Riehl World View

Traditionalism Rocks, Neo-liberalism Fails Again

The Left loves to hate Karl Rove. But like him, or not - he does know politics, almost as much as Barone knows election demographics. I pointed this out in  post or comment yesterday.

Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis (for whom I campaigned and who was a well-qualified candidate) narrowly lost a special congressional election in a district President George W. Bush carried four years ago with 62% of the vote. Democrats pulled off the win by smartly nominating a conservative, Travis Childers, from a rural swing part of the district who disavowed Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit Mr. Davis from the right.

Putting aside the words conservative and liberal for a moment, what much of America supports is traditionalism. And that ain't Barack Obama or the current Democrat elite. While the GOP is imploding, the neo-liberals (who are really anything but liberal) that comprise the Left, better be careful about over-estimating their draw.

Americans reject the Left more than they do the far-Right. Recent election results may spell trouble for a currently misguided GOP. But they still speak volumes in support of a traditional America.

And that is much more akin to genuine conservative-thinking than that of the new libs we see in the blogosphere. Unfortunately, we haven't seen much genuine conservatism from the GOP in a while either. And there-in lies their problem.

Infamous Loser Weighs In On Dem Race

Oh, yawn. John "Nobody" Edwards endorses Obama. Gee, could the idiot have waited just a little longer, like maybe until December?

He's a pissant trial lawyer and one-term Senator incapable of winning anything other than fabulist driven legal cases. Sure, it made him a good buck. But when it comes to politics, the dude is a stone-cold loser.

Really, who cares? ... um, besides some few other liberal morons who slobbered over the guy and his spittle-flecked rhetoric until it became apparent what a loser he was. John Kerry's wouldbe Veep is such a fitting title for glamour boy. He'd go down in history as an infamous loser, if it weren't for the fact that history won't pay him any attention at all.

Way to go, Obama! Whoopie! :::smirk:::

No, King Isn't Mao

Gee, thanks, Allah. lol Talk about my conservative chickens coming home to roost. HotAir Headlines links a Josh Gerstein piece with the header: Why is the MLK Memorial being built in China? And why does it look like Mao? Gerstein notes a Federal probe.

A federal investigation is under way into the organization raising funds for a memorial to the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in the nation’s capital, according to two people interviewed as part of the inquiry.

The scope of the inquiry is not clear, but it seems to focus on whether the foundation was obliged to follow federal procurement rules, including competitive bidding and so-called “Buy American” policies favoring domestic sources. The foundation is largely supported by private donations, but it received almost $10 million from the federal government in 2006.

Full disclosure and, hopefully, a head-exploding moment for some of my more vocal liberal readers ... through an arrangement with a consulting agency, I was retained to launch the MLK Memorial blog some time back, in part to deal with the many controversies that arise during the building of every DC monument.

Having been in their offices and viewed models and various photos - the monument's image is from a picture of King, after all .. I never once thought the image resembled Mao. I found it to look strong and determined and representative of King's firm vision for America, such as it was.

And in terms of outsourcing because a Chinese sculptor won the competition ... I thought that's how we often determine the best person for a given task - competition? Will conservatives suddenly feel differently? I would hope not. I didn't think we normally backed affirmative action-like measures that would mandate an American, or possibly a black American sculptor?

I must confess, the model of the entire park area is beautiful - but I did cringe when I read it was crescent-shaped. No doubt eventually someone will probably make a fuss about that, too.

As you'll see from scrolling the top posts here - controversy over DC monuments isn't exactly news over the years ... and through the building of many significant monuments.

After this latest silliness gets hashed out, maybe the next controversy should be "How did a conservative get hired to help out with the MLK memorial blog?" As a blogger, the more controversy, the better, in my opinion. ; )

Though I would add, having met and worked with many of the fine - and often seemingly liberal and black people, if it matters to you - behind the effort to make this Dream come true - it's a shame they have to struggle with so many obstacles in their work. I am pleased and proud to have been associated with them as a consultant during recent months. The engagement should be ending soon, as scheduled.

I anticipate foundation employees will be handling the blogging themselves. But it's been great fun helping them get started, even if it meant regularly reading quite a few liberal blogs to look for pertinent items.

A personal aside, it's been a positive, educational experience for me. But, alas, I fear conservative and liberal will rarely meet when it comes to forming opinions and policies. We simply think differently, I guess.

Finally, I Hope

Just a bloggy aside. For the last month, Typepad has been driving me nuts. Posts weren't publishing, the browser was timing out. And posting was more than a chore. I was having to cache, copy and save everything to not lose it when it didn't go through. Using different PCs and so forth, I knew it wasn't on my end.

Finally after getting through the first level of Typepad customer service, along with threatening to potentially move four blogs I am associated with - I made it to engineering and it seems like there was a bug in some javascript that was causing the problem.

The tech really stayed with the problem. I can't complain about that. The service has grown over the four plus years I've been here. As always, you get some good and some bad with that. But, hopefully, for now, problem solved and blogging won't be such a pain in the butt. It really was too much. Might be part of why I have been posting so lightly.

It got to the point where I was dredding hitting "publish", as each post was the same nightmare experience over and over, again.

The problem seems solved for now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, anyway.

And So It Begins

It would appear that the Clintons are at least floating the idea that she will eventually drop out of the race. That's how I interpret Carville's remarks and another recent report that Hillary hinted she may leave after WV and KY. That report was based upon a campaign video and pretty thin. The Carville remarks aren't.

With that in mind, it's time for the liberal media to do its job and start playing the race card for Obama. Gawd! If Obama were to win, why not just call him President Victim? The MSM is going to do everything it can to guilt people into supporting Obama because he's their guy and they also love beating the racism drum.

Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.

"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."

I have a news flash for the news guys. That white guilt thing isn't going to play. If Obama is going to win, and I am far from sure he can, he's going to have to earn it. I don't believe he has the experience or the positions to do it. Of course, that's assuming we ever get to hear a real position from him on anything.

All hail President Platitude. The policies the guy is advocating are still wrong for America. In about ten years his crap might sell, given the direction of the country. But demographics may not yet be enough in his favor.

There might be just enough traditional Americans left who love freedom and independence to keep Obama out of the White House. Hopefully his positions and his baggage will keep him out. We don't need an empty suit with pie in the sky rhetoric as President right now.

"O" So Wonderful?

Gee, if Barack Obama is such a wonder candidate, why is he trailing by double digits in polls out of both Kentucky and West Virginia?

Liberals can scream racism all they want. But while simply race may be a factor for some, Obama's liberal ideology and negative associations also figure into those numbers. And those numbers add up to a potential disaster for Dems in the Fall when it matters. They are on the verge of nominating a candidate destined to drive Reagan Democrats back to the GOP for yet one more election. And you realize that the local pols in those areas aren't going to want an Obama and Me meme going on in their own races, right?

Gawd, it's hilarious to watch, even if it is sad. Of course the GOP has its issues, too - what with Barr and Ron Paul making noise. The whole November election could turn out to be a mess with no one knowing which main candidate will squeak by.

But, all in all, it should definitely be advantage McCain.

That gem in the eyes of elitist Democrats, Obama, doesn't sparkle for many Americans the way he does for them.

No matter what, the hand wringing, second guessing and anguish of the Democrats over the next several months is going to be fun to watch. And if, as may well be, they wind up losing to what they are calling a third Bush term ... I predict more bridge collapses as Democrats around the country line up in droves to jump off of them.

That's politics entertainment!

Ain't Buying The Simplistic "Racist" Meme

Update: The Other McCain pretty much agrees with my take on this.

The LA Times has another in a long line of media stories on why whites may not vote for Obama because he is black. But every story I've read leaves out some important details.

It remains unclear how racial unease will factor into election-day decisions come November. Those hidden impulses are elusively difficult to capture in polling. But seasoned Democratic players here reckon that some racially tinged voting will inevitably occur far beyond Hardy County's cresting hills.

Whether it's politically correct to say it, or not, additional facts are worth acknowledging. This isn't someone named Colin Powell. The candidate's full name is Barack Hussein Obama. Tell me, how many Americans do you know by the first name of Barack, let alone his middle-name? Have you ever known one?

Yes, there may be some white voters who will shun Obama simply because he is black. But that strikes me as a bit simplistic in this case. Frankly, I'm not sure a white individual by the name of Barack Hussein Obama could win the presidency.

Ultimately, Obama may be one too politically correct bridge too far to go given current demographics. Like it or not, along with whatever number of whites harbor concerns over Obama's color, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that an equal number have more concerns over his ancestry and given name.

Frankly put, even in 2008, the name Barack Obama just doesn't sound American. He is. I am not questioning that. But appearances mean a great deal. And Obama appears to be some configuration that probably strikes a good percentage of the population as something other than mainstream American. And that, more than just his color, will likely spell his doom when it comes to a general election.

The media obsession with the racism meme, without acknowledging the entire picture, is simply a symptom of a media that's stuck on old stupid, offering little if any genuinely intelligent, deep, or honest analysis of the entire picture.

But then, there's nothing new in that, I suppose.

Can We Smoke In Beirut?

Looks as though the usual suspects are up to their usual terrorism in Beirut. The Shiite Hezbo boys have taken control of the western part of the city. Gateway Pundit has a full round-up, including links to home videos of the fighting.

A couple thoughts come to mind. As I see the Hezzie gunmen, I'm left thinking about how there is a goodly portion of people in this world that just need to be hunted down and killed as efficiently as possible.

The other thought regards the Left. Why is it that the vapid peaceniks fall in with the likes of these miscreants? I thought the Left hated violence and oppression? Unfortunately, not when it comes to the violence and oppression carried out by the likes of this human dirt.

It's pathetic that the free world can't, or won't simply rise up and extinguish these vermin once and for all.

I say, smoke 'em if you got 'em, or hunt them down and smoke 'em if you don't have one handy!

Pacifism is over-rated.