HALF-FULL REPORT 09/24/10

We’ll begin this week’s HFR with a missive from the master, now safely out of Norkland and in the green hills of Laos.  Jack Wheeler has found some Democrats we can trust.  They are, alas, in Sweden.  Here’s Jack:

Look what happened in Sweden this week.  The entire media/political establishment is shocked that a “racist” (meaning “pro-Swedish”) party was voted into Parliament on Sunday (9/19).  The HFR gave you a heads-up on this last June (HFR June 11, 2010):

Euroweenies willfully blind themselves to the culture-destroying danger of the Moslem invasion of Europe.  A perfect example is a BBC news story this week (6/09):  Immigrant Youths Riot in Sweden, Burning Down School.

The rioters are identified as "youths, "first or second generation immigrants" from Somalia living in a slum next to Stockholm called "Little Mogadishu."  The BBC tortuously avoids informing its readers that they are Moslems sponging off the Swedish welfare state as illegal aliens, and perpetrating violence in gratitude.

There are 9 million Swedes.  A few years ago, they decided to show how "tolerant" they were and invited "refugees" from Moslem countries to come and sponge off their welfare state.  Now Sweden has 300,000 Moslem moochers demanding Sharia law – or else.

In the upcoming elections this September, Sweden may provide the next Euroweenie shocker via the Swedish Geert Wilders, Jimmie Akesson and his Sweden Democrats party (Sverigedemokraterna, SD).  The party’s campaign slogan is Bevara Sverige Svenskt – Keep Sweden Swedish.

But SD is more than that – it wants to Keep Sweden Christian.  Which is why most Iraqi Christians (Chaldean, Assyrian, and Syraic Orthodox), some 40,000, who have fled Moslem persecution in a country Americans died to liberate, are SD members.

The giant difference is that Iraqi Christians want to assimilate into Sweden, while the Moslems want Sweden to assimilate into Islam.  Oh, yes – SD is also solid free market and pro-small business, plus pro-family and "one man-one woman" marriage.  The HFR is rooting for Jimmie Akesson and his Sweden Democrats on September 19.

The results from the September 19 election are in, with the “Moderate” alliance of parties winning 173 seats, the Socialist alliance with 156, and SD with 20.  That leaves the Moderates 2 seats short of a majority (175 out of 349) which they have to have to govern and pass bills by law.  Since no member party of the Socialist coalition will provide them, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has to make a deal with Jimmie Akesson.

Reinfeldt is ripping his hair out by the roots in rage and anguish over the “racist” Akesson being the power broker and his government held hostage to him.   Swedish voters are waking up and the Swedish establishment can’t stand it.  Congratulations, Jimmie!
Andrew Stuffaford reports the establishment is not adjusting well to the new reality.

It turns out that neither Gen. Stanley McChrystal nor any of his senior aides made the anonymous comments to a reporter from Rolling Stone that got the general fired earlier this year.  That’s according to an Army investigation the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

I’m not unhappy that McChrystal is gone, because as I’ve said earlier, I thought he was in over his head.  But what’s fascinating is that the anonymous comments he and his senior aides didn’t make are more innocuous than the anonymous comments made to Bob Woodward for his most recent kiss and tell book.

New York Times reporter Michael Shear noted:
 
“If anything, the recriminations in Bob Woodward’s new book, “Obama’s Wars,” are more numerous, more substantive and more personal than the ones in the Rolling Stones article about General McChrystal. Rather than a few off-color comments from military subordinates, the Woodward book details personal animosities among the president’s most senior advisers.”

What, if anything, will Obama do about this?  Shear doesn’t think there’ll be any repercussions because so many of Zero’s advisers already have one foot out the door.

I don’t like Woodward’s books, because they are mostly gossip; place a much greater emphasis on Washington infighting than on what happens in the field, and he makes stuff up.  (I remember vividly an interview he allegedly conducted with legendary CIA chieftain Bill Casey on Casey’s death bed, at a time when Casey had lost the power of speech and was in a hospital room guarded 24/7.  Casey despised Woodward and would never have granted him an interview, even if he had had the power of speech.)

There is infighting in every administration, but some of the nuggets in this one are delicious.  I particularly enjoyed National Security Adviser Jim Jones’ apparent reference to the president’s closest aides as “the Politburo,” and “the Mafia.”

Former UN ambassador John Bolton and Liz Cheney have jumped all over Zero for allegedly saying:

“We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever … we absorbed it and we are stronger.”

I’m no fan of Zero or his national security policies.  But I think this is simply a statement of reality (except maybe for that “we are stronger” part).

John Podhoretz of Commentary thinks otherwise:

Just because Obama qualified his words about absorbing an attack by saying America is resilient and we can handle anything but a nuclear attack is no comfort. It may be the opposite. His words suggest the president is engaging in false categorization that may explain why and how he and his administration felt free to define down the threat.

I agree 100 percent with Podhoretz and Charles Krauthammer that Zero’s blatantly political approach to the war in Afghanistan is despicable.  From the Washington Post account of Woodward’s account:

“This needs to be a plan about how we’re going to hand it off and get out of Afghanistan,” Obama is quoted as telling White House aides as he laid out his reasons for adding 30,000 troops in a short-term escalation. “Everything we’re doing has to be focused on how we’re going to get to the point where we can reduce “our footprint. It’s in our national security interest. There cannot be any wiggle room.” … Obama rejected the military’s request for 40,000 troops as part of an expansive mission that had no foreseeable end. “I’m not doing 10 years,” he told Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a meeting on Oct. 26, 2009. “I’m not doing long-term nation-building. I am not spending a trillion dollars.”

Jennifer Rubin of Commentary said:

The disregard for his responsibilities — the equivalent of putting his fingers in his ears and humming — is stunning.

Peter Baker of the New York Times provides an egregious example of why Jim Jones, a retired Marine general, has so little regard for “the Politburo.” 

During a daily intelligence briefing in May 2009, Mr. Blair warned the president that radicals with American and European passports were being trained in Pakistan to attack their homelands. Mr. Emanuel afterward chastised him, saying, “You’re just trying to put this on us so it’s not your fault.” Mr. Blair also skirmished with Mr. Brennan about a report on the failed airliner terrorist attack on Dec. 25. Mr. Obama later forced Mr. Blair out.

For a really harsh review, read Peter Feaver in Foreign Policy.
 
If the full feature lives up to the trailer, Bob Woodward’s book about how President Obama has handled the commander-in-chief duties is a very damning indictment of the first two years. Reportedly, the Obama White House fully cooperated with Woodward in the hopes of securing more favorable treatment. But instead of enjoying a valentine, it seems they are better considered victims of a vendetta.

Let us pray for Lt. Brandon Wheeler and our other servicemen and women in Afghanistan who deserve a better commander in chief.

Foreign policy is all but irrelevant in this election.  But a lot of chickens are coming home to roost.  Foreign policy could dominate concerns in the next two years as much as Obamacare has in this last year.

One reason why foreign policy could dominate is because Cyber warfare now has its equivalent of the atomic bomb.  It’s called Stuxnet. 

Cyber security experts say they have identified the world’s first known cyber super weapon designed specifically to destroy a real-world target – a factory, a refinery, or just maybe a nuclear power plant.

The cyber worm, called Stuxnet, has been the object of intense study since its detection in June. As more has become known about it, alarm about its capabilities and purpose have grown. Some top cyber security experts now say Stuxnet’s arrival heralds something blindingly new: a cyber weapon created to cross from the digital realm to the physical world – to destroy something.

The appearance of Stuxnet created a ripple of amazement among computer security experts. Too large, too encrypted, too complex to be immediately understood, it employed amazing new tricks, like taking control of a computer system without the user taking any action or clicking any button other than inserting an infected memory stick. Experts say it took a massive expenditure of time, money, and software engineering talent to identify and exploit such vulnerabilities in industrial control software systems.

Unlike most malware, Stuxnet is not intended to help someone make money or steal proprietary data. Industrial control systems\l "" experts now have concluded, after nearly four months spent reverse engineering Stuxnet, that the world faces a new breed of malware that could become a template for attackers wishing to launch digital strikes at physical targets worldwide. Internet link not required.

Speculation is Stuxnet was developed in a certain Middle Eastern country that has no oil, but lots of nasty neighbors, and was developed with a certain centrifuge facility in Iran in mind.

So for the short term, Stuxnet is good news.  But as with nukes, the bad guys can develop malware too.

Michael Assante, former security chief for this country’s grid-minding organization, the North American Electric Reliability Corp, sounded genuinely rattled in his remarks to Christian Science Monitor.
"What we’re seeing with Stuxnet is the first view of something new that doesn’t need outside guidance by a human – but can still take control of your infrastructure. This is the first direct example of weaponized software, highly customized and designed to find a particular target," he said. "The implications of Stuxnet are very large, a lot larger than some thought at first… It’s the type of threat we’ve been worried about for a long time."

I hope Sharron Angle defeats Harry Reid in Nevada.  But if Harry does lose, I’ll miss him when he’s gone.  Whoever replaces him as Democrat leader has to be more competent.

This week Harry tried to bring to the Senate floor the defense authorization bill with amendments to it to overturn the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” policy with regard to homosexuals in the military, and to provide amnesty for a whole bunch of illegal immigrants (the DREAM Act), under a procedure that would have prevented most amendments.

He failed, by three votes, to get the 60 he needed to prevent a filibuster on the motion to take up the bill.  He failed despite the fact that at least one Republican (Susan Collins of Maine) supports repeal of DADT, and at least one Republican (Richard Lugar of Indiana) supports the DREAM act.

Both Arkansas Dems – Blanche Lincoln in a futile effort to save her seat, and Mark Pryor, who can see the handwriting on the wall – voted with the GOP.

Harry’s was a pretty obvious ploy to gin up the base, but his move pissed off just about everybody.  Gay rights activists and Hispanic activists were unhappy because they didn’t get separate votes on their pet issues.  John McCain fulminated against Democrats for a change.  Moderate Democrats were unhappy because they were forced to make another vote on issues unpopular with most Americans.

This vote may have been the first fruits of Christine O’Donnell’s primary victory, because the Maine girls stayed onside, despite the fact that Susan Collins really wanted to repeal DADT.  Was this because the O’Donnell victory has made them more wary of crossing conservatives?

Whatever their reason or reasons (Ms. Collins said she was upset by Reid’s procedural flim-flammery), Mitch McConnell deserves a big hand.  He’s denounced as a RINO in some quarters, but he’s the most effective GOP senate leader since Everett Dirksen (1896-1969).  Leading the senate is like herding cats, but he’s kept the whole team onside.

Here’s a dynamite political ad: Mourning in America 

And here’s a terrific one for one of my favorite congressional candidates, Sean Duffy in Wisconsin

Nate Silver is a really smart stats guy who blogs at the New York Times.  But Nate’s also a liberal (as is just about everybody at the New York Times, including their “conservative” columnists), so, he too, has to whistle past the graveyard to give hope to fellow liberals.

Nate has an interesting piece in which he asserts the generic ballot is overstating support for Republicans.

Nate bases his theory on the fact that in a number of polls, actual Democratic candidates are doing better than generic polling in their district indicates they ought to be doing.  Thus he concludes:

A voter might in general prefer to want to vote for a Republican, but might vote for the Democrat anyway because he happens to like that candidate

This is interesting, because it was Nate Silver who pointed out that:

on average the generic ballot has overestimated the Democrats’ performance in the popular vote by 3.4 points since 1992.

There’s a simpler explanation for the phenomenon Nate described Wednesday.  Henry Olsen explains:

As proof of his thesis, Nate provided a list of 31 House races polled in August by the American Action Forum — Republicans led the generic ballot by an average of 6.3 percent, but only led in ballots with actual names by 2 percent. But he did not look to see if the Democratic incumbent was better known than his GOP challenger.

I did, and here is what I found. Only 5.7 percent of the voters in the average CD polled had not heard of the Democratic incumbent, but 36.9 percent had never heard of the Republican challenger. As anyone with campaign experience knows, if a challenger can successfully close the name-ID gap with his incumbent rival, the challenger will see his percentage of the vote rise.

If Democrats really think they’re doing better than the generic ballot indicates, than how come Barney Frank and John Dingell and Raul Grijalva appear to be in trouble?

GOP pollster Glen Bolger provides additional evidence Silver is blowing smoke.

The generic ballot shows Republicans leading 44%-39%. Besides all of the usual regional crosstabs, we also broke it out by the type of district. We looked at the sample in the 66 Democratic INCUMBENT districts that Charlie Cook lists as either toss-up or leaning Democratic at the time of the survey. In that key crosstab of Swing Democratic Incumbent Seats, the Republican lead grows to 49%-31% on the generic ballot. That is a very powerful crosstab that says the wave is coming.

The exciting polling news this week is in New York state, where a Survey USA poll has Joe Dioguardi trailing the Dem, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, by a single point.

That the “hot” Ms. Gillibrand is in trouble was confirmed by a Quinnipiac poll which found her leading by only six points.

The two polls also indicated that Carl Paladino only trails once heavy favorite Mario Cuomo in the governor’s race by single digits.

The polls indicate the Dems are cruising in New York City, but getting creamed upstate.  The Dems probably will prevail in the statewide races, but woe be unto the Dems running for Congress outside of the five boroughs.

Last week, I called for three cheers for Ovide Lamontagne, for promptly and warmly endorsing Kelly Ayotte shortly after he narrowly lost the New Hampshire GOP senate primary to her.  This week he rates a fourth, because he’s hosting a fundraiser for Ms. Ayotte.

Lamontagne’s behavior contrasts vividly with the sore loser attitudes of “moderate” Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Mike Castle.

The only conservative to behave badly has been Clint Didier in Washington state, who has yet to endorse the winner, Dino Rossi, despite the fact there are few ideological differences between them.  (Sarah Palin backed Didier, but Sen. Jim DeMint backed Rossi.)

Speaking of Murkowski, her write in campaign got off to a bad start when her campaign aides misspelled her name in an ad.

Comes word Thursday that Mike Castle is contemplating a write-in campaign of his own in Delaware.

A correspondent from Delaware told National Review’s Jim Geraghty that if Castle does mount a write in campaign, it’ll help O’Donnell. 

According to an alleged White House insider, Barack Obama doesn’t like his job and isn’t doing it very well.

Obama loved to campaign. He clearly didn’t like the work of being President though, and that attitude was felt by the entire White House staff within weeks after the inauguration. Obama the tireless, hard working candidate became a very tepid personality to us. And the few news stories that did come out against him were the only things he seemed to care about. He absolutely obsesses over Fox News. For being so successful, Barack Obama is incredibly thin-skinned. He takes everything very personally.

He despises Joe Biden:

That is very well known in the White House. Obama chose Biden for one reason – to have an older white guy with some international policy credentials. Period. If Biden has all of this international experience that Obama found so valuable, why has he buried him under the pile of crap that became the stimulus bill? What does Joe Biden know about budgets and economics? Not much – but Obama didn’t care. Give Joe a job and get him the hell out of my hair – that pretty much sums up the president’s feelings toward Joe Biden.

He’s afraid of Hillary:

He doesn’t trust her – obsesses over her almost as much as he does Fox News. He respects her though, which might be why he fears her so much as well. He talks the game, but when it comes down to it, she has played the game. on a far tougher level than he has, and Obama knows that.

And he’s not the smartest guy in the world:

I’ll tell you this – if you want to see President Obama get excited about a conversation, turn it to sports. That gets him interested. You start talking about Congress, or some policy, and he just kinda turns off. It’s really very strange. I mean, we were all led to believe that this guy was some kind of intellectual giant, right? Ivy League and all that. Well, that is not what I saw. Barack Obama doesn’t have a whole lot of intellectual curiosity. When he is off script, he is what I call a real “slow talker”. Lots of ummms, and lots of time in between answers where you can almost see the little wheel in his head turning very slowly.

 None of this is news to us, but it’s fascinating hearing it from someone who worked in the Obama White House, if indeed this “White House insider” is genuine.  (I think he is).  The whole thing is worth a read.

I love Sarah Palin.  But I’m developing a man crush on the fat Reagan.  Here’s Chris Christie getting in the face of a Democrat heckler at a campaign event for Meg Whitman.

The fat Reagan doesn’t talk much about social issues.  But this week he shut down abortion clinics in New Jersey.

Mercy me.  I’m getting the vapors!

Zero isn’t the draw that once he was.  Here’s Gail Sheehy’s report on his New York fundraiser this week.

Who would have thought that six weeks before a cliffhanger election, President Obama would have to reach down to the D list to fill a room to listen to him? Most of us low rollers arrived early to see President Obama up close and personal. Our tickets for the general reception at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York were only $100. Some thought the email invitation was a joke. Some bought tickets for $50 from their desperate Democratic committeeman. Some bought the same day.

“It’s Filene’s,” enthused Sharon Douglas, reliving her heady days as a volunteer in Obama’s 2008 campaign. The doorman beckoned conspiratorially and ushered us out one door and in through another to stand at the back of the $500 line. Their crowd came from Wall Street in car services and killer heels. Our crowd came on subways in flats and scuffed teacher’s shoes.

Only after I received four email invitations and two personal calls imploring me to come did I call Speaker Pelosi’s office to check the admission price.

“You mean, to be in the room with the President of the United States is now on fire sale for $100?”
Even at bargain basement prices, Obama could attract just 450 people in a room that holds 650, Ms. Sheehy noted.

Even Obama’s fire sale didn’t sell out.

Here are photos of Giovana Huidobro, the “social acquaintance” who may put an end to Jesse Jackson Jr’s political career:

Click Here for More Photos!

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass says Jackson is “burnt toast” because of the response of black women to reports of his relationship with the hostess.

Junior’s troubles raise the prospects for his attractive GOP opponent from “none” to “slim.”

A GOP poll indicates my absolute favorite Republican candidate this cycle, LtCol. Allen West, has taken a comfortable lead over incumbent Dem Ron Klein in Florida.

The poll’s internals suggest his lead is likely to grow.  Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

This is running long, so I’ll hold my thoughts on the House GOP’s “Pledge to America” until next week.  Maybe next week the HFR will be genuinely half full.  But this week, it’s been another Mostly Full Report.  May it stay that way until the election.