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It’s frustrating, but not especially surprising that Obama would be over 50% job approval in Pennsylvania right now.

1- For reasons mysterious to me, people seem to like him “personally” even if as you poll just about every issue stance he takes the majority prefers the opposite position.  This is going to be a major source of frustration for whichever Republican candidate we end up nominating.  How do you make the guy unlikable without attacking him personally?  What could possibly top Jeremiah Wright and all the stuff that came to light in the 2008 campaign??

2 – The election has passed, and we’re no longer spending a gazillion dollars a day to remind voters what a lousy job he’s been doing and the sorts of nonsense policies he advocates.

3- Egypt. There’s not a good way to criticize Obama on Egypt without looking petty.  I haven’t said anything about it because it’s a tough situation.  And although it’s obvious that Obama was caught flat-footed on this, it’s unclear to me what he could have done had he seen it coming, other than maybe keep his mouth shut more than he did.  The only obviously bad thing I can say is that Obama was more supportive of those protesting against our nominal ally in Mubarak than he was supportive of Iranian dissidents protesting a lunatic apocalyptic almost-nuclear theocratic enemy regime that nobody would really mind toppling.  But that’s more of a criticism against past-Obama than present-Obama.

4- With a Republican House of Representatives, the Democrats no longer own 100% of the outcome, and Obama has a foil to work against.  You know, other than capitalism and the American way.

Isn’t this why he stabbed Conservatives in the back??

Holder: Bin Laden Never To Be Caught Alive

Usama bin Laden will never be captured alive, Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers on Tuesday.

“The possibility of capturing him alive is infinitesimal,” Holder said. “He will be killed by us, or he will be killed by his own people so that he is not captured by us. We know that. … The possibility simply does not exist.”

That assessment, which Holder said was based on “all the intelligence I have had to review,” came during an often-heated hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee.

Republicans pressed Holder over recent decisions to prosecute terrorism suspects in civilian courts, and they suggested he intends to treat terrorism suspects as “common criminals.”

Holder said such suggestions tend to “get my blood boiling,” calling them “anything but the truth.”

Chris Matthews continues to beclown himself when he talks about Sarah Palin.  (Newsbusters, H/T AoSHQ)

On one hand, isn’t it notable how white-  nay, “tribal” the people are who go to the Palin book signings.  Those white, tribal, paranoid tea-party birthers, rambling about this thing they call a “Constitution”.

On the other hand, isn’t it terrible for her to say we should “profile” people like Hasan before they go on shooting sprees.

It isn’t mentioned in this clip, but a particular drive-by media meme that sticks in my craw is that Palin isn’t going to any “major cities”.  (Here’s the book tour schedule.)

Well, of course she’s not going to NYC, LA, or Philly.    But she is stopping in Dallas (pop 1.2+mil, metro 6.3mil), the 8th largest city in the country (also 4th largest and fastest-growing metro area), Jacksonville, FL, the 13th, and Columbus, OH, the 16th.  Those cities are larger than Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Seattle, or Las Vegas.  And of course, Fairfax, VA is a suburb of DC, and Washington, PA is a stone’s throw from Pittsburgh.  Birmingham AL may only be 83rd, but it’s the largest city in that state.

And why should she go to any “real” cities? They’re dens of liberalism and grossly misinformed voters where she wouldn’t sell any books.

I’m reminded of something Jim Geraghty wrote when the Vanity Fair hit piece came out:

[T]here’s room in this world for a profile that is critical of Palin, but that preferably didn’t begin with the supposition that she is the root of all evil in the political world.

Here’s what I take from Althouse’s screed:

Look at me! Look at me! Pay attention to me! I’m relevant! Look, I’m calling Sarah Palin “dumb!” That’s edgy! That’s cool! Everybody else’s doing it! Somebody listen to me!!!!

Althouse is essentially arguing that a vice presidential candidate exists to be a mindless automaton who does and says whatever “the campaign” tells him or her to say. Is that so? Did Joe Biden do and say whatever Obama’s people told him to say? Somehow I doubt it, especially since Biden contradicted Obama a number of times.

I believe this to be irrefutable: That if Sarah Palin’s first two interviews were with Chris Wallace and Greta van Susteren, the election would have been much, much closer. Instead, the McCain campaign forced her into hostile territory with Charlie Gibson, and then again with Katie Couric, all the while attempting to get her caught up on presidential politics in the cram session to end all cram sessions. She definitely was not ready for the kind of ambush journalism practiced by the “mainstream” liberals in the media.

Her first interview wasn’t even that bad, but the always despicable MSM edited the content to make her seem less thoughtful. Then came the Couric disaster, which compounded the notion that Sarah is stupid, Sarah is ignorant, Sarah can’t be elected to national office – and that notion was intentionally promoted by the MSM bastards who did everything they could to destroy her so that they might help their Obamessiah get elected.

Althouse is arguing that Palin should have just shut up and allowed the McCain campaign to doom itself, which is exactly what it did through numerous unbelievably stupid actions. We hear about the alleged stupidity of Sarah Palin; what about the stupidity of John McCain? How freaking stupid do you have to be to suspend your campaign, knowing that if your opponent refuses to suspend his as well, you end up looking like a completely ineffectual fool? I half-heartedly defended McCain’s campaign suspension back when he did it, because what else was I going to do? That idiot was our only hope of stopping Obama from being elected. And some hope he turned out to be!

And then to compound his folly, McCain elected to go have a chat with the media while his campaign was supposed to have been “suspended”, which was the excuse he gave for not going on with David Letterman. What a brilliant move, to make one of the most popular late night talk show hosts in the country angry with you a few months before the election! Naturally Letterman went on to bash McCain relentlessly every night, which I have no doubt cost him thousands and thousands of votes.

We hear from the MSM that Sarah Palin cost the Republican ticket votes. This is the same MSM that fought tooth and nail to destroy her. That is the definition of “chutzpah”. Well, MSM, I have a message for you. On Election Day, 2008, I didn’t vote for John McCain. I voted for Sarah Palin.

I suppose, as one of the first blogs to even suggest Sarah Palin for VP, (Gold star to Dale Light for his post of Feb 18th, 2008) something should be said about her early retirement.

Others will likely say more (or have said enough), but for the record, I’d like to say that she was unfairly savaged by liberals and leftists for being a self-made woman. By berating her without mercy or cause for months in the cruelest savage ways, they have poisoned the waters for future super high profile women candidates.

I’m not exactly sure why, other than perhaps she represents what they could do if they didn’t draw upon themselves the mantle of victimhood, but pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and got to work.

Ok, fine. So let’s move on already.

Strangely someone decided to post her latest polling (44%??) on the corkboard in our coffeeroom.

Not sure why it matters anymore.

But here’s what I posted on top of it, with a little note, “More relevant?”

Yeah, I can be a petty asshole too.

The new post racial era is here! John Fund on today’s WSJ Political Diary (subscribers only)

President Obama’s Justice Department has dropped charges of voter intimidation against the New Black Panther Party and three of its members. They had been accused in a civil complaint by the Bush Justice Department of coercion, threats, intimidation, and hurling racial slurs while at a Philadelphia polling station on Election Day last year. Prosecutors say one of the men brandished a nightstick near the polling-place door.

Bartle Bull, a civil rights lawyer and former campaign manager for Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, said in an affidavit that the behavior he witnessed last year in Philadelphia was “the most blatant form of voter intimidation. They were positioned in a location that forced every voter to pass in close proximity to them. The weapon was openly displayed and brandished in plain sight of voters.”

None of the defendants answered the lawsuit and the Justice Department would have prevailed by default, but the department chose to obtain a default judgment against only a single defendant. It allowed the New Black Panther Party and two other individual defendants to walk away. A spokesman sent me a statement saying that Justice was satisfied that it had obtained “an injunction that prohibits the defendant, who brandished the weapon, from doing so again. Claims were dismissed from the other defendants based on a careful assessment of the facts and the law.”

This is eyepopping stuff. Mr. Bull said two members of the New Black Panther Party were at the polling place he visited. He heard one scream at voters: “Now you will see what it is like to be ruled by the black man, cracker.” Mr. Bull was shocked. He told Fox News that, even having worked as voting rights lawyer in the South in the 1960s: “I have never, ever seen anyone blocking the door to a polling place with a weapon and yelling at people.”

He also said he was told by Christian Adams, the senior Justice lawyer working on the case, that if the Philadelphia example wasn’t a clear case of voter intimidation, nothing would be.

So why did the Obama Justice Department punt? Mr. Bull has no specific knowledge but notes that the original Bush civil complaint had aimed at enjoining all 28 of the New Black Panther Party’s chapters around the country from certain activities. He believes the decision was politically motivated: “They’re protecting the environment of what the party might do. And it’s going to give them a lot more authority in the next election.”

With Justice refusing to provide any further explanation, suspicions are bound to linger. One of the defendants, Jerry Jackson, is an elected member of Philadelphia’s 14th Ward Democratic Committee and was a credentialed poll watcher for the Democratic Party last Election Day. The Obama Justice Department dropped all charges against him.

Hans von Spakovsky, a former official in Justice’s Civil Rights Division under President Bush, told me he was shocked by Justice’s turnaround in the Philadelphia case: “Imagine if the defendants had been white and been intimidating voters and Justice had dropped the case. There would have been a political earthquake.” In the days since Justice’s action, however, there has been little outcry or media notice. A serious danger is that, without more questions being asked, the Obama Justice Department may feel emboldened to look the other way at election law violations it finds politically inconvenient.

Somehow, it seems as though this new “post racial era” is less about equality and more about payback.

I realize that Chris Matthews isn’t running for Senate, but still..

What a dick….

…. it runs in the family.

PA Businessman Meuser : “Reform the GOP”

One in a series of interviews with statewide GOP leaders

By: Chris Freind

Dan Meuser has been active in Republican politics for decades. After an immensely successful career as President of Pride Mobility, a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of power mobility products, Meuser, 44, retired several months ago to dedicate his time, expertise and resources to political and civic endeavors. After watching his Party suffer significant losses in the last two election cycles, Meuser is more determined than ever rebuild the GOP and restore its once-favorable image throughout the Commonwealth. The Bulletin recently sat down with Meuser to discuss the future of the GOP in the Keystone state.

The Bulletin: The Republican Party imploded in the 2006 election, losing control of the US House and Senate, and effectively, the state house. While many Party leaders talked about making changes to get the party back on track, the situation only worsened. What caused the 2006 GOP collapse, and why weren’t the necessary changes made?

Dan Meuser: The platform of the Republican Party is most beneficial to the American people and the future prosperity of our nation. The problem is that we did not effectively communicate our principles to voters, nor did we act upon them while governing as the majority.

We did a terrible job telling the average voter what we were going to do for them and poorly articulated how our policies would affect people’s everyday lives. We must discuss our principles in a manner that clearly shows how they promote job creation and lower health care costs – and how middle-class tax cuts are so beneficial.

A major change that needs to take place is that politicians need to stop saying one thing to get elected, and then voting the opposite way in office.

TB: In 1980, Ronald Reagan chose three Pennsylvanians to be in his cabinet, not just from the same state, but the same COUNTY (Montgomery). In 1994, Pennsylvania was the most Republican state in the nation in terms of elected office holders (Gov., both houses of the state legislature, row offices, both US Senate seats, and a GOP congressional delegation). Now the Democrats have a 1.2 million voter edge in the Keystone State, with a firm grasp on most elected offices in the state. What transpired to make this huge turnaround a reality?

DM: Pennsylvania voters are center-right, and the Republican Party will have the opportunity to gain voters in the near future as long as we do the necessary preparation. The opportunity will come when the extreme liberal agenda of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed surfaces in the new Congress and their definition of change becomes clear to voters.

We need to immediately start organizing our party and reaching out to perspective voters as they turn 18, invite College Republicans to our events and have strong local party leadership. We can work together with the County organizations and committee people to set and exceed voter registration goals.

TB: The GOP has only two statewide Republicans left: Attorney General Tom Corbett, who was one of the few bright spots with a resounding election day win, and Sen. Arlen Specter, who faces re-election in 2010. Some political observers say conservative Republicans can no longer win statewide. Do you agree with this assessment?

DM: Again, conservative principles help both the average working person and family prosper. We need to be specific in our agenda and lay out a plan for helping businesses create jobs, work to increase wages and yes, push for middle class tax cuts, as well as reducing health care and energy costs.

TB: Why didn’t the McCain campaign connect with the people? Should it have distanced itself from the Bush Administration’s policies earlier? What should its consistent theme have been?

DM: The McCain campaign did a poor job of communicating the record of Senator Obama. Independent publications assessed him and concluded that Barack Obama has the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate, yet the McCain campaign let him get away with running as a centrist. I’ll give you one example. Senator Obama voted 94 times to repeal tax cuts and increase taxes as a Senator, yet the exit polls show that voters believed Obama was better on lower taxes. This is because Obama communicated directly with the average voter, and the media did not challenge him or his record.

John McCain had many policy differences with the current administration and he should have been far more pronounced in his articulation of his positions much earlier in the campaign.

TB: A glaring deficiency in the GOP is its lack of a “bullpen”. What needs to happen in the short and long term to groom younger Republicans to lead the party? Do you think the GOP Establishment exhibits an “it’s your turn” mentality in selecting candidates (such as Bob Dole and John McCain) instead of choosing the best qualified people?

DM: The best leaders are often the most reluctant ones. Our Party needs to have an organized effort to reach out to community and business leaders. There should be accountability for Committee Members, County Chairs and elected officials to consistently grow our bullpen.

In hindsight regarding the recent Presidential election, some could argue that Governor Romney would have been much better suited to deal with the economic crisis and potentially could have laid out a more effective plan to help struggling families and fix the economy.

TB: With races for Governor and Senate in 2010, what is your outlook for the near future?

DM: The economy will continue to be the biggest concern in 2010. If we don’t do better articulating our message, we’ll be letting down thousands of families throughout Pennsylvania. If the extreme liberal agenda is left unchecked, such as the elimination of the secret ballot in union elections and increased taxes, Pennsylvania industry will continue to fade and it will be increasingly difficult to attract new business and bring jobs to our area. We need to advocate middle class tax cuts, offer tax credits for any small business that hires a new employee and work to reduce health care costs. These are the things that will help people and our economy recover from tough economic times.

Chris Freind can be reached at CF@TheBulletin.us

Townhall:

On a phone call with me, Pat Toomey, president of the Club for Growth said of Ken Blackwell: “He’d make a great (RNC) Chairman, I’m delighted he’s running, and I hope he wins.”

Toomey also described Blackwell as a “great Free Market economic conservative” and said Blackwell (who serves on the Club’s board of directors) could reach out to new voters into the GOP…

It’d be interesting to know which of the RNC chairman candidates will be in NYC next week for the Pennsylvania Society events.

Boo Frickin Hoo.

Did Sarah Palin snub Oprah Winfrey?

That’s what the most popular daytime talk show host and fervent Barack Obama supporter appeared to suggest in a recent interview with the entertainment show Extra.

“I said I would be happy to talk to Sarah Palin when the election was over… I went and tried to talk to Sarah Palin and instead she talked to Greta [Van Susteren]. She talked to Matt [Lauer]. She talked to Larry [King]. But she didn’t talk to me.”