It's about time: Bishops criticize politicians "who claim to be Catholic"

Bishops criticize Biden’s abortion remarks for flawed reasoning. In response to Sen. Biden who,

said that he is “prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception” but would not impose that belief on anyone through law. He claimed that to do so would be “inappropriate in a pluralistic society.”

A number of Catholic Bishops in the U.S. released a statement of their own:

“Any human being -- regardless of his faith, his religious practice or having no faith -- any human being can reason to the fact that human life from conception unto natural death is sacred,” he argued. “Biology -- not faith, not philosophy, not any kind of theology -- Biology tells us, science [says], that at the moment of conception there exists a unique individual of the human species.”

Glass ceilings; coat tails

I came across this (What is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective. « Mudflats) blog post (yes, they have a nutroot outpost in Alaska!!) this a.m. It is apparently garnering the blogger a lot of attention (1,246 comments/responses), but this howler deep down in the post needed a home on my blog:

"18 Million Cracks in the Glass Ceiling

It was obvious anyway, but became beat-you-over-the-head-with-a-two-by-four obvious when Palin referenced the ‘glass ceiling’ line, that this choice is a blatant pander to women. I would like to believe that women will actually feel insulted by this. Yes, it would have been historic if Hillary had gotten the nomination. It was historic that she made it as far as she did. Yes, it would be great to have a woman in the oval office, or in the VP slot if they are the right woman…a woman who got there with her own drive, grit, determination, intelligence, skill and merits. When you’re hand-picked by a man to win votes simply because you are a woman, that doesn’t count, and it doesn’t break any kind of ceiling. Would we have had a Stan Palin as our VP pick? No. So choosing a woman because you think her gender will get votes is insulting."

No doubt Hillary is intelligent and a hard worker, but to read the name "Hillary Clinton" in a paragraph about someone who got to where she was without a male's coattail is just stupid.

Sarah Palin's affair

While standing in the grocery store checkout line this evening, I saw a National Enquirer hit piece on Sarah Palin touting "the affair that almost ruined her career." As Byron York had discovered, though, there's no "there" there:

Concerning the allegations in the new National Enquirer of an extramarital affair involving Sarah Palin, I called the tabloid this afternoon and asked for a copy of the new story. They obliged, and here is the portion of the story dealing with the alleged affair:

Another incredible allegation emerging from the family war is that Palin, a mother of five, had an affair with a former business associate of her fisherman husband, Todd.

“Todd discovered the affair and quickly dissolved his friendship and his business associations with the guy,” charges an enemy. “Many people in Alaska are talking about the rumor and say Todd swept it under the rug.”

And that's it, as far as the affair is concerned. In the brief cover story, the Enquirer also says this:

The ugly family feud stems from a three-year battle between the 44-year-old governor and her former brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten.

“Sarah has many enemies in her hometown – but a lot of them are in her own extended family,” a source close to the Palin family told The Enquirer.

Family members loyal to Wooten are now waging a campaign to drag Palin’s reputation through the mud.

This, on the heels of the now notorious US Magazine hit piece.

I guess if they similarly smear Democrats, I could believe that it is just a way to sell papers, but . . .

Did someone say "equal time"?

This is quite an admission from NBC and MSNBC. They've realized that Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are not journalists. But I had no idea how over-the-top they were--until I watched some of the "work" on youtube (Olbermann and Matthews on youtube) the DNC couldn't have done it more partisan-ly.

Praising Palin with faint damnation

This Politico article ("Palin’s cold shoulder - Kenneth P. Vogel") actually enhances Gov. Sarah Palin's maverick reputation, in my estimation, but you need to read the entire article. I especially like the verbiage pulled out of a "wrongful termination" complaint/pleading, which was ultimately dismissed (the only pleading you could expect to be more borderline defamatory would be a divorce petition . . . GET PALIN %&$@%#^*&+!!!!)

From the article:

While Sarah Palin’s supporters tout her personal warmth and openness, the newly minted Republican vice presidential nominee can be brusque to allies, advisers and employees who fall from her favor.

Palin has unceremoniously ended relationships with an aide who was dating a family friend’s soon-to-be ex-wife, a campaign adviser whose mother-in-law fought Palin’s legislative agenda, a local political mentor who she felt represented the “old boys' network,” a police chief who she said tried to intimidate her with “stern look[s]” and a state commissioner who refused to fire her sister’s ex-husband.

I was discussing this weekend with a close relative the uneasy feeling I get when an opposing party's attorney begins to demonstrate a willingness to throw his client under the bus in the interest of a quick resolution of a lawsuit. Unlike Palin (it seems), such attorneys forget who they work for.

For the first time in his adult life . . .

Bill Whittle (at NRO) explains why he's proud of the GOP for the first time in a while:

And I don’t know whether or not we will win in November, but for the first time I feel like we deserve to win more than they deserve to lose. And I find myself at peace for the first time in . . . well, it seems like forever. Because now I know that we will win or lose based on what we love and what we believe in, and that we have managed to find two politicians who have lived those values through good times and bad.

Community Organizer in Chief

I think the best line from Sarah Palin's acceptance speech was her response to Obama's denigration of her time as Mayor of Wasilla:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.

(Though the line about having authored two books but no reform legislation either in the U.S. or Illinois senate was a good one).

Mark Hemingway of NationalReviewOnline
details how the "community organizer" line has the Left indignant and Michelle Malkin provides more background on the kind of organizing Obama has done.

The wrong kind of strong woman

Victor Davis Hanson explains why Palin Derangement Syndrome is "surreal":

In short, Sarah Palin is the emblem of what feminism was supposed to be all about: an unafraid, independent, audacious woman, who soared on her own merits without the aid of a patriarchal jumpstart, high-brow matrimonial tutelage and capital, and old-boy liaisons and networking.

Instead this entire sorry episode of personal invective against, and jealousy toward, Sarah Palin is surreal. Given the rising backlash, Palin Derangement Syndrome may prove to be the one thing, fairly or not, that sinks Barack Obama.

Could they do it again?

Despite a protracted military struggle (in Eyerack), a sluggish economy, high fuel prices and the advantage of being out of office for eight years, the Dems could snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory once again.

Drudge is reporting larger viewership for the GOP convention, more popularity for the GOP’s VP candidate and more popularity for the Conservative network than the opposition.

Must be racism.

Michael Moore proved wrong again: who serves in the military?

Yep, Michael Moore is proved wrong again--likewise for John Kerry. Here's a new study on those who serve--and those who are signing up to serve, in the U.S. Military.

Updated to include MM's crocumentary's assertions.

Palin: Miss Congenial Warrior

After reading this blog post from Andy McCarthy at NRO I remembered a draft post from last weekend about a great NPR story from 2006 on Sarah Palin in which you can see a glimpse of the "happy warrior"--like Ronald Reagan.

I think she showed that same winsome toughness last evening.

Ann Coulter on Palin

Perhaps one reason Glen Dean is keen on Sarah: ("The Best Man Turned Out To Be A Woman"):

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate finally gave Republicans a reason to vote for him -- a reason, that is, other than B. Hussein Obama.

Otherwise, this is an op/ed that sums up my views on Palin.

A tribute to the family dog

I just came across this heart-rending tribute to a blogger's family dog--Charlie. I encourage you to read it if you want a nice respite from politics and/or a reminder of the simple pleasures of life.

They'll get over it--Education reform and the Democrats

This article at getliberty.org asserts that there may have been a "bitter breakup" between the Democrats and the Teachers' Unions:

"It appears that the demands of teachers unions have become so unpopular that not even the drafters of the Democrat Party platform this year wanted to fully embrace them."

At best, this is a "marital spat" and, based on the DNC's history in this area, this looks more like Bill Clinton's Federal School Uniforms Initiative than a sincere effort to reform/improve education.

Thompson delivers for the GOP

Fred Thompson is getting rave reviews for his performance at the RNC convention last night, and if you happened to miss it, here 'tis. Aside from his distracting throat-clearing, I think it was a notable testimonial.

Dems' working theory of working class

Andrea Tantaros has a nice op/ed related to how Sarah Palin threatens the Left:

This could only mean there must be something about Sarah Palin that is deeply threatening to the left, a constituency that has long believed they have cornered the working mother market. Five kids? She should be at home begging Democrats for a handout. A husband in a union? He should be on the picket lines.

Liberals like to pretend they are tolerant and accepting of those who are different but when it comes to anyone not ensconced in their progressive, elitist dogma they mock and attack their lifestyle to inspire hate.

And Rich Lowry writes,

As such, she’s the object of the cultural disdain of a Left that loves the working class in theory, but is mystified or offended by its lifestyle and conservative values in reality. If there’s ever been an exemplar of the rural America that, in Barack Obama’s telling, “bitterly” clings to its guns and religion, it’s Sarah Palin.

Nutroots discover "sermons on-line"

Though not in time to adequately vet Democratic candidate Barack Obama, it appears that the Liberal nutroots have discovered that church sermons are available on-line. "Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview," Nico Pitney and Sam Stein on the Huffington Post.

I'm kind of doubting they'll conclude that Obama's church for the last 20 years has "shaped" his worldview.

Show your donkeys, Democrats

Wow.

A couple things regarding Bristol Palin's pregnancy. First, I hope--HOPE, that her decision to keep (as opposed to place for adoption--chopping up said human isn't an option) the child and marry the father has been made completely without regard to her mother's professional goals.

Second, it is disheartening to observe the Left's reaction to the report (in the comments).

Next, even people with morals fall short of their standards. That doesn't mean that we should do away with morals.

Lastly, teaching kids that self-control is inferior to birth control isn't the answer to out-of-wedlock births. And using a teenage daughter as a demagogic prop is wrong.

Identity politics and Sarah Palin

As they say, "great trains . . ." Glen has posted a response (at TennesseeFree) to Newscoma's "Girl Politics" post, so I thought I'd post my Friday night draft on the subject. I have a little different take on it, but . . .

Newscoma raises the issue of identity politics in regard to McCain running mate Sarah Palin. It's a fair-minded and lucid post on the subject, but it highlights how most Democrats/Liberals are exaggerating (for effect) one purported consideration of McCain in making this choice: the potential for peeling off some of the likely Hillary Clinton voter demographic.

As Newscoma concedes, Palin is right on most issues important to the GOP base; she's talented and winsome; she's a rising political star with more than winning political campaigns to her credit (especially campaigns against inveterate, carpet-bagging, firebrand opponents). Actually, Newscoma didn't concede the parenthetical comment . . .

The Hillary Clinton voter that McCain has in mind is not this variety, which makes up a very small portion of the American population. As Rich at ShotsAcrosstheBow asserts, it is the "uncommitted moderate female vote" he was after.

Which raises, for me, another issue that ACK touched on yesterday. I think the Left, especially in the area of "social issues," doesn't realize how out of touch it is with the average voter, much less "traditionalists."

"Average voter" doesn't mean the 15-20% on each end of the political spectrum, mind you. And given that the diehards of each party/movement often drive the political debate, the key in winning a presidential election is how much a party's respective diehards overlap--in values, with the average, middling, non-partisan voter.

I think Democrats are misunderestimating Palin's strength in this area.

Just a pretty face?

In a post commenting on a Frank Luntz focus group of voters answering the question, "Why vote for Obama?" (video included):

But what, besides winning elections, has the guy actually done for America? For his state? What has he accomplished besides winning elections while black? For goodness sake, even Ms. America has a talent competition.

This line might come in handy when responding to derisive Democratic comments about Sarah Palin's history in beauty pageants.