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National Democrats might want to use Herseth's playbook

This is interesting in light of Herseth's erratic and generally low level of legislative accomplishment. The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader's Dave Kranz continues to cheerlead the Donks hopes for a resurgance in the mid-term elections.

If national Democrats listen to Rep. Stephanie Herseth, they will adopt parts of the game plan that won her a seat in the House even though South Dakota is a bright-red George Bush state. Herseth took some conservative positions in her campaign, then voted that way on several occasions when she got to Washington. That has won her praise from conservatives, compliments from some would-be Republican opponents back home and scorn from some members of her own party who nonetheless will be hard-pressed to vote against her.

Uh, hello? Good morning Dave! Coffee smell good? In case you hadn't noticed, isn't this about what Hillary has been doing for a while?

With some of that bipartisan legislative conduct, Herseth says conditions could be favorable next year for Democrats to take back at least one of the chambers of Congress, now both controlled by Republicans. "First, we have to have a more concise message that mirrors the centrists in the party," Herseth said. That message might make some a little uncomfortable, she said.

Again: this is a case of changing the message to get some sucker votes - when in office the Donks will be Donks - and no holds will be barred.

Consider the impact on say, judicial appointments, to say nothing on national security issues. Does anyone with a lick of sense and a knowledge of history REALLY think that the Donks will do anything better than they have in the past?

Based on the performances of Dingy Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, and others of their ilk on the left, would helping to give these people MAJORITY status in either house of Congress be beneficial? No matter WHAT Stephanie says or does, she and others like her, are just another brick in the Donks' wall of closet socialism, political correctness, and appeasement.

The extent of the damage done by NARAL's slanderous ad against John Roberts is much greater than I would have predicted at the outset. It has undermined one of the Democrat's most cherished conceits: that the other side is the...

Roberts Resisted Women's Rights

Beneath the headline, the WaPo posts a whole list of horribly conservative issues that Judge Roberts supported in the 1980's, when working for "Ronaldus Magnus" Reagan. What a dastardly PLOT of President Bush to actually have the unmitigated gall to nominate someone with conservative views! It's more than a MSM newspaper can stand!

The Chief thinks that this article constitutes the official OpOrder (Operations Order) to the liberal establishment to use for their upcoming effort to "Bork" Roberts. It's all here - the marching orders are out stand by for the snipers to start the action.

Some of the noted conservative offenses that Judge Roberts was apparently guilty of include:

In internal memos, Roberts urged President Reagan to refrain from embracing any form of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment pending in Congress; he concluded that some state initiatives to curb workplace discrimination against women relied on legal tools that were "highly objectionable"; and he said that a controversial legal theory then in vogue -- of directing employers to pay women equally to men for jobs of "comparable worth" -- was "staggeringly pernicious" and "anti-capitalist."

Check-off one to fire up the feminazis.

Roberts endorsed a speech attacking "four decades of misguided" Supreme Court decisions on the role of religion in public life.

Ooops. He called a spade a spade here. Unforgivable! Call out the ACLU!

...urged the president to hold off saying AIDS could not be transmitted through casual contact until more research was done,...

Not an unreasonable statement, based on the state of knowledge at that time.

argued that promotions and firings in the workplace should be based entirely on merit, not affirmative action programs.

SHOCKING! Employment decisions based on qualifications and merit? How dastardly a concept to the WaPo!

In October 1983, Roberts said that he favored creation of a national identity card to prove American citizenship, even though the White House counsel's office was officially opposed to the idea. He wrote that such measures were needed in response to the "real threat to our social fabric posed by uncontrolled immigration."

AH-HA! He's anti-immigrant, and no doubt a closet bigot against hispanics.

He also, the documents illustrate, played a bit role in the Reagan administration's efforts in Nicaragua to funnel assistance to CIA-supported "contras" who were trying overthrow the Marxist Sandinista government.

Supporting the contras? What's next...

In one instance, Roberts had a direct disagreement with the senator who now wields great influence over his confirmation prospects, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). In a 1983 memo, Roberts was dismissive of a "white paper" on violent crime that had been drafted by one of Specter's aides. Noting that the paper proposed new expenditures of $8 billion to $10 billion a year, Roberts wrote: "The proposals are the epitome of the 'throw the money at the problem' approach repeatedly rejected by Administration spokesmen."

Here he is opposing RINO Sen. Spector caught in the act of pumping up spending without demonstrable effect on the problem.

The article goes on with some more issues that provide more grist for the mill of the LibDonks & RINOs as they try to fire up their attack machine for the upcoming hearings.

Light blogging in the next day or two while I take care of some projects. See you later....

Bush under pressure on influx from Mexico

This issue is hot and getting hotter. The Chief has posted several times in the past that the GOP was in a position of being at least partially outflanked to the right on the border security issue. With the exception of a few outspoken people like Tom Tancredo (R-CO )the general level of squishiness on this from the President on down, leaves Donks a hole big enough to drive a busload of illegals through.

The emergency declarations of the Donk governors of Arizona and New Mexico, along with the concerned noises from Hilary herself show that some of them at least are getting the message from the voters at last. The real question, especially in Hilary's case is whether or not this is an actual substantive policy, or is just a ploy to hoodwink some red-state voters to shift in '08.

Based on the record, the Chief is inclined NOT to give much credibility to Sen. Hil's new-found moderation.

I find Gov. Rounds' comments yesterday about education at once edifying and disturbing. You can read about them here and here. Clearly we need to do a better job of educating young people in math and science. So on that...

The Chief received the following via e-mail. This correspondent of his, a former USN active-duty shipmate, added his pithy comments to an AP story.

For your consideration:

Aug. 13, 2005, 10:33PM Associated Press Bush backers join Crawford showdown Counter-rallies are prompted by anti-war group

CRAWFORD - A grieving mother's anti-war protest entered its second week, gaining momentum and spurring counter-rallies, as hundreds of people with conflicting opinions about the war in Iraq descended Saturday on a road leading to the Western White House.

More than 350 anti-war demonstrators gathered at a park near downtown, then moved the rally several miles away to the peace vigil's makeshift campsite along the road to President Bush's ranch.

"Who knew that the beginning of the end of the occupation in Iraq was going to start last Saturday in Crawford, Texas?" said Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif.,

She is delusional. Her fifteen minutes of fame has gone to her head.

who started the protest Aug. 6 in memory of her 24-year-old son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq last year.

I doubt her son would support what she's doing.

As about a dozen Bush supporters stood across the street holding signs, down from more than 250 who gathered there Saturday morning, one exchange became heated. A Bush supporter approached an anti-war veteran, and they stood chest to chest as deputies tried to separate them.

When the veteran shouted about his wartime experiences and yelled, "I earned the right to be here!" several of his fellow protesters subdued him, moving him away as he sobbed and his knees buckled.

Who knows if he's really a veteran. You can tell people anything and they will believe it. If I told people I met Mick Jagger some place they'd believe it. If I told them I was in Vietnam they'd believe it. If I told them I sat the bench on some OSU football team and that Woody Hayes chewed me out a few times, they'd believe it.

Sheriff's deputies and Secret Service agents otherwise kept the groups on opposite sides of the road, and no one was arrested. The morning pro-Bush rally was organized by Darrell Ankarlo, a conservative radio talk-show host for KLIF in Dallas, who said, "In my heart of hearts I believe that we're trying to do the right thing" in Iraq.

I think we are too.

He also asked to meet with Sheehan, but she agreed only to meet privately Saturday evening with Bush supporters whose relatives have died in Iraq.

She might be putting herself into some emotional buzz saw with this move.

The 250-plus Bush supporters stood in the blazing sun for a few hours in a ditch across the street from the campsite. Most waved American flags and held signs, including "Help! I'm surrounded by America hating idiots!"

He's probably right.

"I feel sorry for Cindy, but I think she went about this the wrong way," said Bill Garrett, of Dallas, a member of Protest Warrior, a group that frequently holds counterprotests to anti-war rallies. "Somebody's got to stand up to them."

This is true.

The first counter-rally was Friday night, organized by another conservative radio talk-show host, Mike Gallagher. He brought many of the 100 Bush supporters by bus to the anti-war group's campsite, and the pro-Bush side waved flags, sang patriotic songs and chanted, "Go, George, go!"

Mike wants publicity for his show.

But Tim Origer, who lost his left leg above the knee when he was a 19-year-old Marine fighting in Vietnam, said Saturday that believing the war with Iraq is wrong does not diminish the protesters' support for the soldiers.

Again.....a real vet or someone who lost his leg on his motorcycle? I've seen guys who say they were in Nam who, even in 1975 when it ended, weren't old enough to be there. I'd say that someone has to be at least 47 to have been in Nam at the end.

"When Iraqi Freedom started, it looked so much like Vietnam that I couldn't be quiet," said Origer, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., and is a member of Veterans for Peace. "It's real easy to say war is good when you don't have to be in it." The campsite of tents and anti-war banners has swelled to several hundred people some days but has a core group of about 100. They sing songs, chat and plan strategy each day on the shoulders of two intersecting side roads that form a triangle with Prairie Chapel Road, which leads to Bush's ranch.

Stevie Wonder can see that these people don't have jobs. What job lets you go and spend a week at a anti-war rally.

They vow to remain until Bush meets with Sheehan and the group's other grieving parents or until the end of his monthlong ranch visit.

Gimme a break. They won't do that. Bush will outlast them. They'll give up in about two weeks....except the six who decide stick it out.

Bush has said that he sympathizes with Sheehan but hasn't said whether he will talk to her. Two administration officials met with her last weekend.

If I were Bush I would not talk to her as it won't do him any good.
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Just the viewpoint and words of a non-activist friend. H/T/ to this former shipmate, and regular Texas guy. I've heard a LOT worse commentary on this, and other issues.

I think Jonah Goldberg gets it about right on this Cindy Sheehan stuff:Without getting into all the sub-arguments about Cindy Sheehan, I think she's a great example of the opportunism of partisanship. There's simply no way that establishment liberals would...

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