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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2010

AND IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 9:09 P.M. ET:  Let us not forget that history outside our electoral system does not stop.  The bad guys are just as mean today:

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist group's branch based in Yemen, has claimed responsibility for the failed mail bomb plot on cargo planes bound for the United States...

...The bombs, which were found in two packages intercepted in Dubai and England, had been addressed to Jewish places of worship in Chicago, and their discovery set off a tense daylong search Oct. 29 for other packages that may have been part of the plot.

Al Qaeda also claimed responsibility for the Sept. 3 crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai.

"We say to Obama: we pointed three attacks to your planes within one year, and we will continue Allah-willing to direct our attacks on the American interests and the interests of America's allies," the group said, according to an English translation of the Arabic.

COMMENT:  They mean it.  One day they will prove that they mean it, and we will be woken up from our slumber again.

November 5, 2010      Permalink

THANK YOU, LORDY, FOR THIS ADDITIONAL GIFT – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  Nancy Pelosi, apparently riding a groundswell of support from the coffee houses of San Francisco, has announced that she'll run for minority leader of the House, once she's forced to step down from the speaker's rostrum as a result of Tuesday's elections.

For Republicans, this is a blessing.  Pelosi will probably win because the only Dems left in the House are her kind of people – liberals from safe districts with autographed pictures of George Soros in the windows of their Lexus two-doors. 

So the Dems will probably have, once again, one of the most disliked politicos in the nation as their human face – human if you ignore all the work done by skilled surgeons.

You'd think Barack Obama would have called Nancy and offered her an ambassadorship, maybe to the United States.  You'd think someone would send her a message.  But how to you nudge a member of royalty?

The Republican Party had a gem of a response to Nancy's announcement – thanking her for an employment program that has employed so many GOP lawmakers.  Good to see our side develop a little humor.

It looks like we will have Nancy Pelosi to kick around some more.  Even Nixon had the good sense to disappear.

November 5, 2010      Permalink

NO SECOND THOUGHTS FOR THE RELIGIOUSLY COMMITTED – AT 9:27 A.M. ET:  Urban expert Fred Siegel, writing for Manhattan Institute's superb City Journal, compares the behavior of most of America Tuesday night with...New York and California.  Remember those guys?  Used to be part of the United States:

...another division is likely to compete for center stage in the next two years: the split between, on one side, California and New York—two states, deeply in debt, whose wealthy are beneficiaries of the global economy—and, on the other, the solvent states of the American interior that will be asked to bail them out. This geographic division will also pit the heartland’s middle class and working class against the well-to-do of New York and California and their political allies in the public-sector unions.

While most of America turned toward the Republicans in this election, Democrats strengthened their hold on California and New York...

...New York and California lead the country in middle-class—often white—outmigration. That has produced a vicious circle in which the very wealthy, the urban poor, and the public-sector unions who define the Democratic coalition create a high-taxing, heavily regulated polity that drives business and the upwardly mobile to the exits.

And that's exactly what's happening here in New York.  You see it every day.

This sets up what could be an ugly fight in which a Tea Party–inflected national Republican Party, encouraged by its strength in the interior states, forces California and New York—now heavily dependent on federal subsidies—to reduce their spending sharply. The coastal giants would no doubt respond by threatening defaults, which could affect the credit standing of the entire country, since many of the bonds are held by foreign investors. The upshot would likely be a high-stakes conflict about free trade, globalization, social class, race, illegal immigration, and public-sector unionism.

COMMENT:  Nice prospect, huh?  We sit here in New York and watch the stock market soar, crazy salaries paid to "bankers," and yet see one store after another close on Main Street.  And we wonder how long this fantasyland can keep operating.

Now, what happens when California and New York go to the feds for help?  They will run directly into a Republican House.

When he signed the civil rights bills of 1964 into law, Lyndon Johnson said it would mean the Democratic Party would lose the South, but that it had to be done.  When the GOP stands up to the coastal bullies, its leaders will know they'll be writing off New York and California for decades...but it will have to be done.  Let's see who blinks.

November 5, 2010     Permalink

CHRIS! – AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is being increasingly mentioned as a possible GOP candidate for president in 2012.  Why?  Because he walks the walk:

Since assuming office, Chris Christie has been relentlessly hammering home the message that New Jersey’s state government, which is badly in the red, must live within its means. But he’s also not afraid to make the tough decisions either. Whereas the previous governor, Jon Corzine, struck a deal to prevent layoffs in the public sector at a time when private sector workers were unemployed in record numbers, here comes Christie taking on the public sector unions:

State government is on track to shed at least 1,200 jobs in January, Gov. Chris Christie said today.
“Whether it will grow beyond that, I don’t know,” he said at a Statehouse press conference. “That’s very much going to be dependent on what the revenue outlook looks like for the state.”

The job cuts include layoffs and attrition, spokesman Michael Drewniak said.

How much do you think unions are going to spend to take Christie out when he runs for reelection? Sky’s the limit, I bet.

Christie is attracting an enormous amount of attention for his aggressive actions, which are righting a sinking ship.  Of course, he's also building up enemies among the usual suspects.  He insists he's not running for president, but they all insist.

Even former Mayor Ed Koch of New York, a sane Democrat, is a fan:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would be a stellar Republican candidate for president in 2012, says former New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

Christie, who became the first Republican to win a statewide contest in the Liberty and Prosperity State in 12 years in 2009, is “perceived quite correctly as a poster boy for governors today, showing remarkable courage and success,” Koch says in an exclusive Newsmax interview. “It’s very likely he will be one of top two or three contenders for the nomination.”

COMMENT:  Some say that Christie doesn't "look" like a president.  He must weigh, oh, maybe 275 to 300 pounds.  Well, remember William Howard Taft?  He didn't look like a president either, and required a new White House bathtub to accommodate him. 

Watch Christie.  Man of action.

November 5, 2010       Permalink

NOT QUITE THE OTHER GUY – AT 8:30 A.M. ET:   There's a lot of loose chatter around.  Some of it suggests that Obama can pivot the way Ronald Reagan did after Republican losses in the 1982 midterms.

Not so fast says Reagan biographer Craig Shirley.  Reagan and Obama weren't cut from the same cloth:

He was a successful radio broadcaster, favorite movie actor and a six term union president and host of GE Theatre (one of the most popular shows on television all through the 1950's) and a lecturer and a writer and a governor and a political leader and a rancher and a carpenter and horseman and devote Christian and doting father and loving husband and good friend.

He did all these things before becoming the 40th president of the United States and then when he did, he revived a moribund country, resuscitated a dead economy (far worse than Obama's) and then conquered an Evil Empire, freeing millions imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain.

He did all these things because he believed and lived American Exceptionalism.

And Obama?

Barack Obama, on the other hand, is our first "Facebook" president. He wrote two autobiographies before he was elected. His only world knowledge is in the study of himself which explains his preferred personal pronouns of "I" and "Me" and "My." He is a product of his generation and has never risen about his utterly self-absorbed culture.

Reagan was derided by the elites all the time he was in Washington as some kind of unsophisticated dummy but in fact was an extraordinary well-read man, having developed his own singular and unique ideology, based on the individual.

And...

Of more immediate concern are the incessant comparisons between 1982 and 2010. In fact, there is no comparison, mainly because even though Reagan's popularity had sagged and support for Reaganomics had fallen, when pressed, in all the polling data, the American people still believed in Reagan's prescriptions.

Today, the American people don't believe in Obama's plan and by overwhelming numbers, too, oppose everything he has sponsored over the past two years.

After 1982, Reagan didn't need to "move to the left." He stuck to his guns by staying the course, the theme of that off-year election. Is anyone urging Obama to "stay the course?"

Reagan's plan eventually came to fruition beginning in January of 1983 when the economy created one million new jobs...

...Let's see if Obamanomics creates one million new jobs next January. Just like Reagan?

Oh, please.

Well stated. 

November 5, 2010      Permalink

THE DOWNSIDE OF WINNING – AT 8:13 A.M. ET:  Max Boot writes a very perceptive piece about some of the losers Tuesday.  They were some of the finest people in the Democratic Party, the national defense Democrats.

Most of them came from swing districts, and so were particularly vulnerable to the GOP tide.  They represented the now-fading patriotic tradition of the Democratic Party.  Ike Skelton, one of those who lost Tuesday, actually represented Harry Truman's home town.  I'm sorry to see them go.  We want good people in both parties, and what's left, increasingly, in the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy are the "anti-war" (read anti-defense) leftists, mostly from the coastal fringes.  Max Boot:

I Share the general joy among conservatives regarding the outcome of this week's elections -- but I'm sorry to see the departure of some centrist Democrats who wound up losing.

I'm thinking, in particular, of such congressmen as Ike Skelton of Missouri, John Spratt of South Carolina and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.

All were longtime members of the House Armed Services Committee: Skelton is the outgoing chairman, Spratt the second-ranking Democrat, Taylor a subcommittee chairman. They're part of a dwindling band of centrist, strong-on-defense Democrats -- a tradition stretching back to the days of Sens. Stuart Symington and Scoop Jackson.

Symington and Jackson - great men.  I "nominated" Stuart Symington for president at our high school's mock Democratic convention in 1956.  My mentor, Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, wanted Symington to get the nomination in 1960, over Jack Kennedy.

Scoop Jackson of Washington was the Democratic Party's "Mr. National Defense."  He also served as the party's national chairman.  What a comedown from Jackson to Patti Murray, who actually had some praise for Osama bin Laden's dedication after 9-11.

Jackson was a giant of a senator.  Yet, when he tried to run for president in 1976, he was all but ignored.  The party passed him by in favor of that great statesman, Jimmah Carter. 

The willingness of such men to cross the aisle, combined with the similar tendency among Republican leaders such as Sen. Arthur Vandenberg, gave US foreign policy a reliably bipartisan, hard-line tilt in the Cold War's first two decades.

Those days are long gone. Today, alas, the Democrats are led by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

The fact that so many Blue Dog Democrats have been knocked off is good news for the short term -- but it will have parlous future consequences. When Democrats someday succeed in taking back the House, their leaders on defense and foreign-policy issues are likely to be considerably to the left of today's crop.

Boot points out that, with the defeat of the decent Russ Feingold, the second-ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee will be...Barbara Boxer.

How times have changed. 

November 5, 2010     Permalink

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010

AP PICKS MURRAY – AT 9:25 P.M. ET:  Associated Press has just projected incumbent Democratic Senator Patti Murray as the winner in the Washington state Senate race.   UPDATE:  Republican Dino Rossi has just conceded to Murray.

Murray's strength was mostly in the Seattle area.  Seattle has become San Francisco lite, and is becoming famous for "progressive" policies to make us better, kinder, and eternally immature people. 

Both California, with Babs Boxer, and Washington state, with Patti Murray, have now returned two utterly ineffectual and incoherent senators to the Senate.  The only thing that will stop this would be raising the voting age in those two states to 78.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

THE NANCY WATCH – AT 8:49 P.M. ET:   Much speculation over what Nancy Pelosi will do now that she's been dethroned from the speaker's chair.  No more introducing the president at the State of the Union, while wearing the Armani suits.  Corner office gone.  Air Force jets gone.  What's a rich lady to do?  The Politico reports:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling fellow Democrats as she weighs whether to stay in leadership and run for minority leader after losing control of the House Tuesday night, according to two senior Democratic aides and one lawmaker.

Pelosi has made some of these contacts herself but has had surrogates reach out to other Democrats to test her support level within the caucus.

TV reports claimed today that there are many Democrats in the House who want Nancy gone.  She's damaged goods.  She's ready for the Democratic outlet store,

For members of her inner circle, the calls suggest that she may not be ready “to turn the keys over” while she’s gauging the more general feelings of Democrats outside her tightest clutch of backers, according to one of the aides.

A Democrat who spoke to Pelosi today said she is "just trying to figure out the mood of the caucus." This member told her "to do what she wants, I support you."

The Dems would be nuts to make her minority leader.  The current leader, Steny Hoyer, is a solid type with a reasonable public image.  Pelosi is divisive, and is associated in the public mind with a failed Congress.

But, of course, Democrats are nuts, which is part of the problem.

The fact is, the Dem caucus in the House will actually be more liberal than before because so many moderates, Democrats from swing districts, were defeated on Tuesday.  Think Barney Frank and Maxine Waters as the new symbols of House Democrats.  They like Nancy.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

ILLINOIS COMES THROUGH – AT 8:18 P.M. ET:  On Tuesday Illinois elected Republican Mark Kirk to the U.S. Senate.  He will fill the Obama seat.  We all asked:  "Will Illinois come through, as it always does, for the machine?" 

It seemed impossible that Illinoisans would repudiate corruption entirely.

Well, not to worry.  Although the race for the governship wasn't decided until today, the AP finally called it for incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Quinn.  The machine is saved.  Our great national nightmare is over.

Quinn succeeded former Governor Rod Blagojevich, when the latter became unavailable due to corruption charges.  But the people of Illinois, generous and forgiving, apparently didn't hold Quinn's associations against him.  Illinois should be called the Second Chance State, and Third, and Fourth...

The Illinois state government is in deep debt.  So are the governments of California and New York. Yet, all three states defied national trends and elected Democrats as governors.  It's like the guy who swears off drinking, yet takes one more drink.

The Washington state Senate race is still in limbo, still too close to call.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

AT A TIME WHEN AMERICANS ARE HURTING – AT 9:07 A.M. ET:  We're all for a vigorous foreign policy, but some things are ridiculous:

New Delhi: The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday.

Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi.

He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea.

Arrangements have been put in place for emergency evacuation, if needed...

...Around 800 rooms have been booked for the President and his entourage in Taj Hotel and Hyatt.

That's 800 rooms.  You read it correctly.

The estimated cost of this trip is $200-million a day. You read that right as well.  Two hundred million a day.

The lack of any common sense here is just appalling.  India is important, but a trip restricted to the capital would have been entirely appropriate.  And Indian leaders can be invited here.  To spend this kind of money at a time when we're in such debt will not improve our relations with the Indian people.  Indeed, when Indians read of the cost, they might be just as revolted as we are.

Who is doing the planning?  Who is doing the thinking?  This follows close on Michele's exorbitantly expensive fling in Spain.  Didn't they learn from the reaction to that?

Two more years for this guy.  Two more years.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – San Francisco has become the first major U.S. city to pass a law that cracks down on the popular practice of giving away free toys with unhealthy restaurant meals for children.  San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed the law on Tuesday on a veto-proof 8-to-3 vote...

...Opponents of the law include the National Restaurant Association and McDonald's Corp, which used its now wildly popular Happy Meal to pioneer the use of free toys to market directly to children.

San Francisco isn't concerned about nutrition.  It's concerned about the "happy" in Happy Meals.  You can't be happy in a socialist republic.  It's dangerous, it's middle-class, it's...American.  Banned.  So Nancy Pelosi won't get her free toy.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

A WORD OF CAUTION – AT 8:11 A.M. ET:   Our side is understandably giddy about the depth of Tuesday's victory, and the message it sends to the Obamans.  But we should be careful.

Other recent presidents have been similarly rebuked.  In 1938 FDR lost 72 seats in the House, an even bigger drubbing than The One took Tuesday.  In 1946 Harry Truman lost 54 seats.  In 1982, Ronald Reagan lost 26 seats.  In 1994 Bill Clinton lost 54 seats.

But...in every one of those cases, the president went on to win reelection two years later.  So what happened Tuesday does not predict what will happen in 2012, and we should soberly go about our work.

There is, however, one difference between Obama and those other presidents.  The others had a certain skill at governing that Obama lacks.  And they were not rigid ideologists.  FDR was a devoted liberal, Reagan a devoted conservative, but they understood America.  I'm not sure Obama does.

We need a terrific presidential candidate in 2012 to go up against Obama.  We already have a winner for the second spot - Marco Rubio.  But, alas, people generally don't vote for the vice president. 

Republicans have, too often, chosen "the next in line" for the top of the ticket.  The next in line for 2012 would, presumably, be Mitt Romney.  But Romney has more baggage than American Airlines.  His failing health-care plan, adopted when he was governor of Massachusetts, bears a chilling resemblance to Obamacare, essentially eliminating one of our best issues.  And he doesn't wear well on the electorate.  He failed to make an impression in his 2008 run for the nomination.  He's almost too pretty, more like the guy in the Brooks Brothers underwear ad. 

Yes, I know:  Sarah, Sarah.  But the problems, problems.

Selection is going to be tough.  But the stakes are high, and the opportunity is there.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT – AT 7:59 A.M. ET:  And we thought these people were progressive, enlightened, on the cutting edge.  Hah.  Look what they did:

(AP) Denver residents have jettisoned a plan to officially track space aliens.

The proposal defeated soundly Tuesday night would have established a commission to track extraterrestrials. It also would have allowed residents to post their observations on Denver's city Web page and report sightings.

The Denver man who proposed the measure, Jeff Peckman, says the government is tracking alien sightings but refuses to make the reports public. Peckman is a meditation instructor and promoter of new technology, including something he says reduces the "chaos of electromagnetic fields."

Peckman contends opponents greatly inflated the commission's projected cost.

He previously proposed an unsuccessful ordinance requiring the city to offer stress-reduction measures.

COMMENT:  Is there no room for science?  I ask you, is there no room for science?  If you were a space alien, how would you feel about this?  Rejected?  Oppressed?  Ignored?   

Sure.  This is the first sign that BUSH (!!) is back.

November 4, 2010      Permalink

ELECTION COUNT – AT 7:48 A.M. ET:  There are still some unsettled races.  There is no declared winner in Alaska's Senate race, although it appears Lisa Murkowski will be the first write-in candidate to win a Senate seat since Strom Thurmond.  Although the incumbent, she ran as a write-in Republican after losing her primary to Joe Miller.  GOP hold.

In Washington state, some 69% of the votes have been counted.  This "progressive" state went back to the horse-and-buggy era in its elections.  They must feel wonderfully natural.  Incumbent Dem Senator Patty Murray leads Dino Rossi 51-49%.  I think the odds are against Rossi.  If Murray's lead holds, that means the GOP picked up six seats on Tuesday, four short of what was needed for a majority.

In the House, RealClearPolitics is holding the GOP pickup at 61 seats, but about nine seats are still outstanding.  We may not know the actual count for days.

Governorships stand at Republicans 29, Dems 17, Independent 1, with 3 races out. 

November 4, 2010     Permalink