A Lot Of People Are Probably Feeling This Way

Keep it up lefties!

Link:

RE: Well That Didn't Take Long [Mark Hemingway]

Getting a lot of emails along these lines:

I don't know why I'm e-mailing you, except that I just need to vent to someone on The Corner. Pass this around to the others if you like — I bet I'm not the only one.

I really don't like McCain. I'll probably vote for him just as a vote for divided government. I'm far too libertarian in my leanings to be comfortable with McCain (or Obama, for that matter).

That said, the way the pro-Obama media and bloggers, and Obama himself, have responded to Joe has got me nearly shaking with rage. They are attempting to destroy a man — a private citizen — who had the audacity to ask The One a question. Mind you, Joe was on his front lawn playing football with his son when Obama strolled up to give him his hopenchange spiel. Obama approached Joe, not the other way around. And Joe asked Obama an honest question. And Obama gave him an honest — and very, very revealing — answer. Again, mind you, the embarassment was on Obama's end, not Joe's. It wasn't a gotcha question.

And yet, for that Joe is being pilloried, every aspect of his private and professional life being sorted through and exposed. To prove ... what? What does that have to do with Obama's answer? What does Joe's situation have to do with Obama's philosophical answer — that he wants to "spread the wealth"? Obama's answer goes down the memory hole while the nation concentrates its fire on obliterating Joe the Plumber.

It's sickening, it's maddening and it's downright chilling.

Sorry for the length. But I am just SEETHING.

And:

I was at LSAT class tonight and the instructor had the audacity to state that Joe the Plumber is a "lunatic" fit to be paralized because he allegedly questioned the merits of social security. The instructor then went on to construct a sample question in which Joe the Plumber is confined to a wheel chair because he has been run down by McCain's 'straight talk express' bus.

Mind you, this professional "educator" graduated from Georgetown, Harvard Law, and Harvard Business. And I'm supposed to be worried about Sarah Palin's lack of an "elite" education?

And:

I could care less about Joe's background, whether he's legit, or whether he is a McCain operative. What I do care about is that I could be attacked like a public figure simply for asking a question, like Joe. I am chilled. No longer undecided either.

Joe The Plumber Derangement Syndrome Could Be The Gift McCain's Been Waiting For

Some elitist disparagement from The One. Post contains this statement from the McCain campaign:

“It’s an outrage that the Obama campaign and the media are attacking Joe the Plumber for asking a legitimate question of a presidential candidate. This is why voters still have so many questions about Barack Obama. Instead of answering tough questions, his campaign attacks average Americans for daring to look at the reality behind his words, said Tucker Bounds, spokesman the McCain-Palin campaign. “John McCain will continue to fight on behalf of all hardworking Americans like Joe for policies geared toward increasing prosperity and reducing the burden on taxpayers — not ’spreading the wealth around’ for Senator Government to distribute as he sees fit.”

It's interesting. When the real issues cannot gain any traction on a rational basis, sometimes something symbolic makes all the difference.

Joe The Plumber Now The Target Of Hope. And Change.

Several posts at Ace of Spades.

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See also Ed Morrissey.

Folks sometimes complain that Republicans don't play hardball like the Democrats do. But if we were those kind of people we'd already be Democrats, yes? But what would it profit us to gain the whole world, etc?

Now This Was A Debate!

Link

Our Mr. Sun

Cool photos and animations.

Declaring Victory Before The Game Is Over Can Be A Bad Strategy

Via The Anchoress (the whole post is a great read):

The Obama team is sending the media marching band out to the field before the game is won (H/T Bookworm):

The Anchoress

Has a good post re: Joe the Plumber.

excerpt:

To my way of thinking, Joe the Plumber - singing the psalm of the common man, and representing the views of the middle class and what we once used to call “the Silent Majority” - has completely terrified the left, the Obama camp and the press.

And so…he must be destroyed.

I’ve had dozens of emails from folks on the left spouting the “Joe the Plumber Talking Points” which I had already received earlier - the “he’s not licensed” (gasp - how scandalous even though he doesn’t have to be to buy a plumbing business), “he’s not registered,” (So? I recall a few years ago Ben Affleck telling everyone to “Rock the vote” while unregistered?) “he has a lien!” (Oh, my word!) etc…

But here’s the thing: what or who Joe the Plumber is does not matter. What matters is what Barack Obama said to him. The focus on Joe the Plumber - the obsession on him, and the need to somehow discredit him in the eyes of the nation - is meant to distract you from what Barack Obama said, and nothing else.

And what Barack Obama said was:

[video]

Those words are what matters. It does not matter whether Obama said them to Joe the Plumber or Booby McBoobadoob. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted by the media swarm/feed. Stay focused on Obama’s words. THOSE are what matters.

The Winner Is The One Who Comes Up With The New Paradigm

In last night's debate, we got some powerful new symbols/phrases:

"Spread The Wealth Around".

"Joe The Plumber".

"Senator Government".

These are the only things that are memorable from the debates. And they are all to McCain's advantage.

The Media Is Finally Giving A Ruthless Vetting To The Guy Who Deserves It!

Link:

I think this subhed from a NYT front-page headline r on Joe Wurzelbacher says it all:

‘Joe the Plumber’ Is Under Scrutiny

Yes, I'll be he is.

Joe Wurzelbacher's purported distant relationship to Charles Keating is newsworthy, the left is telling me, while Barack Obama's friendship and protoge relationship with terrorist William Ayers is not.

I'm sorry - - what's Joe Wurzelbacher running for again? As far as I know he hasn't declared for Congress.

Yet.

Note that the story isn't really Joe -- it's Barack Obama's answer about spreading the wealth.

Note however the NYT chooses to focus on denigrating and attacking the man who elicited the remark, rather than the remark itself.

What is the object here? If you can prove that Joe Wurzelbacher, say, is consistently late paying his Columbia Record House subscription, that means Obama didn't say what he said?

Is that how it works?

Obama endorses socialism, so the game is to personally destroy the man who inadvertently elicited Obama's endorsement of socialism?

Let's say Joe the Plumber kills hobos, as I do. What the hell does that have to do with the fact that Obama said he wanted to "spread the wealth"?

Thanks to Andy the Squirrel.

Soooo... The media sleuths have now ferreted out that Joe the Plumber voted in a Republican Primary.

Meanwhile, they do not bother to report that Barack the Presidential Candidate was a member of the radical ACORN political bloc, the New Party.

I'm so glad the MSM has its priorities straight.

No Pledge Drives! No Tote Bags!

Amusing parody ad.

This Would Be Some Great Jiu Jitsu

Comment:

When the Obama Regime re-implements the Fairness Doctrine, here’s a suggestion for Rush, Hannity, et. al. In order to provide balance, they should devote one hour of each program to reading the posts and comments on left-wing blogs like Kos, HuffPo, and D.U.M.B.

Found In A Comment

Here:

He is more polished, more intelligent, a better speaker, just all around on such a higher level that its almost unfair. Second, even though I really dont care for many of his views and proposals, Id rather have the Obama family as my neighbors than the McCain family, even though Mrs. Obama is clearly a racist.
-----------------------
So you'd rather live next to a racist than an idiot?

What, exactly makes Obama so smart?

Here is a moderator question:
Mr. Obama, does 1 + 3 = 4 ?

Obama: I'm glad you asked that question, one is a lonely number, and three, well that is the result of 2 plus 1, and 2 as we all know is the next lonliest number since the number one. Now, to answer your question, it is quite possible that you are correct, the sum of two numbers could equal 4,as well could the difference between two numbers, and the product of two numbers. I think we need to spread the wealth around and say that 4 could also be the sum of three numbers. I will say that for John McCain, he could not answer this question because he is so negative, and as we all know the addition of negative numbers is all together unfair and should not be a part of this campaign.

Moderator: Mr. McCain?

My friends, if it were up to me 3 + 1 would equal 2 because I have promised to cut earmarks, and there is no need for 4, when 2 will do just fine. And I've just learned that 4 is Mr. Ayer's favorite number, that washed up terrorist Obama supporter likes this number, but that is besides the point.

Steyn Sums It Up

Link:

The Good Old Days

One thing I liked about the Bush/Gore debates is that it was obvious both men loathed each other and they didn't care who knew it. That liberated them, for good and ill.

By contrast, for all the characteristically ponderous huffing from Bob Schieffer about "negative campaigns", McCain was never able to cast aside the Senatorial collegiality and really stick it to Obama. Why couldn't he have used the s-word - "socialism"? Why couldn't he have said that his opponent is a perfectly pleasant fellow but he has an all but blank resume so all we have to go on is his votes and his associations and both suggest a doctrinaire liberal well to the left of, say, Bill Clinton? Why couldn't he have pointed out that Barack Obama would be the most left-wing president ever elected in the United States?

McCain lacked the killer instinct. A man who cheerfully crashes planes and survives years of torture appeared nervous that clobbering his opponent might dent his image as Mister Bipartisan. You look at the way he sneered at Romney in the primary debates and compare it with his tentativeness toward Obama. His reluctance to whack the Democrat wound up, by default, elevating Obama. When a veteran Republican who's been on the national scene for a quarter-century and a Democrat whom nobody had heard of 20 minutes ago appear to be equal in stature, then by definition the Democrat wins.

And that, Kathryn, explains those insta-polls. McCain has no one to blame but himself.

There Are Only Two Genuine People In This Whole Election Cycle. Sarah Palin And Joe The Plumber.

Great MSM interview with Joe the Plumber. This guy talks more sense in a couple of minutes than almost all of the politicians in the last two years.

How Odd. MoveOn.Org Has Put Out A Strong Pro-McCain Ad

The ad suggests sure-fire tactics to strongly shore up McCain support amongst middle-aged voters.

The Reactor Works Just Fine 99.99% Of The Time. The Other 0.01%, It Blows Everything To Kingdom Come.

Insightful article about Misesian vs Bagehotian banking.

But, I Thought Leasing Was A Can't-Lose Proposition!

There are an awful lot of turkeys in this homecoming flock:

Another kick in the nether regions is about to befall Detroit -- in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of imploding resale values of leased trucks and SUVs.

These vehicles -- leased 2-3 years ago when it was still possible to fill up a V-8 SUV for $40 or so and when people's homes were still worth something and they had reasonably secure jobs -- are about to come home to roost. Hundreds of thousands of them, most not worth anywhere near what the finance guys who wrote the leases thought they'd be worth today.

Remember: With a lease, you're paying the difference between the vehicle's sale price and what the lease issuer estimates it will be worth at the end of the lease (the so-called "residual value"). So, if you leased, say, a new Escalade with a sticker price of $60,000 that the finance guys doing the lease contract figured would be worth $39,000 three years down the road, your lease contract is based on the $21k.

Assuming that the value of that Escalade holds, everyone wins.

The person taking out the lease gets to drive a much more expensive vehicle than he could otherwise afford to buy ($21,000 divided into three years' worth of monthly lease payments is a helluva lot more manageable than a five-year loan on $60k). And he gets to drive a new vehicle every three years or so.

Sweet!

The automakers are happy, too -- because their expensive products are more accessible. People who might not buy -- or be able to buy -- can lease. That helps "move product" and keeps the production lines humming.

And the lease people (and dealers) enjoy a nice turnaround when the off-lease vehicles come back to be resold.

That is, when everything works like it's supposed to.

But what happens when assumed residual values crash through the floor? When that $60k Escalade isn't worth $39,000 three years later -- but only $25,000?

That's what is happening right now. Residual/resale values of big SUVs and pick-ups are tanking. But the (much higher) anticipated residual values were locked in 2-3 years ago, when the leases were issued. The people bringing their suddenly worthless trucks and SUVs back at lease end are not left holding the bag, though.

The industry is.


HOW MUCH LIABILITY are we talking about? No one has an exact number, but when a brand-new Dodge Ram 1500 is being "sold" for 40 percent off MSRP sticker, you get a sense of the magnitude of the financial tsunami that is breaking...

So leases are a fatal deal for the car companies, who are selling product that cannot be afforded without a lease. This is one "deal" that consumers actually made out on (for a short few years): by leasing instead of owning, they were not exposed to the massive capital losses that have taken place. Not directly, anyway.

The Bank Rescue Plan

Or perhaps the McCain/GOP campaign:



Ripped off from here.

The Choice We Face

One candidate is treacherous and unprincipled, with a notable lack of proven leadership ability, who would seek at long last to put an end to the threat of a robust conservative movement. His choices for the Supreme Court will most probably bedevil the Republic for a generation. The policy positions he will actually take when in office bear no relation to what he says on the campaign trail, and indeed, are a complete mystery to the electorate. What he might try to pull when given power is scarily unpredictable.

The other candidate is Barack Obama.

When Politics Is Your Religion, You Play To Win

Of course, you lose your soul in the process, but you do get a short term gain. Stephen Green:

If (when?) Obama is elected, by my estimation there’s an at least even chance that the newly-reconstructed FCC will reverse course and attempt to apply the New Fairness Doctrine to blogs.

...

Libertarians/Conservatives like “Jay” and myself underestimate liberals/progressives — and what we’re guilty of is projection. But when we’re drunk and honest, we have to admit: We’re effing pikers. To restate more plainly: We don’t want power, and don’t know how to wield it. We’re pikers.

Progressives have no such qualms. Given power, they’ll take more and they’ll exercise it ruthlessly. Look at the Democrats in Congress these last two years. In not even 24 months, they’ve sunk to depths it took the Republican Congress six or more years to sink to. Their unpopularity levels are even worse than the Republicans’ in 2006. And what will happen in November? The Democrats will win seats — because they know how to wield their power to deliver the goods to please their corrupt, greedy, grabby, needy base.

And don’t you forget it. And I can prove it.

Run my pet theory past your favorite progressive. If they’re less than honest, they’ll deny it. If they’re honest, they’ll answer you with a smug little smirk — smuggier and smirkier even than my best smug smirk — so smug and so smirky that it will make you want to punch them with a cinder block.

Try it. I dare you. And once you’ve seen the results, you’ll understand: When it comes to real power, we’re the pikers and they’re the masters…

…and their time is coming.

Prepare to fight.

P.S. For my hipster Libertarian friends out there, you need to get this through your thick skulls. Republicans, given the kind of power the Democrats are about to accrue, would maybe take away your right to get a completely totally naked chick to grind on your lap in a publicly licensed bar. The Democrats will do their damnedest to take away your right to speak. There’s the First Amendment, and then there’s the First Amendment. Be careful what you wish for.