For the past two weekends on the radio show we have talked about the campaign against Barack Obama and what the GOP plan should be. My position is clear, when you have a solid gold plated liberal record to run against, you focus on that. I have said repeatedly that right wingers who constantly refer to him as “Barack Hussein Obama” are bad news. I even called out the guy that follows us on Sunday night, Bill Cunningham, for doing exactly that. Well, Cunningham has done it again, this time at a McCain rally. Not surprisingly, McCain immediately did the right thing.
I just heard Rush defending Bill Cunningham, saying something along the lines of “what’s wrong with calling him by his real name” and “we can’t even call him a liberal, they don’t like that either” and he went on to talk about liberal speech codes, etc.
Right wing Republicans will get Barack Obama elected. Not because they stayed home, but because they were active in the campaign, employing the tactics of the lowest common denominator. Liberals will huff and say “of course, that’s what they always do”. Excuse me, no it is not.
Look at the other major news of the day, the passing of William F. Buckley. He was the quintessential right wing Republican. Do you ever remember WFB going on Firing Line and using such cheap tactics? Of course not. Buckley was a man of ideas and principle, not cheap shots and insults. Right wing Republicans who claim to have so much respect for WFB would do well to remember who he was and why he became so influencial. It wasn’t by using sophomoric rhetorical tricks.
The most compelling aspect of a McCain general election candidacy is his appeal to moderate Republicans and Democrats and independents. This kind of cheap shot BS will turn those constituencies away from McCain and hand the election to Obama.
Bruce McQuain from QandO joined us for another edition of Someone You Should Know. The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Thanks to Matt, Bruce is now on board and we are lucky to have him as part of the show.
This weekend, Bruce did a follow-up story about Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein.
The Distinguished Service Cross is second only to the Medal of Honor among awards for valor in combat.
Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein received the medal from Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, at the National Guard Association of Kentucky's annual conference on Feb. 17, last year.
Nein originally received the Silver Star Medal for his actions as a squad leader with the 617th Military Police Company during an ambush in Iraq on March 20, 2005, but the award was upgraded, a process culminating with the presentation. You may remember the fight in which his unit, Raven 42, was engaged and in which Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester fought and became the first woman ever to receive the Silver Star for valor.
But the DSC is quite a step above the Silver Star and rewards an incredible level of heroism. It ranks up there with the Navy and Air Force Cross. So, why the upgrade of the award? For those of you who don’t remember the event, let me give you a short review. I think it will become clear afterward.
All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking†by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station
We had an exciting, up and coming candidate for Congress join us on Sunday evening. His name is Kieran Michael Lalor and he is running in the 19th district in NY to unseat the faded pop star John Hall (remember the band Orleans? Me neither!) . You can check out just how liberal Congressman Hall is here.
Kieran is a man of character and integrity with a great personal story that demonstrates a committment to family, community and country. Kieran is the founder of Iraq Veterans for Congress, a group of Republican Iraq war veterans running for Congress.
We’ve heard from several listeners already who wanted to learn more about Kieran and contribute to his campaign. His web site is here and you can make a contribution here.
All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking†by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station
Well, that didn’t take long. Last night on the radio show I actually gave Hillary some credit. I said that she would fight through the Ohio and Texas primaries, but she would not do anything to damage her viability for 2012 and beyond. I said she had more class than her husband (damning with faint praise, I know) and that she would not use a General Sherman scorched earth strategy.
At first glance, it looks like I was wrong on all counts. Here’s Drudge this morning,
With a week to go until the Texas and Ohio primaries, stressed Clinton staffers circulated a photo over the weekend of a “dressed” Barack Obama. The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat frontrunner fitted as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya. The senator was on a five-country tour of Africa.
“Wouldn’t we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?” questioned one campaign staffer, in an email obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT.
In December, the campaign asked one of its volunteer county coordinators in Iowa to step down after the person forwarded an e-mail falsely stating that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
Hillary has to come out today and distance herself from this, doesn’t she? Tired and stressed staffers talking amongst themselves. This isn’t a campaign strategy, but private email, etc.
She should ask if this any worse than Che flags in Obama’s campaign offices?
Otherwise, she’s ok with it, and the next two weeks could get extremely ugly.
UPDATE: Obama slams photo
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accused the Clinton campaign Monday of “shameful offensive fear-mongering” by circulating a photo as an attempted smear.
The silence from Hillary is deafening.
UPDATE II: Hillary’s new hatchet woman, er, campaign chief, Maggie Williams, defends,
If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed.
It’s not often that I agree with a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors, let alone a member of the Green Party, but today is one of those rare occassions. It seems that the city of San Francisco has created a $160,000 a-year job for the urgently needed position of…drumroll please….Director of Climate Protection Initiatives.
The voice of reason, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, the only Green Party member on the Board of Supervisors,
“Although it sounds very well intentioned, and perhaps even necessary, I’m concerned this is a case where eco-chic has gone out of control.”
You think?
SF Chronicle, February 20
Mayor’s climate aide gets $160,000 a year
In his quest to make San Francisco the greenest city in the nation, Mayor Gavin Newsom recently created a $160,000-a-year job for a senior aide and gave him the ambitious-sounding title of director of climate protection initiatives.
One might expect someone with such an exalted handle to solve global warming and save the rain forest all in a day’s work.
But the new climate protection initiatives director is just the latest person to join the city payroll in the name of tackling global climate woes, raising questions about whether environmentalism is becoming the latest excuse for a bloating government payroll.
San Francisco has at least two dozen other city employees already working directly on climate issues at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It’s not like San Francisco is swimming in cash. How can this kind of nonsense can be justified at a time when the city is cutting basic healthcare services? And I thought being a taxpayer in Massachusetts was frustrating.
February 20
Crowd fights health care cuts
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) – With more than $33 million in budget cuts proposed for The City’s Department of Public Health, a crowd packed a City Hall meeting room Tuesday, spilling into the hallway to lobby for local health services and programs on the chopping block. With The City facing a projected $233 million budget deficit for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, Mayor Gavin Newsom asked city departments to cut budgets by 8 percent, as well as identify an additional 5 percent in contingency cuts.
February 20
Coalition Fights Back Against Mayor’s Budget Cuts
“..the Mayor has announced $18 million in mid-year budget cuts. These would eliminate 155 beds at Laguna Honda as well as chronic care nurses, the Workers Comp Clinic at SF General, Busters Place, along with 15 percent in cuts to “community program services.â€
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom endorsed Hillary Clinton for president so I did a litlle Googling and you’ll never guess where the big announcement was made,
Clinton …accepted Newsom’s endorsement on the academy’s unfinished “living roof,” which these days looks like a bumpy mound of dirt dotted with windows and tiny plants. When completed, it will be the biggest “sustainable” roof in the world, supporting 1.7 million plants, including strawberries and California poppies.
Of course it was.
Hat Tip: Megan McArdle, guest blogging at Instapundit
Shouldn’t Barack’s media people prep his surrogates before letting them on TV? Is it too much to ask them to list one legislative accomplishment? It was last night.