Mark Levin @ (NRO):

But wouldn’t the prospect of a Clinton or Obama presidency drive enough of the grassroots to the polls for McCain?

I yelled objections at my TV this morning when I heard a deadhead TV pundit say the same thing and add that McCain would also draw moderate Democrats and independents to the polls. Mark agrees with my point but says it better:

It wasn’t enough to motivate the base to vote in November 2006 to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker or the Democrats from taking Congress. My sense is it won’t be enough to carry McCain to victory, either. And McCain has done more to build animus among the people whose votes he will need than Denny Hastert or Bill Frist. …

Amen, brother. Amen. There’s no way he can attract enough moderate Democrats and independents to offset the loss of the conservative base.

H/T: Richie Rich @ Bizblogger

“…Marines on the ground, still engaged in combat, raised a spontaneous yell when they saw the flag. Screaming and cheering so loud and so prolonged that we could hear it quite clearly on top of Suribachi. …”
. . . . . PFC Raymond Jacobs

R.I.P. Semper Fi — Bless them all.

The eulogy

CAIRO, Egypt — One [of] al-Qaida’s top commanders in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi was killed in Afghanistan, a Web site used by militant groups said Thursday.

Al-Libi was a key link between the Taliban and al-Qaida. He led and al-Qaida training camp and appeared in a number of Internet videos. The U.S. says he was likely behind the February 2007 bombing at the U.S. base at Bagram in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney. The attack killed 23 people.

While the claim could not be verified independently, the announcement of his death appeared as a banner in a section of the Web site reserved for affiliated militant organizations, according to the Washington-based SITE Institute which monitors such sites.

“As the banner was posted … by a webmaster of the forum, it seems as if the announcement of his death has been confirmed to the forum administrators,” SITE said in an e-mail to news organizations.

# # #

The shake out yesterday in the race for the most thankless job on the planet reminded me that one reason we have a problem attracting well qualified people to seek the Oval Office is that we allow the media to manage our selection process and the MSM is staffed by some of the dumbest assholes that ever drew a breath. A prime example from MRC:

“There is something tragic about Edwards’s failure to break through. Today, 37 million Americans live below the poverty line, 12 million more than at the time of [Sen. Robert F.] Kennedy’s death. And yet Edwards’s call of conscience has not resonated. By all rights, Edwards, the son of a millworker, should have an easier time talking about poverty than did Kennedy, the son of a millionaire. His difficulty speaks to the candidate’s inability to connect. It also speaks to the nation’s inability to be moved.”
— Newsweek’s Jonathan Darman reporting on Democratic candidate John Edwards’s anti-poverty push, July 30 issue. [55]

You would think that Darman’s editor would inform the ignorant slob that the 12 million increase in poverty is the same low-ball number his rag cites as illegal immigrants living here. Additionally, that doesn’t even take into account the difference in overall population between 1968 and 2007.

Is Darman proposing that presidents confiscate our money to hand out as aliens cross our borders illegally or is he suggesting we shorten the time they languish in poverty before welfare kicks in?

However, the real tragedy is that Darman is too stupid to even question the genesis of the 37 million figure.

At least my suspicions about his faulty judgement are now vindicated:

Giuliani bows out, endorses McCain

No wonder he can’t pick a spouse.

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In these trying times Republicans need all the help they can muster. Richard Baehr @ American Thinker says the best way to be good Republicans is when the GOP is in charge of Congress they should follow John McCain’s model. That is: when donks want something Republicans should help them. That way, when voters get serioulsy pissed and put the donks in charge, they’ll remember how nice Republicans were to them and return the favor.

Well, that’s not what he meant to say. He used words that sound completely different until you parse his essay and take his points to logical conclusions. That’s what I did, and what I said above is what he said.

I just heard a deadhead reporter on FNC say that Giuliani’s endorsement of John McCain will unify the party because it will bring Giuliani’s moderate views together with McCain’s conservatism.

UFB!

SFGate: Giuliani to Exit Presidential Race Today

WaPo: John Edwards to Quit Presidential Race

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Phyllis Schlafly’s latest column, “Setting the McCarthy Record Straight,” is a twofer: correcting the record on Ronald Reagan and Senator Joseph McCarthy.

She debunks the myth that Ronald Reagan was just an actor who read speeches written by others. Of course anybody that has read The Reagan Diaries knows that’s a fairy tale but Schlafly goes further.

She also provides a book report on M. Stanton Evans’ “Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies.” The book vindicates Ann Coulter’s corrections of history on the Senator who liberals love to mis-characterize because he was an effective Republican Senator.

Jorge Arbusto made some pleas last night to Congress and the American people. According to USA Today:

Woven through the speech was Bush’s call to “trust” in the American people — to…

… “trust people with their own money” …

… “trust in their government” …

… “trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world” …

… “trust in the creative genius of American researchers and entrepreneurs” …

… “trust students to learn if given the opportunity.” …

… He used some version of the word “trust” 19 times. …

I wonder why the sorry sack of shit can’t trust the American people just once and secure the borders against foreign invasion?