SUNDAY,  MARCH 16,  2008

McCAIN IN IRAQ

Senator McCain is on a surprise visit to Iraq:

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president, arrived in Baghdad on Sunday for an unexpected visit with Iraqi and American leaders, a U.S. official said.

The details of McCain's visit were kept secret for security reasons.

''Senator McCain is in Iraq and will be meeting with Iraqi and U.S. officials,'' said Mirembe Nantongo, spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Good for him.  No resting on his laurels.  He appears presidential, statesmanlike, while the Democrats argue whether Florida and Michigan exist, and whether Obama is telling the truth when he says he never knew what his pastor of almost two decades believes.  Do you think McCain has the edge in imagery here?  Yeah, I think so.

McCAIN SOARS

At the same time, the polls are moving in McCain's direction. The new Zogby poll, just released, shows McCain defeating either Clinton or Obama:  

UTICA, New York – Riding high after locking up his party’s presidential nomination, Republican John McCain of Arizona has moved ahead of both of his potential Democratic Party rivals in a national general election test, the latest Zogby telephone survey shows.

Perhaps profiting from the continuing political battle across the aisle, McCain would defeat Hillary Clinton of New York by six points and Barack Obama of Illinois by 5 points, the survey shows. Clinton and Obama are locked in a tight battle to win the Democratic Party nomination, a fight that has grown nasty at times recently and threatens to continue on all summer long until the party’s national convention in Denver this August.

And this is a Democratic year? 

McCain is doing well.  But it's early, and the economy is wobbly.  There is a major fight ahead in this, one of the most exciting political years I've seen.

LATEST ELECTION RETURNS!

This just in. The religious conservatives have won the Iranian election.  Wake up your relatives and reveal the stunning news:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian election results on Saturday showed conservatives on course to keep control of parliament, but some were expected to join reformists in flaying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's handling of the economy.

Conservatives have taken 120 seats in the 290-member assembly against 46 for reformists so far, the state Press TV station reported, citing the Interior Ministry. Four seats had gone to independents and 30 more would go to run-off votes.

The Interior Ministry, which supervised Friday's vote, has said a final nationwide tally might take a day or two.

Many reformists, trying to capitalize on public discontent over inflation, were disqualified from standing in the polls, but they expect Ahmadinejad to undergo sharper scrutiny even in a parliament dominated by their conservative rivals.

I love the way Reuters tries to imply that some dissent is allowed in Iran.  Well, some probably is.  The problem is that, if you go over a certain line, stuff happens to you.  Draw your own pictures.

AS IF IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED

Barack Obama, still reeling from questions about his relationship with his America-hating pastor, has picked up more delegates:

DES MOINES, Iowa - Democrat Barack Obama expanded his fragile lead in delegates over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday, picking up nine delegates as Iowa activists took the next step in picking delegates to the national convention.

More than half the 14 delegates allocated to John Edwards on the basis of caucus night projections switched Saturday to Obama.

Iowa Democratic Party officials said that with all of the delegates picked, Obama claimed 52 percent of the delegates elected at county conventions on Saturday, compared with 32 percent for Clinton. Some of the delegates picked at Saturday's conventions were sticking with Edwards, even though he's dropped from the race since Iowa held its caucuses in January.

Democratic Party projections said the results mean Obama increased by nine the number of delegates he collects from the state, getting a total of 25 compared with 14 for Clinton and six for Edwards.

Do you get the feeling that some active Democrats - maybe most active Democrats - have little connection with the real world?  Don't they understand that Obama is weakening as he's subjected to scrutiny?  Recent surveys showed both he and Senator Clinton defeating John McCain, with Obama doing much better.  Now Obama and Clinton are about even, and both are behind McCain.  Still, Dems switch to Obama as if nothing has happened.  Pastor?  What pastor?  Rezko scandal in Chicago?  Where's Chicago?  Samantha Power flap?  Isn't she an actresss on "Desperate Housewives"?

Maybe they should all go with their hearts and bring back Jimmy Carter.

OBAMA GOING TO WAR?

No, not a real war. That's for other guys to fight.  But, apparently, Senator Obama is preparing an all-out assault on Hillary Clinton:

PLAINFIELD, Ind. - Sen. Barack Obama is trying to air his dirty laundry -- even some items that might appear just a little wrinkled -- as he prepares a full assault on Sen. Hillary Clinton over ethics and transparency.

On Saturday he invoked Robert F. Kennedy as he continued to try to distance himself from controversial statements made by his former Chicago pastor that are circulating on the Internet.

With a gap between campaign contests, Obama is trying to unload controversies. On Friday he held extended conversations with the Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times about his longtime relationship with indicted developer and fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

The Illinois Democrat is also expected to make public his tax returns for several years before 2006, documents he previously has provided to the Tribune and other news organizations.

Clinton, who appeared Saturday in two St. Patrick's Day parades in Pennsylvania, has said she will release her post-White House tax returns in mid-April, perhaps just ahead of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

Obama probably has to go on the attack against Clinton, but, as soon as he does, more of that halo comes off.  His was supposed to be a new kind of politics.  The Democratic race, though, is deteriorating into an old-time slugfest, with gloves off and no time between rounds. 

WHY, THAT LITTLE DEVIL, HILLARY

Leave it to Hillary Clinton and her elves to find a loophole in Democratic Party rules.  Michael Isikoff of Newsweek reports that they may have done it:

Citing wiggle room in an obscure, 26-year-old Democratic Party rule, Hillary Clinton's campaign is leaving the door open to the idea of attempting to persuade Barack Obama's pledged delegates to switch their votes at the last minute and back the New York senator—despite fears among some party officials that it could throw this summer's Denver convention into chaos.

The question of whether pledged delegates must stick to the candidate they were elected to vote for has prompted party chatter for weeks. Clinton herself drew notice last week during a NEWSWEEK interview when she said her delegate numbers aren't "bleak at all," even though by most counts she trails Obama by more than 100. "Even elected and caucus delegates are not required to stay with whomever they are pledged to," she added. Although her campaign quickly denied it was waging any effort to "flip" Obama's pledged delegates, Clinton's remarks weren't academic. After the 1980 battle between Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy, her chief strategist Harold Ickes noted, the party changed a rule that required pledged delegates to stick with their candidates no matter what. The current rule, adopted in 1982, states that pledged delegates "shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them." A "good conscience" reason for a delegate to switch, Ickes told NEWSWEEK, would be if one candidate—such as, say, Clinton—was deemed more "electable." If delegates believe she has a better chance in November than Obama, Ickes said, "you bet" that would be a reason to change their vote. (He added, however, that the campaign is "focused" on winning over uncommitted superdelegates "at this point.")

Talk about throwing a bomb into a gasoline tank.  Can you just see how Obama voters would react to that, especially African-American voters?  I doubt if they'd say, "Well, those are the breaks.  Let's watch baseball."

Get helmets and gas masks ready.  We may see 1968 all over.

A LOOMING CRISIS

Other things are happening in the world.  Tibetans, chafing under Communist Chinese rule, are getting restless: 

BEIJING, March 16 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The regional government in Tibet announced Sunday that it is launching a "people's war" to restore order following the riots which struck the Tibetan capital.

A regional government statement said small numbers of separatists organized by the Dalai Lama were intent on creating disorder and that the authorities will "firmly counter-attack" to restore stability.

The statement was released after senior government leaders held an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the crisis.

The authorities in Tibet have already set a deadline of midnight Monday for those who took part in the rioting to give themselves up, with the promise that they will be treated more leniently.

China has confirmed that 10 people died in Friday's violence, but Tibetan exile groups quoting witnesses in Lhasa say the numbers killed could be much higher.

A statement released by the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, said at least 30 people died in the clashes. It has also described Chinese allegations that it orchestrated the violence as "totally baseless."

Lhasa was said to be tense but calm Sunday with large numbers of security forces patrolling the streets.

One ethnic-Chinese tour operator, who only gave his surname Pan, told Kyodo News that all hotels and many businesses are closed and most people are remaining indoors.

He said ethnic-Chinese are particularly scared as many were attacked and their business looted and burned after the pro-independence protests on Friday turned violent.

"We are too scared to go out," he said.

Notice the great interest of the political left on college campuses, and elsewhere.  The phoniness is appalling.

If major violence erupts, a serious crisis could develop between China and the United States that could have political and economic ramifications, and could even impact our election. 

THAT OLD OLYMPIC SPIRIT - LIKE 1936

Of course, the China Olympics are scheduled to be held later this year.  And the International Olympic Committee, true to the spirit of the Nazi-held Berlin Olympics of 1936, is telling the world that the Tibetan uprising is, hey, no problem:

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) - International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge poured cold water Saturday on calls for a boycott of the Summer Games in Beijing over China's crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only hurt athletes.

"We believe that the boycott doesn't solve anything," Rogge told reporters on this Caribbean island. "On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing."

Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet on Friday—the most violent riots there in nearly two decades—left at least 30 protesters dead, according to a Tibetan exile group. China ordered tourists out of Tibet's capital and troops patrolled the streets on Saturday.

On a six-day tour of the Caribbean, Rogge expressed condolences for the victims and said he hopes calm will be restored immediately. He declined to say whether the committee would change its stance if violence continues or more people are killed.

"The International Olympic Committee has consistently resisted calls for a boycott of the Olympic games," Rogge said. He declined to comment further on Tibet during a brief news conference.

Those sensitive sportsmen.  Anyone think of the Tibetan athletes, and how they must feel about this?  But, you know, there's money involved.  And people have tickets.  And no one really knows where Tibet is.  Only the pandas care.  And it's such fun. 

Yuch.

And I'll be back later.

Posted on March 16, 2008.