796

 
The Democratic nomination will likely come down to the votes of the 796 "superdelegates". These special delegates, created in '82 to give party insiders more influence in the nomination, are worth twice as much as the entire state of California. And the Clinton machine appears to have more business ties to the superdelegates than does Barack Obama.

...some party leaders worried that the situation could lend the appearance that the nominee will be selected by insiders rather than by rank-and-file voters... That appearance is not helped by the fact that so many superdelegates have clear allegiances. Bill Clinton, for instance, is a superdelegate by virtue of his tenure as president, as are Clinton campaign chairman Terence R. McAuliffe and longtime Clinton ally Harold Ickes...

I'm imagining what the Democratic Convention might look like...

(Wind and thunder echoes in the background) 796

Sir... riders from the Clinton camp are approaching...

Ickes... McCauliffe... and... Bill Clinton himself!?!

How about a VP slot for you, my friend? You know you can't stop the onslaught! The Clinton machine always wins!

You're asking me to play third fiddle to the "co-presidents" for eight years? What if I want to be the president?

What you speak of is madness! Can't we all just get along?

This... is... Obama!!!

First... "black president"... my ass!

Hillary's forces approach. Gather our soldiers and hide the women and children.

Sir! They have unleashed the archers! Their arrows blot out the sky!

Raise shields!

We have survived the onslaught!! Obamans, attack!

Kill them all!

Arrrrgghh!!!

Sir, we have vanquished the cadre of attackers!

Prepare for the next wave!

Sir... their darkest forces now approach... the most dangerous that the Clintons possess!

No!! Not Begala and Carville! The most powerful enemies of all! Clinton backers disguised as mainstream media...

This is truly the end. We have no way to compete! Tonight... we dine... in hell!

Go tell the Democrats, stranger passing by: that here, obedient to their nomination process, we lie.

796. Resistance is futile.

Pimping aside, am I allowed to say that the Clintons are playas?

 
The New York Post:

Hillary Rodham Clinton threatened yesterday to pull out of an upcoming debate hosted by MSNBC after one of its correspondents said on air that daughter Chelsea was being "pimped out" by the campaign to win votes... "I, at this point, can't envi sion a scenario where we could continue to engage in debates on that network, given the comments that were made," said Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, calling the comment "beneath contempt."

Speaking of which, legendary Clinton fundraiser Peter Paul asserts that the Clintons did precisely what David Schuster described in the run-up to Hillary's 2000 Senate campaign.

...Bill Clinton introduced Paul to Chelsea at a welcome reception Paul arranged for the Clinton family when they arrived at the Brentwood Ranch where Paul hired and supervised Grammy’s producer Gary Smith in producing the hard money fundraiser concert for Hillary that was a part of the Gala Hollywood Salute to President Clinton.

Paul even offered Chelsea a job, in tandem with the services her father promised to provide Paul and his company when he left the White House, as a roving reporter for the youth audience of Paul’s company’s global entertainment portal on the internet- stanlee.net.

The White House requested that Chelsea be seated between President Clinton and Peter Paul at the Gala Salute to President Clinton. The introduction by Bill of Chelsea to Paul and her conversations about Paul’s family and his one year old daughter featured in the Gala Tribute Book, appeared to be intended to help Hillary establish a “family” rapport with Paul that would assure Paul’s continued financial support of Hillary’s Senate campaign...

I always said Bill Clinton was a playa...

Read all of Paul's post - he has some interesting photos and documents I hadn't seen before.

Linked by: The Anchoress. Thanks!

Al Qaeda issues Amber Alert for blubbery traitor Adam Gadahn

 
Have you seen this porky terrorist lately?

It seems that a Predator (no, not a sexual predator -- the military version) may have carried the flabby traitor off. To hell in a million pieces, maybe.

Al Qaeda appears nervous that Gadahn hasn't checked in for about a week:

...Jihadist sources on the Pakistan side of the border are telling local journalists they are worried. One who described himself as a “very close friend” of Gadahn said the 28-year-old California native had until recently been spending most of his time in the populated areas of South Waziristan, near the towns of Wana, Azam Warsak and Shahkai.

The same friend said Gadahn had left for North Waziristan a week before the Predator attack in Mir Ali, where he was supposed to attend “an important meeting”. The friend said that, after the Predator attack on January 31, they lost “all contact” with Gadahn.

“All our friends are worried about him but so far we could not make any contact with him. We had sent two of our friends to Mir Ali to locate him and provide us with details about him,” the supposed friend explained.

He added that other militants who traveled with Gadahn also were missing...

Have you seen Abu Porky lately?

Gateway Pundit and Jawa have more.

Linked by: Dr. Sanity Thanks! Credits: "Amber Alert" line -- Larwyn

Enlightened!

 
From: The MEMRI Blog.

Heroin packaged as a book

 

Book Review - Robert Ferrigno's Sins of the Assassin

Seldom does an eagerly anticipated sequel meet the hype. Even less frequently does it exceed the original, especially when the latter received numerous awards and hit all of the bestseller lists. Such an anomaly is Robert Ferrigno's Sins of the Assassins, the second volume in the Assassin Trilogy.

Epic in scope, cinematic in its plotting, startling in its violence and ultimately realistic despite its futuristic setting, Sins features the return of Rakkim Epps in a post-nuclear U.S. In Prayers for the Assassin, Epps uncovered the true backdrop behind a so-called "Zionist" attack on Washington, New York and Mecca. The attacks triggered a second U.S. Civil War that eventually split the country into a moderate Islamic Republic and a Christian-oriented Bible Belt. With help from his long-time friend Sarah, Epps exposed "the Old One" as the instigator of the nuclear attacks. The Old One, bent on establishing a global Islamic empire with North America as its cornerstone, was stopped dead in his tracks by Epps and Sarah but escaped to live another day.

In "Sins", another, darker day has arrived. The United States is more fragmented than ever as the Christian Bible Belt is racked by warring factions; the Islamic Republic has become increasingly radicalized as Sharia law spreads; and the Aztlan Empire (Mexico) and Canada are encroaching on the old southern and northern borders.

Worse, word of a legendary super-weapon buried in a remote mountain area -- a highly-classified DoD project in the old U.S. regime -- threatens to unravel the fragile truce that exists between the Islamic Republic and the Bible Belt. Epps is tagged for a secret mission by the president of the moderate Islamic Republic to retrieve the weapon. Any hope for a "re-United States" hangs in the balance as a variety of international players -- including China, the modern global superpower -- race to control the weapon.

Epps is one of the Islamic Republic's elite "shadow warriors," a tiny cadre of special operatives groomed for commando activity behind enemy lines and genetically enhanced for night vision, fighting skills and agility. Compounding Epps' troubles, however, he's ordered to bring Leo -- an unathletic, unworldly nineteen year-old scientific genius -- with him on his nerve-wracking mission into the Bible Belt. Leo's job will be to quickly interpret the weapon's technology and to perform other classified tasks to which even Epps is not privy.

Along the way, Epps grapples with his own religious beliefs. As the violence escalates, he becomes convinced that somehow, some way, the spirit of Darwin -- the ultimate assassin controlled by the Old One -- has entered his being. Epps struggles to maintain control over his own schizophrenic existence as he and Leo weave their way through the Bible Belt's fragmented terroritories of religious cults, militias and corrupt officials.

As Rakkim and Leo wend their way to the mountain and the weapon within, they face not only the combined forces of the Old One, but a formidable militia led by "the Colonel", a military legend in the Bible Belt. Foremost among the Colonel's troops is Gravenholtz, a mechanically enhanced super-soldier capable of unbelievable savagery.

If Hollywood hasn't optioned the Assassin series, it's high time some Porsche-driving, mousse-laden genius arranged a meeting with Ferrigno's representatives.

The only downside of the book? You'll need the literary equivalent of methadone to overcome withdrawal once the story ends. And you'll be marking the calendar for the final chapter of the triad.

The hysteria formerly known as global warming

 
Unremarked upon by the media -- especially as they are co-conspirators in the scam -- is the rebranding of global warming as Climate Change™.

I guess that's what's required as China, South America, central Asia and Antarctica are all experiencing record-setting deep freezes.

Of course, Barack Obama and John McCain are now battling over who can dampen the economy more in order to control the climate.

Meanwhile, the world's scientists are now turning their attention to the issue of global cooling. Anyone need a used copy of An Inconvenient Truth?

Update: Even NOAA reluctantly confirms it's getting colder.

Line o' the day: Joe Stalin breaks out in a grin

 
3 Wood, writing at Jammie Wearing Fool, wins our ultra-prestigious Line o' the Day Award.

Here's an indication of how Hillary looks at America:

"How Hillary's plan affects:

• Women
• African-Americans
• Americans with Disabilities
• Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Hispanics
• Seniors"

Look who is missing from that group. White males, of course.

When you read through those sections, the class envy and special interest group pandering is enough to make you sick. These people see the country as a combination of special interest groups, all of whom are dependent upon handouts from Big Brother.

Somewhere, Joe Stalin is smiling.

Not to mention: Karl Marx and Trotsky have engaged in a sultry, erotic waltz.

Sorry Cadillac Tight, but we all owe an apology to Hugh Hewitt

 
Joe Tobacco at Cadillac Tight offers a nicely delivered argument that the standard conservative themes no longer resonate with most Americans, thus explaining the incipient McCain nomination (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds).

...The [conservative establishment (e.g., talk radio combined with National Review)] really think that there is nothing wrong with their ideas, their methods, or their scorn for their own voter base. Even after the 2006 “thumping” they took in Congress, they don’t see it. Rather than take a step back and consider that McCain may actually be closer to the base in terms of his policy preferences (they can, after all, always tell themselves these primaries were about “electability”, not policy), they intend to soldier on with their losing agenda, keeping a nice supply of brickbats ready to hurl at their own base when things don’t work out the way they expected them to.

At first blush, the story doesn't pass my smell test. Talk radio and the center-right blogosphere, for example, were able to instantly marshal their forces against the open-borders crowd and defeat the amnesty bill, despite every advantage possessed by the President, Ted Kennedy, John McCain and a host of other beltway insiders.

As for a "thumping" in 2006, were it not for the "macaca" kerfuffle (vastly inflated by the progressive media), it's entirely likely that the Senate would have remained in GOP hands.

And if we're going to buy into CT's argument, I'd like some metrics that can help confirm or deny the assertions.

The candidates and the campaign

The Intrade political futures market provides insight into the dynamics and trending of the race. Look closely at the market for each candidate over the hottest period of primary season (mid-2007).

Giuliani: hovering between 20% and 40% during the meat of the campaign, Rudy had grabbed many national security conservatives and centrists who admired his handling of the 9/11 attacks. As for Second Amendment and social conservatives, many had their doubts. A lack of major-league funding rippled into tactical errors that quickly short-circuited his campaign.

Thompson: gravitating between 15% and 30%, Fred was beloved by the conservative backbone of the party. A late and ineffectual start followed by a sequence of debate breakdowns -- cause by an apparent lack of both preparation and eloquence -- accelerated his fall.

Romney: ranging between 15% and 25%, Mitt had the advantage of an unlimited warchest and a professionally staffed campaign. He was repeatedly wounded by the media, which focused inappropriate attention on his Mormon background (consider: did you ever read a news story about Harry Reid's Mormon upbringing?).

McCain: listing between 5% and 20% (on the lower end for most of the race), the war hero-cum-beltway insider was too old and too damaged by the immigration debate to be considered a serious GOP candidate. Or was he?

Huckabee was simply not a viable candidate until a series of wonderfully glib debate performances propelled him to mainstream media prominence.

Examined this way, conservatives had split between three viable candidates who combined for nearly 90% of the Republican sentiment in July of 2007! Later in the race, the GOP split even further. But why was the voting public so fragmented, so compartmentalized?

The mainstream media and the GOP race

Over the course of the Republican nomination process, the ultimate barometer of mainstream media sentiment -- the New York Times -- promoted candidates certain to be weakest against Democrats in the general election. To gauge this contention, let's examine the number of mentions in the Times over the past year for each candidate.

• John McCain: 97,400
• Mitt Romney: 87,400
• Mike Huckabee: 52,800
• Fred Thompson: 21,700
• Rudy Giuliani: 18,600

Consider that Huckabee, a man with no significant backing early in the cycle, was promoted by the Times nearly three times as much as New York's former mayor, a much more well-known and local figure. Or that John McCain was publicized (in the context of the GOP nomination) approximately five times as much as either Giuliani or Thompson.

And to reiterate, much of the MSM's attention focused on Romney's "oddball" Mormon background and other attack stories.

Put simply, the mainstream media relentlessly marketed the comeback of John McCain and the viability of a no-name, no-money, no-chance candidate like Mike Huckabee simply to fragment and weaken the Republican fold for the inevitable Clinton/Obama onslaught.

An apology to Hugh Hewitt

In short, the center-right blogosphere (myself included, eighth-tier player though I may be) and talk radio both owe an aoplogy to Hugh Hewitt.

Hewitt had the right idea all along: back the man with the best executive track record, eloquence, squeaky clean background, solid (if imperfect) conservative credentials and, yes, presidential appearance as the single man who could unite the GOP.

Had Rush, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin followed Hewitt's lead earlier -- using their bully pulpits as blunt instruments, just as the mainstream media is fond of doing (only they do so in the form of analysis disguised as news) -- Romney would be the presumptive nominee.

Perhaps these are our lessons for the next go-round.

That said, many things can happen before the general election. One never knows what shenanigans the Clintons might pull with the super-delegates, for instance.

Does it mean I'm really old if Luke Recker's going bald?

 
What ever happened to Luke Recker?

Big Ten basketball fans may recall the name Luke Recker. Recker was the Indiana high school phenom who dazzled observers as a big (6'6") guard with a sweet stroke and rocket booster-style leaping ability. He committed early to Indiana and Bob Knight, playing two years under the fiery coach before transferring to Arizona.

His plans all changed the evening he and his girlfriend, Kelly Craig, drove to a carnival while on vacation in Durango, Colorado. A drunk-driver smashed into their vehicle and a pickup truck packed with passengers. When police and paramedics arrived, bodies were flung over the highway while passers-by attempted to triage the injured. A state trooper noted in his log book that 14 people had been inured and one had died at the scene.

An empty 12-pack of Budweiser and a bottle of rum were rolling around the drunk driver's pickup; he had suffered minor injuries while Kelly Craig was paralyzed; Recker's head was slashed open and his left hand crushed. Only a nurse who happened to drive by the scene saved Recker from bleeding out: his temporal artery had been sliced open. 200 stitches were required to patch him up.

Recker never played for Arizona. He transferred back to Iowa and the Big Ten to be closer to his family and the Craigs. Kelly Craig was partially paralyzed, but has thankfully regained some movement in her arms and legs. She still requires a wheelchair, however. She and Recker later called off their relationship as he pursued his dream of playing professional basketball with a reconstructed hand.

After finishing his collegiate career with the Hawkeyes (he averaged 17 PPG while shooting 41% from three-land), he tried out with the Miami Heat and played a year in the NBDL. For the last four years, he's split time between Italian- and Spanish-league hoops. Over the last two seasons, he's been a major contributor for Bilbao Basket of the Spanish ACB league. Overall, during his Euro play, he's averaged nearly 14 PPG while shooting 38% on threes.

Luke Recker is 29 years old? And going bald? How can that be? Why that must mean Scottie May is nearing retirement. And Steve Downing, is he still playing? What about Tommy Baker? Young whippersnappers. *Grumbling noises*

More: Kelly Craig update: 2003, Luke Recker is going bald, we're getting old.

Nationalized Healthcare Success Story #4,323

 
London's Daily Mail:

Dentists are under pressure not to treat children as the NHS cannot afford to fund their care...

Health trusts want dentists to concentrate on targeting adult patients who have to pay for treatment, according to a pressure group.

The claims, to a Commons health select committee, come as figures show that one in three children has not visited a dentist for up to two years...

Kids lose their baby teeth anyhow - what's the big deal?

Double standard? What double standard?

 
Yesterday, a prominent U.S. Cardinal pilloried federal officials for permitting Iran's president Ahmadinejad to visit New York City last year.

We should have executed the dictator. Everyone in the West knows that Iran's president must die. And we could have easily made it appear he died of natural causes.

Oh. My mistake. Did I say a U.S. Cardinal?

I meant that a prominent Iranian cleric called for the beheading of George W. Bush; he expressed disgust with Arab leaders for not taking advantage of Bush's visit by assassinating the U.S. president.

Stepping back for a moment, what does it say about religious authorities who call for executions? And what does it say about a mainstream media that can't be bothered reporting this news. Of course, had a real Catholic official called for Mahmoud to be killed, we can be sure the New York Times would have erupted in righteous liberal progressive outrage.

Double standard? What double standard?

Hilarious health care question o' the day

 
EIB:

...Hillary had to loan herself money. Now, the question is, "Whose is it?" She's getting very testy about this. It's my money! It's my money! She's made about $6 million from her books. Her husband's made the rest of the money in the family, according to the financial disclosure forms and so forth.

Her staff, including the campaign manager... are now working without pay, and a reporter... asked her today, "Are your unpaid staff members getting health care coverage?" She dodged the question! ...I mean, this has gotta be stunning to these people to get questions like that from the [mainstream media] who they thought they had in the palm of their hands...

What's the emoticon for giggling?

Flight 93 Memorial: a Disrespectful Design

 
The Flight 93 Memorial is rightfully under fire.

The Park Service contact information for the Memorial:

Flight 93 National Memorial * 109 West Main Street, Suite 104 * Somerset, PA 15560

(814) 443-4557 Phone * (814) 443-2180 Fax

Make your voice heard.

Hat tip: Right on the Right

Behead the Public Relations Department!

 
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- consider them your garden variety insane, misogynistic terrorists -- took credit for a homicide bombing in the Israeli city of Dimona. A pair of homicide bombers killed one woman and wounded 11 others.

Aaron Klein describes a subsequent gaffe of epic stupidity.

Immediately after the attack, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group [took] credit for the bombing... [providing] names of the two bombers – Mussa Arafat, a PFLP terrorist from the Gaza city of Khan Younis, and Lawai Lawani, an Al Aqsa Brigades member from Gaza's Sabra neighborhood...


The head of Al Aqsa Public Relations moves on to his next job
The Hamas terror group today claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in text messages to journalists and on Hamas' official TV station. Hamas identified the two attackers as Mohammed Herbawi and Shadi Zghayer...

Israeli security officials realized the Al Aqsa Marytrs Brigades – after hearing of yesterday's successful suicide operation – mistakenly thought it was their bombers who had reached Israel and detonated their explosives and, in a rush to take responsibility, the Brigades released the names of their two bombers...

Oops! Now Israeli security forces have the identities of two potential homicide bombers.

I wouldn't want to be the head of Public Relations for Al Aqsa. The pink slip reportedly comes in the form of a garrote.

Zogby Polling Methodology

 
Tom Elia, writing at The New Editor:

Well, the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll in California had Obama winning by 13 points over Clinton and Romney by 7 points over McCain.

As of 12:30AM Central Time, it looks like both Clinton and McCain won by more than 15%.

That's not good.

An inside glimpse into the Zogby backoffice may help explain.

Snake-eyes!

Earmark Trolls

 
Don Surber coins a new term (hat tip: Larwyn).

Iran contemplating new punishments for Barack Obama

 
Joseph Grieboski reports on the latest doings in Iran's legislative branch. Put simply, the "crime" of apostasy may soon warrant the death penalty in Iran. Furthermore, the "crime" can take place outside the country of Iran, which expands the definition of the word fugitive.

The Iranian Parliament is reviewing a draft penal code that for the first time in Iranian history legislates the death penalty for apostasy...

Article 112 examines the extraterritorial application of the norms of the code, by extending its jurisdiction over actions that take place outside the country... Article 112-3-1 refers to actions "against the government, the independence and the internal and external security of the country." Security as a term is not defined in the law, thereby making any action qualified as such. Consequently, groups considered dangerous to the regime all over the world can be liable for actions taken outside Iran that are considered as contrary to the security of the country.

Article 225-1: Any Muslim who clearly announces that he/she has left Islam and declares blasphemy is an Apostate...

Article 225-3: There are two kinds of apostates: innate (Fetri) and parental (Melli).

Article 225-4: Innate Apostate is someone whose parent (at least one) was a Muslim at the time of conception, and who declares him/herself a Muslim after the age of maturity, and leaves Islam afterwards.

Article 225-5: Parental Apostate is one whose parents (both) had been non-Muslims at the time of conception, and who has become a Muslim after the age of maturity, and later leaves Islam and returns to blasphemy.

Article 225-6: If someone has at least one Muslim parent at the time of conception but after the age of maturity, without pretending to be a Muslim, chooses blasphemy is considered a Parental Apostate.

Article 225-7: Punishment for an Innate Apostate is death.

Article 225-8: Punishment for a Parental Apostate is death, but after the final sentencing for three days he/she would be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant his/her belief and if he/she refused, the death penalty would be carried out.

Article 225-11: Whoever claims to be a Prophet is sentenced to death, and any Muslim who invents a heresy in the religion and creates a sect based on that which is contrary to the obligations and necessities of Islam, is considered an apostate.

Article 225-12: Any Muslim who deals with witchcraft and promotes it as a profession or sect in the community is sentenced to death.

Article 225-13: Assistance to the crimes in this chapter, in case there is no other punishment assigned to it by law, is punishable by up to 74 lashes in proportion with the crime and the criminal.

Enlightened!

I'm just trying to figure out which kind of apostate Barack Obama qualifies as.

Update: here's one of the cutest apostates in the blogosphere.

Update II: Two Iranian sisters face being stoned to death after Iran's supreme court upheld death sentences against them. The two sisters were found guilty of adultery after a video was presented that showed them in the company of other men. Mega-enlightened!

Iran throws temper tantrum over Israel's new spy satellite

 
AFP reports that Iran feels angry, betrayed and post-menopausal over India's commercial launch of an Israel spy satellite last month.

...The satellite, blasted into orbit from southern India on January 21, is reported by the Israeli press to have the ability to see through clouds, carry out day and night all-weather imaging and will be used to spy on Iran's suspect nuclear programme.

"The Indian government says the issue is a technical and commercial one, but we hope that the matter can be considered from the point of view of protocol," Iran's ambassador to New Delhi, Sayed Mahdi Nabizadeh, told reporters.

"We hope that an independent and wise country like India will not give their space technology to launch any instruments of espionage. Our officials have expressed our point of view," he added...

In unrelated news, Iran also threatened (for the 702nd time -- *yawn*) to destroy Israel:

Ahmadinejad: Israel's 'days are numbered'... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted the imminent collapse of Israel.

In a televised speech Wednesday from the port city of Bushehr, where Russia delivered the last of the uranium needed to start up Iran's first nuclear power plant, Ahmadinejad told Israel's friends to "stop supporting the Zionists, as [their] regime reached its final stage," according to news reports. "Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end."

"Abandon the filthy Zionist entity which has reached the end of the line... The ones who still support the criminal Zionists should know that the occupiers' days are numbered."

In also completely unrelated news, Iran is poised to attain offensive nuclear capabilities within 36 months, according to Israel's Mossad.

[Iran presents a danger not only due to its] nuclear weapons but also because of its influence on more imminent threats - such as Hamas, Hizbullah and Syria - according to an assessment presented to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee by Mossad head Meir Dagan Monday...

Iran is acting on two tracks, Dagan said, one towards the enrichment of uranium and the other towards manufacturing surface to surface missiles with large payloads... ...Syria and Hizbullah had studied the lessons of the Second Lebanon War and come to the conclusion that they cannot overpower Israel and contend with its far superior firepower. Therefore, he said, they were investing their energies in developing missiles to target the home front, which they had recognized as Israel's weak point.

Rockets and missiles are a more substantial threat than they were in the past," Dagan said. "Syria is upgrading its arsenal of surface to surface missiles, and the number of missiles and rockets it possesses today is twice the amount it had only two years ago..."

Trying to link all of these unrelated stories into a single, consistent thread is very, very difficult. Perhaps that explains why our beloved mainstream media hasn't bothered to explore this storyline.

Hillary vows to tax citizens who don't buy HillaryCare™

 
Gateway Pundit heralds the rise of U.S. Socialism in the form of HillaryCare v2.0. The New York Times and ABC News report:

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., this morning left open the possibility that, if elected, her government would garnish the wages of people who didn't comply with her health care plan...

"We will have an enforcement mechanism, whether it's that (garnishing wages) or it's some other mechanism through the tax system or automatic enrollments," Clinton said in an appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos".

It's especially disturbing since Hillary won't even allow the release of millions of documents related to her first, aborted attempt at nationalized health care. Millions of those documents remain hidden from public view.

I think a better name for HillaryCare, in the unlikely event it comes to pass, would be ClusterCare™.

Gomer melts down

 
• Huckabee hints that Clear Channel is conspiring to aid Romney ("...an astonishing case of conspiracy-peddling...").

• Huckabee accuses Romney of buying Sean Hannity's endorsement

• Huckabee's appeals to "racial nationalism"

• Mike Huckabee's imaginary friends

• Mullah Huckabee suggests changing the Constitution

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

It almost happened

 
Not only did John McCain almost leave the Republican Party, he was seriously considered for a VP slot by John Kerry*.

This was one of the secret bumper-stickers produced as tests back in 2004.

* Who, incidentally, served in Vietnam and led a courageous Christmas attack deep inside Cambodia.

Romney Resurgent

 

Gateway Pundit has the latest Romney news.

Mitt now leads in California, a closed (Republican-only) primary. McCain won't benefit from the gift of Democrats voting in the Republican primary that he received in the open primaries.

Need a refresher on the McCain list of infamy? DailyPundit has the must-read list.

Romney has the line o' the day, commenting on Hillary's proposal to freeze mortgage rates: I don't know if that even goes on in Russia today! On McCain: John McCain is called a maverick by himself and others. But, he's a maverick because he's gone against his own party..

Republicans now realize the race is down to McCain and Romney, and therefore the choice is... obvious. Mark Steyn agrees:

The Clintons are nothing if not lucky, and Hillary must occasionally be enjoying a luxury-length cackle at the thought of being pitted against a 71-year-old "maverick" whose record seems designed to antagonize just enough of the base into staying home on Election Day. In the 2000 campaign season, running in a desultory fashion for the New York Senate seat, Rudy Giuliani waged a brief half-hearted campaign just long enough to leave the Republican Party with no one to run against Hillary except a candidate who wasn't up to the job... Has he managed to do the same this time round?

Vote Mitt Romney.