BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Charlie Cook The political community's reaction to Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin's announcement that she would resign on July 26 was swift, withering and very nearly unanimous. It's hard to dispute that Palin handled the announcement badly, but was her decision to resign really crazy, or just unexpected, with the press reacting to an unorthodox move by declaring it insane? First, look at the issue of not seeking re-election in 2010 and work back. A good case can be made that seeking a presidential nomination has become an extraordinarily difficult undertaking in terms of organization-building, fundraising and cultivating the relationships necessary to win. And perhaps doing that well and being an effective governor are mutually exclusive. Would Palin really get that many more "experience points" for sticking around Juneau, if it meant missing a lot of gripping and grinning at Lincoln Day dinners and other state and local party functions? Since Bill Clinton...

By Charles Krauthammer "A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe." -- President Obama, Feb. 4. Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill. And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent. The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what...

Breathe. Breathe. Go to your happy place. I am sorry but the cognitive dissonance just gave me a migraine. I can't take it one. more. second. I have HAD IT with Michelle Obama being splashed on magazines as a STYLE DIVA and how she shops at the Gap like all us "normal folk." Riiiiiggghhhttt... the woman looks like a pre-op tranny. Oh, she's the marital advice person now... Oprah might give her a Dr. Phil show huh? The perfect wife!! Are you KIDDING ME? She's just a college degree away from being a thug. And now this. The supposed "feminists" just bend right over for Obama. He's a feminist? After the way he treated HILLARY? After the way his people treated HILLARY and every other woman around him that wasn't worshipping at his altar. How far up their derriere's did these people have to put their heads to actually print this stuff as if it was anywhere CLOSE to the truth? Just look at the latest cover of the magazine. Start writing ...

By Norma White, Amarillo, TX Each presidential candidate is giving his rendition of the changes he wants for America. Here are a few changes all Americans want: Limit Congress from serving more than two terms. That is all that presidents are allowed. Stop congress from voting for their own raises. How did that ever get started anyway? Stop paying for Lawmaker’s high-priced insurance premiums. After all, they are only part time employees. They might pass some law changes on the insurance companies if they had to find one. Stop paying Lawmakers their full salary after serving just one term or at retirement. We need to get rid of that pension plan; they’ve let other companies get rid of theirs. You were luck to get 40-50 percent of your salary after 35 years, but they get 100 percent. Make Congress pay into the Social Security system, they make laws for it. If they spent some of their own money, they might be interested in making it solvent. Stop handing out aid to illegal aliens. If we d...

I will be supportive of the new President. But I will continue to hold him accountable. He works for all of us. Keep that in mind. image from Uppity Woman

From the National Black Republican Association: One the heels of General Colin Powell's surprising endorsement of Senator Barack Obama, a video was uncovered in which Obama makes the shocking confession that he, Obama, does not have the experience or qualifications to be president of the United States and, thus, the leader of the free world. IF YOU'RE ON AN AGGREGATOR -- CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ABOVE VIDEO In spite of the efforts by the liberal media to denigrate Governor Sarah Palin, a comparison of the experiences of Obama with Palin shows that Palin is better qualified to be president than Obama. CLICK HERE

From the GREAT NoQuarter: Who Am I? * I am under 45 years old, * I love the outdoors, * I hunt, * I am a Republican reformer, * I have taken on the Republican Party establishment, * I have many children, * I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president with less than two years in the governor’s office. Teddy Roosevelt In 1901, as Vice President, the 42-year-old Roosevelt succeeded President William McKinley after McKinley’s assassination by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. He is the youngest person to become President. He was a Progressive reformer who sought to move the dominant Republican Party into the Progressive camp. He distrusted wealthy businessmen and dissolved forty monopolistic corporations as a “trust buster”. He was clear, however, to show he did not disagree with trusts and capitalism in principle but was only against corrupt, illegal practices. His “Square Deal” promised a fair shake for both the average citizen (through regulation of railroad rates and pure food and dru...

By Anthony Weiss If pre-convention polls are to be believed, John McCain enters the convention poised to pull in a greater percentage of the Jewish vote than any Republican candidate in the past two decades. There are many possible explanations — his long record on Israel, his image as an independent political moderate, lingering concerns about Barack Obama — but one factor is certainly the ties that his campaign has cultivated with important Jewish Republicans and moderates alike. The Forward takes a look at the Republicans who have helped McCain make it to the spotlight in Minneapolis, and who hope to take him beyond. Mark Broxmeyer The Israel Hawk As Mark Broxmeyer roams through the convention, his face may not be well known, but Jewish Republicans bigwigs will recognize his voice. Not only has Broxmeyer been one of the McCain campaign’s leading Jewish fundraisers, but he also has been, to this point, the closest thing to a Jewish liaison, which means that he has been the one on wee...

Is Bush the worst U.S. president ever? Historians might argue over ranking, but there's no doubt he has been an unmitigated disaster Thomas Walkom, Columnist Historians will argue over whether George W. Bush is the worst president the United States has ever endured. But that is not the point. Five years after Bush's ill-starred invasion of Iraq, three years after Hurricane Katrina and seven months into the unravelling of the U.S. financial system, the point is that the 43rd president of the United States - regardless of his ranking in the pantheon - is a unique and unmitigated disaster. Whether Bush is more of a warmonger than James Polk, who in 1846 manufactured a crisis with Mexico in order to seize what is now California, more tolerant of cronyism than poker-playing Warren Harding (1921 to 1923), or more unlucky than William Harrison (he died after catching cold at his 1841 inauguration) is interesting but irrelevant. What we do know is that this president, this "decid...

I am flabbergasted. I actually agree with Roseanne. Yeah, I'm shocked too. But this actually makes sense. (And, btw - my inside track told me Roseanne had a pretty hefty non-disclosure agreement for her employees too) by Roseanne Barr When I fly in an airplane I want the pilot with the most experience, not the one who can inspire hope in me that I get to where I am going. When I pay my taxes, I want the person filing them to be experienced, not the new person who inspires hope in me that he can do the job. When I hire someone to fix my washing machine, I want the tried and true experienced person, not the one who inspires me to hope that he can fix it. When I go to the doctor I do not want to get the one who inspires hope in me that s/he can cure what's wrong, but the one who knows what the hell to do the minute I call. It's not really the job of a public servant to inspire, but to get the job that the people demand done. The democrats think that if they have hope and ar...

RUDY, RUDY, RUDY Stop it, Rudy!! If you keep doing this you're gonna' go blind! (...walking away shaking head in disgust) THE man known as the US's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has finally unveiled a presidential campaign advertisement highlighting his leadership after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. SOURCE Pretty sad when The Onion has the best take on Rudy's latest: Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11 ... "My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise," said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. "As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all." If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions. "Let us all remember how we felt on that day, with the world watching our eve...

CALL HIM AL O.K. I like Al Gore. He's tall ( like my Dad was - though my Dad looked a lot more like Fred Thompson ), he's smart and he sticks to his ethics & principles no matter what others say about him. Yeah, that would be my kinda guy. I know - he can't dance. I am old enough to know I can't have everything. But, I have always been drawn to smart people - even when I don't agree with them. Intelligence is my achille's heel. I am glad he won the Nobel Peace Prize . Though I don't put much stock in that prize after they gave it to Terror-Fat in 1994 and President Peanut-Brain in 2002. Prizes don't mean much to me anyway; I have never been a competitive person. But one of the reasons I like Gore is, in my opinion, his powerful and clear thoughts about democracy, the environment and our country's obligations to its citizens. So Al, this post's for you: The Limits of Executive Power: Restoring the Rule of Law by Al Gore Congressman ...