"BLUNTLY PUT, she’s not nearly as smart as she seems to think she is, and her reputation for being something of a bully could well make her liberal impulses backfire ...."

DUMB CONTROVERSY OF THE DAY: Methodist leaders at Southern Methodist University protest exhibits at the new Bush library.

As a former lapsed Methodist, I'm simply flabbergasted.

Allahpundit at Hot Air captures my thoughts: " Yes, heaven forbid that the moment Bush tried to rally the country after the worst terror attack in U.S. history be allowed to him in his own presidential library. Better a 'Bush = Hitler' placard rescued from some long-ago lefty protest to capture the spirit of the times."

LET ME EXPLAIN. Carolina Kathy comments:

Guiding principles – that’s what is absent in our current leadership. Obama has principles, power principles. What I’m referring to is a rock solid foundation of faith in our country, how her economy works, the American Dream, and our individual rights (not collective rights). Those are the absent principles.

Experience? Is it a lack of Obama’s experience that is hurting our country? IMHO, no. If he was a better leader we’d be in even deeper dog poo. The real damage is not because of his inexperience, but his bankrupt ideas.

I’m not looking for ‘experience’ – I’m looking at ideology – does the candidate understand what makes our country great? I like Romney, and perhaps he gets it, but healthcare is an albatross for him. McCain never understood it, to his credit he put his own skin in the game in Vietnam, but he is not nor never will be able to become President. All the experience in the world won’t help.

Palin – she gets it right down to the core. Living her views on abortion and national defense where so many would have thought the personal costs too high, exemplifies the personal courage so sadly lacking at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Would Sarah be golfing while soldiers die in Afghanistan? Would she be holding fundraising galas, and sending the First Guy to Spain for a $75000/day holiday while the unemployment numbers climb?

She's right.

HALLOWEEN: The Safest Day of the Year. "We can kill off Halloween, or we can accept that it isn't dangerous and give it back to the kids. Then maybe we can start giving them back the rest of their childhoods, too."

But that would put a lot of nanny-staters out of business ....

IN A RECENT MASS MAILING, my state senator, George Barker, claims to be my "year-round Senator." Given the propensity of government at all levels to muck up everything it touches, I'd really prefer him to be my "part-time Senator."

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE DIRECTOR Douglas Elmendorf is warning that the most significant economic effect of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul will be driving people from the job market.

Oops ... there go those pesky unintended consequences again.

THEY HATE US; they really hate us.

IF THE DEMOCRATS LOSE, is global warming to blame?

Linked from the Washington Examiner.

THE ANGLE CAMPAIGN is no doubt hard at work thinking of new and creative ways to annoy [Joy] Behar: Sharron Angle raises another $136,000 today.

WHAT WE BELIEVE, PART III: Bill Whittle explains wealth creation.

HOW DID OBAMA lose Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker?

[W]hy isn't she an Obama voter?

I'm serious. Was it really necessary [for Obama] to piss people like her off? Tucker's almost a perfect Obama voter. She's a single grandmom. Not rich. Famously worked at Walmart (after being a rock star) and complained about it. A lifelong Democrat—until now. Was what Obama felt he had to do—save Detroit, save Wall Street, jumpstart the economy, pass health-care reform—inevitably incompatible with her world view? Was a huge rebellion of people like her simply what you get when you "impose a liberal agenda" on a "center-right country," as Charles Krauthammer argues? Or did Obama gratuitiously fail to reassure her that her not unreasonable fears (e.g. "How the hell will this utopian dream land be paid for?") were unfounded?

I'm with "gratuitiously failed to reassure." I don't even think it would have been that difficult to keep the Moe Tuckers on board, even with 10 percent unemployment. All it would have taken was a bit of sincere symbolism.

Read the whole thing. And there's more here.

Original link from Instapundit.

AUTUMN LEAVES













Taken this week from around the neighborhood.

SOUND ADVICE:

I'm sure all of us can remember being angry at some time and doing things that we later regretted. In less than a week, we have an election and I don't think voting angry is going to lead to the solutions America needs to get over being angry. It's likely to make our rage even worse.

Perhaps it is better to think things through by using logic, reason, wisdom and good judgment before picking the best candidates possible. If you are going to vote angry, can you at least go to the trouble to figure out who is the right person to be angry at? The only thing worse than being angry is regretting who you voted for when you were angry and having to live with the results.

Too bad it wasn't offered in 2008 when we needed it.

LARRY GATLIN'S GRANDMOTHER on economics.

A very smart lady.

OBAMA -- the President America needs now.

Sally Kohn is the Founder and Chief Education Officer of the Movement Vision Lab, proof that progressive education is a complete failure.

I HAPPENED TO CATCH California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's interview with Greta van Susteren last night. The lady is impressive, and California will be well-served if she wins.

If not, then America should just wait till the next earthquake, gather on the east side of the fault, and push.

A MODEST AGENDA for a new GOP congress: what the Republicans could do that would give certainty to businesses, calm the markets, and reignite the economy.

Doing absolutely nothing would be a good start.

VOTER FRAUD WATCH: what to look for.

You can join the Pajamas Media fraud watch team.

REPUBLICORP: MoveOn.org has fallen into an abyss of delusion.

This is your "reality-based community." A direct link to the ad is here.

WHO IS THE LARGEST SINGLE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR in the 2010 campaign cycle? The answer is AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, contributing $87.5 million in this cycle, almost entirely to Democrats.