Cubachi Assesses Sarah Palin’s Trip To Israel As A ‘Run’ Indication

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by Smitty

So what do I make of this visit? It’s a sign that she is running for 2012, and that she wants to reaffirm her commitment to Israel. It’s nice to see that we have some political leaders that recognize the importance of Israel. A very nice contrast to the current Commander-in-Chief.

My points are:

  • She’s not not thinking about a run.
  • The Lefty head ‘splosions are already at critical mass. Very critical. Yet so very, very entertaining.
  • I hope any final announcement pertaining to 2012 comes at the last possible moment. Suspense is its own pleasure.
  • Getting a President with some principles is the crucial thing about 2012. Whether that principled public servant is Sarah or not is simply less important.
  • As noted elsewhere, I’m arriving at the suspicion that the ‘bad cop’ negative feedback from the Pundit Priesthood (Will, Krauthammer, Brooks, &c) is as much a reverse psychology play as anything.
  • Her ongoing non-commitment to campaign orthodoxy is curious. I’ve bought both her books, but hope that she really throws down the gauntlet in the form of a comprehensive, well-founded plan to cure the Progressive disease and restore fiscal sanity. Rep. Paul Ryan, the legislative equivalent of John the Baptist, has a fine (and unique) going-in position.

Two Michigan Democrats Face Felony Charges in Fake ‘Tea Party’ Ballot Fraud

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Not just a scam, but an inept scam:

Two former leaders of the Oakland County Democratic Party are facing a total of nine felonies for allegedly forging election paperwork to get fake Tea Party candidates on November’s ballot. . . .
Former Oakland County Democratic Chair Mike McGuinness and former Democratic Operations Director Jason Bauer face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
“Some of the people didn’t even know they were on the ballot till they began receiving delinquency notices of filings that were required as a candidate,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
The sheriff says 23 statewide races had questionable Tea Party candidates on the ballot and the investigation may go beyond Oakland County.
“It was learned that a scheme was developed by a party leader in Lansing to place on the ballot people pretending to be Tea Party activists and that this was going to be a statewide effort,” Bouchard said.

Democrats in several states did similar things. “Independent” candidates had an interesting way of popping up in key Massachusetts congressional races, as I recall. But apparently these Michigan Democrats were so careless they actually broke the law.

‘Mississippification’

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Matthew Yglesias tries to get his mind around a phenomenon I first analyzed on the basis of 2000 exit-poll data: The greater the non-white population, the greater the tendency of whites to vote Republican.

Much as I’d love to reproduce that analysis here, it was done on an old computer that long ago went kaput. But to summarize briefly: On average, the higher the percentage of a state’s population that is black, the more likely whites were to prefer Bush over Gore.

The correlation wasn’t exact, of course. For example, whites in many western states (Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, etc.) also showed a strong Bush preference, although those states have very small non-white populations. But the states with the strongest Bush preferences among white voters were Mississippi and South Carolina (both more than 30 percent black), whereas Gore easily won the white vote in pure-vanilla places like Vermont.

Based on the astonishing strength of GOP identification among white voters in Mississippi — where white Democrats are an endangered species — I dubbed this phenomenon “Mississippification.”

The Left will explain this by a single word with five A’s, of course. But the demographic trends simply are what they are and, interestingly enough, blacks were also more likely to vote Republican in Southern states.

Based on his own analysis of the 2000 vote, Steve Sailer notoriously declared that the key to future GOP success was to increase its share of the white vote. I say “notorious,” because certain neo-cons had a conniption over that article.

As a statistical proposition, however, you could compare exit-poll data from 2004 — the peak year of Bushism — with the GOP wipeouts of 2006 and 2008 and see it was the shift of white voters toward Democrats that made the big difference. And white voters shifted sharply back toward Republicans in 2010, the best GOP mid-term performance since 1949, leading Sailer to declare this a vindication of the “Unmentionable Sailer Strategy.”

‘Stacy Threw Out Fake Statistics
That Portray a Skewed Reality’

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Q. Do you consider yourself a feminist, or not?

Yes . . . . 24%

No . . . . 70%

CBS News Poll, Oct. 23, 2004

This post originally continued with an on-point response to Little Miss Attila’s assertion in the comments that I “threw out fake statistics,” but then I woke up at 1 a.m. and changed my mind.

Because this isn’t about me.

So what you’re reading now is something I wrote at 1 a.m. after taking out all the penetrating analysis I’d compiled in response to Atilla’s previous “citation, please” provocation.

Look: The post-9/11 coalition attracted many disparate elements, including Feminists Against Getting Blown to Smithereens by Guys Named Mohammed, a cadre not necessarily coterminous with Feminists Who Think John Kerry Is a Laughable Douchebag.

Now we’ve moved forward, new issues have arisen, and the coalition has also changed. Yet there is still room in the big tent for Feminists Against Massive Deficit Spending and, also, Feminists Who Think Nancy Pelosi Is Suffering From Botox-Induced Brain Damage.

Therefore I’m reconsidering whether I should bother to fight this thing through to a glorious victory merely because I’m 100% right and she’s 100% wrong.

More important things to do right now.

But I’m gonna be keeping an eye on these can’t-let-go-of-the-feminist-label women, because their deviationist tendencies could betoken a philosophical unsoundness, one that might eventually prove dangerous.

After all, we remember what happened to the famed post-9/11 Coalition of Pony-Tailed Bicycle-Riding Jazz Guitarists Against Radical Jihad.

And now . . . The Little Miss Attila National Anthem:

But we close with . . . The Other McCain National Anthem:

Wombat Down!

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We apologize for the absence of the usual “Live at Five” feature that goes up at 5 a.m. Monday through Friday. Between his demanding day job and various offline hassles, Wombat’s worked himself into a state of exhaustion during the past week. So at about 9 p.m. Wednesday night, he sent an e-mail saying he was going to take some Tylenol and sleep for about 12 hours. While praying for his swift recovery, a partial rundown of the top news:

U.S. Officials Alarmed By Japanese Handling of Nuclear Crisis

U.S. seeking evacuations from Japan  — The official government position is now, “PANIC!”

Hillary Clinton won’t serve second term — Somebody else will have to wear the red nose and floppy shoes at Obama’s State Department.

Washington Post apologizes for plagiarized articles — Editors knew something was wrong; the articles were suspiciously factual.

Jodie Foster declares ‘love’ for Mel Gibson (but probably not that way).

John Hinckley vows to kill Mel Gibson — These are the jokes, people. Surely you didn’t expect me to resist a punchline opportunity like that, did you?

My 8-Year-Old Daughter’s Favorite Jonas Brother Attempts Solo Career — That would be Joe, of course.

Wall Street in Meltdown Over Japanese Crisis

Adrienne’s Catholic Corner has been enjoying the recent blog war over “feminism.”

Ace of Spades is all over the GOP budget wars.

Jimmie Bise Jr. was on a conference call with my 12-year-old son’s favorite presidential candidate — That would be Herman Cain, of course.

And, our final update: Charlie Sheen Is Still Crazy.

You see how lame is my attempt to compile a daily morning round-up. Not nearly up to the usual “Live at Five” standards, and at least one joke bad enough for Gilbert Gottfried. So we certainly hope for Wombat’s immediate recuperation.

Define ‘Hate Group’

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Also, define “secretly funneled,” because I’m having a little trouble with Josh Dorner’s Think Progress headline:

Newt Gingrich Secretly Funneled $350,000
To Anti-Gay Hate Groups Last Year

Except, of course, that there wasn’t anything “secret” about the “funneling”: It was duly reported as required by law and, as Think Progress itself notes, Gingrich was outspoken in his support of the effort “to oust three of the nine Iowa Supreme Court justices” who had voted to mandate same-sex marriage in that state.

Is it “hate” to oppose same-sex marriage?

Then welcome to the Hater Majority, Newt!

It’s the New Motherf–ing Tone!

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A spontaneous orchestrated outbreak of civility in Tennessee:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Seven union supporters were arrested and charged following an outburst inside a Senate Committee Hearing.
Troopers at the Tennessee Capitol had to forcibly carry out the protestors who were among a group who stood up during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday and began chants about what they called “union busting” by the state Legislature.
Most demonstrators left the hearing room after about 30 minutes, but a small group tried to lock arms to keep from being removed.
“I see civil disobedience as an obligation that we have when we see injustices in the world,” said protester Jared Story.

And who gets to decide which “injustices” oblige us to disrupt legislative proceedings? Because I considered it an “injustice” when the administration screwed over GM’s private bond-holders to give the UAW a bigger slice of the company.

Never mind: Somebody’s shooting at Republicans in D.C. Civility!

The New Tone: Because It’s Not ‘Hate’ When Liberals Do It!

‘Other’? I Mean, Really? ‘Other’?

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Greg at Rhymes with Right took an online questionnaire and discovered that, under “gender,” the choices were “male,” “female” and “other,” with a blank available for the ambiguous respondent to fill in . . . ??

Insert punchline here.

My own objection is to the use of “gender” instead of “sex.” As an old editor of mine often said, “People have sex. French nouns have gender.” But the grammatical is now the political, I suppose.

Speaking of ambiguity, while I’m not fighting the Great Feminism War today — after yesterday’s massive barrage, the troops need a day to rest, refit and reload — Da Tech Guy weighs in and tries to get into the middle betwixt Attila and me.

But there can be no middle ground. Either my argument is right, or it’s “oversimplified fiddle faddle.”

We’re in a Sharks-and-Jets situation, and when you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette . . .

“Citation, please?” Dan Collins: “Talk to the claw.”

 Thanks to tip-jar hitters Steve in Grand Rapids, Jack in Oklahoma City, and John in Virginia who includes this note: “All right! I give up. If you write about feminism, I’ll respect you in the morning!”

Clearly, then, some readers appreciate my tremendous sacrifice in re-reading Susan Brownmiller (so you don’t have to). Now I’m re-reading Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Hit the tip jar, brothers. And be ready for the next barrage.