Kerry Belittles U.S. Troops

In sports this is what they call "Bulletin Board Material." John Kerry is a disgrace to the office he holds, but I'd rather he expose himself this way. It makes it harder for him to hide behind his "veteran" label.

Poll Problems

More great commentary from Michael Barone, this time on the problem with polls. My favorite part, about the 2004 Exit Polls:

Serious pollsters concede that there are some problems with polling. Americans have fewer landline phones than they used to, and the random digit dialing most pollsters use does not include cell-phone numbers. Larger and larger percentages of those called are declining to be interviewed.
Interviewers can inject bias in the results. The late Warren Mitofsky, who conducted the 2004 NEP exit poll, went back and found that the greatest difference between actual results in exit poll precincts and the reports phoned in to NEP came where the interviewers were female graduate students -- and almost all the discrepancies favored the Democrats.

The polls really don't concern me. They is far too much disagreement in their results for me to be convinced about anything other than the fact that November 7th will be another long night. Indeed, the prevalence of early and absentee voting may lead to problems. From John Fund:

If the present trends continue, we will become a nation where half of us vote on Election Day and the other half . . . well, whenever. While that may not bother some people, it won't be good for democracy if a flood of absentee ballots means the country will have to endure a slew of lawsuits and recounts that could delay the final results of next week's elections for weeks. Election Day could become Election Month before we know who will control the 110th Congress.

It's a great explanation of the trend and its possible pitfalls.

Forgotten Civil Rights History

This is an interesting bit about a monument to forgotten history in Wichita, Kansas. 19 months before the famous Greensboro sit-ins, some young blacks successfully changed the policy in a drugstore, allowing them to be served as any normal customer.

Read more about it here.

Long before the NAACP and Democrats turned civil rights into a partisan issue, there were some real things to be proud of, regardless of party.

Top Access

Michael Barone was fortunate enough to find an audience with the president. Along with a small group of conservative-leaning commentators, he was invited to the Oval Office to talk to the President. The entire hour was on the record, and he includes a link to the audio of that conversation. His synopsis is excellent, and the audio reveals a president that understands the issues we are facing, notwithstanding the claims of the Left or the media.

Of particular interest to me is the President's interest in Churchill, as noted by Barone.

Beware the Taxman

This is another funny video from David Zucker, film producer/director and Democrat-turned-Republican. Although it uses exaggerated sight gags, it makes its point pretty well.

Romney Watch '08 - Part VII

My brother-in-law Ross sent me this interesting article about Mitt Romney and the continuing question of how his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints might effect his candidacy for the Republican nomination.

It's from The Economist, and it's an excellent mag and the analysis is pretty good. An excerpt:

Mr Romney's emergence as a conservative champion owes something to luck. His two biggest rivals on the right have imploded: Bill Frist because of his lacklustre performance as Senate majority leader, George Allen because of his gaffe-ridden Senate campaign. But it owes more to years of investment. Mr Romney has not only fought harder than any other governor on “social issues”, particularly gay marriage. He has done so in the heart of enemy territory.
Mr Romney won the governorship of a state where only 13% of the voters are registered Republicans, and where the congressional delegation is 100% Democratic. And he succeeded in working with a legislature where 87% of the members represent the other party. When he was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002, he found a $3 billion budget deficit; two years later he was running a surplus of more than $700m.

He undoubtedly has street cred. I think an ideal ticket would be a Romney-Giuliani or Giuliani-Romney pairing. Who knows?

Barone Roundup

As I'm down in Sanibel, FL with Lacy and her parents, I thought I would pass along this link to a Michael Barone post. I won't have much time to blog this week, and he covers a few interesting topics, including the U.S. reaching 300 million population, the upcoming elections, and North Korea's biological ambitions.

Noble Nobel

On Spanish Phrase of the Day I wrote a few things about Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, the recipients of this year's Nobel Peace prize.

Check it out.

Al-Mormon

I thought this was a pretty funny bit. While it pokes fun at the Mormons, it is a pretty funny commentary on the absurdity of Al Qaida's outreach efforts.

Which came first? The Axis or the Evil?

In other words, Which came first? The President's characterization of certain states as the Axis of Evil, or the evil acts that made the characterization true? Some are claiming that Iran's unwillingness to negotiate and North Korea's alleged nuclear test are a byproduct of Bush's use of that term. Michael Rubin responds on the National Review Online:

To condemn the Axis of Evil speech is to condemn Bush for prescience. He didn’t create the Axis of Evil; rather, he voiced the problem. And if that shocked European diplomats, well too bad. If it’s a choice between national security and enabling European diplomats to remain secure in their illusions, I’d hope both Republicans and Democrats would favor the former. Clinton administration attempts to engage the Taliban and the North Korean regime were folly. Any attempt to do likewise with Iran would be equally inane. Certain regimes cannot be appeased. Dialogue is no panacea.

Ignorance of that kind can't last forever- can it?

Be your brother's Keeper

When Cain replied that he was not "his brother's keeper," he answered poorly. The moral we are to gain from that story is that we are indeed our brother's keeper. The problem with Congress these days is that they don't really know who their brother is.

I wanted to avoid the Mark Foley issue. It is an ugly and distasteful story. Brandon Miniter, writing in today's Opinion Journal, forced me to change my mind when he wrote about the House Republicans poor job of policing their own. To me it is indicative of a widespread failing afflicting both parties.

Cronyism is ancient and widespread. In business, sports, entertainment, and even religion, we cut our buddies some slack at the expense of the letter of the law. There are cases where that is both justifiable and appropriate, and I don't pretend to have all the answers, but there are cases where it is not. Public service in the national legislature of the United States of America is not one of those cases. As holders of the public trust they must be held to a higher standard.

The leaders of both parties see each other and their fellow congressmen as colleagues. They try to protect each other, as in the case of the FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson. They offer a chance to shape up, as in Foley's case. They don't realize (or ignore) that the brothers they should be watching out for are you and me. They should be the keeper of their constituents and in this they fail miserably. There is fear among our elected officials- fear that they will not find acceptance and praise at the hands of their peers. They fear the loss of their power and prestige. They forget that their prestige and power is ours to give and theirs to earn. We give it at too cheaply to the underserving.

I am a proponent of term limits at every level of our government. The benefits far outweigh the limitations. Maybe I'll have a chance to enumerate them sometime soon.

Looking to November

I predict that Republicans will maintain control of the House and Senate after the midterm elections are completed in November. I don't see a strengthening of control by any means, but I don't think the Democrats have a compelling story to tell, beyond pointing out the flaws of the Republicans. Unfortunately, the Republicans seem determined to make the Dems job easier than normal. The Wall Street Journal diagrams the GOP Record in today's edition (found here at Opinion Journal).

The truth, and it has been stated by man, is that the Republicans tenuous situation is of their own making. The WSJ has done an excellent job of highlighting the incumbency politics that mar the good work that Republicans should be doing.

All for Term Limits? One vote right here. Think of the vitality that could emerge from a political class that is both temporary and not hampered with thoughts of reelection. It's a nice thought.