...And Welcome to It

Jonah Goldberg speculates on the reason the WMD argument was given so much play.

This is the kind of thing that causes Liberals to think Conservatives are racist. Volokh fisks the Hell out of him.

I'm hoping I've just started my first blogolanche. I've just sent the NRO's The Corner, Lilek's the Bleat, Jewish World Review, and Instapundit a link to this site. It's called Fillibuster, and this is a webcomic that really takes the Ted Rall out of your mouth.

Eugene Volokh has a letter to the police from a man who defended his home from an intruder in the best way.

It seems the poodles are biting back.

Caught most of the State of the Union. I had to turn it off rather than listen to Tom Daschle anymore though. I've got to say, I can't help but thinking that when we elected George W. Bush, we actually elected a Democrat.

Jonathan Chait who seems to be making a career out of hating politicians this year is saying how last night was not the kiss of death for Dean we might have hoped it was.

It's official. Dick Gephardt's political career is over. He conceded defeat in Iowa and announced he's dropping out of the race for President.

Now let me be clear. I don't particularly like Gephardt. While officially he is the representative for the 3rd district in Missouri (my Rep), what he has actually been is the bought and paid for ambassador for organized labor on Capitol Hill. Now to be fair, this was a principled stand for him. Dick Gephardt believes in organized labor; he believes that labor unions are the only thing that stand between the poor worker and the greedy, salivating Captains of Industry just waiting to ship their poor employees into substandard housing and debtors prison. He is a protectionist from conviction, with that old-fashioned working-class socialism that propelled the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and every other crooked deal the Left has come up with. NAFTA-he hated it. WTO-he loathes it. Tariffs on foreign goods-he's all about it. In other words he's pretty much everything I can't stand, seeing as I'm a hardcore running dog capitalist who hates labor unions, hates tarriffs, and thinks we'd be a lot better off if Third World Countries were producing all of our food.

Now don't let me go too far in the hagiography. Gephardt didn't always stand on principle. He was quite pragmatic when it came time to bring the bacon home. In the early days of the Joint Strike Fighter program. I watched him turn 360 so hard I thought his head would fly off. At the beginning of the week he was its strongest backer in Congress. Then McDonnell-Douglas lost the contract and he went on record saying it was collossal waste of money. The next day Boeing announced they were buying M-D to produce the JSF and he was all for it again (for those who don't know, McDonnell-Douglas was located in St. Louis). This was all in one week folks.

And like every other Democrat, he "grew" in office. His positions became more "nuanced". In normal English, he disavowed every stand he'd ever taken that stood between him and a position of authority in the Democratic party. When first elected, Gephardt was a conservative working class Democrat with populist ideals. He was strongly pro-life, and even, if I recall correctly, pro-gun. All that changed in 1988 when he decided to run for President. So, we see his moral landscape was as malleable as his views on the budget when it came time for hunt for votes.

As I said, I don't like the man much. But I do pity him a little tonight. Here's a man who went to the well for his backers like no one else, and in the end many of them abandoned him. While he did pull in some union endorsements, several, including the service worker's union, decided to hitch their wagon to Dean. And compared to many of colleagues, is a saint. He is, in the words of Twain, "an honest politician"; he stays bought.

I guess I'll miss him a little too. I'll have to find another local politician at whom to sling my barbs of contempt. Bob Holden looks like a good candidate. Yeah, he'll do.

Well paint my butt blue. Edwards strong showing I saw, but Kerry! Man, where did he come from? Unless Dean has a really strong showing in New Hampshire, he's yesterday's news. I think the press has kind of gotten tired of him anyway.

I still make Dean to win New Hampshire, though Kerry could pull an upset. Geez, I still don't see where Kerry came from. The guy is a 'tard. I feel kind of sorry for Gephardt. Iowa was always his stronghold. I guess the old fashioned populism just doesn't play as well as it used to.

I still put my money on Edwards. If he finishes strong in New Hampshire, even second, he should win South Carolina handily and then from that point on it's anybody's guess.

Clarence Page asks us whether, if Martin Luther King were alive today, he would still be a hero.

Prospect Magazine has a very enlightening look on the pervasive corruption of the French public sector. The link takes you to the front page, the link to the story is at the top.

Stanley Kurtz is saying that Kucinich is acting loopier than usual.

Have you been unhappy because you feel like all the good conspiracy theories have been taken? Are the guys at Moveon.org and Democratic Underground making fun of you because you can't sling the lingo? Are you Wesley Clark's speech writer?

Then help is here my friend. Try this! The George W. Bush Conspiracy Generator

I want to go on record so in case I'm right, I can then gloat. NC's John Edwards is going to pull a strong third behind Dean (1st), and Gephardt (2nd). He'll be hailed as the success of the race, leading into another strong showing (but not win) in NH, followed by a win in South Carolina. He will become the presumptive nominee of the DNC establishment against the Dean incursion. For Gephardt, anything less than a first place finish will be considered a failure, and if Deans win is anything close, the media will bury him with stories about his crumbling support base. Clark and Leiberman will be dead in the water. Leiberman's campaign of course has never had much traction, and Clark is an ideal candidate as long as you pay absolutely no attention to what actually comes out of his mouth.

Michael Graham over at NRO is saying John Edwards could walk away with a win in Iowa.

My buddy Dave writes:

I have noticed something interesting. This week-end, while chilling out, I pulled out an old newspaper. It's a reprint of the special edition for the 1904 World's Fair. I bought it at the history museum years ago.

One of the stories contained therein concerns an assault trial in Utica. Seems a gentleman was before the bench for spanking his daughter. At the time, however, the young lady was over eighteen years old. The man stated that he could not correct her without a whipping. The judge reminded him that his daughter was no longer a minor and gave him ten days free room and board.

Now, remember, this case is 100 years old. Today, in far too many nations of the world (particularly in Asia and Africa) this same young woman could have been murdered in cold blood by her father. And the community and the courts would barely bat an eye at the "honor" killing.

Just some food for thought.

Yep, it is.

So, Carol Moseley-Braun has dropped out of the race. What baffles a lot of people is why she was even in the race to begin with. This is a woman who had a grand total of one, count 'em-one, person at her announcement. Long shot was putting it mildly.

However, Moseley-Braun's candidacy was never about her, really. This has always been about Sharpton. Now Sharpton is not going to win either, but he has a different title he covets: kingmaker. Al Sharpton wants to be the new Jesse Jackson, bestowing legitimacy to whichever political candidate kisses his shoes the most prettily. Now lets remember that it was Sharpton who insured the election of Michael Bloomberg by fomenting so much racial strife among Democrats in the last New York mayoral election.

And remember, too, that the Democrats cannot win without a high number of black voters. If blacks don't turn out to vote, if for some reason they stay home, George W. Bush will walk into his second term. And Democrats believe that Sharpton can depress the black voter base if he doesn't get his way.

Which is where Moseley-Braun comes in. They needed a candidate who could split the minority vote in the primaries, and anoint the leading (white) candidate. This would hopefully immunize them against Sharpton's race-baiting later in the game. They needed a candidate who would play ball, and be dumb enough that she wouldn't realize she was being played for a patsy. And Moseley-Braun fits the bill perfectly.

Will this work? I'm not sure. I figured she'd stay in through the Carolina primaries, where Sharpton is going to be his most dangerous. However, bowing out now works too. If Dean is the candidate, as I think most of us believe he will be, then dropping out now and endorsing him gives Carol (I got tired of writing her two last names over and over-so I'm going informal) some cred she may be able to work into a position down the line. Staying in until Dean has already won several primaries isn't quite the same because then all she'd be doing is embracing the inevitable.

Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Matt Drudge has spilled the beans on Wesley Clark. No, not real beans. Mr. Clark's sweater is still immaculate. I'm talking about the metaphorical beans. Yeah, those beans.

So Mr. Clark is all over the place saying how awful the War in Iraq is. It's all an adventure so W can one up his daddy and redeem the family name. It's a quest for oil so Halliburton can take over the world. Et fricking cetera.

But what's this? In 02 Clark testified before Congress that invading Iraq was not only the right thing to do, that Saddam had WMD's, but we should go it alone if necessary? Say it ain't so Wesley!

I know, I know. I'm supposed to be back, but where's the blog? Well try this one on for size. President Bush has given his vision for America's Space Exploration Program.
This is huge, ladies and gentlemen. He's talking about doing the job right; a new space craft, permanent manned mission to the Moon, and then exploration of the rest of the solar system. What's more-he isn't falling into the trap that so many of our former President's make in the area of scientific endeavour. Bush realizes that these kinds of things take longer than the term of one President. These are goals and a time frame for the next 20-30 years. This is doable, and hooah! let's do it.

Cold Day in Hell:The Corner is agreeing with John Kerry.

Dear Lord did you catch the mixed metaphor in the last post! Please forgive me while I plead illness and insanity (only one of which is temporary...).

I'm back.

Actually I had planned to return, like a hangover, with the new year. But with advancing illness, and other concerns, it wasn't to be. So it's a bit of a rockier return than I originally imagined, but with hope the sailing will be smoother. Hope ya missed me.

Looks like this picture is worth something less than a thousand words: Dennis Kucinich brings a pie chart to a radio debate.

At work, but have fun with iowahawk: Why I Am a Democrat

Mark Steyn talks a little bit about the International Tribunal way of pursuing 'justice'. Posting because I really dig Mark Steyn.

Here's a subject that's near and dear to my heart. Democratic Presidential candidates and D & D characters.