So...Maybe Experience Really Does Matter

It's been a bit of a rocky start for Obama.

Peter Kirsanow at NRO's Corner writes:

Barely two weeks into his presidency, the media is bewildered by the daily snafus coming from the White House: the galactic mismanagement of the corrupt stimulus bill, the Daschle debacle, the Geithner outrage, the Zinni circus, the Killefer embarrassment. These are hardly the products of a well-oiled machine. Then there's the utter lack of seriousness conveyed by Obama's claim that we are at war with "some" terrorist organizations and his disingenuous handling of Gitmo and rendition.

Jeff Emmanuel at RedState writes:

I can’t recall an entering executive misfiring on so many issues — from his nomination of lawbreakers to high office, to breaking his own self-imposed ethics rules, to throwing away any and all goodwill he had from House Republicans with his “I won” retort, to his having to apologize to Old Europe for having a tin ear on protectionist trade policies, to being utterly surprised that his efforts to unilaterally and without precondition meet with the leaders of Iran were publicly perceived as a sign of weakness and defeat, to his driving portions of New Europe away from America and back towards the Russians — at one time as Mr. Obama has in just sixteen days as president.

Well, here we go...

Don't blame me, I voted for the only candidate with actual executive experience in the election ... from either party ... on the top or bottom of the ticket.

Oh, and yeah, I'll say this again...

You cannot spell

“OBAMA’S  PROMISES TO BRING  YOU  HOPE  AND  CHANGE ARE  BULLSHIT”

without

I   T-O-L-D   Y-O-U   S-O

But seriously, gird your loins, Obama. This country actually does need you to do better.

You May Want Tax Simplification, But Are You Sure You Want Obama's Tax Simplification?

All joking aside pertaining to all the tax cheats Obama wants in his administration – we have heard a number of voices saying that this would be a perfect opportunity to argue for tax simplification:

But, as I’ve noted before, isn’t [Geithner’s tax problems] — together with Charlie Rangel’s problems — an argument for tax simplification? I mean, if the Chairman of Ways and Means, and the Treasury Secretary nominee — who’s head of a Federal Reserve Bank — can’t keep their taxes straight, how can the government expect the rest of us to?

Yes, I think tax simplification is the best idea that could possibly come out of this whole mess. But, uh, we should probably tread lightly with putting the idea in Obama’s head that filing taxes is too hard and something big should be done about it.

Because Obama already does have an idea to help address the problem — but it isn’t simplifying the tax code. Obama offers to have the IRS do your taxes for you:

Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama and Biden will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama and Biden will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama-Biden proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.

David Freddoso weighed in last March at NRO:

Starting with filers of the simplest kind of return — the 1040 EZ — the IRS would estimate their tax burdens and simply send them a bill or a refund. Unless they choose to challenge the IRS, that would be the end of it. It would work much like property taxes do in most counties and municipalities. After the EZ filers, Simple Return could quickly expand to include everyone who takes the standard deduction, and then to others with more complicated situations — perhaps even me. Goolsbee writes that it could eventually apply to as many as 40 percent of U.S. taxpayers.

There you go – with the revelations of how hard it is for the Rangels and Geithners and Daschles of the world, is it not a small step to imagine that Obama would see this as a perfect opportunity to expand his plan (Obama, try and expand government power? You don’t say!) ensnaring as many people as possible.

Go read all of Freddoso’s article.

Afterall, it really does seem like a tax crisis when so many Obama nominees are this confounded by simply trying to fulfill their patriotic tax-paying duty.

Wait. Did I say crisis? Uh oh.

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,"
--Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff to President Obama

Gird your loins! Hold onto your wallets!

Mt. Redoubt from 20,000 Feet

Perhaps you've heard the story that Mt. Redoubt is emerging as an imminent threat. A volcano up in Alaska, Mt. Redoubt is showing seismic activity that would indicate an eruption in the near future.

Here is the Alaska Volcano Observatory website, with a whole host of information about Mt. Redoubt, including maps as well as images of the last time it erupted.

And now we have a couple of aerial photographs of Mt. Redoubt from the inimitable commenter at JustOneMinute, "Daddy", a pilot who lives in Alaska.

Daddy says that at the time the photos were taken, they were approximately 100 miles out on their descent into Anchorage, approximately 20,000 feet, looking South toward Mt. Redoubt. In the first photo, just below the summit, there is a plume of smoke which is the location of the forming caldera. In the second photo, you also have Mt. Iliamna in the distance, which has its own plume of smoke barely discernible on the left side of the peak.

Fascinating. Stay safe, Daddy.

The 1040DEM

Tom Daschle, the nominee to become Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services has been outed in what is no longer a particularly exclusive club, Democatic Tax Chiselers Nominated to Serve in the Obama Administration.

Tom Maguire writes in his latest post about the practical ramifications of Obama having set such a low bar for nominees in high places:

I am sooo looking forward to April 15 (that's tax-filing day for the Democrats out there). Instead of vexing myself with hours of tedious record-review I'll just put down any numbers that pop into my head, secure in the knowledge that a simple apology will suffice if I'm ever questioned. Well, first I have to change my party registration to "D" and mail that check to Obama...

Odd. Surely Tom is aware that within the bowels of his very own comments section, the need to make up numbers, then apologize if caught has been eliminated.

We'll let Clarice Feldman set things up with her blog post at American Thinker:

Riffing off a comment on Ann Althouse, Just One Minute's poster Ranger has his own idea for the new form 1040Dem, inspired by the Geithner and Daschle tax chiseling:

Line 1: Are you a Democrat?

Line 2: How much income [d]o you want to declare for this year?

Line 3: How much tax do you feel like paying on that income?

It wasn't our idea, and all credit goes to DaveG at Ann Althouse's and Ranger at Just One Minute. But we were able to obtain an electronic copy of the 1040DEM:

Click to enlarge and see if you can spot the differences between this and the traditional, non-partisan 1040.

Oh, and Tom, you're welcome.

h/t centralcal at JOM!

Act Locally, Impact Globally

From our local free weekly newspaper comes a very heartwarming story of local students making a difference in the lives of their fellow students . . . in Iraq:

Give Us Hope, Northwest Middle School’s donation drive to provide Iraqi children with much-needed school supplies, was inspired by a simple request.

Last fall, Dena Adams, the school’s director of choirs, asked her son Marlin what he wanted for Christmas. Infantry staff sergeant Marlin Adams, who is serving his third tour of duty in Iraq, said he wished his mother, rather than sending him gifts, would encourage her students to help the children he saw struggling on a daily basis to grow up in a war zone.

Staff Sgt. Marlin Adams (standing) and another U.S. troop with some of the Iraqi children Adams hopes to help through Northwest Middle School's Give Us Hope donation drive.

Now, students at Northwest Middle School are reaching across the world to make a difference.

On Jan. 7, Dena Adams and Bonnie Pearson, who teaches business and marketing at the school, presented a program to explain the school’s Give Us Hope donation drive to the students. The goal of the drive is to collect enough supplies and financial support to send 500 school kits, packaged in 1-gallon zip bags, for distribution to Iraqi children. Preparations began back in September as mother and son began determining what the children needed most and what would be allowed through military security inspections. [...]

Students were transfixed by a slide show of photographs of Marlin and other Marines with Iraqi children amid backdrops of bombed-out buildings and shattered window panes. Many students wiped tears from their cheeks at the program’s end.

Dena Adams shared with the students an e-mail from Marlin that emphasized the importance of helping the Iraqi people.

“The people will gravitate towards the side that provides a higher quality of life,” Marlin wrote, noting that U.S. military forces have helped with reestablishing electricity and giving out food and blankets to the poor. “Projects like this get the people on our side. By having people on our side and denying the terrorists the ability to conduct operations, it improves security and gives the Iraqi security forces a buffer within which to grow and become more professional … The second reason that I wanted to help here is simply the fact that it’s the right thing to do.”

Also in the same edition, the writer, Alicia Cosgrove pens an editorial for more background and some additional information:

I first met Marlin Adams in 2004, while interviewing him and his mother for an article about his return from his second tour in Iraq. To say I was impressed is a major understatement. Even then, this earnest, caring young man was talking about the effects of war on the children he’d seen.

While discussing his unit’s accomplishments involving reopening schools and bringing in teachers for Iraqi children, he said: “We’re giving the kids an actual chance, instead of just existing in the world.”

Giving children a chance is what the Give Us Hope donation drive is all about. (See article on Page 1.) Before writing the article, I e-mailed Marlin a list of questions about his inspiration for asking his mom to get Northwest Middle School kids involved in helping Iraqi kids. I don’t have the space to print all of his eloquent reply, so I’ve chosen what I think is the heart of his motivation.

“If the school supplies that we provide can be the difference between a kid that gets an education and benefits his society and a kid that doesn’t and slips through the cracks, we owe it as Americans to help them.”

Part of Marlin’s message explained the goal of counterinsurgency operations, but most of it had to do with giving kids a chance.

There's much more in both articles, and you should read them both fully.

Simply outstanding.

Thank you Marlin for your service and your heart. Thank you Dena for faithfully carrying out this mission here at home to impact lives all the way around the world. And thank you Alicia for bringing this story to us.

Weighing Obama's Stimulationism

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that you have been on pins and needles waiting for our take on Obama’s stimulus plans.

We aim to please, so let’s get to it.

Let’s start with this observation by Victor Davis Hanson in the Corner:

For just one week we should ban the verb "stimulate" and the noun "stimulus" — and substitute instead the more honest "borrow," or "print," or "debt"; as in "The government plans to borrow another $1 trillion for the economy," or "The administration today decided to print another $300 billion in cash." Or "Congress met to consider a $1 trillion debt program." But as it is now, the euphemisms only take us ever more distant from reality, as trillions of dollars are bandied about as if they were mere five and tens in the government wallet.

While Hanson helpfully offers the suggestion that we speak of the “stimulus” in more honest terms financially, we have a suggestion of our own, in light of that last sentence.

Before Christmas, we had this headline:

Obama team weighs up to $850 billion economic jolt

Now, we’re up to this:

Obama weighs $1T plan to jolt economy

Now speaking of being helpful – we are earnestly endeavoring to be helpful – let us aid Obama in his efforts to weigh the debt program of borrowing freshly printed cash to jolt the economy that he is considering.

Literally.

Each dollar bill, regardless of denomination, weighs one gram. One gram equals 0.0352739619 ounces.

So how much does $1,000,000,000,000.00 weigh?

Ones = 2,204,622,618.75 lbs

Fives = 440,924,523.75 lbs

Tens = 220,462,261.875 lbs

Twenties = 110,231,130.9375 lbs

Hundreds = 22,046,226.1875 lbs

The Obama euphemism: "We’re not talking about a ton of money."

Which is technically correct, it’s more like 11,023 tons, if paid in hundreds.

Now imagine the size of that wallet.

At Least He's Asking

Mickey Kaus asks:

Old lists never die: Will Obama ever stop asking me for money? Or is it all fundraising, all the way out?

Quoting from the fundraising email sent by Obama:

Donate $5 or more now. You could be part of the historic events you made possible.

Five bucks, eh?

Well. A few weeks ago, Glenn noted Starbucks’ bad quarter:

SO I GUESS THE OBAMA VICTORY WASN’T A TRIUMPH FOR LATTE LIBERALISM AFTER ALL: Starbucks 4th-quarter profit falls 97 percent.

And he posted an email we sent to him in response:

Yes, that’s obvious in hindsight. All the latte-liberals cut their Stabucks intake to send that money to Obama.

The real question is, will Obama let them go back to spending money at Starbucks — or, once in office, will he continue to ask them to donate to His Cause, never again to return to, what is, let’s face it, just the transient trappings of capitalist self-indulgence.

“Just remember that if you purchase that cup of coffee, the taste will be bitter as you consider what that money could have done to help Barack Obama change the world.”

Just don’t act surprised. Michelle already told us we would have to give up our pie.

It was only natural for coffee to be next.

Then again, it is a bit mildly surprising.

That Obama is even asking.

Michelle told us he would demand it.

Hope, Change and Rubes

Seeing that Glenn has provided the roundup (see especially Right Wing News where the real roundup is) of the reaction on the left to Obama selecting Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the inauguration invocation, we’ll make note of the inclusion of his oft-asked question, “who are the rubes?”

And in an effort to be helpful, let us just point out the following:

You cannot spell “OBAMA HAS PISSED ME OFF” without H-O-P-E

You cannot spell “OBAMA WILL HAVE TO FACE MY ANGER” without C-H-A-N-G-E

You cannot spell “I AM OUTRAGED AT OBAMA” without R-U-B-E

It might just come in handy in the future.

Oh, and one more thing:

You cannot spell “OBAMA’S PROMISES TO BRING YOU HOPE AND CHANGE ARE BULLSHIT” without    I   T-O-L-D   Y-O-U   S-O

Again, just to be helpful.

We Were Robbed!

So…Time Person of the Year.

Barack Obama

No brainer, right? Obvious. Yawn. Everyone knew it would be him. No one can disagree that it should be him. Right?

Wrong! I disagree! It should not have been Obama.

Two years ago Time gave the award to "You".

Shouldn't this year they give it to "We"?

"We are the ones we've been waiting for"

"We are the change that we seek"

And…of course...who can forget:

For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

Obama as Time's Person of the Year? That's divisive!

We were robbed.

Obama As Transformationalist Figure: Transformationally Transforms Figures of Speech

Obama is a transformational figure. Even before assuming the Presidency, Obama's election has transformed some of the most foundational tenets of American politics during the Bush administration oh, wait in this century no, no, the entire millennia!

Well, ok, that might be a slight bit of hyperbole.

Whatever. Obama has at least had a transformational effect on widely used figures of speech.

OUT: Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism

IN: Assent is the Highest Form of Patriotism

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yeah, well, you know what? I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work, and I think that --

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Is that your job? You just talked about being a journalist!

MATTHEWS: Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country.

SCARBOROUGH: Your job is the make this presidency work?

MATTHEWS: To make this work successfully. This country needs a successful presidency.

OUT: Speak Truth to Power!

IN: Talk to the Hand

President-elect Barack Obama’s Transition today launched “Open for Questions,” a Digg-style feature allowing citizens to submit questions, and to vote on one another’s questions, bringing favored inquiries to the top of the list.

It was suggested when it launched that the tool would bring uncomfortable questions to the fore, but the results so far are the opposite: Obama’s supporters appear to be using — and abusing — a tool allowing them to “flag” questions as “inappropriate” to remove all questions mentioning Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich from the main pages of Obama’s website.

The Blagojevich questions — many of them polite and reasonable — can be found only by searching words in them, like “Blagojevich,” which produces 35 questions missing from the main page of the site.

And although we tread lightly and hesitate in going too far out on a limb in predictions, we will make an exception in this case predict this boldly: the absence of Obama in the White House, whether in 2013 or 2017, should a Republican be elected to replace him, will, by the very nature of his absence, untransform these tenets to their previous state.

Did Obama Speak With Blagojevich About His Senate Seat?

I don’t think Obama was directly involved in any improper way with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s attempt to sell Obama’s Senate seat. But Team Obama isn’t making life easy for themselves in helping establish Obama’s alibi.

Let’s use Jake Tapper’s report for the quotes…

David Axelrod on November 23:

While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a "kingmaker," Axelrod said, "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

Obama yesterday:

“I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not — I was not aware of what was happening.”

Prompting the necessary Axelrod follow up later:

“I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.”

Well. We all know what’s coming next, don’t we? Because this leaves us with one more statement to come, does it not?

OBAMA: “I did not have oral relations with that man, Mr. Blagojevich.”

Windfall Profits Tax, Revisited

Jim Geraghty:

Liberals are lamenting Obama's withdrawn proposal of a windfall profits tax on oil companies, asking whether it is his first broken promise of his presidency. The answer, as Jen Rubin notes, is of course not; he broke lots and lots of promises before even being elected.

But all is not lost, my liberal friends. Allow me to propose the institution of a windfall profits tax on presidential campaigns.

Why didn't I think of that?

Oh, right, I did!

The difference, of course, is that I wanted to provide voters with a tax rebate, whereas Geraghty apparently wants to subsidize puppies.

Puppies sure are nice and cuddly.

"I want a blue truck and my daddy"

Beautiful.

Sergeant's Return Home Surprises 2-Year-Old Daughter
Daughter Asked Santa To Bring Her Daddy Home For Christmas

PILOT MOUNTAIN, N.C. -- A woman and 2-year-old daughter welcomed home a sergeant Thursday night who had been serving in Afghanistan since March.

Kensley Penney said she promises this year she has been a good girl. She said she does just what grandma asks and kisses her special doll with her father's picture every night.

"When we go to bed, we say prayers and ask Jesus to keep him safe," Kensley's grandmother, Patty Childress, said.

Kensley is hoping these good deeds will be enough for Santa Claus to give her the two special requests she has this Christmas.

"I asked her if she wanted a new doll or a stroller, and she said, 'I don't know,' and then a week later she said, 'I want a blue truck and my daddy,'" Childress said.

Her father, Sgt. Scottie Penney, has been serving in Afghanistan since March.

Penney's wife, April, said it's been hard for her, but that it's been especially tough on Kensley.

Scottie Penney's family worked very hard to keep him in his daughter's life, even though he was thousands of miles away from home.

"There are pictures all over the house, and like I said, she has our daddy doll," Childress said. "When she can, she gets on the Web cam with him and makes funny faces. She knows who daddy is."

In fact, Kensley sleeps cuddled up with her father every night. His picture is on a special doll that her family said she takes everywhere.

Thursday night, Penney walked into Pine Hills Church in Pilot Mountain to surprise his daughter.

The moment was caught on camera.

Kensley waited patiently in her grandmother's arms to tell Santa Claus her special Christmas wish Thursday night.

"I want my daddy," Kensley told Santa.

Kensley even practiced a song for Santa Claus, hoping it will help get her wish granted.

Kensley's constant singing must have paid off, because the Pine Hills Church Santa delivered her Christmas wish right in time for the holidays.

"It was pretty nice," Scottie Penney said. "We have been planning this for some time. I had mixed emotions about how (Kensley) would react."

The rest of the room burst out in tears when Kensley and her father reunited.

Scottie Penney said it was also a surprise for him and his wife to see the community supporting them.

"It was very emotional," he said. "I didn't see anyone who had a dry eye. It was so great to see the love and support of our community and people who care."

Welcome home, Sgt. Penney. And Merry Christmas, Kensely!

VIDEO HERE
(also embedded on the web page linked above)

AND: YouTube video here

MORE: Follow up video with the Penney's here.

A cup of heh

I totally missed this last week.

That’s me in that there Instapundit post:

SO I GUESS THE OBAMA VICTORY WASN’T A TRIUMPH FOR LATTE LIBERALISM AFTER ALL: Starbucks 4th-quarter profit falls 97 percent.

UPDATE: Reader Jeff Dobbs writes:

Yes, that’s obvious in hindsight. All the latte-liberals cut their Stabucks intake to send that money to Obama.

The real question is, will Obama let them go back to spending money at Starbucks — or, once in office, will he continue to ask them to donate to His Cause, never again to return to, what is, let’s face it, just the transient trappings of capitalist self-indulgence.

“Just remember that if you purchase that cup of coffee, the taste will be bitter as you consider what that money could have done to help Barack Obama change the world.”

Heh.

Two Things...

ONE: While I'm not completely walking away from this blog -- post-eleection there will be a dramatically noticable lack of posting.

[VIMH: On to bigger and better things, huh?]
Eh, other and different things, mostly. When something strikes my fancy, I'll wander back. But I have no idea how often that will be.

[VIMH: And?]
And what?

[VIMH: Did you forget?]
Forget what?

[VIMH: You said there were two things.]
Oh, right.

TWO: I really, really don't like long good-byes.

So...

Election Postmortem II

Of course, we all know that the Obama campaign was built upon the theme of Hope and Change. The Audacity of Hope, the Change We Can Believe In.

Worked like catnip amongst Democratic primary voters.

But once out of the primaries, Hope and Change were put on notice.

Whether it was nominating Jim Johnson to head his VP selection committee that signaled his departure from Change (not to mention the assinine VP selection himself, the consumate unchanging Washington insider of consummate assininity), or the entire atmosphere at the Democratic National Convention in Denver that showed his abandonment of Hope, Obama made clear that his primary strategy of Hope and Change in the primaries would take a secondary role in the general election based on Politics as Usual.

But. Now Obama has won. Whatever we may have made of his strategy, it is his strategy that has prevailed.

But whatever happened to the Hope and Change from the early Obama campaign?

Buried.

RIP, Hope and Change

Not that many Obama supporters mind, really. Being lied to in the name of electing Obama is a small price to pay, Hope and Change be damned.

Thanks to the incomparable Ann from the JustOneMinute comments community for the pic!

Election Postmortem

I don't think I've ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did when Fox News called Ohio for Obama. She just couldn't understand why the voters would elect someone like Obama, when so many things are wrong in this country. "Don’t voters care about our country anymore?" she asked pitifully.

I sat down with her on the sofa and (as calmly as I could) tried to explain to her why the voters seem to be abandoning the principles on which our country was founded. "Honey, I am afraid that we have come to the point in our nation’s history when a majority of her people has become fat, lazy and stupid…exploited by the Democrats out to gain power and enrich themselves as the country rots from within.”

I tried to keep my voice steady, but it became increasingly difficult - the rage and feelings of helplessness were just too much. I think my daughter could tell something was wrong. I found myself at such a loss for words - nothing made any sense; nothing makes sense anymore. I finally had to admit, "Honey, I just don't know - I don't know what's going on in this country anymore..."

When I finished her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes began to fill with tears, "Daddy" she said, "why are the Democrats doing this to the country?" Well, that was it for me: I finally fell apart. She just fell into my arms and we both began sobbing for several minutes.

For once she had to comfort me and get me back on my feet. Sometimes I just think it's too much, but seeing the strength in my young daughter's voice helped me to get through.

TOO CUTE BY HALF (update 11/07): Well, perhaps CheChe isn’t as well known or widely remembered as I had thought. For those who may not remember, let’s point to some reminders of the mini-celebrity from 2006.

Back then CheChe was parodying the left’s reaction to political setback. But it wasn’t clear at first that it was the work of a parodist. Because it rang true. Because people on both the left and the right knew that such a reaction was in line with what one could expect from the blogospheric left.

I hope no one thought that I so completely fell to pieces that I was relying on my five year old daughter for strength because I couldn’t hold it together. That’s not me, and I hope no one believes that is a reaction that rings true of the larger blogospheric right. It certainly does not in the places I traverse.

My post, which may have been too oblique for its own good, is intended in the same spirit as Jim Treacher’s:

IF YOU'RE STILL FEELING DOWN IN THE DUMPS, CONSOLE YOURSELF WITH THIS:

You're not them.

(Thanks to Jim who reminded me that not everybody may remember CheChe)

We get defeated and it hurts. I didn't necessarily shed a tear, but I definitely got that "punch in the gut" feeling. But the pain doesn’t debilitate us, it motivates us. We do not rely upon the strength of children to help us keep it together, even if we do look to them for inspiration in our efforts, hoping to pass on to them a nation that is strong and prosperous and free.

We get up, get to work, and – since I committed a Biden in this post by seemingly attributing the words of another to myself, I will use him too in this point – we gird our loins for the inevitable battles that the results of this election ensure that we will face.

Our strength is not diminished even when our political power has been. Let’s get to work.

Election Day

Want to follow election results in North Carolina?

Here is the state board of elections results website.

Election returns won’t come out until after the polls close this evening. But we will hear about exit polls before that.

Don’t pay attention. Or if you do, cast a very suspicious eye toward them -- Trust Exit Polls at Your Peril.

And above all else, VOTE.

Yes, it is likely going to be a long night.

UPDATE (12:56 AM 11/05): We've held on as long as we could -- trying to wait until North Carolina is called. It's close. Obama was up early, at one point by 8 points, even before Mecklenberg, Wake and Durham counties were reporting. Then McCain came back and took the lead, no more than 1-2 points for a very long time. And just recently, Obama retook the lead, by a fraction of a point. 99% of precincts in -- but no one is calling the race. Razor thin.

AND: Congratulations to now President-elect Barack Obama. We don't like him. We don't support many of his positions. But we respect the fact that he won. We respect the office to which he has been elected. We will oppose him vigorously in the policies he says he will pursue. But when inaugurated, he will be the President. Our opposition will be respectful of the office, of the president -- and, we hope, respectable in the way we conduct it.

Subprime Disaster's High-Value Targets: The Deck

Card twelve.

This is our final card. While Obama may not have the same high visibility direct links that others in the deck have, like Franklin Raines and James Johnson, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, the breadth of Obama's presence in the varying aspects of the subprime meltdown is disasterously impressive.

Let's return to Stanley Kurtz's NY Post article for his ties to ACORN.

WHAT exactly does a "community organizer" do? Barack Obama's rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here's a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to customers with poor credit. ...

IN short, to understand the roots of the subprime-mort gage crisis, look to ACORN's Madeline Talbott. And to see how Talbott was able to work her mischief, look to Barack Obama.

Then you'll truly know what community organizers do.

We'll again admonish anyone who hasn't already read the meat of that article to do so.

For another close link between Obama and subprime lending, how about his national campaign finance chair, Penny Pritzker:

White House hopeful Barack Obama talks a lot on the campaign trail about how failing banks have used subprime loans to victimize customers.

"Part of the reason we got a current mortgage crisis has to do with the fact that people got suckered in to loans that they could not pay," he told a crowd in Reading, Pa., last week. "There were a lot of predatory loans that were given out, a lot of teaser rates. Banks and financial institutions making these loans were making money hand over fist."

One of the banks that went under after making a lot of subprime loans -- leaving 1,400 of its customers without part of their savings -- was Chicago's Superior Bank.

At the helm of Superior Bank at least some of the time was Obama's national finance chairwoman, Penny Pritzker, an heiress to the Pritzker fortune.

And if that's not enough, let's judge Obama on his judgement in selecting former CEO of Fannie Mae, James Johnson, to head his VP selection committee.

And finally, let's note that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the epicenter of the subprime disaster, found in Barack Obama a politician worth spending lots of money on. Obama has received over $126,000 from Fannie and Freddie in his not quite four years in the US Senate. To put that into perspective, only Senator Chris Dodd has received more money from Fannie and Freddie than Obama among congressmen -- and the money Dodd has received has come over a period from 1989 to today.

Barack Obama and the subprime disaster? His fingerprints are everywhere.

PREVIOUSLY:
Card one: Ace of Clubs, Christopher Dodd
Card two: King of Clubs, Charles Schumer
Card three: Queen of Clubs, Jamie Gorelick
Card four: Jack of Clubs, Kent Conrad
Card five: Queen of Hearts, Madeline Talbott
Card six: Jack of Hearts, Gregory Meeks
Card seven: King of Hearts, James Johnson
Card eight: Queen of Diamonds, Maxine Waters
Card nine: King of Spades, Harry Reid
Card ten: Ace of Diamonds, Barney Frank
Card eleven: King of Diamonds, Franklin Raines

Trust Exit Polls at Your Peril

Jim Geraghty posted this yesterday:

McCain Voters Less Likely To Respond To Exit Pollsters

Obviously, it's tough to measure the attitudes of those who refuse to talk to pollsters, but this question in Fox News' latest survey confirms a long-held suspicion [...]

Now, I'll tell you now - polls close first in Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and Virginia at 7 p.m. eastern Tuesday . I find it extremely likely that Indiana and Virginia will be called for Obama immediately after the polls close by at least one network, based on these exit polls that have fewer pro-McCain respondents.

The ingredients are there for a rerun of 2004, when the exit polls indicated a Kerry victory and deviated signficantly from the actual results.

Most interesting. Let's put this in the context of a piece Rick Ballard wrote at American Thinker:

It is my belief that the story from Marion County will become the equivalent of the early call of Florida for Gore in the 2000 election. I expect to see early stories of "massive and unexpected turnout in Indianapolis" all day long with a very early call (like 6:01) of Marion County for Obama, followed by "if McCain is doing this poorly in Indiana, it's all over". The whole purpose of such a story will be to suppress Republican turnout in states where the polls are still open, particularly in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.

There is no question that this election is going to be tight. There is also no question that it will be the Republican Get Out The Vote effort which will make or break John McCain's chance of winning. There is no question that Obama, Axelrod and the media will be working hand in glove all day Tuesday to generate as much positive noise about the inevitability of an Obama win as possible. There is a solution to the problem: "Now get out there and vote, dammit"

Yes, Florida in 2000, and the election of 2004, let's just say there's a pattern. Speaking of 2004, when the first exit polls came out, we were subjected to reports that John Kerry was up big in key states. Liberals and Democats were ecstatic, Conservatives and Repulicans were despondent. Both swallowed what the poll data was selling. The Kerry campaign began its premature victory dance:

Kerry spokesman Mike McCurry said Friday that on election day, as Kerry was conducting four hours of local television interviews aimed at increasing last-minute turnout, McCurry and top aides John Sasso and Bob Schrum were receiving wildly positive reports from their state directors and encouraging exit polls on their Blackberrys.

McCurry said they didn't dare tell Kerry the good news, for fear he might stop the interviews, but Schrum could not contain his optimism the moment the candidate had finished.

"Let me be the first to call you Mr. President,'' Schrum said to Kerry.

(and proving that he does not learn from history, Shrum wanted to be the first to call Obama Mr. President, too)

Bob Shrum was not only the first person to call John Kerry "Mr. President", he was the last -- apart from those deluded or those making jokes at his expense.

But listen. We're in for it again on Tuesday. Mark my words. Gird your loins. Trying to sift through innacurate exit polls...it'll be like cleaning the Augean stables, man.

Rest assured, we will hear stories of Obama winning, and winning big, in exit polls. And as Mr. Ballard mentions, it will be used in a manner to help write the narrative that an Obama win is upon us, inevitable, imminent, that there is no need to vote, McCain supporters out west might as well stay home.

But raw exit poll data is seriously flawed for the reason that Geraghty points out. Let's take a look at the numbers. I went to the Fox survey so I could get the break downs for Very likely, Somewhat likely, Not very likely and Not likely at all categories for both candidates in terms of responding to exit pollsters.

Obama
Very likely = 46%
Somewhat likely = 31%
Not very likely = 9%
Not likely at all = 11%

McCain
Very likely = 35%
Somewhat likely = 29%
Not very likely = 16%
Not likely at all = 16%

Next, let's assign an assumed response rate to each category to represent the percentage of those who would actually participate in an exit poll...

Very likely = 87.5%
Somewhat likely = 62.5%
Not very likely = 37.5%
Not likely at all = 12.5%

NOW...applying the value for the percentage of Obama and McCain supporters who say they are in each category to the response rate of each category, you can estimate the number of voters who would actually participate in an exit poll.

That is, if you asked 100 Obama voters to participate in an exit poll, you would get the following totals…

Obama
Very likely = 40.3
(out of 100 Obama voters polled, 46 of them would be in this category and 87.5% of them would agree to participate)
Somewhat likely = 19.4
Not very likely = 3.4
Not likely at all = 1.4
TOTAL = 64.4

Out of 100 actual Obama voters, 64.4 would agree to participate in the exit poll.

And if you asked 100 McCain voters…

McCain
Very likely = 30.6
Somewhat likely = 18.1
Not very likely = 6.0
Not likely at all = 2.0
TOTAL = 56.8

Out of 100 actual McCain voters, 56.8 would agree to participate in the exit poll.

Out of 200 actual voters asked, 121.2 would agree to participate in the exit poll.

NOW…let's say you were to ask 1,000,000 people to participate in an exit poll in an election where the vote was split exactly 50/50…

Obama -- 53.1%

McCain -- 46.9 %

Obama would have a lead of 6.2% in the exit poll when the vote was actually 50/50.

Or if you reverse the process…and had the same situation -- but the election itself was McCain 53.1% and Obama 46.9%...the exit polls would show 50/50!!!

Watch those exit poll numbers as they come out Tuesday evening. In the hands of competent and objective analysts, who account for the likelihood that Obama voters will participate more than McCain supporters, there can be some great information about who is winning.

In the hands of an Obamaphilic media eager to write the narrative that Obama is winning in order to suppress votes?

Be prepared to endure a great amount of disinformation.

And no matter anything else, let's return to Mr. Ballard's admonition:

"Now get out there and vote, dammit"