Don Singleton: 2008-05-11

Saturday, May 17, 2008

McCain too 'military'

The Des Moines Register reported Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

And Sen. Harkin hates the military, and has a hard time thinking beyond that

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military,

he retired from the Navy 27 years ago

and I think that can be pretty dangerous." Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served,

John Hinderaker blogged So it's OK to serve in the military, but only if you're drafted. Given that we now have an all-volunteer military, that standard will rule out everyone currently serving.

but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

A McCain spokesman said Harkin's remarks were offensive and showed that Democrats are out of touch with Americans' values.

Ed Morrissey blogged So let’s get this straight. Anyone who serves in the military is at least a little suspect, but those who volunteer should be considered warmongers, especially if they follow their father and grandfather into the service of their country. It’s one thing to have been drafted — that excuses someone from their association with the military — but to have actually volunteered? Quelle horror!... This also comes from the same party that celebrated Kerry’s military experience while denigrating George Bush’s National Guard service. According to Harkin today, Bush would be a better candidate — right?

Cassy Fiano blogged And gosh, what a horrible way to be raised, in a military family! Imagine -- being raised with values like courage, integrity, honor, valor, selflessness, and sacrifice. How awful! Of course, Senator Harkin is a liberal, so he probably doesn't understand those kinds of things.

Gateway Pundit blogged Senator Harkin is one of several Democratic senators who protested his country at war in Vietnam and Iraq.

Friday, May 16, 2008

No guns allowed

WHAS11 reported Guns are not barred from the state-owned south wing of the Fairgrounds Convention Center and John McCain's campaign folks said it was fine with them if NRA members with valid concealed carry permits brought guns into his speech. But since our story last week, the Secret Service has stepped in.

That is reasonable. They are charged with protecting their assignment.

But NRA members who walk through the doors will be greeted by metal detectors, they won't be allowed to carry in weapons, even if they have a valid concealed carry permit. According to an NRA spokesperson, Secret Service members have stepped in and said while firearms will still be allowed in the convention center, they will not be allowed in the Celebration of American Values Forum. NRA members WHAS11 talked to say they're not upset with guns being barred from an NRA event.

am not surprised. They understand reality. I am just surprisd that WHAS11 does not. Or rather that they think they can stir up an issue on this reasonable restriction.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

US lists polar bear as threatened species

Yahoo! News The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday

Even though their numbers are increasing and they are not endangered.

because of the loss of Arctic sea ice but also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming.

Which isn't happening.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses,

The bear population across the Arctic from Alaska to Greenland doubled from about 12,000 to 25,000 since 1960

meaning, he said, that the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future. But Kempthorne said it would be "wholly inappropriate" to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change.... Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called it "a lifeline for our last remaining polar bears" but said the bear's survival won't be assured without limits on oil development in the same Arctic waters where the bears are found.

Unfortunately all Sen Kennedy will limit is US oil development, not other countries, so this is yet another case of the Democrats making us MORE dependent on foreign oil, even our own oil developed by other countries.

Political treason???

Philadelphia Daily News said President Bush went on foreign soil today, and committed what I consider an act of political treason:

I know what treason is, and I have seen many Democrats do it, but what is "political treason."

Comparing the candidate of the U.S. opposition party to appeasers of Nazi Germany

Obama is worse than they were.

in the very nation that was carved out from the horrific calamity of the Holocaust. Bush's bizarre and beyond-appropriate detour into American presidential politics took place in the middle of what should have been an occasion for joy: A speech to Israeli's Knesset to honor that nation's 60th birthday. But here's what he said:
In a particularly sharp blast from halfway around the world, President Bush suggested Thursday that Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats are in favor of "appeasement" of terrorists in the same way U.S. leaders appeased Nazis in the run-up to World War II.

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said Bush, in what White House aides privately acknowledged was a reference to calls by Obama and other Democrats for the U.S. president to sit down for talks with leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
As a believer in free speech, I think Bush has a right to say what he wants, but as a President of the United States who swore to uphold the Constitution, his freedom also carries an awesome and solemn responsibility, and what this president said today is a serious breach of that high moral standard.

Where does the Constitution say that te President of the United States cannot say something that might offend somone who might become a nominee in an upcoming election.

Of course, there are differences of opinion on how America should handle Iran, and that's why we're having an election here at home, to sort these issues out -- hopefully with respect and not with emotional and inaccurate appeals. Not only is the president's comment a gross misrepresentation of Barack Obama's stance on the issue,

Who definitely said exactly that, but who now sometimes lies he said it. Are you going to believe some video tape or the Obamamessiah.

but ironically, it comes just a day after his own Secretary of State, Robert Gates, said of Iran: "We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them." Is Gates a Nazi appeaser-type, too?

No he is like Teddy Roosevelt who wanted to speak softly but carry a big stick. He just wants to find the big stick first.

And Bush has been hardly consistent on this point, either. Look at his own dealings with oil-rich Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, linked to deadly terror attacks like Pan Am Flight 103.

Who paid each person $8 million and was balking at paying even more,

But what Bush did in Israel this morning goes well beyond the accepted confines of American political debate, When the president speaks to a foreign parliament on behalf of our country, his message needs to be clear and unambiguous.

It was; that is what you don't like.

Our democracy may look messy to outsiders, and we may have our disagreements with some sharp elbows thrown around, but at the end of the day we are not Republicans or Democrats or liberals or conservatives.

Democrats should remember that the next time they go overseas and speak against a Republican President and America.

If Clinton Wants VP, Obama Can't Stop Her

Bob Beckel wrote on RealClearPolitics Does Hillary Clinton want to be the Democrats vice presidential candidate? Probably.

She is a fool if she does, but she may not be willing to wait as junior senator from New York.

Could she get on the ticket by dropping out before the last states vote on June 3rd? Definitely not. Does Barack Obama want her on the ticket? Absolutely not.

Certainly his wife does not want Hillary.

Can he stop her if she wants it? Probably not. Why not? Super delegates are why not.

Actually te super delegates want both of them so much she might even get the presidential nod if she guaranteed them she would pick Obama. But I don't see why either one would want to be the other's VP

McCain reaches for GI Bill compromise

Politico.com reported With Memorial Day around the corner, Sen. John McCain and his allies are reaching out to Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb in the hope of finding a compromise

McCain is always looking to compromise with Dems. Has Obama ever risked trying to compromise with Republicans?

on a GI Bill that would eliminate a potential embarrassment for the Arizona Republican’s presidential campaign.... the leadership confirmed Tuesday that a new option calls for imposing a 0.5 percent surtax on households earning more than $1 million.

And a surtax on single indiciduals making $500,000. A tax against millionaires is reaching down to sub millionaires.

... “Each of us supports increasing education benefits for our nation’s veterans, and we believe this must be accomplished as quickly as possible,” reads the letter, signed by McCain, Graham and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.). The three Republicans go on to say that they have “never disagreed with the overall intent” of the Webb bill but would like more attention to problems of recruitment and retention as well as “in-service education of career servicemen and women.”

Something I support. I prefer the one that gives them some after 3 years, and more after 6, and for carrear soldiers even lets the benefit pay for education of their children.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has raised questions, as well, about whether the Webb bill will hurt retention by encouraging young soldiers and Marines to leave after their first enlistment.

Which is what the Dems want.

Warner indicated that some changes might be made to address these fears, but he also argues that the improved benefits will be a great recruitment tool that will attract brighter volunteers into the service.

Where a lot of time must be spent giving them the training the others had who just left to go to school.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

They don't like Hillary

Dana Milbank wrote on washingtonpost.com This Is an Ex-Candidate - It's Day 7 of the Clinton Campaign Death Watch -- a full week since the official arbiter of the Democratic primary, Tim Russert, declared the campaign over and Barack Obama the nominee.

Since when is Tim Russert in charge of the nominating process for the Democratic Party?

Hillary Clinton's advisers continue to insist that the candidate's prospects are very much alive, but the press isn't buying it.

John Aravosis on Americablog is not as kind: Go away you horrible human being - Good God. What is wrong with her? The Clintons and their campaign staff don't give a damn that they are now hurting our electoral chances in the fall against McCain and against the Republicans in Congress. Their campaign isn't happening in some vacuum, and they know it. Our candidates can't fundraise because of her.

Obama seems to be getting all the money he needs, and then some.

Obama can't focus on McCain

He seems to be doing it.

because of her. Obama is wasting money on HER, rather than spending it on McCain, because of her. EMILY's List, and AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers and others are wasting their members' money on her now-failed race - money that they could be spending, should be spending, on other real races, races that haven't already lost. She can't win, the math says she lost the nomination,

Obama does not have 2025 delegates, much less what he would have to have if the Democratic party is smart enough to not write off Missouri and Florida.

but she doesn't give a damn. She's going to stay in the race like some spoiled hateful egotistical brat.