Summarizing McCain

Waaaay better than I hoped. The crowd helped. He showed good instinct in taking the crowd with him.
Brit Hume and Juan Williams mention green backdrop. Heh.
Rove goes through his checklist. He keeps stats. Cool. 67 paragraph.
So I wasn't the only one wondering what the hell the backdrop was. Oh it was a school.

Sorry I was so slow posting comments. Don't get many of those.

Live Blogging McCain

College night... a little late to the party.

Well, Cindy's never going to project a lot of warmth. The new hair almost makes her look too young and for such an old guy.

The little sincere head shakes seem kind of overdone with the camera so close - too close.

Here comes the video -
Nothing here you couldn't do with a nice home computer
Momma's boy. Okay

First I've heard of his father standing at the North Vietnamese border. Kinda creepy/cool.

"ferocious opponent of pork-barrell spending" Good.

not in it for the glory? Are we sure? "The stars are aligned." Kinda weird for RNC.
________________________________________
Darkness - the voice of God, no, Fred Thompson.

On stage - finger point - wave. The year of the shiny solid necktie.
Not the rip-roaring response of last night....but pretty good.

USA USA. tiresome. tiresome.

In good voice, looks a little nervous and wide-eyed but this will pass. What's behind him? Tara?

No success without a good fight. Nice compliment to other Repub contenders and Bush. Might as well link up with Bush now. BHO will do it tomorrow.

9:18 - sweet compliment of Cindy. Hope he doesn't slap her on the ass when she comes on stage. Sudden interest in her charity work, of which I will admit ignorance.

9:20 - very sneaky reference to his mother's age. Nice....

9:21 - shout out and snaps to BHO.

9:24 - reach out to any patriot...how about the screaming grandmother. "Don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static."

9:25 - stand on your side and not in your way....could do without the "fight" reference. Sounds too Clintonian/Edwardian.

9:28 - "I can't wait until I introduce her (Palin) to Washington." Perfect

- "I understand who I work for." also perfect

9:30 - he fought corruption. I hope he's fighting Ted Stevens. Genuine emotion regarding using the veto pen.
He fought a lot of people.

Wish he hadn't fought free speech quite so hard.

9:33 - Props to David Petraeus and troops. I hope the war is as won as everyone says.

Fight, fight, fight, okay... guess it doesn't hurt.

I don't know. The new stage kind of works for me. It makes him look like late period Sinatra.

- good bit about the deceased soldier whose name I missed.

9:36 - we let Washington change us... we lost their trust.... welfare for oil companies Silence in the auditorium.
- "a culture of life" a clever formulation... "don't legislate from the bench." bloody red meat.

9:39 - I'm not so cool with the kindergarten teacher cadence when talking about Obama. With attendant boos.
- second highest business tax rate in the world....I did not know that.

9:41 - least effective when he talks like he's explaining things to a six year old. He's slipped into a lot of that here in the past few minutes.

- aaaahh retraining - that old bugaboo. We need more nail salons.

9:43 - good poke in the eye of public schools. NEA is already lost. Resent the bad teachers comment - almost never the real problem. "I want schools to answer to parents and students." I'd also like parents to answer to basic sociological requirements, but maybe that's just me.

9:46 - drill new wells offshore (not ANWR). His energy programs sound as empty as ever. "restore the health of our planet". yawn. Maybe the oceans will stop rising.

9:49 - Smack at Russia - good. The only adult on this topic so far. "The brave people of Georgia need our solidarity and our prayers." That's pretty thin John.

9:51 - good bit about his father again. excellent language on stable and enduring peace.

9:57 - "I didn't think there was a cause more important than me." Excellent. Admits that his father's status saved him. Classy.

10:00 - "and they broke me" "no man can always stand alone" Tears all around - horrifying in it's understatedness.

10:01 - all the reasons he loved his country. Painful contrast with BHO and MO. I think he'll get a bump in the polls for now. Now some self-deprecating self-awareness...."so help me God"

- calls for public service or military service...'bout time somebody did.

10:04 - big climax re: fighting. I think he feels it and is feeding off the crowd. Just outstanding. I didn't think he had it in him. Wow.

Now the godawful music.

Postscripts

CNNs coverage seems a little better than Fox at this point. Love Brit Hume but he's talking too much. CNN is capturing the size and energy better.

Love the use of the song "Barracuda". Repubs always have better senses of humor.

Nuclear Jihadist

Hugh Hewitt just finished his interview with authors of the book, The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secrets...And How We Could Have Stopped Him.

I listened and got scared. You should too! The transcript from a 3-hour interview may not be up for a while, though.

Thanks Florida!!

Borrowing Mickey Kaus's old line...

In September, when it becomes to clear to the last subterranean dwelling Republican that McCain can't beat Clinton, or Obama, or Clinton-Obama, we'll have Florida to thank.

Live Blogging the SoU - why do I do this to myself...

CNN will be interviewing John McCain and Mitt Romney, and SENATORS Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

"Tired of leaders who ask nothing of us at all." Good line.

She's good enough on TV, but just a little too understated. East Coasters are yawning gigantically.

Nobody cares about Greensberg, KS. Sorry. How did we get to global warming? Whining about deployed Kansas National Guard. Calls herself commander in chief. Well, okay...

Health care - stimulus package. I'm detecting an urge to not offend Republicans and to take the focus off a very unpopular Congress.

You are an American first. Not real sparkly opening. "What does any of it have to do with me?" Struggling families in Kansas? I'm from there. Farmers are doing well. Johnson County is doing very well. Where are they struggling?

Dems: Sebelius is speaking from Topeka.

Chris Wallace on immigration. All candidates are running from the President.
Back to Fox.
Wolf Blitzer refers to radio talk show hosts opposing immigration reform. Never mind 70% of citizens R and D.
I have to say Bush looked a little more comfortable in his skin than he had for a while.
CNN Ed Henry acknowledges progress in Iraq.

No introductions of individuals in the audience which is out of character.

Immigration discussion was short and had no point. Hard to see how he could blame Congress for that mess. He really needs to blame us yahoos.

Hume - "extremely conservative speech"

Bush twin on left looks THIN. Hope she's taking care of herself.
___________________________________________________
Let us set forth to do their business.

Wants hiring preferences for spouses of military. Hmmm, hadn't occurred to me.

Veterans funding up 95%. Seems like small ball, but I'm not a veteran. Nice shoutout to Dole.

Malaria, AIDs, Wants 30 billion more over 5 years. Gee, tough call.

More than half the worlds food aid comes from US. Forgot this too.

Wants liability protection for companies assisting in intelligence gathering. I'd forgotten this.

Wherever freedom advances in the Middle East, Iran is there to oppose. People: We have no quarrel with you. America will threaten those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, etc. I wonder what he means by that.

Empty promises re Palestine.

Way more time on Iraq than I expected. Wish he'd been doing this for the past few years. Maybe I don't watch enough news.

Promises 20,000 troops coming home. Wonder how many are headed for Afghanistan. Any further drawdown will be based on conditions in Iraq. Kinda quiet.

No need to mention some who deny the surge is working. Unless it was a dig at Harry Reid. More time than I expected on Iraq. Speak directly to services. Very nice. In the fight ahead you will have all you need to protect our nation. Nutroots must just be shitting bricks.

80,000 Iraqi citizens fighting the terrorists? Hadn't heard this.

Iraq as Surgistan. It is now officially safe for Democrats to cheer the war. Weird.

3000 Marines to Afghanistan. John Kerry standing. Well good for him.

Defining ideological struggle of the 21st century. Spreading the hope of freedom. Sounds better now than a year ago. Surprisingly positive response.

Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq. These images of liberty have inspired us. Well some of us.
Horrific images, thanks for reminder - really.

Immigration - blah, blah, claims to have ended catch and release. Wants lawful way for foreign workers to come and suppor economy. Must uphold laws and highest ideals. Seems like one and the same.

Entitlement spending

More on faith based organizations. Asks for extension of charitable choice. Gulf Coast reference. North American summit in New Orleans. Bring bleach.

Asks for ban on cloning.

Wondered if he'd mention stem cells. Yep. Cool. expanding funding for ethical medical research.

More funding on physical science, how about pharmaceutical industry? Are they okay.

Clean energy technology draws a yawn. Coal power with capturing carbon emissions. Nuclear!! Finally. Cars and trucks of future, blah, blah. International clean energy fund. Keep it away from the UN please. Slap at China.

Trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world. More trade agreements.

No one can deny results of No Child Left Behind. Well..... okay.
Over to CSPAN
Trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions. Hillary working on her health care face on Fox. Obama "reflective".

Direct fed agencies not to fund earmarks that aren't voted on in Congress. Ow.
Straight to earmarks issues. Good for him, cut to Jeff Flake. Threatens veto on budget if it doesn't cut earmarks in half.

Charlie Rangel laughs pleasantly at tax reference.

Seems like a "small" start to begin with pushing Congress's button on the rebate program.

sop to collective wisdom of ordinary citizens. Haven't heard that for too many years. Wonder if it applies to immigration?

Call for cooperation, okay, nice

Treasury Secretary is one smilin' dude.

Sheila Jackson-Lee "all right my brother how are you?" Hume "she does like to be photographed with the President." Heh

Britt Hume mentions Bush's threat to the earmarks spending.

Gagdad Bob on the elections

My Drudge and blog-addled brain usually finds Gagdad Bob's exquisite writing to be almost exhausting. But even I can grasp this post on the elections.

"I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it.”

When you're ready for a grim, Mark Steyn world view, without the humor, try the Brussels Journal.

Contemporary anti-Semitism in Europe (at least when coming from native
Europeans) is related to anti-Americanism. People who are not prepared to resist
and are eager to submit, hate others who do not want to submit and are prepared
to fight. They hate them because they are afraid that the latter will endanger
their lives as well. In their view everyone must submit.

"Gotta Let Your Hijabs Hang"

Several blogs including Powerline link to a Christian Science Monitor article about the lack of "Radical Islam" breeding grounds in the U.S compared to Europe.

In a nation where mosques have sprung up alongside churches and
synagogues, where Muslim women are free to wear the hijab (or not), and where
education and job opportunities range from decent to good, the resentments that
can breed extremism do not seem very evident in the Muslim community.

"The culture is qualitatively different [in the American Muslim community] from what
we've seen from public information from Europe, and that actually says very
positive things about our society," says Jonathan Winer, a terrorism expert in
Washington. "We don't have large populations of immigrants with a generation
sitting around semi-employed and deeply frustrated. That's a gigantic
difference."

For some reason this obvious paragraph gets overlooked:

Most Muslim immigrants came to America for educational or business
opportunities and from educated, middle-class families in their home countries,
according to an analysis by Peter Skerry of Boston College and the Brookings
Institution. In Europe, the majority came to work in factory jobs and often from
poorer areas at home.

I might also observe, based on my own experience, that US ghettos are already pretty well occupied, thank you, by some serious individuals who could teach a brother a thing or two about intimidation. Try torching a bus in Houston's 5th ward and see how long you live. Come to think of it, try torching a bus in a well-armed Anglo suburb and see how long you live. Things are different here.

Finally, I'm trying to imagine an underfed recent Muslim arrival trying to get a section-8 queen to wear a hijab if she don't wanna. He'd get bitch-slapped all the way back to Trashcanistan.

Marketers Think and God Laughs

Drudge links this article about companies "implicated" in providing E. Coli contaminated bagged spinach. He doesn't mention the delightful name of the first company involved, "Natural Selection Foods". Awkward.

Ghost Dancers for jihad

via Instapundit

"...To read some blogs today, you'd think that this was the 9th century, with camel-riding Jihadis ready to descend on helpless American towns, swinging unstoppable scimitars. It's not that way; it's more like the Ghost Dance or similar movements borne of frustration at losing, movements that do their damage all right, but that are doomed to fail. I don't mean to understate the threat, which is real enough. But it's not on the order of the Cold War, you know, and we won that one."

Ghost Dance?? I don't even think Sioux Falls was threatened by Ghost Dancers. I seem to remember Sitting Bull his-own-self observing about white Europeans "There is no end to them", meaning he and the Ghost Dancers were severely outnumbered. I think we can observe that there is no end to the Islamists right now and for the next several generations. And what's more, the Ghost Dancers already knew they had lost. I don't think the Islamic movement has been informed of that yet, and they have no particular reason to believe it.

"Fundamentalist" Islam is ascendant politically and populationally in Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan (which has nukes and a greater population than Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan combined), other Trashcanistans, and parts of Africa. Even if Iran undergoes a Pistachio Revolution (it won't and if it does it will be a bloody mess), Pakistan is just a well-placed car-bomb or two from its own Islamist government.

To much of the third world Islam is the great equalizer in the undeclared war with Western dominance. As they have in the past, parts of Central and South America will tacitly side with our enemy. China will assist Islamist countries in order to keep us too busy to respond to their Taiwan grab, (2009).

Scimitars? Putting aside nukes, across the entire third world there are young men who can do things with batteries, cell phones, diesel fuel, ammonium nitrate, etc, of which the post-gearhead western culture is almost completely ignorant.

Of course we’re not helpless but we will lose mightily until we decide to win.

"The Path to 9/11" - Engineers for jihad

I thought the "docudrama" did an excellent job of showing the sincerity and skill set of your average jihadist. They all seemed to be competent in existing in the western culture, they all seemed skilled at rapidly putting together things that go "bang" and they all seemed to enjoy their work. I think this is probably pretty accurate and pretty scary.

Everyone knew the guy in college who liked to experiment with guns, gelatin, firecrackers and lighter fluid. Typically they were 1)engineering majors 2)smart 3)otherwise pretty normal (unlike Atta, most of them wouldn't mind having their genitals washed, especially by a female).

Now, take characteristic 3), deny it access to normal female relationships and a good job, indoctrinate it non-stop with Jew-hatred, America-hatred, jealousy, and a sense of purpose. Train it in all the creative ways to wire up explosives, conceal them, transport them, etc, and then reward each improvement with praise and emotional re-enforcement. Repeat at least 100,000 times (more if you throw in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, etc) and you've got quite an army to work with, and not a uniform among them.

Late getting home from work - can't live blog

Damn, too late to live blog the whole thing, maybe I'll do the President's speech instead.

7:32 - Doesn't make a big deal of the "contested election", classy
7:33 - I thought O'Neill left his briefcase at a party, not at a seminar - More legacy rescue
7:34 - Nice to see the lady from "24" and Gary Schandling as C. Rice - I don't doubt that Clarke was ignored. New brooms can't help but sweep clean at that level
7:37 - O'Neill tells Clarke that PC rules the day
7:38 - Atta looking for loan for crop dusters
7:42 - Mideast suspects have been applying for flight school. Didn't some of these get their papers illegally
7:46 - Khatami refused entry by INS?
7:48 - KSM meets Atta, suggests Moussaui, Atta seems wrapped tight, got the eyes right
7:50 - Moussaui grounded in OK flight school, paid cash for next flight school, visited by INS, famous laptop bagged as evidence
7:53 - O'Neill interested in laptop. Really? FISA request by Colleen Rawley? - No guess not
7:56 - Moussaud taling about Taliban and UBL in Europe? Mossaud's character has all the earmarks of conflation, even if he really exists.
7:58 - Moussaud warns "Kirk", sounds mighty speculative

COOL they're breaking for Bush
8:20 - "Kirk" tells Tenet that they're planning something big. Tenet "threat information is off the charts". Clumsy writing here.
8:22 - Rice doesn't come off bad so far
8:24 - O'Neill announces new position at WTC "new sheriff in town?" I wonder
8:25 - Derivative of "Spanish Caravan" playing in background in Madrid. What? No drums?
8:28 - AQ heading for the mountains, cool music for once, Moussaud looks worried
8:30 - America must prepare, tell them "Kirk", "Patricia" shows up again to sound worried, Aviation, hijackers
8:31 - Bush believes AQ is a real threat and wants to try Predator, Hellfire missile is not ready, legality in question? Tenet comes off terribly, Clarke looks like a genius of course
8:33 - Moussaud will be dead soon, I'm betting, cameraman looks scary - yep
8:38 - I wonder if Rick Rescorla met O'Neill in his first two weeks on the job
8:40 - back to "Patricia" and "Kirk" "as true an ally as we ever had" re Moussaud, think Hitchens thought highly of him
8:42 - Atta's got daddy issues, gee really?
8:43 - do we get to see them go to the strip clubs? damn! What about Atta's desire to not have anyone wash his genitals?
8:45 - baggage check shows "Warning", etc
8:46 - back to the sticker from last night
Maybe not up for this last part.
8:53 - Who said Building two was secure? I've always wondered. Was O'Neill there? I guess so. It's unfortunate he only had two weeks to prepare - I know he died there
9:05 - too much camera shake
9:06 - Clarke is the Decider!!

Solid ending - Good Enough

Live-Blogging "The Path to 9/11" Sunday Night, Central Time

I'll be forgoing the Simpsons premier tonight to do something I haven't tried before - live-blogging.

Now, live-blogging a docudrama is probably dumb, but good practice for more important stuff and who knows maybe I'll contribute something useful, or learn how to type really fast. Obviously, I haven't seen the show yet. I'm not hoping for much even though I have enjoyed watching Clinton, Berger, et al, squirm.

6:58 - America's Funniest Video, nice segue
7:00 - I'm going to need commercial breaks
Long disclaimer - okay
Black and white opening, sad piano music - now I know how to feel.
Co-executive producer Thomas Kean. I think he'll have plausible deniability.
7:05 - more disclaimer, odd how it tries to get gravitas from the commission's own admission of it's limitations
7:07 - Shakey-cam!!!
7:08 - Legacy rescue for John O'Neill, "no one gets in the building without a sticker". Was he really at work at 7:15 am? I think I read he was out til 2:00 am the night before.

7:12 - Okay, down to business, 1993
Ramzi Yousef looks like Jim Caviezel - no I take that back.
7:15 - nice special effects on fuse lighting
7:18 - most movies do a poor job of showing the shock wave (and flesh displacement) of explosions, this one not too bad.
7:20 - good job showing inside of firefighter's mask
7:25 - CSI moment with the bomb squad, rapid VIN ID. Needless "tension", move on.
7:27 - Brief review of Kahane shooting, cool.
7:31 - A police procedural - with music!!, dull
7:33 - FBI guy beefing to John Miller, reporter, dull
7:36 - Muslim informant with a concience, looking for more money, saying I told you so
7:37 - Okay, we've established that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was a party boy
7:38 - so far the bad guys are for more interesting, a reaction that makes me check my reason for watching
7:40 - somebody tipped off the press - really??
7:44 - waayy too many close-ups. Come back Sergio Leone, all is forgiven
Not sure blogspot can handle all this posting
7:46 -"See if Janet Reno has any balls" - Waco reference - nice
7:47 - Ramzi Youself aka "Horseface", calls to mind the movie "Rockers" featuring a drummer named "Horsemouth"
7:49 - didn't know he tried to bomb Bhutto - hid out in the Phillipines? Wonder if he ever met McVeigh and Nichols?
7:56 - If I'm Beavis and Butthead I say "Ramzi Yousef is Cool!!"
7:58 - Phillipine police worry about warrants before opening laptops??
7:59 - good to see Donnie Wahlberg as "Kirk". He was great in Band of Brothers
8:00 - Stephen Root ("Dodgeball", Bill on King of the Hill) as Richard Clarke
8:02 - O'Neill, Hands on the neck "We don't lose this guy" - oy vey
8:09 - O'Neill in a restaurant, is this where the love interest comes in?
8:10 - Pakistan has flies, okay, I knew that, head covering for hottie
8:13 - This Yousef guy is really interesting. Sort of a Muslim Scarface
8:16 - Good tension right here. You sort of care about the informant Ishtiak
8:22 - Freeh wants Bill Gavin to arrest Yousef. This is the first indication of the Sec of State holding up the process of arresting someone important. Fictional?
8:23 - Freeh gives the go-ahead
8:25 - hate to admit it, but I'm completely involved at this point. Wonder if Ishtiak survives?
8:29 - I hope Ishtiak is a real character. His dialogue about innocents seems contrived.
8:32 - here comes the scene where Yousef reveals his lack of money for taking down the towers
OOOH disclaimer time, need a brownie and bathroom break
8:36 - jump to 98, UBL Fatwa
8:37 - Richard Clarke looks like Kenneth McMillan, the crazy guy from Twin Peaks. "Kirk" wonders why John Miller can find UBL but we can't
8:42 - Okay, Massoud of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan appears, meets "Kirk" "Mark" and "Alex" CIA
8:44 - Mary Jo White shows up. O'Neill actually did hang out at Elaines, as I remember it.
8:47 - good scene with CIA in Afghanistan, jump to Tenet, Amy Madigan as "Patricia", Cool
8:50 - "War is about killing the enemy and destroying their property" "How do you win a long and orderly war"
8:51 - "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"
8:53 - Can't kill UBL on purpose, "Lets go"
8:54 - Sandy Berger doesn't have authority
8:55 - Money shot showing Bergers sweating the UBL grab. Does seem forced and fake.
8:56 - John Miller, journalist, comes off smarter than anyone else, of course
Did the State Department really ignore warnings about increasing security in Nairobi?
8:58 - Dude, "Kirk" is everywhere, here comes Nairobi bombing, cheesy explosion
9:01 - Big fictional scene with "Patricia". Like Madigan but she's got the worst lines.
9:04 - What's with the damn drums while they're arresting the guy in Nairobi?
9:06 - precursory chemicals? Isn't that precursor? Could be wrong
9:08 - al shifa aspirin plant missiling, John Miller in Khartoum at same time? Really? Wow.
9:09 - I guess I didn't need this show to remind me that Clinton was a fuck up
9:10 - Zawaharie says the "war has begun". I bet he would be pissed.
9:12 - Washington warned Pakistan that they were preparing to missile UBL, Northern Alliance in trouble, Taliban executing survivors. Seems believable
9:17 - Al Qaeda training camp, KSM proposes plan "the Planes Operation" catchy.
9:19 - Clinton is Satan, heh
9:20 - imagined conversations between KSM and Zwaharie - no one's bitching about that.
9:22 - Everyone gripes about Halliburton making money off the Iraq war but no one complains about all those Toyota trucks the Taliban use ; )
9:23 - Ressam at Canadian border, millenium plot, sharp-eyed US Customs agent, missed her name, should know it. Ammonium nitrate is not urea, dialog doesn't match bag label, weird scene.
9:30 - Arrests prior to New Years, As South Park says "we need a montage!!"
9:33 - Giuliani won't cancel Times Square celebrations, false tension here. Why does John O'Neill sound like Robert DeNiro? Way too much arty-farty camera work here. Give it a rest Oliver!
9:37 - John Miller "we dodged a bullet" gosh he's smart!
9:38 - now back to 9/11, in case you forgot, good close though, another disclaimer,
wait for it, wait for it...

Overall, B+.
Good action in foreign locales. Actor who plays Yousef should get a Grammy. Keitel not convincing.

I'm ashamed to admit I found the terrorist far more convincing than those trying to catch them, except "Kirk". CIA operatives on the ground come off very brave and competent. I don't doubt for a moment that they were and are. Thanks guys.

ABC is covering itself with a special Nightline until 10:00pm. Clarke gets more camera time. Yay.

A Canticle for Mohammed

The Brussels Journal has several posts on illegal aliens occupying Belgian Catholic churches with full support of the bishops.

Perhaps most notably:

Churches have been occupied in every Belgian diocese, except the
diocese of Hasselt. Some churches currently have 700 people living in them. Many
of the sans-papiers are Muslims. They pray in the aisles while the walls display banners with the name of Allah.

UPDATE: Welcome Desparate Irish Housewife readers. Thanks for the link Susan!

Bush on immigration

Great speech!!! Awesome!!

Didn't believe a word of it.