Pundette Schools Christopher Buckley

Why were so many intellectuals such chumps for Change?

Former fan Christopher Buckley isn’t feeling the thrill anymore, either. The first-class temperament and impressive writing talents never panned out . . .
Mr. Buckley probably cringes at the sound of their names, but Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber read Obama like a book. They were exactly right and Buckley was as wrong as he could be. Writing some mediocre satire will not make things right. It’s just . . . annoying.

Maybe David Brooks can explain how he and Chris were fooled by Obama’s superbly pressed pants creases.

VIDEO: Judge Napolitano on ‘TurboTax’ Geithner and the AIG Scandal

Wow. I knew the Judge leaned libertarian — NTTAWWT — but I didn’t realize how hard-core he was until I saw that video. Lew Rockwell? Dude. A very interesting way to debunk that “neoconservative” smear against Fox News, eh?

Giethner and TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky will testify on Capitol Hill today. Bush’s Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson will cover for Geithner, who in turn will deny everything:

In prepared testimony released by a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Geithner also said that government was still exposed to the risk of substantial losses on AIG investments and was unlikely to fully recover all of its investments in the insurer.
“I had no role in making decisions regarding what to disclose about the specific financial terms of Maiden Lane II and Maiden Lane III and payments to AIG counterparties,” Geithner said in testimony sent to the panel for a hearing on Wednesday.

Yeah. The Obama administration’s all about accountability and transparency. They’re also about plausible deniability and blaming everything on Bush.

1/27/10: MONEY-BOMB!

Adam Andrzejewski, Republican for Illinois governor, is having an online money-bomb fundraiser now through midnight, aiming to raise $24,000 in 24 hours. Andrzejewski is endorsed by Cold War hero Lech Walesa.

CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE

UPDATE: The campaign just announced that actor and pro-life activist Eduardo Verástegui — producer of the award-winning film Bella — has endorsed Andrzejewski:

“I am endorsing Adam Andrzejewski for Illinois Governor because of his commitment to end abortion and support traditional family values. Adam clearly understands that as the chief executive of a state, a governor can play a key role in ending the national nightmare of abortion, one that in recent years has disproportionately targeted the Hispanic community.”

Read the rest.

Is That 44 Geckos in Your Pants, Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

You can’t make this up:

A German reptile collector has been jailed for 14 weeks and must pay a 5,000 New Zealand dollar ($3,540) fine for plundering New Zealand’s wild gecko and skink populations, a judge has ruled.
Hans Kurt Kubus, 58, is to be deported to Germany as soon as he is released from prison, Judge Colin Doherty ordered Tuesday.
Kubus was caught by wildlife officials at Christchurch International Airport on South Island in December, about to board an overseas flight with 44 geckos and skinks in a hand-sewn package concealed in his underwear.

Lizards. In his pants. Insert Charles Johnson joke here.

(Hat-tip: Dan Collins on Twitter.)

Good News: ‘Ellie Light’ Is a Man

Bad news: He’s afraid of “right-wing crazies” in California:

Ellie Light, the ubiquitous letter writer whose name appeared in newspapers nationwide praising President Barack Obama, appears to really be a male health care worker from California.
A man who identified himself as Winston Steward, 51, of Frazier Park, Calif., says he made up the name “Ellie Light” to protect himself from criticism and possible physical attacks, and used fake addresses across the country to get local newspapers to publish his letters. . . .
[P]ublic records . . . eventually led to the identity of Steward. Those interviews included several with a woman in Texas who said . . . she is married to Steward, who for now lives in their other home in California but plans to join her in their home near San Antonio.
The woman said her husband was using her name because he was afraid he might be attacked by “right-wing crazies up in Bakersfield,” about 40 miles from their home in a mountain community.

Yeah. Because there’s a big problem with “right-wing crazies” in California terrorizing people who publish pro-Obama letters using their real names and addresses. It happens all the time. As soon as a pro-Obama letter appears in the paper, the Halliburton/Cheney Totenkopf SS Death Squads swoop down and the letter-writer is never heard from again.

The hypothetical scenario that Winston Steward is a gutless phony? We can dismiss that possibility. Only a right-wing crazy conspiracy theorist would imagine such a thing. Allahpundit:

So our unfounded fears of a deeply disturbing Axelrodian astroturf operation have been replaced by . . . an even more deeply disturbing one-man letter-writing campaign by a dude who first impersonates his wife, then denies being married to her. I feel much better now.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

UPDATE: Hey, good stuff from Patterico:

Winston Steward is a Kos Kiddie . . . And the first person he followed on Twitter is the president of a D.C. based public relations firm. An expert on outreach to Hispanic voters . . .

Hmmmm. So this guy wasn’t completely random. There are enough fingerprints here to arouse suspicion, and it will be interesting to watch as more background information is developed. I don’t want to go all ELEVENTY!!1!1!  the way the Left jumped up and down over their Fitzmas fantasies — there is no crime evident here — but it’s possible that this episode could a lot about the Obama administration’s propaganda operations.