Clipmarks | merrie's Comments

Reaction To Announcement on Governor Palin

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:49:22 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: The campaign has been busily preparing TV commercials to run against Mitt Romney — with aides gleefully watching hours of footage of Romney-McCain exchanges from the primary — but far little opposition research had been prepared about the Alaska governor. And aides said no commercials were ready to be immediately released, which the McCain campaign did when Mr. Biden was chosen.”

There’s more at the link, including that the Obama campaign had to delay its campaign flight for more Palin prep and, as a result, McCain-Palin got a half-day of uninterrupted media time.

The Obama campaign was not prepared for the Palin announcement, a choice that was unexpected but not totally off the radar. That’s not good in politics but it’s very discouraging in governing. In fact, it makes the Obama campaign sound as clueless as it often describes the Bush Administration.

Clip Source: patterico.com

The Obama campaign was critical of McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin — she’s too inexperienced and not ready to be a “heartbeat away” from the Presidency — followed quickly by Obama’s statement that his staff was too critical. This clearly isn’t what the Obama campaign thought they would be talking about the day after his acceptance speech.

And now the New York Times’ Caucus blog has this amazing information on why the Obama campaign had a mixed message:

“11:40 a.m. | Obama Reaction: The Times’s Jeff Zeleny has the following dispatch:

The Obama campaign had no immediate response to reports that Senator John McCain has selected the little-known Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, as his running-mate. Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Biden talked to reporters, but Mr. Biden could be seen wearing a wide smile in the front cabin of the plane.

Ms. Palin came as a surprise not only to many Republicans and journalists, but also to the Obama team.

Tags: gov sarah palin, mccain's vp choice, nytimes' caucus blog

Gov. Sarah Palin: On The Issues

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:06:27 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: New Alaska Governor Is Strong Conservative
Economy: She supports reducing property taxes and taxes for small businesses to grow the economy.
Climate: However, she has been a vocal critic of scientists who suggest that climate change is leading to the decrease in polar bears in Alaska. She has also threatened to sue to have polar bears not listed as a threatened species.
Immigration: Being that her state only borders Canada and is thousands of miles from the Mexican border, Palin has not often expressed her views publicly on illegal immigration.
Health Care: According to her campaign Web site, Palin supports flexibility in government regulations that allow competition in health care. She believes it will drive down health care costs and reduce the need for government subsidies. Palin also feels patients should have access to full medical billing information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXzY1FvYpnE YouTube: 10:19

Clip Source: www.kcra.com

With the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Sen. John McCain has extended an olive branch to the far right wing of his party.

The 44-year-old mother of five, who has only been governor for two years, has a conservative track record on both social and fiscal issues.

Abortion: Palin is outspokenly pro-life.

Marriage: Palin opposes same-sex marriage and stated on her campaign web site that she believes “marriage should only be between a man and a woman.”

Climate: Upon being elected governor of Alaska, she created a sub-cabinet on climate change

Guns: Palin is a lifetime member of the NRA. On her Web site, she wrote that she supports “our Constitutional right to bear arms and am a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska's youth.”

Iraq: Palin is generally supportive of America’s presence in Iraq, her 18-year-old son Track Palin is in the Army and is slotted to go to Iraq in September. Palin has also visited members of the Alaska National Guard in Kuwait.

Tags: gov. palin, social & fiscal conservative, abortion, marriage, guns iraq, economy, climate, health care, immigration

Netflix for terrorists

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:06:05 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: gatewaypundit.blogspot.com

Jason Mattera from Young America's Foundation is in Denver this week and posting video from the streets of Denver.

Yesterday he put on his orange jumpsuit to petition DNC protesters in support of Netflix and MSNBC (and Jihad Olympics!) for the poor, deprived Gitmo detainees. The part in the Amnesty International travelling Gitmo cell was terrific.
They were all for it:

[Video]

Too much. HotAir has more clips from Jason's day as a Gitmo detainee.

The People's Press Collective assisted Jason during his stay here in Denver.

Also, The Peoples Press Collective covered the illegal immigration protest and have several videos from earlier today.

While several of the protesters were supporting open borders others had their own agenda.

Tags: guantanamo, terrorists, dnc, convention, netflix, politics, funny

Waiting For McCain's Announcement on VP Pick

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:01:13 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Will McCain's VP Pick be Governor Sarah Palin?

Clip Source: www.drudgereport.com

Clip Source: apnews.myway.com

DENVER (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain decided on a running mate early Thursday, and top prospects waited to hear from the nominee-in-waiting.

Tags: mccain, vp pick

Joe Biden, Friend of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:30:26 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: And the IRGC and its Quds Force were both designated “supporters of terrorism” in October 2007. Though the latter two designations would not have been so had Biden had his way.

And most importantly – for the sake of sanctions and the unequivocal denial of any form of support to terrorists and terrorist supporters – the amendment said, “the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization … and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”

The text of the amendment included Congressional testimony from then-commander of Multi-National-Force Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, who said, “Iran, through the use of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps Quds Force, seeks to turn the Shiia militia extremists into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq.”

Clip Source: www.familysecuritymatters.org

Sen. Joe Biden – Barack Obama’s eagerly anticipated running mate – should be named an honorary soldier in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). We’re all familiar with the IRGC: Iran’s unique corps of Islamist fighters who have been directly involved in deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq – even Afghanistan – threatening our ships in the Persian Gulf; and organizing, training, equipping, funding, and providing direct operational support to Lebanon-based Hezbollah (perhaps the most dangerous terrorist army on earth). And that’s just for starters.

Also known as the Pasdaran, the IRGC is not Iran’s conventional territorial armed force, but the military force of the Khomeinist-inspired Islamic Revolution. The organization fields an army, a navy, and an air force, as well as an extranational special-operations force known as the Quds (Jerusalem) Force.

Iran, of course, is a “state sponsor of terrorism,” so-designated by the U.S. State Department back in 1984.

Tags: joe biden, iran's islamic revolutionary guard corpps, ouds force, state sponsor of terrorism, state department, gen. david petraeus, amb. ryan crocker

Congratulations Senator Obama

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:15:14 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: obama, mccain, election, campaign, politics

A pop limit

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:47:45 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners
clipper's remarks: I got this after about 15 pops in about 5-10 minutes. Is this new, because i have never run into it before? If so, I don't think I like it.

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

Hold your pops

To try to maintain balance on the Clipmarks site, there are some limits on the number of clips each user can pop within certain time periods.

You will be able to pop again in 52 minutes.

Tags: clipmarks, pop, limit

The Price of Putin

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:33:19 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: when Russia defaulted, and the amount of cash leaving the country in the second week of August was the highest on record.

Russia's central bank, which reported the $16.5 billion decline last week, still reckons to have $581 billion in reserves, money being stored away when the oil runs out and the gas flow starts to falter. This may come somewhat sooner than many think.

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin spoke after the Cabinet approved the draft federal budget for the next three years, which assumes that Russia's main oil blend, Urals, will sell for at least $95 a barrel. (Russian government's own budget estimates, oil is expected to drop to $90 in 2010 and $88 in 2011.)

At current rates of extraction combined with rising national consumption, Russia's known oil reserves will start to run out in the 2020s, and a lack of investment in maintenance and development means the two main gas fields expected to maintain Russia's export income are falling ominously behind schedule.

Clip Source: www.metimes.com

But there are intriguing signs in Russia that those whose jobs and markets and investments are most integrated with Europe and the global economy are starting to count the cost of Vladimir Putin

Russian officials have sought to explain away the $16.4 billion outflow in foreign reserves in the week of the invasion of Georgia and also the 32 percent drop in Moscow's stock market since Putin began expressing his displeasure with the Mechel coal group in May. Mechel shares alone lost $8 billion after Putin's first remarks.

But Russian debt and equity markets also have gone into decline since the conflict with Georgia began Aug. 8, with yields on domestic ruble bonds increasing by up to 150 basis points over the last month. That is the equivalent of a 1.5-point jump in interest rates, the kind of panic measure that few central banks would risk taking except in extreme circumstances.

The pace of capital flight from Russia has been the highest since the 1998 collapse of the ruble,

Tags: putin, georgia, 32% drop in moscow's stock market, decline in debt/equity markets, capital flight

Barakopolis

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:55:59 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.nypost.com

Democrats will kneel before the "Temple of Obama" tonight.

As if a Rocky Mountain coronation were not lofty enough, Barack Obama will aim for Mount Olympus when he accepts his party's nomination atop an enormous, Greek-columned stage - built by the same cheesy set team that put together Britney Spears' last tour.

Some Republicans have dubbed it the "Barackopolis," while others suggested the delegates should wear togas

It's only appropriate that Barack Obama would descend down from the heavens and spend a little time with us mere mortals

Temple of Obama

We would have expected to read something like this in The Onion. Fortunately for us, it's true. Unfortunately for Obama, it's true

"We've done Britney's sets and a whole bunch of rock shows, but this was far more elaborate and complicated and we had to do it in far less time,"

Asked who is harder to sat isfy - the Democrats or Britney - Allen replied: "I better not answer that."

Tags: obama, democrats, election, campaign, convention, politics

On generosity

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:18:57 GMT

clipped by: bignosemousie

Clip Source: thinkexist.com

“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

Mitch Albom quotes

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”

Albert Pike quotes

“Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

Buddha quotes

Clip Source: thinkexist.com

“The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.”

Albert Einstein quotes

“Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quotes

Redneck Limo

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:06:24 GMT

clipped by: sparlingphoto

Clip Source: boortz.com

Tags: humor

Get To Know Tim Pawlenty

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:24:37 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners
clipper's remarks: Speculation is that he's the man for McCain. Looks to be a solid but not very exciting pick. He does have more experience that Obama, and would be the only candidate in the race that isn't a US senator and who has executive experience.

From what I can tell, this guy would help more than hurt McCain, but I don't think he would have a major impact either way right away. Looks like he would be a safe pick that could put Minnesota into play, but not an exciting pick like Alaska's Sarah Palin or Oklahoma's Dr. No Tom Coburn or even Joe Lieberman (not that I think he would be a good pick, but he would be exciting).

Clip Source: www.redstate.com

Governor Pawlenty grew up in South St. Paul, Minnesota. The only child in his family to graduate from college, he attended the University of Minnesota (B.A., J.D.) and practiced law in the private sector. His public service career includes serving as a city councilmember and ten-year member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, including four years as House Majority Leader.

As Governor, he has balanced Minnesota's budget three times without raising taxes

accomplishments include

new benefits for veterans and members of the military

a property tax cap

eliminating the marriage penalty and cutting taxes

toughening the state's education standards

reforming the way teachers are paid through a nation-leading performance pay plan

free-market health care reforms that increase accountability and provide tax credits to encourage the use of health savings accounts

a plan to Americanize our energy sources by generating 25% of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2025

Tags: mccain, pawlenty, minnesota, politics

Barack Obama: Leap of Faith

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:51:39 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: but because they're confused about the roots of his politics.

Sen. Obama accumulated his victorious lead early with a liberal coalition willing to vote for him mainly for reasons of faith – upper-middle-class whites, black voters and young idealists -- all attempting to complete the civil-rights promise, answer the post-partisan appeal, or vote against the war and George Bush.

His coalition's limitations hit the wall in Ohio. Here Sen. Clinton discovered her Rosie-the-Riveter persona, and it worked. I watched her sell bread-and-butter policy before blue-collar crowds in Youngstown, Akron and Cleveland. She was tremendously good at it. He just wasn't. The Sunday before the Ohio vote, Sen. Obama abandoned Ohio. The way Hillary won in these crucial November swing states may have fatally damaged his candidacy.

His problem is that there is nothing in it (biography) to suggest he has spent any significant time thinking about these people other than as a political abstraction.

Clip Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

The U.S. presidency is a political office, and nearly all nominees for it had a record in politics to offer a basis for shaping a view of how they might conduct the nation's highest office.

By this most traditional of measures, the Obama candidacy is a leap of faith.

A New York Times article on his years at Harvard Law, where he was editor of the law review, said, "In dozens of interviews, his friends said they could not remember his specific views from that era, beyond a general emphasis on diversity and social and economic justice." A similar piece on his years teaching at the University of Chicago Law School said he notably did not participate in its intellectual debates.

Yet amid a universally described lack of clarity about Sen. Obama's experience and core political beliefs, it is now being said that if the people in blue-collar counties don't vote for him, they, and their nation, remain racist.

This is false. If they don't vote for Barack Obama, it won't be over his personal roots,

Tags: obama, political beliefs, experience, diversity, social/economic justice,

Beyond Priceless

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:35:59 GMT

clipped by: The REAL Napster
clipper's remarks: heh... not a very smart move when cops are everywhere

Clip Source: s395.photobucket.com

Tags: mccain08, democrats, oops

Only Rhetorical Extravagance by George Will

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:20:05 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Obama thinks government is not getting a "reasonable share" of oil companies' profits, which in 2007 were, as a percentage of revenues (8.3 percent), below those of U.S. manufacturing generally (8.9 percent). Exxon Mobil pays almost as much in corporate taxes to various governments as the bottom 50 percent of American earners pay in income taxes. Exxon Mobil does make $1,400 a second in profits -- hear the sharp intakes of breath from liberals with pursed lips -- but pays $4,000 a second in taxes and $15,000 a second in operating costs.

Obama's rhetorical extravagances are inversely proportional to his details, as when he promises "nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy" in order to "end the age of oil." The diminished enthusiasm of some voters hitherto receptive to his appeals might have something to do with the seepage of reality from his rhetoric.

Clip Source: townhall.com

One more inspirational oration, one general enough to please Berliners or even his fellow "citizens of the world," will confirm Pascal's point that "continuous eloquence wearies." That is so because it is not really eloquent.

But the fact that Obama lost nine of the final 14 primaries might have something to do with the fact that when he descends from the ether to practicalities, he reprises liberalism's most shopworn nostrums.

Russia, a third-world nation with first-world missiles, is rampant; Iran is developing a missile inventory capable of delivering nuclear weapons the development of which will not be halted by Obama's promised "aggressive personal diplomacy." Yet Obama has vowed to "cut investments in unproven missile defense systems." Steamboats, railroads, airplanes and vaccines were "unproven" until farsighted people made investments.

George McGovern's 1972 "Demogrant" notion, Obama promises a $1,000 check for every family, financed by a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies.

Tags: obama, rhetoric, liberalism's nostrums, russia, iran's missile inventory, "windfall profits" tax on oil companies, "transform our economy"