Democrat Debate: McCain Wins

The infants on the Democrat far left are apoplectic that an MSM network would dare to ask their messiah hard questions about his true political leanings. They should be angry at themselves for putting up a little league liar when they had Barry Bonds ready to go.

Hillary has already been vetted and even her supporters know she and her husband are world class grifters. Now the playing field is being leveled as Obama's Marxist and anti-American philosophy is being exposed as this rookie strikes out on anything other than grooved pitches.

At least ABC finally realized this and decided to throw him a couple of curve balls.

Lets's look at some highlights of the presumptive nominee.

On Bitter People:

"And so the point I was making was that when people feel like Washington's not listening to them, when they're promised year after year, decade after decade, that their economic situation is going to change, and it doesn't, then politically they end up focusing on those things that are constant, like religion."

You weren't talking about "people". You were talking about rural blue-collar white people that are too stupid, superstitious and violent to see how much better their lives would be if they allowed themselves to be re-educated by you and your San Francisco comrades. You're the one who is frustrated that people actually believe they can run and defend their lives without your scary intellect. If you're going to appeal to middle class mores in order to destroy them, then try harder in hiding your contempt for them.

On Reverend Wright:

"Reverend Wright is somebody who made controversial statements but they were not of the sort that we saw that offended so many Americans. And that's why I specifically said that these comments were objectionable; they're not comments that I believe in."

Do you hear yourself? What the hell are you talking about?

"What I also said was, the church and the body of Reverend Wright's work, over the course of 30 years, were not represented in those snippets that were shown on television, and that the church has done outstanding work in ministries on HIV/AIDS, prison ministries, providing people with the kind of comfort that we expect in our churches."

You're still hanging onto that "snippet" thing? Didn't you want Imus out on the street for "nappy headed ho's'? That's a snippet. Wright's comments can fill up an entire radio segment, not to mention his racist Black Theology that you have supported for twenty years. And Wright's "outstanding work" is no more relevant here than the fact that Hitler loved dogs, Mussolini made the trains run on time and Jeffrey Dahmer was nice to his mother.

"Absolutely many of these remarks were objectionable. I've already said that I didn't hear them, because I wasn't in church that day."

That's the type of lie Hillary makes look easy. You don't have the chops to pull it off. And even we were to believe that tripe, it's impossible to imagine that a guy you called your mentor for twenty years never expressed those sentiments to you outside of the pulpit. And your wife is obviously a devoted and attentive parishioner. Has she just been leading you around by the nose all these years?

On terrorist buddy William Ayers:

"This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George."

If it were just about a guy in your neighborhood then I'd be sympathetic. I don't want to be associated with the nut next door just because I had a beer with him once. But if I also served on a board with him and accepted his contributions while he was publicly defending his past nuttiness and wishing he'd been nuttier, then I'm either a supporter of his insanity or a clueless knucklehead. Which one are you?

I was only ten when William Calley committed the My Lai Massacre. But even though he's now a fellow Floridian, it doesn't mean I'm going to hang with him just because I was too ignorant in 1968 to appreciate the evil of his crimes. Especially if he was now saying he wished he'd done more as Ayers has.

And your nyah, nyah Hillary pardoned terrorists defense is just plain childish and only highlights the fact that neither of you can be trusted.


On economy and taxes:


MR. GIBSON: Senator Obama, you both have now just taken this pledge on people under $250,000 and 200-and-what, 250,000.
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, it depends on how you calculate it. But it would be between 200 and 250,000.
MR. GIBSON: All right.

...SENATOR OBAMA: ...What I have proposed is that we raise the cap on the payroll tax, because right now millionaires and billionaires don't have to pay beyond $97,000 a year.

MR. GIBSON: Those are a heck of a lot of people between $97,000 and $200(,000) and $250,000. If you raise the payroll taxes, that's going to raise taxes on them.
SENATOR OBAMA: And that's -- and that's -- and that's why I've said, Charlie, that I would look at potentially exempting those who are in between.

Yikes!! What a mess. When did say anything about exemptions other than the maybe, sort of (won't happen) way you just did?

MR. GIBSON: And in each instance, when the (capital gains) rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?

SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year -- $29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair.

Well, I have to give you credit for being honest about your belief that the tax system is primarily a tool for utopian social engineering and not to fund the legitimate constitutional functions of government. It does however, reveal your typically leftist ignorance in perpetuating the lie that economics, wealth and income is a zero-sum game. You really do believe that wealthy people produce no value for others, especially ordinary Americans in return for their compensation, don't you? Unless it's you or racist con men like Rev. Wright of course.

On guns:

MR. GIBSON: Senator Obama, the District of Columbia has a law, it's had a law since 1976, it's now before the United States Supreme Court, that prohibits ownership of handguns, a sawed-off shotgun, a machine gun or a short-barreled rifle. Is that law consistent with an individual's right to bear arms?

SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, I confess I obviously haven't listened to the briefs and looked at all the evidence.

As a former professor of constitutional law, are you telling us you know nothing of what will probably be the most significant second amendment case of our lifetimes? Look, I'm not even going to bother with your other quotes on this subject because you're so obviously full of it as are most Democrats, that it's not even worth discussing.

This was a huge but inevitable loss for Obama as at some point he was going to have to put some substance behind his charismatic but vapid rhetoric. Fortunately for McCain it's happening now and he is being spared as Democrats assemble their circular firing squad. His True Believers are angry that their savior has been betrayed by other Democrats and their sympathizers for bringing up pesky facts. A Cult of Personality exists best in a vaccuum and free societies are not a hospitable environment. His fanatical followers don't know how to reconcile that and they're lashing out. Make some popcorn. The convention promises to be a riot.

Obama'a loss doesn't mean Hillary won. She lost too as Obama's ineptitude reminded us that the alternative is just a polished version of the same turd. Actually, she's the same turd that's been stinking up the place for almost twenty years and many Democrats would like someone, anyone to come in and throw it out. Obama's not up to the job but everyone else hit the bricks when he said he could and Democrats were dumb enough to believe him.

Winner: McCain

Maryland passes new "millionaire" tax

High end real estate brokers in Florida and elsewhere should start targeting the 6,000 taxpayers in Maryland who will now pay higher taxes for the sin of success.

"Howard Rensin, a successful Howard County businessman and developer, thinks many Maryland millionaires will decamp for less taxing locales."There's already been a substantial migration of people of high income out of Maryland," Rensin said. "I think you're going to see an increase in that type of flight."

Well, of course. Remember that the wealthier people are, the easier it is for them to move. All the revenues estimates that governments use in justifying tax increases are predicated on the assumption that the taxpayer will just stand there and take it in the shorts. It never happens and never will.

Meanwhile, New York passed yet another budget with an increase of twice the inflation rate. They almost imposed their own version of the millionaire tax but dropped it at the last minute, instead raising taxes and fees on everything from internet sales to manicures. And now New York cigarette taxes will be the highest in the country. They should call that the "Smugglers Full Employment Act"

Illinois Legislator Supports Mob Rule

State Rep. Mike Smith wants to double income taxes on 5% of the state's taxpayers by allowing the other 95% to vote it into law. Beyond the fact that this would drive even more of the productive from that state, Mr Smith obviously thinks democracy is about two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.

Actually, this guy seems to think way too much about dinner and would probably eat all three of them. Maybe we should vote to tax him and his corpulent brethren for eating more than their fair share of food and endangering the planet with the massive amounts of paint-peeling greenhouse gasses they expel every day.

Speaking in support of his plan to take with threat of state force, the property of 107,000 residents for the crime of being successful and productive, Smith said: "I'm not sure who would campaign against this other than those 107,000," And that's why this country was set up as a representative republic and not a direct democracy. To prevent tyranny by the majority. Mr. Smith should ask for a refund on his poly-sci degree.

Or maybe he should just quit and get a real job for once in his life. Perhaps he'll realize how hard it is to make money when you can't put a gun to people's heads.

The Cities (and states) that Liberalism Ruins

NRO's Rich Lowry comments that "Detroit is a stark statement on the failure of urban liberalism". Now we learn that Detroit has earned the distinction of having the lowest high school graduation rate of the fifty largest cities in the country, coming in at a disgraceful 24.9%.

It goes beyond that. Looking at domestic migration rates i.e. how many people move from one state to another, a pattern emerges that is an illustration of why the Berlin Wall was built. People are moving from high tax and regulation states to lower ones. It comes as no surprise to anyone but the left that states like Michigan, Illinois, New York and New Jersey have the highest amount of residents leaving for greener pastures. When the Hawaiian government can chase out 12% more residents than it gained in less than fifteen years, you would think a light bulb would go off in someone's head. The Tax Foundation posted a great April Fools send up of clueless governors on this subject.

These people are moving to places like Florida, Texas, Nevada and New Hampshire. Those four states are some of the few that have no income tax, among other benefits to the productive. And many of them aren't moving that far. New Hampshire gained 6.1% in net domestic migration from 2000-2004 while Massachusetts lost 6.6%. Visit the fast growing town of Nashua that sits on the northern border of Massachusetts and is within commuting distance of Boston and the high-tech I-128 corridor to see how incentives matter. The same trend can be seen in Nevada and Arizona as they accept more and more California refugees.

Unfortunately a lot of liberals are moving too and taking their bad ideas with them. They're also oblivious of what caused them to move in the first place.

It took Rudy Guilani, a conservative by New York standards, to repair some of the damage done by his predecessors. But even he couldn't solve the city's systemic problems that cause taxpaying citizens and businesses to flee, leaving behind an even higher percentage of New Yorkers living off of the public teat. Detroit is just the latest and most glaring example of liberal failure. Conservatives and Libertarians need to spend more time pointing out the empirical evidence that's right in front of everyone's nose.

WalMart the latest victim of Mob Rule

Free enterprise and the rule of law took a hit today as WalMart caved to public outcry generated by the anti-business trial bar and the usual socialist suspects. Actually, the trial bar does like business as long as it's them doing it by producing nothing through publicly funded courts.

Typical of this attitude is John Cummings, a Texas personal injury lawyer who was "seething" in December that WalMart would have the gall to enforce its contractual rights in court. Mr. Cummings apparently believes that some are more equal than others under the law. One wonders how much he and other WalMart critics donated to the Shank family.

I dont know Mr. Cummings and I'm sure he thinks he means well, but the notion that success and productivity is prima facie evidence of evil intent unless you bow to the extortionist left is an assault on basic fairness and common sense. In short, it's Un-American.

The crux of this case was Subrogation. Something that Cummings and others believe "screw the little guy" No, it's a concept that prevents double dipping in insurance claims and protects all of us. That's exactly what happened here. WalMart paid Mrs. Shank over $400,000 for medical expenses which were reimbursed to her by a third party. WalMart then wanted their money back. Not too hard to figure out, is it? This is the kind of thing Judge Judy disposes of in about fifteen minutes in $500 auto accident cases with no complaints because it's fair and equitable. But because WalMart is a big bad corporation that has committed crimes like employing 1.3 million people and offering low priced products to average Americans, then fairness be damned.

The fact that Mrs. Shank contractually agreed to this and that the courts sided with WalMart matters not to left wing demagogues and if you bring it up, then you're obviously a heartless bastard.

One of the more nonsensical arguments I've heard is that WalMart should pay because if they don't, then taxpayers would have to through Medicaid. First of all, since when is it incumbent on a private concern to mitigate the losses of the federal government? And where do people think this money is coming from? The employees, customers and most important, the shareholders of WalMart. Most of those shares are owned by individuals, pension and mutual funds which are owned by...you guessed it. You and me.

Congress Demagogues Capitalism Again

Last month it was CEO pay. Now we're back to demonizing profits as congressional leftists call oil company CEO's on the carpet again to appease their Marxist base and exploit the economic ignorance of the American public. Even more frightening, I think some of them actually believe the crap they spout.

I'm still trying to found out where in the constitution the government has the right to question how much money any private enterprise makes, much less dictate how they should spend their profits. Most oil company shares are owned either directly or indirectly by ordinary Americans. Democrats know this and it betrays their motive as just another attempt to undermine the free enterprise system.

Having said that, I'm all for eliminating subsidies to oil companies and everyone else, including farmers, third world kleptocracies et al.

BTW- I didn't notice anyone from Chavez' Citgo hauled in front of this kangaroo court.

More Muslim Whining

We're engaged in a malicious indictment of Islam according to this champion of imbelicity. I only post this because this has become a frequent and tiresome complaint by the Islamo-Fascist fifth column. Terrorist front group CAIR is saying the same crap.
A little fisking:


"For seven horrendous years a religion has been demonized, it's over one billion followers held globally hostage for the actions of a few."

If there hadn't also been around 10,000 terrorist attacks perpetrated since then, you might have a point. When there's a 100 million strong death cult within your ranks, you'd think there would better things for you to worry about than what I and other westerners think of you. And that genital mutilation and honor killing stuff isn't helping much either. Actions of a few my ass.

"Nowhere in the Muslim world, do we see such a collective, concerted denunciation of a religion or culture."

OK. Now you just sound like an idiot.