Politically correct 'history'

Caitlin Flanagan:

As Avery Island is to Tabasco sauce, so were 1970s Berkeley and San Francisco to white liberal guilt. When I was a fifth-grader in the Berkeley public schools (the first school system in the nation to integrate without a court order), I was taught -- as part of a two-year course in Black History -- that the word picnic had derived from the days of lynching parties, that it stood for "pick a n----" and for the basket lunches that white women would pack for their families to eat while they enjoyed the spectacle. I happened to mention this to one of my parents' academic friends, who sputtered in outrage -- the word had originated from the French verb piquer and had nothing to do with American lynching. But it would not have occurred to her, the mother of two children in the schools, to complain about it. Black History . . . was understood by those white parents who even knew about it . . . to be part of some larger enterprise, some settling of an old debt.

(Hat tip: Lead & Gold.) It is amazing that even etymology could be corrupted by Marxoid nonsense. Anyone could consult an unabridged dictionary to find the origins of "picnic" -- originally piquenique in French -- and yet, apparently, the people who were teaching history in Berkeley schools never thought to do so. To challenge those who were propagating such ignorance, however, would have contradicted the "larger enterprise," and might have incurred accusations of bad faith.

Denver '08: Fear and Loathing?

Hunter S. Thompson's widow, Anita, linked me today at her Owl Farm Blog, noting this Time magazine feature about the 1972 Eagleton debacle, which features a few choice quotes, including this:

Campaign Manager Gary Hart admits: "There were no formal staff meetings, no requests to check people out. I take the blame for not setting up a committee on selection. I should have thought of that."

Heh. Too busy toking up with Warren Beatty, I suppose. Not likely Obama will suffer a similar fate; his staff is mostly a bunch of Starbucks junkies. Large quantities of caffeine can make you a bit jittery and push you into a hypomanic state, if you're prone to that, but you couldn't drink so much coffee as to completely forget to vet the vice-presidential candidates. Or could you?

Anita supported Hillary in the primaries, but is a loyal Democrat, so now she's for Obama. Still, like a lot of Clinton supporters, she has deep doubts about Obama's readiness to face the GOP attack machine. Given the most recent poll results, I'd say those doubts are warranted.

Anita links Cameron Martin's review of Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72, one of the most readable books ever written about politics.

As Martin says:

Next week's Democratic Convention is in Denver, Colorado, just 220 miles from Thompson's former home in Aspen. The creator of Gonzo Journalism won't be there in person, but his addictive spirit will certainly make an appearance.

Just so. Anita will be there with her friend Jeralyn Merritt, and I hope to see them both amid the anarchy in Denver next week. "A Mile High and an Inch Deep."

Just like she likes it

Drill deep until you hit a gusher. Little Miss Atilla says, Drill Here, Drill Now, and I'll Still Respect You in the Morning.

'A Mile High and an Inch Deep'

That's the slogan the GOP has slapped on this year's Democratic convention in Denver:

Two dozen staffers of the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee will head west this weekend to combat the media coverage the nomination of Barack Obama will draw. The slogan for their opponents: Not Ready '08. . . .
"This is an effort to get beyond the glitz and celebrity of Barack Obama's convention and talk about the reality of his record," said Matt McDonald, the McCain campaign's senior adviser in charge of the Denver efforts.
Former McCain opponents Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, along with Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and a host of others, will be in Denver working with the staff in a two-story office within walking distance of the convention site.

Meanwhile, VodkaPundit will be getting the scoop at Shotgun Willie's.

McCain 'closing the gap'?

Newsweek's Andrew Romano:

Right now, much of the political world is obsessing over a series of new polls indicating that the gap between Barack Obama and John McCain is shrinking.

WSJ's Laura Meckler:

Sen. John McCain has all but closed the gap with Sen. Barack Obama, underscoring how international crises -- and some well-placed negative ads -- have boosted the prospects of the Republican presidential candidate.

In fact, if you look at all the recent poll data, McCain hasn't just "closed the gap," he's probably pulled ahead.

Look at yesterday's Gallup daily tracking poll: Obama 45%, McCain 43%. Remember, the Gallup daily poll surveys registered voters, not likely voters. Go back a month ago, and you'll see that when Gallup looked at only likely voters for a USA Today poll, the result was McCain 49%, Obama 45% -- at a time when the Gallup daily (registered voters) poll showed Obama leading by 8 points.

So if Gallup's daily numbers show McCain slightly trailing among registered voters, we should expect McCain actually to be ahead with likely voters -- which is what we see in both the Zogby and Battleground polls.

Barack and the Bible

My sister-in-law sent this to my wife, who sent it to me:



The video above is produced by a 527 group called PhForAmerica. This is the full passage of the speech, from Obama's own Senate Web site:

Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our bibles. Folks haven't been reading their bibles.

Many evangelical Christians have read the Bible cover to cover, and have studied its most important passages extensively in Sunday schools and Bible study classes. Many self-taught fundamentalist laymen can cite chapter and verse all day long. These people would be deeply offended by a politician lecturing them that "Folks haven't been reading their bibles."

UPDATE: Linked at AOSHQ Headlines. Thanks.

Bounce?

Larry Sabato has a chart noting that in 1972 and 2004, Democrats receive zero bounce from their conventions. The way things are going for Obama lately, he'll lose 5 points in Denver.

Pray for anarchy.

NBC/WSJ: OBAMA 45%, McCAIN 42%

Within the margin of error:

"Whatever momentum that Obama took into the summer, he really appears to have lost it," says Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart. "It is not a dead heat, but it is close." . . .
Obama . . . receives the support of just one in two voters who backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries. . . .

Yadda, yadda. Experts telling us what to think. Welcome to New Media. Just go to the numbers and draw your own conclusions. Here's Allah:

The X factor appears to be Hillary nuts, so devoted to their own cult that they can't quite bring themselves to join the Messiah's. In fact, she leads McCain by six in a hypothetical match-up, twice the margin Obama enjoys. . . . So diehard are her fans, in fact, that she’s had to put together a "whip team" to make sure they don’t do anything nutty to embarrass Barry O at the convention.

Thanks, Allah, for evoking the mental image of Hillary and her "whip team." Brain bleach, anyone?

UPDATE: What is this, National Everybody Release a Poll Day? CBS/NYTimes poll also has it at Obama 45%, McCain 42%.

UPDATE II: And yet another national poll, this one the highly respected bipartisan Battleground Poll, which shows McCain 47%, Obama 46%.

Nudist investment opportunity

This thing just showed up as spam in my inbox the other day:

Cambium is a unique environment in the tropical Caribbean where just such a life is possible. Nearly three square miles of beautiful, lush countryside are to be set aside as a naturist paradise where individuals and families can live in peace amongst like-minded people all year round or as and when the timing suits them. . . .
The site is being specifically created for holistic living with a strong emphasis on living in harmony with Nature. The wearing of clothes is not required at any time or in any place within the territory, which greatly enhances the feeling of freedom and oneness with nature. . . .
Cambium is located in the Dominican Republic (DR). If you can live comfortably on £1,100 per month in the UK after tax, then you should be able to live equally comfortably in the DR for £380 per month, once you have bought your property.

I have no reason to suspect that this is a complete scam, but that's exactly what I suspect, anyway. Even if it were a perfectly legitimate investment, however, I'm thinking your average "naturist" looks nothing at all like the two hotties strolling under the palms in the photo at their Web site. Caveat emptor.

Obligatory

Via Hot Air.

D Minus-5

Five days from now, I'll be in Denver, perhaps rolling into VodkaPundit's place about 2 a.m. Monday. I'm sure he's having a grand time trying to explain this to Mrs. VodkaPundit: "But honey, he's a professional journalist . . ."

There will be many important stories to cover during the Democratic National Convention. Not all of these stories will involve large expense tabs at Shotgun Willie's, although my sources in Denver say that fine establishment is where many delegates and Obama campaign operatives plan to spend most of the week.

"Unofficial HQ," as Barack and his hard-partying crew from Chicago say and, hey, when you're raising $50 million a month, why not? The taco plate's only $9.25, and it's a perfectly legitimate campaign expense: Community outreach.

In between mingling with the political insiders at Shotgun Willie's, we'll also be covering the street carnival of clueless morons dangerous radicals progressive activists engaged in futile gestures pseudo-political wanking constitutionally-protected dissent on the streets of Denver.

Of course, we will also cover the intolerable snoozefest endless demagoguery exciting developments at the convention itself.

This should be one of the most important political events of our lifetime, and we'll be right there at the platform debate the major speeches Shotgun Willie's.

Trust me. I'm a professional, remember?

UPDATE: Badger Blog Alliance:

There is no problem so great it cannot be solved through brute strength and ignorance. And maybe Photoshop.

Indeed. Ruhypnol can also come in handy.

Josh Marshall smears Obama

Liberal blogger on Obama: "silly and weak and achieves nothing." Maybe someone with dog-whistle hearing can decode this for us.

'With the best intentions'

"Even within families with the best intentions, race can intrude in ugly ways. We can't escape ... this historical legacy that this country's created."
-- Barack Obama, 1995

There's probably some kind of profound essay I should write about this, but between the "dog whistle" smears and everything else, I just don't feel like it right now.

What Obama is dealing with here, in his ultra-sincere bien pensant manner, is the nature of identity in a multiethnic society. At some level, we cannot escape who we are -- the subtitle of his book, after all, is "A Story of Race and Inheritance."

Non-Obamamaniacs, I think, will focus on his contextualization of his own identity within "historical legacy that this country's created." What, exactly, does he mean by this? Any conservative, hearing a liberal speak that phrase in such a context -- essentially smearing his own grandmother as a bigot -- automatically senses a classic anti-American sentiment, the idea that racism is something invented by America, a sin of which America is uniquely guilty.

That Obama seemed so drawn toward his Kenyan father, who had abandoned him, and so indifferent to the American family who raised him, is the kind of puzzle that would tempt an armchair psychologist. But as I said, I'm weary of the whole subject, and merely note a few points on the graph, perhaps for future reference.

Please feel free to comment. By the way, there are two other segments of that 1995 interview online: Part 2 and Part 3.

BAYH?

Unless this is one final head-fake, it looks like Obama's picking Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh as his running mate.

Impressive: A Sister Souljah move, dissing the "progressive netroots community"? As Allahpundit notes:

The nutroots threw a tantrum last week over Bayh being on the shortlist, with lefty blogger Steve Clemons claiming a few days ago that he’d been summarily dropped by the campaign in response. It’s worth hoping this rumor’s true just to hear them squeal.

Yeah, and watch the PUMAs burn when St. Hopey disses Hillary by picking some vanilla-bland Midwest corporate white dude. Anarchy in Denver!

Giuliani slams Obama adviser

UPDATE III: Ed Morrissey asks if the concern about lobbyists working on campaigns is "overblown," and Rudy Giuliani mostly agrees, saying, "The focus should be on whether this is disclosed to the American people."

Earlier, Townhall's Matt Lewis got shot down when he tried to ask about McCain's VP pick.

UPDATE II: A left-wing reporter just tried to play "gotcha" with Giuliani and McCain advisor Randy Scheunemann, accusing them of conflicts of interest. Scheunemann points out that his past lobbying activities have been fully disclosed under law, which is not the case with the Obama adviser who reportedly met with Syrian officials in Damascus.

UPDATE: Referring to this story about an Obama advisor who met with Syria's dictatorship, Rudy Giuliani says Americans are "entitled to a president who understands how to conduct foreign policy," speaking in a McCain campaign conference call.

Noting that the Obama campaign has over 300 foreign-policy advisers, Giuliani says, "I think the American people are entitled to know what the other 300 advisers are doing."

More updates to come ....

PREVIOUSLY: I'm on hold waiting for this:

U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign will hold a press conference call with former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani and Randy Scheunemann, McCain 2008 Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to discuss reports that an Obama campaign Middle East adviser was recently in Damascus for meetings with Syrian officials.

Will update. While you wait, enjoy some photos of Kate Beckinsale in an orange bikini (hat tip: Conservative Grapevine.)

'Wise guys and gals'

Joe Gandelman at the Moderate Voice has a nice roundup of reaction to the emergent anti-Obama trend, including this from MSNBC's blog:

Nevertheless, there is no longer this widespread belief among the wise guys and gals of both parties that we're all just sitting around waiting for this race to break in Obama's direction.

By "wise guys and gals" the MSNBC crew actually means "all our sources and press-corps buddies." This is exactly the point in today's article about "the conventional wisdom among the political press that Obama is a sure thing to win in November."

Team Obama has worked very hard to create the impression among political reporters that their guy is unbeatable. This spin was easy to sell to reporters who spent a year covering the Democratic primary, where Hope triumphed so spectacularly over Hillary. A general election is not a primary, however, and as I explained last month, the rookie is up against big-league pitching now.

Now, Team Obama has another problem of their own making: Liberal reporters who've felt they'd climbed aboard a winning bandwagon will now feel that they've been misled, and produce a steady stream of "what went wrong" stories.

(Cross-posted at AmSpecBlog.)

Always pray during takeoff

Always. If you know anything about air travel, you should know that the greatest danger is from V1 (takeoff velocity) until the plane reaches cruising altitude. The fuel tanks are full, the engines are at full power, and once you hit V2 (safety speed) and rotate (lift off), anything that goes wrong is a potential killer.

And here's the thing: If your plane is going to crash because one of those (usually unavoidable) mechanical malfunctions, you were dead the moment you got on the plane.

You need to order The Black Box and read it while you're waiting for your next flight. Always pray during takeoff.

Obama: 'Way too Harvard'

So says Derek Shearer in Thomas Edsall's latest HuffPo column, which includes other tasty quotes:

Democratic lobbyist Lawrence F. Obrien, III said: "People like to say he is a black Jack Kennedy. Fine, up to a point. Kennedy was smart, elegant, very well spoken, slim, handsome -- but, he also was Irish. Sharp, quick and abundant sense of humor, able to make contact with people."
"Obama's fundamental problem with voters is that he sometimes comes across as an elitist who talks down to them, dismissing their worries and telling them what they really should be concerned about. Voters don't like being addressed in this manner," said Emory political scientist Merle Black, an expert on the Republican realignment of the South.
Ron Kaufman, former political aide to George H. W. Bush, acknowledged that Obama clearly connects with a ton of folks, but so did almost-President Howard Dean. The polls continue to say that this is tied. Obama should be 15-20 points ahead. The fact that he is not should worry them . . . . I honestly believe Obama may have a glass jaw."

Read the whole thing.

Enquirer: Rielle and Edwards' Love Child

At a supermarket near you:

(Via Hot Air) Love that blurb: "He begged her NOT to abort the baby." Seems Edwards is a closet pro-lifer. Who knew?

ZOGBY: McCAIN 46%, OBAMA 41%

A dramatic reversal:

Republican John McCain has taken a five-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama in the race for President, the latest Reuters/Zogby telephone survey shows.McCain leads Obama by a 46% to 41% margin. . . .
This latest Reuters/Zogby poll is a dramatic reversal from the identical survey taken last month -- in the July 9-13 Reuters/Zogby survey, Obama led McCain, 47% to 40%.

This is surprising, even to me.

UPDATE: We'll have the latest Rasmussen numbers at 9:30, meanwhile remember that yesterday the RCP map showed McCain leading in the Electoral College count for the first time, and that the Intrade trend shows a 15-point trend toward McCain since mid-July.

Ed Morrissey notes that the Zogby poll shows likely voters, rather than registered voters (Gallup and LA Times/Bloomberg), and says:

Obama is in a free-fall. McCain got to the heart of the question about Obama, and especially after the crisis in Georgia, he has voters wondering whether Obama is up to the task of running the presidency as his first executive job in politics.

The shift began during the Europe trip, when Team Maverick went on the attack on drilling, then unleashed the "celebrity" message -- and kept repeating it, even after Team Obama screamed "racism."

And let me remind Allah of his prophecy: "Let Obama’s numbers drop another three or four points and we’ll see how they feel about negative ads then."

UPDATE II: JWF prophesies:

One can only imagine the panic gripping Team Obama this morning. Of course, this will give Obama a perfect excuse (with a free pass from the Obamedia) to go after McCain on a personal level, which will only do more damage to him.
Expect a full-fledged freakout from the nutroots as well.

You think the nutroots are going to freak? What about the PUMAs? They'll be ready to riot in Denver.

UPDATE III: Rasmussen: Obama 47%, McCain 46%.

UPDATE IV: Instapundit: "It's not too late to nominate Hillary! She'll even seem like a fresh face after all the Obama overexposure."

UPDATE V: John Cole whistles past the graveyard. Meanwhile, St. Hopey's half-brother has been found . . . living in a shanty in Kenya. The Audacity of Oppo Research.