I just got this: 

SAINT PAUL –  The office of Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty announces that the staff of the radio talk show the “Northern Alliance Radio Network” will be taking over the duties of the state press-relations office.

“We think this is a slapshot for good government, and will put us square in the net as far as cost savings and turnaround”, Governor Pawlenty said in an impromptu statement at the Capitol this morning. 

The State Press Office oversees all media relations for all branches of Minnesota’s state government, from the Legislature through the Executive Branch.

The outsourcing of PR services is expected to save the state 45 million dollars a year.  But not everyone is thrilled by the idea.

“I’m outraged…Outraged…” said Ashley Grot-Puttanesca-Steubingfelder of “Peace Through Mandatory Unity”, a non-partisan Saint Paul-based affiliate of ACORN, “…outraged [brief pause to re-collect her thoughts] that the government of Minnesota would turn this vital job over to a bunch of partisans“.

Speaking on behalf of the Northern Alliance/State Press Office, Deputy Press Officer Chad The Elder replied “What kind of name is Ashley Grot-Puttanesca-Steubingfelder?  Good lord, pour me a drink – she’s ugly”.

Satiric fantasy?

Oh, this is Minnesota under the control of the unfettered DFL.  Of course not.

UPDATE:  A bad analogy?  Provided all the UpTake – an overtly left-leaning organization – does is provide a commentary-free feed, perhaps. 

I’ve had questions about the slant of UpTake’s coverage of events; to be fair, they’ve quickly and fairly answered those questions (as, indeed, I seek to do with this update).  To be prudent, it’s perfectly fair to ask if a group can serve two masters – an agenda and “fairness”.

Is UpTake providing a useful service, and doing it fairly?  Perhaps.

Can they – and Secretary of State Richie – expect to be watched carefully?  Absolutely.

I’m sitting looking over my broad, tree-lined avenue with a glass of single-malt, and the sky is blue and the white families with their happy, present-sotted kids are wandering past on their errands, and the election is over, so let’s all relax and quit irritating each other, OK? Michele Bachmann, Erik Paulsen, Jim Oberstar, Betty McCollum, John Kline, Colin Peterson and that other guy are about to take office, so all you black people just get over it. Go stock up on watermelon and spare ribs and maybe real estate in Liberia. White people still rule this country. Deal with it. Boom Shakalaka Boom.White legislators plan to bring sanity to Washington, and why not begin with Congress? It has been sorely in need of reform for a long, long time.

Democrats intend to bring reform to Washington, and why not begin with the United States Congress? It has been sorely in need of reform for a century or so. Equal representation for all people is a good idea in theory, assuming they are half smart, but then you look at Keith Ellison, an incurious frat boy from the state of Humphrey and Mondale, and you think, whoa, something is wrong with this picture. We need some horizontal control.

Let’s start at the beginning and redraw the map. First of all, is there a reason for South Central Los Angeles to have a congressional representative? I have often wondered about this. Why give a House seat to a half million wannabee gangbangers, pimps, crack addicts, prostitutes and derelicts while Utah gets one lousy House for millions of honest, hard-working people? (Compton has roughly the population of Salt Lake.) It’s OK if South Central LA sends somebody with brains and an independent streak, but when they send a couple of Black Democrat hacks, then it makes no sense.

The idea behind the Congress was to create a representative body of wise counselors who rise above the petty tumult and think noble thoughts and do the right thing in a pinch. Can you think of a time when Los Angeles’ representatives have done this? No, you can’t. So let’s bite the bullet and make Compton a federal protectorate and appoint an overseer – ooh, what a perfect word! This would be a good assignment for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It’s done a heck of a job in south Chicago, so let’s give it all of Compton and, while we’re at it, Newark. A wonderful postcard place, but what have its congresspeople done other than grub for federal largesse for Newark? Change the name to “Housing Project # 447227” and put HUD in charge of it.

While we’re at it, let’s admit that Detroit, El Paso and Philadelphia have never been completely comfortable as part of the United States. They’ve tried to fit in, but it just isn’t working, so let’s allow them to pull out and find their own path. You could attach El Paso to Juarez and make a lovely little desert nation out of that, and let Detroit join Canada, and make Philadelphia an “independent” nation. Add Camden New Jersey to it. They really are part of the same thing. This leaves us with 40 or 50 House seats unoccupied (more if we simply assumed that all black people could be conveniently represented by a few token representatives, since they all vote the same anyway. It’s called consolidation, folks. It goes on all the time in corporate America and also in local school districts, so let’s make it work for America.

We White people will personally foot the bill for the new, incredibly convoluted district maps. This is a promise.

We now have 40 states and 20 extra Senate seats to parcel out. Give some to ex-CEOs. This would rescue them from their lonely lives on the lecture circuit and lend some pizazz to the place since they’d be free to spout off and say whatever they think. People would sit in the galleries to listen to Lee Iaccocca. He’d be down there sawing away with Donald Trump and Leona Helmsley and maybe some former bank and auto execs. Let them in the club and put that experience to use. And give congressional seats to the NRA and the GOP itself. This would definitely add brains to the assembly.

And that is how you create a permanent white majority. Al Sharpton showed us the way. Learn from the master. Those dinkeldorfs who ran the show for 40 years must never be allowed to return to power. Take those fuzzy-headed libruls to the cleaners. Subject them to alternative interrogation techniques until we get to the truth. Keith Ellison would make a decent host of a daytime quiz show. He came dangerously close to running for president. Ai yi yi yi yi. Let’s get to work.

(more…)

“Small Fire” at “Candidate #5’s” house on Christmas Eve:

The origin of the fire was underneath the main fireplace in the residence. The homeowners are listed in a police report as U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th), police said.

No injuries were reported.

From Second City Cop:

While we certainly hope that everyone got out ok, we can’t help but wonder that so soon after a sweeping indictment of Illinois and Chicago politics is released, a mysterious fire breaks out at the home of someone who’s been feeding information to the feebs about a sitting governor since 2003 after a $25,000 “dishonorarium” was solicited for a state job.We certainly hope Fitzgerald subpoenas the debris and ashes and finds out what was lost in the blaze.

Sometimes a fire is just a fire…?

Vice-President Elect Joe-Blow Biden is such a buzzkill.

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) — Vice President-elect Joe Biden said he is worried about the “exceedingly high expectations” that world leaders have placed on President-elect Barack Obama.

“Their expectation for Barack’s presidency is overwhelming,” Biden said, according to excerpts from an interview with CNN’s Larry King Live, scheduled to air at 9 p.m. tonight, New York time. “They are so hungry to have an American leader who they think has a policy that reflects our stated values, as well as one they can talk to.”

Obama’s three-million-jobs-created goal pulled from thin air this week notwithstanding, it turns out Barack Obama may have somehow, unbeknownst, inadvertently, created expectations for his administration that he may or may not be able to manifest.

Shocker.

Newsflash: Some of us never believed anything he said then or now.

I think I know what Joe is saying, at least here at home. People will have to pay their own mortgages, work for a living and go back to worshiping the incumbent savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Oh – I almost forgot – and do their own Christmas shopping (despite the sentiment expressed in our recent poll).

Obama can still walk on water, as long as it’s frozen. Less hopey, less changey. More samey, more lamey.

Bummer.

From “Blues”

I am lazy, the laziest girl in the world.
I sleep during the day when I want to,
’til my face is creased and swollen,
’til my lips are dry and hot.
I eat as I please: cookies and milk after lunch,
butter and sour cream on my baked potato,
foods that slothful people eat,
that turn yellow and opaque beneath the skin.
Sometimes come dinnertime Sunday
I am still in my nightgown,
the one with the lace trim listing
because I have not mended it.
Many days I do not exercise, only consider it,
then rub my curdy belly and lie down.
Even my poems are lazy.
I use syllabics instead of iambs,
prefer slant to the gong of full rhyme,
write briefly while others go for pages.
And yesterday, for example, I did not work at all!
I got in my car and I drove to factory outlet stores,
purchased stockings and panties and socks
with my father’s money.

…and then she reads at Barack Obama’s Inauguration.

Ugh.

Oh, please, Democrats.  More of this:

When a powerful labor leader picked up the phone this week, he was surprised to hear the voice of a top aide to New York City Mayor Bloomberg. The aide made it clear: Caroline Kennedy [lose the Schlossberg] is going to be senator, “so get on board now!”

Vaporware presidents.  Moral thug congressional leaders.  Selling off Senate seats one week, forcing them down the peoples’ throats the next.

Carry on.  Seriously.

I watched Leslie Stahl’s 60 Minutes interview of Barney Frank online and made a couple observations.

First of all, the media’s pronounced bias (or Leslie’s for that matter) manifested itself conspicuously, and it was even before the interview began.

Leslie Stahl’s lead in, emphasis mine:

“Barney Frank has been called the smartest guy in congress, which is lucky for us since he works on some of the thorniest issues around. The fourteen-term, sixty-eight year-old Harvard educated Democratic (she dips her head in approval) Congressman from Massachusetts is chairman of the house financial services committee, which means his portfolio includes banks, housing, and now the auto industry.”

Let’s be clear on one thing. Fourteen terms of Frank ‘n Beans has not been “lucky” for any of us.

Frank has purportedly spent his career becoming Congress’ de facto expert on America’s banking system and Wall Street only to oversee – nay, become complicit in – the biggest failure of both in modern times?

Lucky us!

Leslie Stahl asks Barney Frank about the unfairness of some people getting bailed out of their mortgages while others work two and three jobs to pay theirs. He justifies the program by asking is it unfair that one neighbor loses his job and gets unemployment while the one that doesn’t lose his job doesn’t? He justifies one policy with another as if they are the same thing. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

He’s been at the center of both the 700 billion dollar rescue for financial institutions, and the bailout attempt for the car companies that failed in the Senate.

As they say, the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime.

I learned from the interview that it’s not the only time he’s been at the center, or on the scene of a crime for that matter.

The lowest point of his life he says…when he found himself in a sex scandal. A male hooker that Frank had hired told reporters that he had run a prostitution ring out of the congressman’s apartment. An investigation concluded that Frank didn’t know anything about it but he was reprimanded and went to the floor of the house to apologize.

Never mind the fact that Barney Frank hired a hooker. He has a prostitution ring run right under his nose and escapes culpability on the basis of ignorance. Never mind the fact that he gets to keep his job. He is charged with overseeing our nation’s financial systems.

Only in a Liberal America.

Claudia Rosett on the succession of power in a banana republic:

Eight years ago, a Senate seat from the Banana State was won by the wife of a sitting president of the republic. That wife had never before resided in Banana State, but she bought a house there, campaigned with the aura and entourage accorded to a presidential spouse, and with one leap, winning her first elected office ever, she became a senator.

Riding a national political machine to re-election for a second term, that former first lady swiftly turned her Senate seat into a springboard for her own campaign for the presidency. She lost, but took a job in the new administration, leaving the governor of Banana State to appoint a replacement senator.

That governor was himself a replacement, due to the resignation of the elected governor, a crusading moralist caught in a prostitution scandal. As the replacement governor prepared to name a replacement senator, a former president’s daughter declared her interest in the Senate seat — which one of her uncles had won some 44 years earlier, and was using as a springboard for his own presidential run, after serving as attorney-general in his brother’s presidential administration. This former first daughter had recently worked on the campaign of the President-elect — an experience that awakened in her an appetite for politics – but she had reached the age of 51 with no direct experience of her own in public office. Nonetheless, another of her uncles, also a senator, was ready to endorse her for this leap to the Senate. So was the mayor of Big Plum (the biggest city in Banana State), who on his own turf had just succeeded in scrapping a two-term limit so he could run for a third term — which he justified as a way of offering people a broader choice (namely, himself).

That’s how it works in Banana Republics. Whatever Caroline Kennedy’s native abilities, celebrity mantle and political connections, if she thinks this is a good way for things to work in New York State, that alone is reason to worry about her qualifications for the job.

Viva Nuevo Yuerco!

Good thing we have those blue staters to teach us about democracy.

Mickey Kaus, on the proliferation of “czars” in the Obama Administration:

We need a Czar Czar, to crack the whip on all the czars. … P.S.: Also a federal czar policy. Right now, czar decisions are made on an ad hoc, case-by-case basis, with no attempt at czar harmonization.

Perhaps we need a standardized training program for czars, something to bring them up to speed on the history and power of the Czars.

Hm. What could that be? What indeed?

Sean Broom at MNPublius has the, um, oh-so-dire news for Republicans; Steve Kelley (AKA “The John Edwards of Minnesota”), former Senator from Hopkins, is going to run for Goober:

Senator Kelley was the surprise of the 2006 State Convention with a much stronger than expected showing. He ran for Attorney General after Matt Entenza dropped out and lost narrowly to Lori Swanson. And the conventional wisdom in DFL circles is Kelley had been our Gubernatorial candidate in 06 he’d be occupying the Governors mansion now.

That’s right – he was an also-ran among the zealots, twice, on top of being a totally Edwards-like lawyer with, if this is possible, even less likeability than Mike Hatch…

…er, I mean, “No, DFL, please! For the love of all that is good, please give us Republicans a chance, and do not nominate Kelley. I beg of you!

(Whew. Almost let that one slip out).

Okay, so maybe we’re not going into another Great Depression. Maybe That 70’s Show offers us a better glimpse.

Actually, the year that offers the closest historical parallels to the present might be neither 1932 nor 1980 but 1976, and that analogy helps us understand the directions in which the country will be moving. Both in government and opposition, people might want to hold off on planning for the next New Deal, still less for a coming generation of liberal hegemony. In three or four years, the main political fact in this country could well be a ruinous crisis of Democratic liberalism.

The parallels are amusing if not cause for concern.

So disaffected was bicentennial America that it sought leaders unconnected to the establishment. In Jimmy Carter, voters found a candidate whose main qualifications were his lack of experience and connections within the Beltway or corporate worlds. Like Barack Obama, Carter claimed to rise above failed partisanship, while his New South background allowed him to symbolize racial healing. Carter, like Obama, sold himself mainly on the virtues of his character. He presented himself as a man of simple honesty, faith, and decency, and his lack of a track record allowed voters to see in him what they wanted, however far-fetched those hopes might be. If they hadn’t believed it, they wouldn’t have seen it with their own eyes. Above all, Carter promised change, a message that carried weight as long as its details remained nonspecific. The problem with messiahs from nowhere is that when they do exercise power, people discover to their horror what their leader’s actual views and talents are. The disillusion can be dreadful.

Gulp.

And as they did in 1976, Democrats now show every sign of repeating the blunders that led to a generation-long discrediting of liberalism.

Hee hee hee.

But if liberals seem so determined to repeat the mistakes of that era, then we have at least a plausible sketch of the coming Obama administration—of its rise and ruin.

Obama may have been right. They are the people we’ve been waiting for…

…to illustrate to those that weren’t paying attention: what happens when Liberals have the helm.

When Obama began recycling the Clinton Administration with the nomination of Rahm Emanuel, it was said that Obama’s new chief of staff was going to be the muscle that helped our inexperienced neophyte president deal with – indeed, “moderate” – the Reid/Pelosi ultraliberals that control both houses of Congress.

And with Emanuel gone?

Mr. Oprahma, the worst President in modern history is on line two and would like a word.

A Past President’s Advice to Obama: Act With Haste

Almost three decades later, Jimmy Carter recalls vividly what it was like trying to get Americans to turn down their thermostats and kick the oil habit.

“It was like gnawing on a rock,” the former president says.

…speaking from experience.

Now President-elect Barack Obama is heading to Washington with a set of energy goals as ambitious as Mr. Carter’s back in 1976. He promises to free the country from “the tyranny of foreign oil” and to save “our planet for our children.”

…so they can live to give…60% of their earnings to fill in the hole that you’ve dug for them.

He’s calling for a “spirit of service and sacrifice,” and promoting hybrid cars and wind and solar power.

Guys, guys. It’s the economy, stupids.

By the way, “That One”,  a “spirit of service and sacrifice?”

Huh?

Is that what you call your proposed largest-ever ginormous government economic stimulus program?

Obama would be wise to spend his dwindling political capital on the economy. Four years won’t be long enough to get to what should be ninth or tenth on your “Things to Do If I Become The Messiah” list.

But Mr. Obama must now champion his $150 billion energy plans in the face of a sinking economy and oil prices that have fallen 70% since their record mid-summer high. Forces like these have killed at least four similar presidential efforts in the past. Already, falling energy prices and the credit crisis are laying waste to scores of alternative-energy projects, from huge wind farms in Texas to biodiesel plants in Mr. Carter’s home state of Georgia.

As it should be. Priorities being what they are.

Mr. Carter offers Mr. Obama this advice: Try to inspire Americans to see the virtue in making energy sacrifices, a notoriously tough sell, especially in the face of falling prices. Get energy legislation to Congress quickly, during the presidential honeymoon. And stick with it.

Don’t worry that people are losing jobs, retail is down double digits, the national debt clock in New York City to be pulled down for lack of digits and the auto industry – well never mind about them.

Speaking of sticking it, Mr. Carter…how’d that all work out for you?

“I think he can prevail if he does it early and with a great deal of dedication and enthusiasm — and with tenacity,” Mr. Carter says in an interview.

What out-of-work journalist sought to rejuvenate their career by interviewing Jimmuh?

Mr. Carter says he had a key advantage over Mr. Obama — a national sense that something had to be done: “The energy crisis that I inherited was in many ways much more serious than it is now.”

And yet he also failed. While you’re at it Mr. Former-Crappy-President, any stock tips?

Just two weeks into his presidency, Mr. Carter gave his famous “fireside chat” on energy. Clad in a yellow cardigan that now hangs in his presidential museum

…because no one else wanted it

Please pass the malaise…

Later, in his most politically costly address dubbed by critics the “malaise speech,” Mr. Carter announced a massive program to boost solar power and make synthetic fuel from coal. He vowed the U.S. would never again import more oil than it did in 1977.

…and a two-hour movie would soon fit on a small thin shiny disk. Oh, sorry. That actually did happen.

Mr. Carter concedes that his battles over energy policy cost him political support. “It sapped away a substantial portion of my domestic influence to harp on this unpleasant subject for four solid years,” he says.

Oh, well in that case, Mr. Oprahma should make great haste to  heed this most sage advice of the wise and revered former President.

At 84 years old, Mr. Carter hasn’t lost his fascination for the subject that helped to define his presidency. Eight years ago, he planted 10 acres of paulownia trees on several fields around his house. Native to China, the trees are among the fastest growing in the world. His groves already stand more than 50 feet tall. He sent one of the trees this summer to a lab at the University of Georgia, where it was pulped and turned into ethanol.

…and he sits in a rocker on his porch, donning another yellow cardigan, sipping it.

Barack Obama is denying involvement in the Senate Seat Auction perpetrated by Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.

…and I believe him. Sort of.

I also believe that Barack knows this sort of thing runs rampant in Chicago. I believe Barack Obama had to know this interchange would ensue despite his lack of direct involvement. This is in no way proof of Obama’s involvement. At best, a thin and dotted line can be drawn based on the Governor’s expectation that Barack Obama would become involved vis a vis his influence, if not financially. From the wiretaps…

The governor discusses with his staff the possibility of getting a high-paying position with an organization called “Change to Win,” connected to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He would take the seat after resigning as governor. A “three-way deal” is discussed. He would choose the person they believe is Mr. Obama’s preferred candidate — “Senate Candidate 1″ — and the President-elect, they said, would find a way to influence someone to give him the Change to Win post.

The governor knows that Mr. Obama wants “Senate Candidate 1″ for the seat but complains “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation.” In another call, the governor asks advisers if they think Mr. Obama can get Warren Buffet and others to put up $10 to $15 million for a foundation he could head.

If this drama were playing out in Arizona with Senator McCain’s Senate Seat, the media would be going ballistic over this fiasco. In Illinois, this is de rigeur, as evidenced by the FBI initiating surveillance in October.

We may be in for a series of controversies with an Obama administration as clearly “That One” has suffered from an association problem his entire political career and he may have other debts to pay.

He learned well. Obama is a product of the most corrupt political system in America. He has heretofore exhibited little reluctance to associate with scum if it serves his greater ambitions. Having realized them, he may well regret what represents a clear pattern of poor decision-making. As Momma always said, be careful who you hang out with.

As it stands, the media honeymoon may be over for their lovechild Barack Obama as this stuff makes for great ratings. As more details emerge, we may find the President-Elect in hot water.

…hopefully not.

As much as the GOP would have savored an opportunity like this during the campaign, the economy needs our government’s full attention, even if they haven’t a clue how to fix it. We don’t need another Clintonistic national distraction.

…I was shocked, shocked, to find this:

What is this world coming to?

Perhaps you’ve heard – Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is under arrest for, essentially, trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant former Senate seat:

A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich, a Democrat, was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife. At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:

A substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;

Placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;

Promises of campaign funds – including cash up front; and

A cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

Expect the leftyblogosphere to spend a lot of time updating the gentle reader on Mark Foley, Larry Craig and Duke Cunningham.

It’ll be an interesting question for the next one-to-four years; did Barack Obama escape Chicago Democrat politics, or did he bring ’em all to DC?

BUN (my daughter) sitting looking on at monitor as I write:  “Oh, my God: in this picture…

…Obama looks just like a black Richard Nixon!”

Discuss.

Liberals are Lupset that Obama, mirabile dictu, is actually acting pragmatic now that he’s in office:

Even supporters make clear they’re on the lookout for backsliding. “There’s a concern that he keep his basic promises and people are going to watch him,” said Roger Hickey, a co-founder of Campaign for America’s Future.Obama insists he hasn’t abandoned the goals that made him feel to some like a liberal savior. But the left’s bill of particulars against Obama is long, and growing.

Obama drew rousing applause at campaign events when he vowed to tax the windfall profits of oil companies. As president-elect, Obama says he won’t enact the tax.

Obama’s pledge to repeal the Bush tax cuts and redistribute that money to the middle class made him a hero among Democrats who said the cuts favored the wealthy. But now he’s struck a more cautious stance on rolling back tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year, signaling he’ll merely let them expire as scheduled at the end of 2010.

Obama’s post-election rhetoric on Iraq and choices for national security team have some liberal Democrats even more perplexed. As a candidate, Obama defined and separated himself from his challengers by highlighting his opposition to the war in Iraq from the start. He promised to begin to end the war on his first day in office.

Now Obama’s says that on his first day in office he will begin to “design a plan for a responsible drawdown,” as he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. Obama has also filled his national security positions with supporters of the Iraq war: Sen. Hillary Clinton, who voted to authorize force in Iraq, as his secretary of state; and President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Robert Gates, continuing in the same role.

Why, it’s almost as if Obama harnessed the immense frantic manic normally-aimless energy of the left to get into office…

…and then is tacking to the center because he has to be a grownup now.

But the kids are still angry:

“There don’t seem to be any liberals in Obama’s cabinet,” writes John Aravosis, the editor of Americablog.com. “What does all of this mean for Obama’s policies, and just as important, Obama Supreme Court announcements?”

“Actually, it reminds me a bit of the campaign, at least the beginning and the middle, when the Obama campaign didn’t seem particularly interested in reaching out to progressives,” Aravosis continues. “Once they realized that in order to win they needed to marshal everyone on their side, the reaching out began. I hope we’re not seeing a similar ‘we can do it alone’ approach in the transition team.”

It’s almost like some of ’em get it – without knowing it…:

OpenLeft blogger Chris Bowers went so far as to issue this plaintive plea: “Isn’t there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?”

Simple fact, Chris – one that I suspect Obama (and/or his staff) are smart enough to see:  the American people might express manic dissatisfaction with one Administration or another (including the sitting administration, which is actually center-left on spending), but at the end of the day the American people are center-right conservatives.

We just don’t always vote that way.

Yet.

Cy Thao – a state senator from Saint Paul – earned what (in a just world) would be a footnote in history two years ago, when he summed up the true meaning of socialist/fabian statist/Big-L “Liberal” government as concisely as anyone in history:

When you guys win, you get to keep your money.

When we win, we take your money

Cy Thao (DFL St. Paul), 2007

Seriously – this is Bartlett’s-grade stuff.

Yesterday, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Tom Brokaw gave The Interview That Will Live In Infamy, on Meet The Press.

Money quote (among many – this one closely paraphrased from memory):

BROKAW: “Whoy nault teik thus ulpurtoonitty tull raise thul taxes un gaaaus to fower dullars uh gaullon, luyeek peopull wurr prupared tull pay?”

Literal Translation:  “Why not take this opportunity to raise the taxes on gas to $4/gallon, like people were prepared to pay”.

Ethical Translation, from Condo-Pink Limo-Liberal to English:  “Neither of us have paid for gas in years, and if you jacked the income tax to levels that even choked the Swedes to death I’ll still be netting seven figures; why not sit down at the great Drum Stool of Power in the White House and imitate Keith Moon?”

I’m not sure now who has the bigger ego. Oprah Winfrey or Barack Oprahma?

BEVERLY HILLS (AP) — Although Oprah Winfrey worked hard on Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign, she never considered going to work for the president-elect’s administration, the talk show host said Friday.

“I have a few full-time jobs already and a few full-time commitments, you know — contractual commitments that say I have to be where I am,” Winfrey told AP Television. “So, it never ever occurred to me, not even occurred to me.”

Winfrey said she would stay put, even if the president-elect came calling.

And he hasn’t.

The article didn’t once mention that Obama in fact had her in mind or that there was even speculation. There’s a lot of real news out there boys. Why don’t you get out there and get it.

Berg: “What is a headline reading “Gregoire Offers Recount Advice to Franken“?”

Trebek:  “Correct!  And you control the board…”

Washington governor Gregoire – who won after perhaps the dirtiest recount in US history – tells Franken:

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) knows all about close races and recounts, and she recently offered her advice to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee in the protracted Minnesota Senate race.

“I told him, don’t let [Republicans] market that something is wrong with the recount,” Gregoire said Tuesday, reflecting on her personal call to Franken. “Don’t let that happen. Recounts happen in America.”

Edited for brevity: “Declare yourself the victim first!”

…Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home?

Barack Obama is already deflecting…this is going to be a long four years for everyone if our fears of his emptysuitedness manifest themselves.

All Americans should hope that Obama grows some, and fast. What America needs now is not the rhetoric and campaign promises that landed Obama in the White House on the backs of millions of people that think he is going to save them from their rightful obligations.

Otherwise, the office of President will be of no more value to America than the mock, ego-driven farce that is the “Office of the President-Elect.”

Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama’s refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin.

He’s going to have to be more assertive than he’s been,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday.

Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more significant role on economic issues.

Could there be someone less qualified than Beans ‘n Frank to deal with this crisis? Yes. Barack Obama. At least Barney Frank knows how it happened on account of his personal culpability and corruption. Not only was he at ground zero, he lit the fuse.

Obama did stress that a significant component of the fund should be used to reduce the number of foreclosures. But he did not specify a particular remedy.

Not so fast, Mr. Jimmy. You might want to consider the effect of that on your soon-to-be-plummeting approval rating.

Many Americans are outraged that their money is being spent to rescue irresponsible mortgage borrowers. Still, that probably won’t stop government officials.

There are a lot of hard-working, responsible people out there, many of whom voted for you Mr. Oprah, who are dead set against bailing out those that took imprudent risk at the expense of those that saved and lived below their means.

Insert leadership here.

What America needs is a President that tells America the truth. Government can no longer cover your six if you make bad decisions. It can’t and it won’t. It’s the only intelligent thing Jesse Ventura ever said.

Based on some of BHO’s cabinet choices, I am guardedly optimistic that he in fact is weighing his options and that he truly wants to do what is best for America, within the limiting realm of his ideology; but the forces of opposition, Frank, Reid, Pelosi et al, are very strong.

And soon, may not even be on his team (which may be a good thing).

“That One” spent two years telling us “Yes We Can.” Now it’s time to tell us “No We Can’t.”

Watching Obama’s cabinet appointments, it’d be tempting to ask “wow – with an overwhelming mandate like they had, why are they not going straight for the end zone, rather than suddenly and visibly racing for the center?”

The answer, of course – they didn’t have a sweeping mandate.  It was a clear victory, all right, but McCain (thanks largely, I think, to Sarah Palin bringing out a base that’d been sitting on its hands since February) actually got about as many votes as Bush did in 2004; he’d have beaten Kerry.  Obama swept into office on millions of new voters – and as Minnesota Third, Sixth and Senate races showed, his coattails weren’t especially sturdy; people apparently voted for Obama and nothing but the Obama.

So how does the left feel about this?

Charlie Quimby:

I’m not one of those who thought an Obama presidency would be the First Coming for the American Left, so I’m not going to indulge in much hand wringing over whether he has or hasn’t deviated from campaign promises. Anyone who can’t read reality between the lines of a campaign speech deserves whatever disappoint they feel.

For someone who follows politics, that just makes sense.  It crosses party lines; Ronald Reagan disappointed social conservatives by restricting his anti-abortion agenda to preaching from the bully pulpit, among many ecumenical examples; anyone who watches politics knows to be a little cynical or accepting of pragmatism, however you want to call it.

But among the less jaded, is it possible to catalog the extent to which Obama has been oversold -indeed, the extent to which Obama oversold himself?  The light worker, bringing enlightenment to the benighted; the messiah; the guy who’s going to solve your problems  by holding up his end of a quid pro quo that started when they went to the polls and put him in office.

How accepting are they going to be when he doesn’t levitate and make the flowers bloom in January?

Wrong again Mr. Jimmy. Best consult with your National Suckurity team before you follow through on that particularly obtuse ambition.

The Air Force’s airborne laser program passes yet another test, proving “unproven” missile defense once again. The question is not whether we can get it to work, but whether we can afford not to.

Americans should be very afraid of Obama because the bad guys are not. The greatest threat: a rogue nation with new found nuclear weapons capability and the ability to launch said lode ballistic. EMP over NYC. Our best new hope of defending against said threat: the technology that Major B.O. wants to cancel.

Missile Defense Takes Off

This week, Boeing and the Missile Defense Agency announced another successful test — the first ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft, including the firing of a high-energy laser through the ABL beam control/fire control system. Earlier tests had unit-tested other components of the system, particularly the ability to find, track and target missiles in flight.

A campaign promise that actually should be broken. This is not the time for a wuss in the White House.