Taranto on Obama

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal writes:

So, was Obama sincere? Did he spent 20 years as an intimate of Wright and a parishioner of his church without ever having an inkling that the guy is a wacko hatemonger?

If so, can you think of anything more terrifying than sending such a naïf to the White House while there's a war on?

More on Obama/Wright

After 20 years of friendship, if Obama didn’t know Wright held these beliefs he’s a moron and if he did know he’s a fraud.

The Wright Speech and "Carrier" on PBS

Obama's pastor, Rev. Wright, gave a speech today at the National Press club. Not only did he not disavow his incendiary statements ("God Damn America, 9/11 were chickens coming home to roost, the U.S. government caused AIDS, friendliness with Farrakhan"), he reaffirmed them. It is becoming quite clear to people that we cannot have Obama as President if he spent 20 years in this congregation without disavowing this hate-filled rhetoric. Far from bringing this country together, Obama is showing himself to be one more person who believes that race trumps everything.

Compare this to the Navy sailors on the PBS series "Carrier" this week. They have shown that they can get along and get important work done no matter their race, color, or creed. We need more Americans like the sailors on the USS Nimitz and fewer like Rev. Wright.

Fantasy baseball update

The bad news: Injuries to Rollins, Victorino, Willis, and Kendrick.

The good news: Picking up Pedroia, getting Saunders in a trade for a San Fran closer, and in my best trade, getting Damon for Andruw Jones before his value dropped to zero. I'm currently in fifth out of ten.

Obama and Ayres

Andy McCarthy, as usual, nails it:

Here in 2008, the point is not that we should hold Obama accountable for “detestable acts” Ayers committed decades ago.

It’s that the vision which drove Ayers to savagery back then — a revolutionary vision “progressives” have vaporously relabeled “social justice” — is the same vision to which he still clings: the vision of a racist, imperious, exploitative America in need of upheaval. A vision we have every reason to think Obama, the Agent of Change, shares.

In the alternative, you could, I suppose, just tell yourself that Obama — a star at Harvard Law School who has risen like a meteor to a seat in the United States Senate and the verge of his party’s presidential nomination — somehow managed the feat despite being utterly clueless. Perhaps he looks at Ayers and really does see an English teacher, looks at Wright and sees only your average Christian pastor.

The question then becomes, are you comfortable with a president who looks at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and thinks, “Oh yeah, he’s that engineering student who was mayor of Tehran”?

Time fights carbon emissions; military fights evil

The cover on the current issue of Time magazine offends me. To use an image from the Battle of Iwo Jima and compare it to the fight against global warming is deeply offensive.

Dennis Prager wrote a good column today: He called the Time cover cheap heroism. It is a liberal attempt to depict as equally heroic those who fight carbon emissions and those who fight fascists and Nazis. What is sad is that we are currently fighting a totalitarian enemy--Islamic totalitarianism--and the liberals have gone AWOL from this fight.

Finally, the real Obama

Obama recently remarked at a San Francisco fund-raiser that small-town Pennsylvania voters, bitter over their economic circumstances, “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” as a way to explain their frustrations.

Talk about elitist and out-of-touch. Pennsylvanians don't "cling to guns" out of bitterness--hunting is a way of life there. They don't "cling to religion"--they worship God. They don't have "antipathy to people who aren't like them"--they just want the immigration laws enforced.

The real Obama has come out. He is an elitist snob, more comfortable in the academies of Chicago and Harvard than Altoona, Pennsylvania. He associates himself with radicals like the racist Reverend Wright, '60s radicals, and woolly-headed San Francisco liberals. He combines the worst qualities of Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, John Kerry, and Adlai Stevenson. Such a man cannot be commander-in-chief.

Oh, and the economy in Pennsylvania is not that bad--its unemployment rate is at or below the national average. I suppose it only looks that way when your wife has a $300,000 job with the University of Chicago (the raise coming after a Obama sent a grant Chicago's way) and she has "never been proud of America".

A Beautiful Mind

Via blogger Anchoress, I came across this amazing video.

Nationals game

Jim C. invited David and I to a game at the new Nationals Park. Here are some pictures.

Capitals to playoffs?

The will be if they win or lose in overtime tonight (they get two points for a win, and one point for an overtime loss). They will be out if they lose.

Currently they are ahead 1-0 after the first period. The acquisition of Christobal Huet has really been a boon for the Capitals--he has been in goal for the Caps six-game winning streak, and in goal for wins in 8 of the last nine games.

This 'n' That

Didn't get the promotion I was seeking. They decided (again) to pick a candidate from outside the agency. I'm a little disappointed, but that's the way it goes. I am still a candidate for the Deputy General Counsel position.

Michael Barone wrote the best column of the day in U.S. News, explaining how Obama has done better where there are lots of academics and government employees, and Clinton has done better in "Jacksonian" areas where there tends to be a lot of support for the military. "Jacksonian" voters, frequently Scots-Irish and concentrated in states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, tend to want government to stay off their backs, but want to fight fiercely if family or country is attacked. That is whay Rev. Wright's "God Damn America" carries so much resonance--academics hear it every day on college campuses, but Jacksonian voters see it as an assault on everything they hold dear. Patriotism may yet be Obama's Achilles heel--he refuses to wear a flag lapel, allegedly did not salute the flag, his wife has never been proud of America until this year, and there is a real question if Obama will FIGHT for America against our enemies. Barone goes on to say that McCain carries a real appeal for these "Jacksonian" Democrats.

The Capitals continue their playoff push tonight. They have won five in a row and nine of their last ten, but still need a win tonight and Saturday to stay in the playoff hunt.

I am in last place in my fantasy league, primarily due to a poor team batting average, but I am confident that this will get better in time.