Thank you, Bush 41!

Oh, sweet mother of ironies:

First Lady Michelle Obama is kicking off a White House push to underscore the importance of volunteerism in San Francisco on Monday -- a move that will have political figures here elbowing each other to get in the frame with her.
But step aside, folks, it's California First Lady Maria Shriver who snags that honor before all. . . .

(Editor's note: Remember how all those celebrities in California strove to "get in the frame with" Laura Bush? . . . Hello? Is this thing on?)

Then, Michelle Obama delivers the keynote at Moscone Center, before the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service. That meeting, hosted by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Points of Light Institute . . .

Ah, the "thousand points of light" hailed by President George H.W. Bush as he celebrated that "kinder, gentler America" which he handed on a silver platter to Bill Clinton four years later and which his son delivered, gift-wrapped with a festive bow of "compassionate conservatism," to the Obamas. (Read My Lips: No More Bushes!)

Michelle Malkin links this S.F. Chronicle story to point to an angle that interests me very much:

Guess where the First Lady will be on Monday?
Why, she’ll be delivering the keynote address at the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service in San Francisco.
And who is co-sponsoring the conference?
Why, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)!
Yes, that’s the same CNCS that is the parent organization of AmeriCorps.
It’s the same CNCS that last year suspended Sacramento mayor/Obama crony Kevin Johnson from receiving federal funds after then-inspector general Gerald Walpin blew the whistle on massive fraud and abuse of AmeriCorps dollars for personal and political gain. . . .

If you haven't read the whole thing (including The Other Michelle's California itinerary), then most certainly you should read the whole thing. However . . .

When you come back from reading the whole thing, let's talk about something very important: The reason Barack Obama is president is because the people in charge of the Republican Party are stupid. And I'm not talking about SAT scores. I'm talking about the kind of stupid that thinks:

• Republicans can win by trying to beat liberals at the "compassion"/"social justice" schtick;
• Republicans can create government programs that won't be taken over and subverted to expand the Democratic Party the next time Democrats win an election; and
• Republicans who think it's a good idea to nominate a short, bald, grumpy 72-year-old for president.

Perhaps you fall into one of those three categories, in which case, you should never look into a mirror without seeing a face blushed with shame for having elected Obama president. Had the Republican Party stuck to its knitting, The Other Michelle would not be first lady, but because of "compassion" and Crazy Cousin John . . . On Super Tuesday 2008, somebody wrote this:

McCain is not a conservative, he will lose in November . . .

And the same person wrote this:

John McCain lost the election Sept. 24 and Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Nothing that is likely to happen between now and Nov. 4 can change this outcome.

Really, shouldn't being right count for something?

But it doesn't count for . . . well, it doesn't count for much. Why is this? Because the stupid people who run the GOP (are you listening, John Cornyn?) invariably heed the voices of The Republicans Who Really Matter.

Someone recently called attention to the fact that a certain writer is "enthralled with the leftosphere's 'association with academia,'" like Professor Glenn Reynolds is chopped liver and Professor William Jacobson is a side order of fries. Attention was called to this backhanded insult to conservative academic bloggers by the pickle on the lunch plate, Professor Donald Douglas, observing that the bearer of insults "argues like a lefty." Gee, ya think so?

Some of you might have noticed that there was actual news today, while some of us were distracted by other matters. I'm tired of being distracted. Remind me one of these days to write an essay entitled, "Exhaustion Has Consequences." Think Small.

BTW, I just had to borrow Ed's troll-hammer and delete a couple of comments on a thread. Use your own bandwidth, Anonymous. You've abused my hospitality once too often. Also, sensei Moe Lane points out that he's got some practical tips on blogging to offer.

There is a saying revered among the sensei: Thou shalt not suffer a troll to waste thy bandwidth. Few are the sensei, and many are their sayings.

Anything else? Yes. Little Miss Attila. More sensei wisdom: When in doubt, link Little Miss Attila.

UPDATE: Daley Gator is praying for me. TrogloPundit is moved to pity. Trog, you know who you should pity? The Wisconsinian with whom you partied in Minneapolis last August.

When I was driving down to D.C. on Thursday, I was so furious I was ready to dismantle that boy. Fortunately, I restrained my wrath, and he bought me a cup of coffee. Then I spotted a sign next to an elevator that directed me to the office to which your friend should have taken me immediately upon my arrival.

The most valuable qualities in journalism are aggression and resourcefulness. When other reporters are eating your lunch and your sources aren't answering their phones, you get angry. You are being paid to get the story, and if you aren't getting the story, you're cheating your employer out of a paycheck.

Faced with the alternative of becoming a worthless laughingstock, you get in your car and start driving with one idea in mind: Finding that son of a bitch who stands between you and your story.

Well, Trog, on Thursday, your buddy was that son of a bitch. Ask Mrs. Other McCain what kind of mad Celtic fury had gripped my soul when I left the house that afternoon. Ask Rick Moran what sort of bloody imprecations I was shouting into my cell-phone as I blazed down the freeway at 90 mph en route to what, for all I knew at the time, was going to be a fruitless run-around by the son of a bitch who wasn't returning my calls.

Trust me. I was going to leave Washington with the story, or else I was going to become the story. Maybe the story was going to be my obituary, but . . .

Anyway, when I have to drive 70 miles, pay $9 to park and walk three blocks because you didn't answer your phone, don't expect me to be in a pleasant mood when I arrive. And I'm prepared to make that trip again, if necessary.