deep Democratic blue" (and a P-I columnist probably says that like it's a good thing). So it's no surprise that Seattle has more than its share of the BDS-afflicted. Apparently, quite a few of them are so far gone that the thought of a Seattle Seahawk supporting Bush and the Republicans is almost intolerable.

It seems that quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and fullback Mack Strong recently attended a fundraising dinner in Bellevue for Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, along with President Bush. They presented Bush with a Seahawks jersey that had his name and the number 43 on it. (UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has a picture.) Uh oh. Incensed liberals inundated the players and the team with hate-filled calls, emails, and text messages (emphasis added):

"I had no idea," Hasselbeck said.

One guy told him: "I hate you, I'll never wear your jersey, I'll never like the Seahawks again."

"Huh?" Hasselbeck thought. "Seriously?"

"Politics can be very mean and dirty," he said. "The things politicians say about each other, and what activists say, I had a brief glimpse of that for a couple of days.

"If I ever had any questions about whether I wanted to run for office, I now know the answer — I don't."

As a quarterback, he's used to getting booed. "But this was a whole new level," he said. "I was very surprised how mean (they were)."

As evidence were these responses to Angelo Bruscas' blog posting on seattlepi.com:

"How dare Hasselbeck declare Bush an honorary Seahawk," wrote one. "Who is Matt speaking for? Bush is no Seahawk. He is the worst president of my lifetime, and I'm almost 60. Shame on you, Matt."

"To learn that two of the most popular Seahawks are strong (Bush) supporters ruins the season for me and my family," wrote another.

This is pathological. There must be some sort of drug therapy that can let these people return to some semblance of a normal life. I mean, imagine what they go through day after day — wondering if the Channel 4 meteorologist is a Rethuglican and can't be trusted, worrying that their fast food lunch might have been prepared by a neocon, suspecting their bank branch manager of being a Cheney/Halliburton stooge. 

Rush handed out some tough love to these fans on today's show (that link will probably quit working in a few days):

You people need to get lives! For crying out loud, do you know how many NFL players I know that love Democrats? It hasn't destroyed my love for the game. You people are just nuts. You people on the left are lunatics. You are certifiably insane. You can't really be fans of the Seattle Seahawks if your fandom can be shaken and destroyed. What kind of emotional midgets are you? The new castrati, you don't have any business being football fans. You're not tough enough to be football fans. If you can't handle your quarterback liking a certain president without having to destroy your season, go see a shrink. Tell you what, you people need help. …

Emotional midgets. I like that. 

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