Quote of the Day

"I am not very careful about what I say, having grown up in an era before Political Correctness, and never having interalized the necessary restraits. I am a homophobe, though a mild and tolerant one, and a racist, though an even more mild and tolerant one, and those things are going to be illegal pretty soon, the way we are going."

John Derbyshire, in a 2003 interview. This comes as no surprise to me. Derbyshire told Alan Colmes he supports repealing the Civil Rights Act and women's right to vote.

Derbyshire got into hot water over a now deleted post at Taki Mag. Red State blogger Leon Wolf writes that it is time for the National Review to fire Derbyshire.

The longer this drags on without a definitive severing of the relationship, the more damage will be done to National Review. I cannot imagine what sort of deliberation is required to make this decision, but I hope, for National Review’s sake, that it can be completed before the weekend is over.

Update: The National Review has fired John Derbyshire.

Adam Hasner Soon to be In Senate Race

I have heard rumblings that Adam Hasner would run for the U.S. Senate. It appears that is correct.

Republican Hasner has opened a Senate exploratory committee with an assist from GOP superlawyer Cleta Mitchell, who has helped an array of conservative and tea party favorites including Rubio, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R.-S.C., and failed 2010 U.S.Senate candidates Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell.

Hasner also got a glowing write-up in The National Review last week, although not the cover treatment the conservative mag gave then-underdog Rubio in 2009.

Hasner, who is Jewish, spoke to a small Christian Coalition gathering Thursday night in suburban Lantana. While concentrating mainly on federal spending, he highlighted his opposition to abortion and said, "American prosperity, strong national security and our foundational Judeo-Christian values are interwoven and inseparable." He also invoked American exceptionalism and Ronald Reagan.

Kathryn Jean Lopez gave Hasner a postive write-up on The Corner blog. Hasner told Lopez that America is "inseparable" from its "Judeo-Christian roots." The comment either is pandering to the Christian Right or contempt for America's history of the separation between church and state. Hasner also supports reforms in entitlement spending. Translation: cuts in Medicare and Social Security.

Hasner entering the Republican senate primary should knock George LeMieux. There is no way LeMieux can win the primary with his history with Charlie Crist. This is a Hasner and Mike Haridopolos race. The latter has been mocked by both RedState.com and Gail Collins of the New York Times. Hasner is the frontrunner. The question remains if Connie Mack will get in the race or keep his safe Senate seat.

Ethics Complaint Against David Rivera

It is bad when The Corner is making a check list of scandals surrounding David Rivera. National Review contributor urged Republicans to back Rivera's primary challenger Paul Crespo. Ouch.

Things are not getting better for Rivera. William Barzee has filed an ethics complaint against Rivera.

WILLIAM R. BARZEE, ATTORNEY AT LAW

FORMER SUPPORTER AND DONOR FILES FEC COMPLAINT AGAINST DAVID RIVERA

I would like to inform you that I have filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission regarding David Rivera’s apparent violations of federal election laws. As a former supporter and donor to David Rivera, I am saddened and surprised by what I see as a disregard for the rules and laws that govern our elections.

I have filed this complaint as a private citizen based upon a good faith belief that federal candidate David Rivera and the 527 Committee “Voters Response” have violated federal campaign finance laws in at least two ways. First, by coordinating with a 527 committee to attack candidate Joe Garcia and second, by avoiding campaign contribution limits by off-setting campaign expenses through the 527.

Sarah Bascom of Bascom Communications has been acting as spokesperson for the Rivera campaign. Rivera campaign finance reports however show no payment for her services. The 527 “Voters Response” on the other hand has been paid by Bascom Communications for its services. “Voters Response” is the 527 committee that has launched repeated unfair attacks against Joe Garcia.

Enough is enough.

527 committees were not created to launch attacks on behalf of a candidate’s campaign, nor were they created as a way to avoid campaign contribution limits.

I call on David Rivera to end the nasty political attacks and to stop abusing our campaign finance laws.

William R. Barzee

Barzee is accusing Rivera of coordinating with a 527 group. That is illegal under federal law.

Ethics complaints never go anywhere in Florida politics. So don't expect much to come from this. However, an ethics complain isn't exactly something Rivera wants to brag about on a campaign mailer. David Ramba of Voters Response said the attack attack ads against Democrat Joe Garcia have nothing to do with Rivera. Riiight.

``The stuff I did against Joe Garcia had nothing to do with David Rivera,'' said Ramba, a Tallahassee lawyer who has donated $2,400 to Rivera's campaign.

Where this gets fishy is Voter Response made a payments totaling $3,000 to Bascom Communications & Consulting. Rivera uses Bascom Communications & Consulting for his campaign. Sarah Bascom said her firm is not involved with Voter Response. Bascom better check her financial records before making that statement.

Quote of the Day

"Meanwhile, as a matter of politics, I think this episode demonstrates that this White House is a much more tightly wound outfit than it lets on in public. The rapid-response firing suggests a level of fear over Glenn Beck and Fox that speaks volumes."

National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg, on the White House firing of Shirley Sherrod.

Goldberg's defense of Andrew Breitbart is laughable and not worth responding to. Breitbart has repeatedly pulled stunts with heavily edited videos and his he didn't know dfense is unbelievable.

Goldberg does make a correct observation that the Obama White House is devoid of moral courage. The proper thing to do would have been to investigate the video before making a decision on Sherrod's work status. The White House immediately asked for Sherrod to resign without knowing the facts. The message is the Obama people are willi ng to give up any scalp the Right wants. Van Jones is the perfect example.

Conservative Reaction to Specter

The Corner have longtime bashed Arlen Specter. Michael Rubin was angered by Specter's advocacy of diplomacy with Iran.

If ever the Republicans had a Jimmy Carter, Arlen Specter is it.

Kathryn Jean Lopez did muchraking reporting by using her anonymous wealthy friend as a source. K-Lo's thesis was Specter's vote for the stimulus package would help Pat Toomey's campaign contributions. The Corner repeatedly hammered Specter's postion on abortion. The Corner has repeatedly stressed for Specter's exit and less government. With Specter, Democrats have 60 seats once Al Franken is seated. The Corner is not happy about Republicans having less government.

I read that he was switching parties, but I was disappointed to learn he's still a Democrat.

The DINO remark is funny. Did the Cornerites expect Specter to join Bernie Sander's Vermont Progressive Party? Seriously.

In related news: RNC chairman Michael Steele told CNN he did not know Specter was going to defect.

Steele: Cornyn went out on the line for this man. For the senator to flip the bird back to Senator Cornyn and the Republican Senate Leadership, a team that stood by him, who went to the bat for him in 2004, to save his hide is not only disrespectful but down right rude. I'm sure his mama didn't raise him this way.


Q: Did he give you a heads up on this?

Steele: No, not at all. Which is another form of this respect that I don't count. At least give me a call or give the party leadership a call and let us know this is what I'm thinking. This is where I'm going so you can be prepared. I'm not one to be caught flat-footed about these things.

Oh really! Steele explains to CNN that he didn't know Specter's plans and then declares he doesn't get flat-footed. Steele is a comedy quote machine.

Steele declares, "Get ready to go to the mat, baby, because we're coming after you and taking you out." Will Steele be RNC chair in 2010?

Michelle Malkin goes nuclear. Specter is finally leaving the GOP and she is pissed? Malkin hates Specter. Yet Malkin is pissed. This is a seriously conflicted conservative blogger?

I am not a Specter fan. I agree that Specter's motivation is political survival. Republicans have bashed Specter for years and and are shocked he joined the opposition. Democrats went through this with Joe Lieberman. The base backed Ned Lamont and ended up stuck with Lieberman in the caucas. Republicans don't have a backup plan. Specter isn't likely to rejoin the GOP. Obama will campaign and raise money for Specter in the general election. Conservative principles don't mean much if you can't govern.

Mark Steyn: Conspiracy Theory Man

I got into an online feud with the National Review's Mark Steyn. The conservative pundit made fun of torture and Andrew Sullivan's sexual orientation. I called Steyn on it. Steyn linked to the post and the NRO trolls came out from their rocks. I responded by writing on NRO's recent history of bizarre gay bashing. I don't think highly of Steyn.

The latest silliness from Steyn is the media is dragging "Obama across the finish line" and the GOP's GOTV will lead McCain to victory. Because the free market prefers McCain. Apparently, Steyn has polling data no other person on the planet possesses.

The reason the press are going to such shameless lengths to drag Obama across the finish line is because he's their last best hope at restoring the old media environment, including a new Unfairness Doctrine for radio, and regulation of the Internet. The Obama's-already-won-give-it-up-you-GOP-losers stories are intended only to demoralize turnout. Bear in mind, that round about 5pm Eastern on Election Day, they'll be doing those stories at industrial strength, in order to clobber any Republican voters still dumb enough to think it's worth making the trip to the polls. A good GOTV operation will not only lead to political victory but assure that the free market gets to pronounce the final judgment on the media conduct of this election.

Steyn has a conspiracy theory that the media needs Obama to stay in business. In Steyn's Nixonian head, the internet will be state-controlled. The Fairness Doctrine gave equal time to both political sides. President Reagan ended the Fairness Doctrine. Conservative talk radio flourished with the equal time rule gone. I wrote, "If media is really slanted to the left then why aren't conservative attempting to restore the Fairness Doctrine?" The question answers itself.

Steyn proclaims that a potential Obama landslide is because of the media suppressing votes. A McCain victory will be the power of the free market. Meaning, the will of the people. Of course, an Obama victory would be voters prefering his brand of politics. Voter polling shows McCain as New Coke. A heavily hyped product that bombed in the marketplace. Only an irrationale conspirary theorist would promote this garbage.

When the figures fail him, Steyn falls back on urban mythology. After the 9/11 massacres, in his Daily Telegraph column he repeated as fact preposterous claims that Muslim children all over New York had warned their favourite teachers not to go to the World Trade Centre that day. Here, he says, "On the night of September 11th Muslim youths in northern England rampaged through the streets cheering Islam's glorious victory over the Great Satan. They pounded on the hoods of the cars, hammered the doors and demanded the drivers join them in the chants of 'Osama Bin Laden is a great man.'"

Steyn's book "America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It" proclaims that Muslims will take over Europe by 2020 and rename the continent Eurabia. The welfare state and birth rates will help Muslims get enough recruits for their secret army.

Big government is a national security threat: it increases your vulnerability to threats like Islamism, and makes it less likely you'll be able to summon the will to rebuff it.

Doug Saunders disbunked Steyn's allegation's that the European Muslim population will be 40 percent by 2020.

The great sine qua non of Mr. Steyn's argument is the idea that Muslims have more children than the rest of us. His article is based on a claim he has made repeatedly, including in a bestselling book, that Europe will have a plurality of Muslims, perhaps 40 per cent of the population, by 2020.

This number appears to have been plucked from space. Here's the reality, which you can easily look up: Slightly more than 4 per cent of Europe's population is “Muslim,” as defined by demographers (though about 80 per cent of these people are not religiously observant, so they are better defined as secular citizens who have escaped religious nations).

It is possible, though not certain, that this number could rise to 6 per cent by 2020. If current immigration and birth rates remain the same, it could even rise to 10 per cent within 100 years.

Steyn is motivated by xenophobia and conspiracy theories. The best venue for Steyn's views in a white supremist rally. Steyn repeatedly claimed he is not a racist. I'm interested in how he will handle an Obama victory.

Quote of the Day

"I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America."

Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review. Commenting on the "little starbursts" Sarah Palin sent through his crotch.

National Review Staffers Turn On McCain

Christopher Buckley is the son of National Review founder and conservative icon William Buckley. Christopher Buckley shocked the conservative world by endorsing Barack Obama.

I’ve read Obama’s books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine. He is also a lefty. I am not. I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. On abortion, gay marriage, et al, I’m libertarian. I believe with my sage and epigrammatic friend P.J. O’Rourke that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away.

But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves. If he raises taxes and throws up tariff walls and opens the coffers of the DNC to bribe-money from the special interest groups against whom he has (somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail, then he will almost certainly reap a whirlwind that will make Katrina look like a balmy summer zephyr.

Obama has in him—I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy “We are the people we have been waiting for” silly rhetoric—the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for.

After the endorsement was posted on the Daily Beast, Buckley resigned from the National Review.

In related news: NR columnist Kathleen Parker called VP candidate Sarah Palin as "Clearly Out Of Her League" and needs to step down. Stephen Colbert asked Parker if she was voting for McCain. Parker would not say yes.

Happy Loving Day

On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia's law forbiding white and black couples from marrying was unconstitutional. The decision became known as Loving v. Virginia. The Supreme Court found that the state of Virgina violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter Loving.

Because we reject the notion that the mere "equal application" of a statute containing racial classifications is enough to remove the classifications from the Fourteenth Amendment's proscription of all invidious racial discriminations, we do not accept the State's contention that these statutes should be upheld if there is any possible basis for concluding that they serve a rational purpose. The mere fact of equal application does not mean that our analysis of these statutes should follow the approach we have taken in cases involving no racial discrimination where the Equal Protection Clause has been arrayed against a statute discriminating between the kinds of advertising which may be displayed on trucks in New York City, Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. New York, 336 U.S. 106 (1949), or an exemption in Ohio's ad valorem tax for merchandise owned by a nonresident in a storage warehouse, Allied Stores of Ohio, [388 U.S. 1, 9] Inc. v. Bowers, 358 U.S. 522 (1959). In these cases, involving distinctions not drawn according to race, the Court has merely asked whether there is any rational foundation for the discriminations, and has deferred to the wisdom of the state legislatures. In the case at bar, however, we deal with statutes containing racial classifications, and the fact of equal application does not immunize the statute from the very heavy burden of justification which the Fourteenth Amendment has traditionally required of state statutes drawn according to race.

Loving Day celebrates the court's landmark civil rights decision. 16 states, including Florida, had their laws against interracial marriages struck down. Conservatives are still bothered by interracial marriages. Why they must be communists. That is what Lisa Schiffren puked out on The Corner.

But maybe it's not so simple. Obama and I are roughly the same age. I grew up in liberal circles in New York City — a place to which people who wished to rebel against their upbringings had gravitated for generations. And yet, all of my mixed race, black/white classmates throughout my youth, some of whom I am still in contact with, were the product of very culturally specific unions. They were always the offspring of a white mother, (in my circles, she was usually Jewish, but elsewhere not necessarily) and usually a highly educated black father. And how had these two come together at a time when it was neither natural nor easy for such relationships to flourish? Always through politics. No, not the young Republicans. Usually the Communist Youth League. Or maybe a different arm of the CPUSA. But, for a white woman to marry a black man in 1958, or 60, there was almost inevitably a connection to explicit Communist politics. (During the Clinton Administration we were all introduced to then U. of Pennsylvania Professor Lani Guinier — also a half black/half Jewish, red diaper baby.)

Schiffren states she is not a racist. She just wants conservative bloggers such as Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds to do some digging. If Schiffren was a real journalist she would do the research herself. Instead, she sends out a battle cry to conservative bloggers to swiftboat Obama, without any facts. TNR founder William F. Buckley wrote in support of segregation. If TNR doesn't want to be called racists then they should stop writing racist pieces.

A True Conserative

The National Review announces that Charlie Crist isn't a true conservative. I wholeheartedly agree. What columnist John J. Miller fails to understands is Crist isn't a liberal. He is a politician that seeks to move to higher office.

What amuses me is conservatives allergic reaction to any Republican whose views on global warming, abortion (what is Crist's stance this week), gay marriage, and consumer advocacy differ from the group think. Conservatives are so obsessed with these issues they can't focus on simple things like fixing potholes. It is no wonder the GOP version of governing has been ripe with incompetence. The FCAT, Florida schools, Department of Children and Families, and KidCare have been disasters under Jeb Bush's leadership. Bush's treatment of children is utterly shameful. The family values conservatives care not about abused and sick children. Family values conservatives have little interest in children once they leave the womb.

The National Review conservatives want a Republican like Rick Santorum. Red meat issues are what feeds the base. Want a Senator that will take a dead fetus home to show his children? Santorum is your man.

"That's my little guy," Santorum says, pointing to the photo of Gabriel, in which his tiny physique is framed by his father's hand. The senator often speaks of his late son in the present tense. It is a rare instance in which he talks softly.

He and Karen brought Gabriel's body home so their children could "absorb and understand that they had a brother," Santorum says. "We wanted them to see that he was real," not an abstraction, he says. Not a "fetus," either, as Rick and Karen were appalled to see him described -- "a 20-week-old fetus" -- on a hospital form. They changed the form to read "20-week-old baby."

John J. Miller thought Santorum would make a great United Nations ambassador. Pennsylvania voters had a better idea. They resoundingly voted Santorum out of the Senate. The Corner crew worship a man that would bring a dead fetus home. That is what Charlie Crist has to do to be deemed a true conservative.

Quote of the Day

"To Senator McCain, congratulations. But he has not got this thing wrapped up by any stretch. It’s less than a year since he tried to push a disastrous immigration bill into law — one as manipulative as any pork-laden appropriations bill — with vigorous opposition from talk radio, conservative bloggers, think tanks, and the grassroots. I don’t see how such a man wins the Republican nomination. I’m second to none in praising him on his surge leadership. But on a whole host of issues — including water boarding, tax cuts, and the freedom of speech — he’s not one of us."

Kathryn Jean Lopez

It is amazing that xenophobia and a Spanish Inquisition torture technique are core Republican values. Conservatives wonder why progressives believe the Right lacks empathy. Articles such as Lopez's are classic example of heartlessness.

More Fred Thompson Campaign Woes

More bad news for those whom want Fred Thompson to be the conservative savior. Campaign staffers Jim Mills and Mark Corallo have resigned. Mills is a former Fox News Fox producer. He left to network to work for Thompson. Corallo was the Admiral's press secretary.

Campaign manager Bill Lacy sent this memo out to staffers.

"Our new Communications Director Todd Harris is building an experienced and aggressive team of campaign professionals to help lead our press operation," Lacy wrote. He added, "This constitutes a substantial shift, not in our candidate's message, but in the way we support it and enhance it. Due to this shift, Jim Mills has informed me that he is leaving the campaign due to strategic differences. I respect Jim's decision and encourage all of you to join me in wishing him the best of luck."

Mills had only been on the campaign staff for a few weeks.

Fox News reports that two more staffers are quitting

And some of those who have left the campaign are saying that the missteps and turn-arounds are indicative of Thompson's inattentiveness and deep-seated disinterest or lack of motivation for the campaign.

There are more major resignations of founding Fred heads looming over the way the "new media strategy" was supplanted by a "corporate" and "predictable" approach. They also are protesting the way so many people have been treated by the candidate and spouse.

The word is that Thompson is a lazy campaigner. Which makes one wonder why he decided to run for President in the firest place.

The National Review quotes a source inside the campaign.

Another Fredhead said of the one who ripped Fred to Fox, “He has his reasons for doing it… They treated [Jim Mills] exceedingly badly.”

One of the shames of this shocking personnel move by Team Thompson is that we won't get to see what Mills, a legendary producer and off-camera reporter on Capitol Hill, could do on the other side of the microphone. One Thompsonite described him as "the anti-Kevin Madden (Romney's spokesman)... Everybody has these slick spokesmen, and we were going to have the guy who was extremely well connected and trusted by his former colleagues."

Thompson went to the trouble to personally recruit Mills. He then fires him. This makes no sense. When even Fox News and the National Review are saying his campaign is screwed up that is a sure sign of trouble.

Karl Rove Op-ed: Bush Is Awesome

Karl Rove wrote an op-ed in the National Review praising his former boss. Nothing surprising there. I do have to take excemption with this piece of bullshit.

President Bush took decisive action, cutting taxes and ratcheting down this spending.

Below is a chart of how nondefense spending increased 28 percent under the Decider's leadership.

Meet the TNR Iraq Blogger

It's amazing how much time the Right spent trying to scream that the soldier who wrote under the pseudonym Scott Thomas didn't exist. The Weekly Standard and the National Review lead the charge. It didn't matter that they had no actual evidence or did no responsible investigative reporting. Ideology and pro-Iraq war support came first.

Now Scott Thomas has come forward and revealed his real identity as Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

I am Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp, a member of Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division.

My pieces were always intended to provide my discrete view of the war; they were never intended as a reflection of the entire U.S. Military. I wanted Americans to have one soldier's view of events in Iraq.

It's been maddening, to say the least, to see the plausibility of events that I witnessed questioned by people who have never served in Iraq. I was initially reluctant to take the time out of my already insane schedule fighting an actual war in order to play some role in an ideological battle that I never wanted to join. That being said, my character, my experiences, and those of my comrades in arms have been called into question, and I believe that it is important to stand by my writing under my real name.

Will the Weekly Standard and National Review stand by their writing or just pretend that the controversy they started never happened? I'm betting on the latter. Both publications should of had a major editorial review of how they wrote such factually inaccurate articles. Instead, they attack a soldier they claimed never existed here and here. Real classy.

Other lefty bloggers share their thoughts.

"That's just crazy. All these people need to stop," writes Matt Yglesias. "They need to apologize to the people at TNR who've wasted huge amounts of time dealing with their nonsense."

The Right bitches about the "liberal media." People would take their complaints more seriously if they didn't have tv and radio host throw on-air temper tamtrums and print journalists that posted corrections. Instead, they have a noise machine.

Shakes makes a great point.

Which is why I think we should hold Foer and TNR to some account. It was obvious how all this would play out. Any of us on the Left who share the stories of antiwar soldiers, or soldiers just telling the ugly truth of war, need to be prepared. Better prepared than that, anyway.

The rightwing noise machine will attack. It's not important if the Right makes a valid point. What they want to make of is that people don't hear the other side make valid points. They want you to believe it's a shiny happy people world.