Not the usual politician

Does Sarah Palin offer change you can believe in? She does seem to be different from the usual beltway or Chicago machine politician:

Melanie Morgan has the merchandise.
Hat tip to GatewayPundit and JawaReport.

Leaders acknowledge Democrat base is racist

The leaders of organized labor, one of the key parts of the Democratic base, admit that their members are racists. As CQ Politics reports:

AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman says she believes racism is playing a role in limiting Barack Obama ’s appeal to some union members, but she said union leaders were making a concerted effort to overcome prejudice among their members.

“We feel there is a racial component for some union members,” she said Sunday. “We feel confident we can overcome it.” ....

“There has never been an African-American candidate for president and many folks around this country have never voted for an African-American candidate for any office,” she said. So Ackerman said union leadership is urging local union officials to reach out on a one-to-one basis to members resistant to voting for a black candidate. “We’ve had a lot of discussions about how to talk to union voters . . . to identify closely what issue is preventing some union voters” from considering a black candidate. [emphasis added]

The Hill offers a similar report:

A prominent union leader on Tuesday blamed racism for Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) failure to build a big lead over GOP rival Sen. John McCain.

Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said many workers are considering voting for McCain (R-Ariz.) because of his military service and status as a hero of the Vietnam War.

McEntee said several union members had approached him, saying they could not vote for Obama because of his race. ....

Other union officials also have cited Obama’s race as a reason why some white union members are not embracing him.

The AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka explains his first hand experience with "a lot of good union people" who think it "wrong" to vote "for a black man":



Hat tip: BotW.

PREVIOUS examples of racism among Democrats include "That's just how white folks will do you" and "He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line." Previous of examples of Democratic leaders accusing Democrat voters of racism can be found here and here.

Environmentalism and narcissism

Cracked.com has collected the "7 Most [unintelligent] Ways Celebrities Have Tried to Go Green."

Hat tip to Ed Driscoll.

The "clean" African-American returns the compliment

In January 2007, Sen. Biden described Sen. Obama's candidacy this way:

"I mean, you've got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a story-book, man" [emph. added]

Today, the sort-of-mainstream Sen. Obama returned the compliment and selected Sen. Biden as his VP nominee.

MORE Biden classics as quoted by the Washington Post:

"I've had a great relationship [with Indian Americans]. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking."

"I think I have a much higher IQ than you do."

Alternative energy meets reality in NYC

Like many dreamy-eyed liberals, New York's mayor Bloomberg went to a conference on "clean energy" and talked about the glorious future of windmills: he proposed putting them on NYC buildings and bridges. By the time he returned to NYC, as the AP reports, everyone, including the environmentalists, had already objected:

NEW YORK (AP) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg is backing off his suggestion to put windmills on city bridges and rooftops after newspapers mocked the idea with photo illustrations of turbines on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building.

"There are aesthetic considerations," Bloomberg said. "No. 2, I have absolutely no idea whether that makes any sense from a scientific, from a practical point of view."

Bloomberg sought to dial back his windmill proposal while speaking to reporters on Wednesday after returning from Las Vegas, where he gave a speech at the National Clean Energy Summit imagining, among other things, harnessing wind power with turbines on bridges and skyscrapers. ....

David Carr, of the Alternative Energy Institute, in Canyon, Texas, said mounting turbines high above the city is "not very feasible."

"I don't think this was very well thought out," he said.

Among the complications are turbulence and vibrations the buildings would have to endure, plus the relatively small amount of wind the turbines would be able to harness in a city where other buildings and trees stand in the way, Carr said. Also, skyscrapers typically are not built to withstand the load of turbines.

"If you want it for art and decoration, that's fine, but for achieving any kind of power that's useful, it's not a very good idea, and I don't know of anywhere that's done it very successfully," Carr said.

It is also difficult to imagine residents would welcome spinning turbines outside their windows in a city where a proposal to install a cell phone tower on a building on Manhattan's Upper West Side generates protests and interference from local elected officials.

Earlier this year, Sen. Ted Kennedy, the lion of liberalism, worked on blocking windmills in Massachusetts.

Some Dems revolt against the new religion

The religious nature of the Obama movement has been apparent to outsiders but now a prominent Democrat acknowledges it: "The Obama campaign has become a movement of transcendence that is practically religious, with a wave of money and religious fervor taking over the party" says Darragh Murphy, executive director of PumaPAC. She and other Democrats reject that religion and are currently pleased with having 'rolled' Obama. With respect to that, Robert Costa of the Wall Street Journal asks: "If he can't face down the Pumas, how will he ever face down Putin?"

Being president is above Obama's pay grade

The AFP reports on tonight's McCain-Obama forum:

Both candidates were quizzed for their views on same-sex marriage and abortion, Obama sidestepping when asked directly to give his view on when a baby began to enjoy human rights.

"I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade," Obama said. [emphasis added.]

The problem with this answer, of course, is that the question is not theoretical: congressman and presidents have to make decisions about such issues every time, say, partial birth abortion comes up for a vote. Since Sen. Obama has voted in favor on partial birth abortion on more than one occasion, he does have a position on this issue. He just doesn't want to defend his position. He is a profile in cowardice.

Contrast Obama's answer with Sen. McCain's:

McCain, who is opposed to abortion, replied bluntly to the same question. "From the moment of conception," McCain said. "I will be a pro-life president and this presidency will have pro-life policies."

Sen. McCain's answer may not be scientifically sound but at least he is willing to state his position clearly.

More discussion of the forum can be found at GatewayPundit. Hat tip to Ed Driscoll.

Left wing activists oppose science violently

Two UC Santa Cruz scientists, who had been targeted by animal rights activists, were attacked with firebombs last week. One attack caused a fire at a Professor's house. Damage was limited because of his sprinkler system but, since the professor's family was inside the house at the time, the FBI classifies this attack as an attempted homicide. These attacks come after an attempted home invasion at another UCSC researcher's house last February. The FBI has suspects.

The left has had some success stopping science this way. For example, as the LA Times reports, "[i]n 2006, a UCLA neurobiology professor announced that he was stopping his primate research because of harassment and threats to his family."

PREVIOUS attempts by the left to stop science include (peaceful) opposition to research on the relationship between hormones and homosexual behavior
and attempts to stop research into the effects of affirmative action.

Gone fishing, again

Back in two weeks or so.

If racism didn't exist, they would have to invent it.

James Taranto writes:

Back in April, we noted an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times by one David K. Shipler, an expert on adjectival racism. In his view, pretty much any adjective is a few degrees of separation from a racial slur, and thus one should exercise extreme caution when modifying Barack Obama in a sentence.

Example: " 'Elitist' is another word for 'arrogant,' which is another word for 'uppity,' that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves." And:

Casting Obama as "out of touch" plays harmoniously with the traditional notion of blacks as "others" at the edge of the mainstream, separate from the whole. Despite his ability to articulate the frustration and yearning of broad segments of Americans, his "otherness" has been highlighted effectively by right-wingers who harp on his Kenyan father and spread false rumors that he's a clandestine Muslim.

Here's another example. Some people have said Obama has a "thin résumé." But "thin" is another word for "skinny," which is a slur for "black." Or so it is according to Slate's Timothy Noah, who has found invidious racism in the pages of the venerable Wall Street Journal.

This latest racial crisis began last Friday, when Journal reporter Amy Chozik published a piece titled "Too Fit to Be President?" Chozik speculated that Obama may be too far gaunt to lead a nation of lard butts. As political analyses go, it was more whimsical than weighty, which was signaled by its placement on the front page of the Weekend Journal section.

Yesterday Noah weighed in on the subject. "Any discussion of Obama's 'skinniness' and its impact on the typical American voter," he opined, "can't avoid being interpreted as a coded discussion of race." Here's his argument:

Barack Obama is the first African-American to win a major-party nomination for president of the United States. African-Americans are distinguishable from other Americans by their skin color. This physical attribute looms large in our nation's history as a source of prejudice. . . .

When white people are invited to think about Obama's physical appearance, the principal attribute they're likely to dwell on is his dark skin. Consequently, any reference to Obama's other physical attributes can't help coming off as a coy walk around the barn.

Chozik tells Noah that this is "ridiculous," to which Noah responds that she is "clueless." Proving that cluelessness comes in all colors, Noah calls his black friend "to ask whether she was offended. She was not."

Iraq war won: Fukayama pays on bet

Five years ago, Francis Fukayama bet Bret Stephens $100 that the Iraq would be a "mess." Stephens writes that Fukayama has conceded that it isn't:

No matter what happens in November, the war in Iraq will not be brought to an end by either Barack Obama or John McCain. The war in Iraq is over. We've won.

Exhibit A for my claim: Francis Fukuyama has agreed to write me a check for $100.

Propaganda first, facts later

From a correction to a Washington Post article:

Earlier versions of this story, including in the print edition of The Washington Post, wrongly described the 1979 Three Mile Island accident as "deadly." Although the accident was the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, it did not cause any deaths or serious injuries.

All those fact-checkers and "layers of editors," and no one caught this before it got into print?

Hat tip: BotW.