RedState Morning Briefing

RedState Morning Briefing

For October 5, 2009

A question we must all ask today: If Barack Obama cannot convince the IOC to send the Olympics to Chicago, how is he going to convince Iran to give up its nukes?

1. Obama Has Lost A Valuable Thing

2. Roland Martin is a Moron

3. Virginia argues that they don't need to send out military absentee ballots in time to vote

4. ACORN Planned 'Takeover' of Oklahoma Government

5. Did Grayson lie to the ADL? Did he *not* lie?

6. The Real Net Neutrality Astroturfers

7. When Charlie Crist Attacks It Means He is Running Scared

------------------------

1. Obama Has Lost A Valuable Thing

So, Chicago was eliminated in the first round of bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics, despite (I assume despite) President Obama's personal lobbying for the Games.

Now, as a New Yorker, I really would not want the Olympics anywhere near my city, and the Olympics don't exactly have a grand history of making money for the host city (ask Montreal) or necessarily good press (ask Munich), but I take at face value for the moment that Chicagoans really wanted this one and felt it would be good for the city. Certainly great effort and expense was put into the bid, and many hopes seemed to be riding on it.

I'd questioned Obama's priorities in making the trip, but now he has a much bigger problem. It's one thing for the President to make a phone call or two to lend a subtle hand to this sort of effort; that would have been fine with me. But by the President and First Lady both making personal appearances and elevating this to the top news story of the day and a test of personal and national prestige, Obama stood a significant chance of being humiliated, and doing so for what is hard to describe as a critical national interest. Most of us on the Right assumed, whatever we thought of the trip, that Obama would never be fool enough to make it if he didn't already have deals done to get this in the bag for Chicago. Apparently, we overestimated him.

This is why you don't publicly stake your prestige on something that's not (1) hugely important (2) a done deal or (3) ideally, both. All presidents suffer defeats and embarrassments, but you generally don't walk right into one on an issue of purely local importance to your home city. Obama's and the nation's standing in the world can't help but be chipped away by this; the next time he goes jetting off to a summit or some other international event, people won't be so quick to assume that he has all figured out in advance how he's going to get what he wants. That aura, that mystique is a thing of value that the President is supposed to husband carefully for when the nation really needs it. Bush was impotent by the end of his presidency because he'd burned that up, but he had it for the better part of five years. Obama's losing it already.

What a waste.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

>> sponsored content

2. Roland Martin is a Moron

Roland Martin is a CNN Commentator and Obama sycophant. He says I, and others, are celebrating American defeat by laughing over the loss of the Olympics.

Mr. Martin is one of the leftists in this country who spent the last several years rooting against our soldiers and sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a strange set of priorities that leads a man to root against the United States on the battlefield and claim the rest of us are defeatists because of the Olympics.

To be clear, I root for America, therefore I root against Barack Obama. Mr. Martin spends his time rooting for Obama and, in the cult of personality that is the left, conflates that with rooting for the country. This will end badly for the left. The cult of personality always ends badly for the left. It's just a shame so many suffer first.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Virginia argues that they don't need to send out military absentee ballots in time to vote

Last year, we covered some of the problems in the counting of military absentee ballots in Virginia, as did others. This problem has not gone away. It has just moved. The day before election day 2008, the McCain campaign filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia to force Virginia to count military absentee ballots that came in after election day. McCain lost Virginia by more than enough votes, but the case went on with the Department of Justice replacing the McCain campaign.There were filings last month and will likely be a hearing this month. So what?

The Virginia State Board of Elections argued in their most recent filing that they have no legal obligation to send out military absentee ballots in a timely manner. Restated, the State of Virginia has argued in a federal court filing that they can legally send out absentee ballots to active duty soldiers the day before an election. Restated again, the Democratic Chairwoman of the Virginia State Board of Election (appointed by the Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine, in his capacity as Virginia Governor) Jean Cunningham just claimed a legal basis for massively raising the barrier to voting for soldiers at war.

Really. Read on for details. . .

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. ACORN Planned 'Takeover' of Oklahoma Government

I am told by liberal friends and colleagues that conservatives like me vastly overrate the significance of organizations such as ACORN. I wonder what those friends would say if a conservative entity was found to have prepared documents like this one . . .

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Did Grayson lie to the ADL? Did he *not* lie?

Rep. Alan Grayson (D, FL-08) has finally found a line beyond which he is personally not prepared to cross. While the Congressman may be prepared to lie about Republican intentions on health care, he at least knows enough to realize when he's gone too far, as his respectful letter describing his 'regrets' to the Anti-Defamation League indicates.

Alan Grayson is a first-term Congressman from Florida who has found a niche for himself as a provider of red meat to progressives, particularly online ones. His recent 'die quickly' performance was widely lauded in the Left-blogosphere; it was, in fact, the reason why Grayson went back onto the floor to make the Holocaust reference that got him into trouble. Despite that retraction, and an already-impressive history of making unfortunate statements (actually, because of that history) he remains popular among the Democratic netroots. Note here and here and here and here and here for just some examples of same. This popularity is at least partially due to the fact that he has hired noted Lefty blogger Matthew Stoller (of Open Left) to be a senior policy advisor.

Which is interesting, because according to Alan Grayson staffer Matthew Stoller, the Anti-Defamation League is a 'crazy, racist organization.'

Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. The Real Net Neutrality Astroturfers

The left is at it again. They know that in a straight-up battle of ideas, their socialist perversion of Net Neutrality could never win out. Nobody but the most blindly partisan supporters of Barack Obama wants a government takeover of the Internet, because everybody knows that when government takes something over, freedom in it tends to die.

That is why Save The Internet is resorting to dishonest smear campaigns in an attempt to shout down and discredit their opponents. They want to win by driving all opposition off the field, turning this debate into the Internet equivalent of the streets of Berlin in Weimar Germany. They must not get away with it.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

7. When Charlie Crist Attacks It Means He is Running Scared

Charlie Crist is starting to feel the heat from Marco Rubio. Crist, Florida's Republican Governor, is the Republican establishment's pick, but Marco Rubio keeps getting the endorsement of conservatives. Crist, despite being Governor, has not yet won a Republican straw poll.

Consequently, Crist has taken to use Beth Reinhard, a Miami political columnist, to claim Rubio is not a real conservative. Never mind the humor of a liberal trying to claim Rubio is not a conservative. It's very Wizard of Oz with Crist, typically self-cast in the role of Dorothy, playing the bloated, floating face of the wizard screaming that we pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

And the attack?

Rubio cannot be trusted because he is not rich. Yes, Marco Rubio, the son of immigrants, has a lot of student loans and a mortgage on his house. Therefore, he must not be good with money.

Or in Reinhard's precise words, "Rubio has hammered Crist for accepting $5 billion in federal stimulus money, but never explained how he would have balanced the state budget without it. The easiest place to be a fiscal hawk is in an armchair. Just ask Rubio, who has more than $900,000 in home and student loans."

The other criticisms? Keep reading . . .

Please click here for the rest of the post.

>> sponsored content

Sincerely yours,

Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com

Forward This Email to a Friend