Charles Bird's blog
Posted at 9:59pm on Jun. 28, 2008 Obama still not finished with his waffle?
By Charles Bird
I thought he finished it a couple of months ago, but apparently waffles are still on Obama's political plate. The latest is Obama's reaction to the Heller decision.
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Posted at 3:34pm on Jun. 9, 2008 Senate Democrats voted to keep gasoline prices high [updated]
By Charles Bird
The legislation to lift a moratorium on oil shale development has been stonewalled by Senate Democrats, led by Ken Salazar from Colorado.
You'd think this would be oil shale's moment.
You'd think with gas prices topping $4 and consumers crying uncle, Congress would be moving fast to spur development of a domestic oil resource so vast - 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil shale in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming alone - it could eventually rival the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.
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Posted at 1:36pm on Jun. 9, 2008 That other country
By Charles Bird
Because of the presidential race and the goings on in Iraq, I haven't read or written as much on that other country, Afghanistan, as I'd like. Actually, I've been paying more attention to Pakistan because of the Bhutto assassination and the Pakistani government's string of snafus in the western hinterlands. Bill Roggio describes the latest peace agreement with North Waziristan, which doesn't look terribly different from the previous peace agreements that have provided no peace to Afghanistan:
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Posted at 9:05am on Jun. 6, 2008 The bigger wuss
By Charles Bird
Now that I have your attention, this comment from Barack Obama will go absolutely nowhere:
While John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign. It’s not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush ninety-five percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.
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Posted at 11:16am on Jun. 2, 2008 A question that I'd to see the MSM ask Obama
By Charles Bird
I've never heard an MSM journalist ask this question, and I can't think of a more relevant question that needs to be asked. Here it is:
Senator Obama, your stated policy of removing all combat brigades from Iraq in 16 months is not only a direct and complete rejection of the current surge strategy, but it also sends a clear message that, not only must you believe that we have lost in Iraq, but that that loss is inevitable and unchangeable. Will you level with the American people today and tell us that, by dint of your policy of sending troops home so rapidly, America has irretrievably lost in Iraq?
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Posted at 11:28pm on May 27, 2008 ThinkProgress misleads again
By Charles Bird
Here is their spin on McCain and his website regarding Iraq:
On Tuesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) altered his campaign website to deemphasize his repeated calls for sending more troops to Iraq. The old version of McCain’s Iraq page argued that an increase of troops was a "crucial prerequisite for needed economic and political development in the country":
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Posted at 12:06pm on May 12, 2008 Novak ginning up controversy with a couple of idiot evangelicals
By Charles Bird
Robert Novak prides himself on wearing two journalist hats. He's a columnist and he dabbles in original reporting, displaying both attributes when he outed Valerie Plame almost five years ago. Given all those years on Crossfire, we also know that Novak does not back down from controversy, and sometimes he'll gin it up. Lastly, we know that Bob Novak is a big-time Ron Paul supporter, and there are indications that elements of the Ron Paul campaign are seeking to undermine the McCain campaign at the Republican convention.
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Posted at 6:05pm on May 6, 2008 My Pick for McCain's VP: a Conservative Southern Governor
By Charles Bird
Bill Kristol beat me to the punch. After it was clear that John McCain would be the GOP nominee for president, many conservatives assuaged their frustration by saying that McCain would be acceptable if he kept to his word on judges and borders, AND if he picked a suitable running mate. In my view, it would be hard for conservatives to do better than Bobby Jindal. Why Jindal?
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Posted at 8:59pm on Apr. 29, 2008 My idea for an RNC ad
By Charles Bird
In reponse to this piece of slime from Howard Dean and the DNC, here's my idea for an RNC rebuttal ad.
First, it would use the same footage as the DNC, up until McCain finishes his line, "that'd be fine by me." Then, fast forwards 75 years. The camera moves to an outpost in the open Iraqi countryside. The small structure has lots of cool-looking high-techy equipment. An American and Iraqi soldier are standing watch, looking toward the Iranian border with looks of boredom on their faces. It's quiet. Crickets are chirping. A buzzing bee flits by.
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Posted at 11:32am on Apr. 21, 2008 A question of temperament?
By Charles Bird
This Washington Post pile-on is one of many examples where reporters have pre-set the narrative, then crafted the reporting to fit the storyline. Consider how far back in time Michael Leahy has to go:
● Senator Charles Grassley: 1992
● Senator John Cornyn: 2007 (the F-bomb incident, and he was so offended that he endorsed McCain for president last February 7th)
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Posted at 9:29pm on Apr. 20, 2008 Alarming newsflash about TV military analysts
By Charles Bird
For all the information ops going on in the Pentagon, you would think they would've done a better job of it, but substandard performance has been a trademark of the Bush administration. The New York Times has a lengthy expose which shows that the Pentagon was trying to put its best foot forward with TV military analysts, and that the news producers did a poor job of obtaining conflict-of-interest disclosures from these analysts. The other major revelation is that many of these ex-military men supported the military operation in Iraq (please refer to the above video for the proper reaction). The signs that this program was doomed to failure are right there in the article:
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Posted at 2:03pm on Apr. 19, 2008 Obama Bedazzlement Syndrome is real!
By Charles Bird
On April Fool's Day, I wrote some bad satire about scientists trying to understand and treat people afflicted with Obama Bedazzlement Syndrome. Going by yesterday's Politico, little did I know that OBS is real. Not only that, a troubling number of journalists have come down with it:
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Posted at 11:42am on Apr. 16, 2008 The McCain economic theme was there, but the WSJ didn't see it
By Charles Bird
The editors at the Wall Street Journal chimed in on John McCain's economic plan. They liked most of it, but there were some parts they were less than enthused about. They were equally unenthused about McCain's apparent lack of "guiding principles" or theme. Fellas, the guiding principles were there, but you just didn't see it. It won't fit on a bumper sticker, but as I see it, the McCain economic plan envisions a free-market friendly government that gives Americans better choices and trusts Americans to make those choices. The plan lowers tax rates, simplifies the tax code, restrains spending, gives Americans more and better choices, and limits government to help-ups (eshewing handouts). Maybe next time, perhaps McCain should spell it out to them.
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Posted at 8:56am on Apr. 15, 2008 More on Pelosi's Colombia free trade stonewall, and enabled by Hillary and Obama
By Charles Bird
Stephen Spruiell at NRO shows the vacuousness of the excuses that Barack Obama and Speaker Pelosi use for stonewalling the Colombia free trade agreement (FTA).
You see, unlike those frustrated residents of small-town Pennsylvania, Obama does not to cling blindly to anti-trade sentiment. He voted for free-trade deals with exporting powerhouses Peru and Oman, political consequences be damned.
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Posted at 2:09pm on Apr. 9, 2008 Obama dishonest in denying his dishonest 100-year war statements
By Charles Bird
Jake Tapper has a pretty good recitation of the facts:
● Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has suggested he would be fine with an indefinite US troop presence in Iraq for 100 years or more "as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed" -- not a continued war for that long, but for a US troop presence there, the way the US continues to have troops in Japan more than 50 years after the end of World War II. Watch McCain make this comment HERE.
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