About
Captain Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather. He lives with his wife Marcia, also known as the First Mate, their two dogs, and frequently watch their granddaughter Kayla, whom Captain Ed calls The Little Admiral.
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The Crows Nest
Would Early Primaries Allow More Donations?
Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot believes that candidates will benefit if primaries and caucuses get pushed into 2007. A loophole in campaign finance regulation appears to allow an extra $2,300 per donor for candidates if those elections are held this year. Be sure to check out Jim's analysis, and the surprising candidate that may benefit the most.
When Tom Met Jeralyn
One of the interesting aspects of politics is finding out that opponents are people, too. Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft met Rep. Tom Tancredo backstage at NBC's studios, and found him more likable than she had anticipated. Perhaps it was their mutual interest in Dog, The Bounty Hunter ...
Joe Lieberman A Right-Wing Nut?
That's what CAIR says, according to Joe Kaufman. He has a link to a CAIR official's blog post that calls Lieberman, along with John Bolton, former CIA director James Woolsey, and the Heritage Foundation's Peter Brookes as "extremists". Affad Shaikh also calls Dick Cheney a "fat bastard of a liar," apparently not meant as a pop-culture reference to the Austin Powers movies. (via Let Freedom Ring)
Broadband Homelessness
The Japanese have made homelessness more efficient, and more Net-friendly, too. Their Internet cafés have become homeless shelters for the struggling manual-labor sector. The problem has grown into such a problem that government intervention will shortly become a political priority.
Found My Law Firm
Power Line links twice to this story regarding an attorney at Faegre & Benson who refused to become a victim and helped capture a very dangerous man. Keith Radtke is a partner in the firm as is Power Line's John Hinderaker. Radtke is listed in satisfactory condition after getting shot in the back, but that didn't keep him from locking up his attacker in a wrestling grip until police could arrive. I don't know about you, but that's the kind of man I'd want as my counsel ....
Don't Click That YouTube E-mail
The latest in spam seems to be redirections from YouTube links in e-mail to IP addresses without domain names. They attempt to entice people by making it seem that they have been inadvertently YouTubed. I'm sure most people can see through this scam, but just in case, you've been warned ....
Rick Moran Escapes The Floods
Rick Moran has kept us up to date on his travails along the Algonquin River. Yesterday, the police showed up to get him evacuated before the river flooded his home -- but today, Rick finds that a minor miracle has taken place, and that his house survives ... at least for now. Keep Rick in your prayers, and keep checking in at Right Wing Nut House for updates.
Rule 1: Drag The Corpse On Over First
If I've learned anything in four years of blogging, don't try to be out in front of the death rumors, especially with the villains of the world. Saddam died a hundred deaths before we caught him alive in his spider hole, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi almost as many before his demise last year. Osama may or may not be alive, but everyone's avoided speculating on his fate for a while now. Maybe Val at Babalu Blog will get luckier with his "Castro Is Dead" story. We all hope so. I'll wait for the announcement ....
Hobbs Choice
Volunteer Voters is holding its annual "Best of Nashville" on-line polls, and one of the categories is for the best political writer. Our friend Bill Hobbs, now posting at Newsbusters, and he'd like his on-line fans to cast their votes. Drop by and put one in for Bill if you get a chance!
Murtha Getting Backlogged On Apologies
Gary Gross of Let Freedom Ring sees another case collapsing on the Haditha charges. He's called for Murtha to apologize earlier, and adds another reason to the tally.
No Such Thing As 'Moderate' Islam?
Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan told a television interviewer that he finds the label "moderate Islam" offensive. Shrink Wrapped has a lot more on this, but at least in the same interview Erdogan acknowledged that "radical Islam" exists, and that it's been a catastrophe. Be sure to read the whole post.
MS-NBC Gets Punk'd
Power Line has a great post on a lack of journalistic effort on the part of MS-NBC. In covering the Michael Vick story, they reported on what they thought was Al Sharpton's website proclaiming Vick's innocence. I guess Alex Johnson and two other MS-NBC reporters couldn't bother to read the title bar of the site, which proudly proclaims it as a "parody site".
New Instapundit Podcast On Pharmaceuticals
I just caught this e-mail from Glenn Reynolds about his new podcast with Richard Epstein, the author of Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but the topic is important enough to make sure I carve out time for it tomorrow. Get their first and tell me what I'm missing ....
Fed Trying A 'Stealth Easing'?
The Federal Reserve seems to have conducted a quiet campaign to steady markets that started spinning out of control, according to King Banaian at SCSU Scholars. He thinks that the Fed has conducted a "stealth easing". Be sure to read his explanation and follow his lnks.
A Shameless Bit Of Sel-Promotion
Gateway Pundit and Val at Babalu Blog note a crass PR move by Hugo Chavez. Venezuela has responded to Peru's eathquake disaster with food shipments -- and with Hugo's smiling picture on the cans. He also uses the tuna-can label to undermine President Garcia of Peru, who narrowly defeated Chavez' pal Ollanto Humalla, whom the labels extol for his "solidarity" with Chavez.
Tacky beyond belief.
Comments (7)
Posted by wham1000 | August 13, 2007 8:41 AM
Aye!
Posted by wham1000 | August 13, 2007 8:46 AM
Aye!
Posted by LuckyBogey | August 13, 2007 8:54 AM
Amen Captain! But where are these "leaders"?
Posted by Monkei | August 13, 2007 9:21 AM
Novak continues to misread and mis-inform. The voters in 2006 spoke loudly and clearly against BUSH and IRAQ. Both parties were corrupt before and will be corrupt as long as big money, big business, and lobbyist run everything. The only difference between the two parties is one is fighting with everything they have to stay in Iraq and the other trying to find enough votes and failing, to get out. That's what the American voters will see again in 2008 like they did in 2006. It will cost the GOP in both houses again and maybe at the WH too.
Writers like Novak and some other blowhards for the GOP want to blame their historical loses on corruption and big spending ... but they will find out that it was never about that because it is just basically understood by the American public, and sadly accepted, as a way of life in Washington, no matter which party is in power. Badly planned wars with no exit plan, however, are not.
Posted by Jazz | August 13, 2007 9:33 AM
Some of the issues you hightlight, particularly runaway pork barrel spending, are extrememly important and deserve more attention. Fault certainly lies on both sides and I'd like to hear more candidates talking about it in a serious fashion.
However, this doesn't change the fact that I am continually mystified by some of the comments you made here and which I see echoed on other (mostly right wing) sites. Your comments really make it sound as if you place the *majority* of the cause for the GOP loss of congress in '06 on some general sense across America of being sick of profligate spending and veering away from "traditional conservative ideals." These may be things that the hard core wonks, pundits, bloggers and their internet readers focus on heavily (and rightfully so) but not the great masses.
This may certainly be true for a percentage of wavering, hard core Republican voters, but are you somehow in denial that a huge factor in that loss was the large part of the center having run out of patience with Iraq in particular and Bush's handling of that and related matters in general? That was the deciding factor, at least as I see it. The other factors you cite are certainly valid, but hardly the lion's share. And those factors have not yet changed going into '08. Yes, news shows the surge making military progress in Iraq, and certain Dem leaders and members are backing off of their opposition for reasons of political cowardice, but the polls have not shifted in any large, statistically significant way.
Basing a strategy on the theory that earmarks, big government, "socialized medicine" or a loss of conservative values is what moved the majority of the votes in play away from the GOP, and that "fixing" those things will move them back without addressing public dissatisfaction with Iraq is simply not realistsic.
Iraq will still sink the GOP's ambitions regarding the White House in '08 as I see it unless the Dems do something totally suicidal like nominate Hillary.
Posted by docjim505 | August 13, 2007 9:55 AM
According to CNN's exit polling, voters were about evenly concerned with several issues (1):
IS U.S. GOING IN RIGHT DIRECTION?
Yes - 41%
No - 55%
NATIONAL ECONOMY
Excellent or good - 49%
Not good or poor - 50%
IMPORTANCE OF IRAQ
Extremely important - 35%
Very important - 32%
IMPORTANCE OF TERRORISM
Extremely important - 39%
Very important - 33%
IMPORTANCE OF ECONOMY
Extremely important - 39%
Very important - 43%
IMPORTANCE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Extremely important - 30%
Very important - 32%
IMPORTANCE OF CORRUPTION/ETHICS
Extremely important - 41%
Very important - 33%
etc, etc.
Note that "corruption / ethics" was more important than Iraq by a slight margin as was "the economy". American voters, it seems, were thinking about several issues when they went to the polls in 2006. I don't think that there is any question that Bush's low approval numbers played a role in the Republican defeat, but to lay it all at the feet of Iraq is, IMO, incorrect.
One statistic that floored me:
OPINION OF GOP LEADERS IN CONGRESS (Republican voters only)
Enthusiastic - 93
Satisfied - 81
Dissatisfied - 22
Angry - 4
I'm not sure why these numbers don't add up to anything close to 100, but it seems clear that a very strong majority of GOP voters were quite happy with Frist and Hastert in 2006.
God help the GOP.
------------
(1) http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html
Posted by Sue | August 13, 2007 10:49 AM
Monkel: it is always about corruption, deceit, lies and stealing. The voters can't make headway because there is an overwhelming majority (especially the old bulls and cows) of the congress that prevent anything meaningful from being done. I don't read the voters the way you do, but I understand that the crazy tinfoil hatted leftist loons voted in droves and the other side mainly didn't and so the fight continues. If the other side was as concerned about this country they would make noise about the corruption that runs rampant in their party and ours.