Black Democrats support Steele

By S.A. Miller and Jon Ward
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 31, 2006

Former Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry and five fellow black Democrats on the county council excoriated their party yesterday and endorsed Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, a Republican, for U.S. Senate.
   
"The [Democratic] Party acts as though when they want our opinion, they'll give it to us. It's not going to be like that anymore," said Mr. Curry, who in 1994 became the county's first black executive and remains influential in the mostly black and heavily Democratic county.
   
Mr. Curry and the lawmakers said Democratic leaders repeatedly have snubbed the black community and their county, noting the lack of party support for the Senate campaign of former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chief Kweisi Mfume, who lost the Democratic primary to Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin.
   
The Democratic ticket lacks black candidates, they said, and candidates from Prince George's County, which is home to more than 320,000 registered Democrats -- the most of any jurisdiction in Maryland.
   
"We're not puppets. We're not gullible," Mr. Curry said during a press conference at the Infusion Tea Cafe in Largo. "This ain't the first time we've charged up a hill."
   
He was joined by fellow black Democrats David Harrington of Bladensburg, Samuel H. Dean of Bowie, Camille A. Exum of Capitol Heights, Tony Knotts of Temple Hills and Marilyn Bland of Clinton -- all officials on the nine-member county council.
   
Other black Democratic leaders endorsing Mr. Steele yesterday included Major Riddick, former chief of staff for former Gov. Parris N. Glendening; Ron Lipscomb, a major fundraiser and trustee of the state party; and businessmen Clayton Duhaney and M.A. "Mike" Little.
   
"There's a revolution going on here," said Jerry McLaurin, a county developer and Steele supporter who attended the announcement. "This is going to radiate throughout the county like an explosion."
   
Mr. Steele, who lives in the county and is the first black to be elected to statewide office in Maryland, said he was "humbled."
   
"As I started this campaign, I said to myself I didn't want this to be so much about party as about people, and these individuals seem to understand and appreciate that as well," he said.
   
The endorsements were issued as Democratic officials are scrambling to secure their most loyal bloc -- black voters.
   
Mr. Curry said the Steele endorsements are "the continuation of a long civil rights struggle."
   
Mr. Dean, a former council chairman who was elected in 2002 with 93 percent of the vote, said blacks have had a one-sided relationship with the Democratic Party since they shifted allegiance from the Republican Party in 1932.
   
"We were in the Democratic Party while they were lynching black folks. We were in the Democratic Party while they were segregating folks," Mr. Dean said. "We have been loyal Democrats, [but] when the party has an opportunity to do something to show that their base is recognized, appreciated and acknowledged, they don't."
   
"The issue is what we want not only from the state party but from the national party," he said. "Give us respect. We cannot continue to be in the room but not allowed to come to the table. What we are doing now is saying, 'Forget it. We are not going to wait for you to bring us to the table. We are going to not only get to the table, we are going to take it.' "
   
Other Maryland Democratic leaders -- such as U.S. House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson and Delegate Anthony G. Brown of Prince George's County, who is running for lieutenant governor -- declined to comment.
   
A Cardin campaign spokesman did not return calls.
   
Mr. Cardin, a white 10-term congressman from Baltimore, said this weekend that his "message to the African-American community and to all communities is that we've got to change the priorities in Washington."
   
"You're twice as likely to be without health insurance if you're African-American. So, yes, [black voters are] concerned about a senator who's going to stand up for universal health coverage. I will. Michael Steele won't. He supports George Bush's policies," Mr. Cardin said.
   
Mr. Curry said that Mr. Steele is a "good man with a good plan," and although he differs with some of Mr. Steele's views, he also differs with some of the Democratic Party's platform.
   
He said the lieutenant governor is "most responsive to the things that will make our futures brighter."

Fred Barnes called him the upset this weekend on Beltway Boys:

“Did you see that debate on television between....in the Maryland Senate race between the Republican Michael Steele and the Democrat Ben Cardin? Steele ate Cardin alive! Ate him for lunch! And as a result, Cardin didn’t show up for a debate the next day.

The truth is Steele is maybe the best Republican candidate of the year. He’s an underdog. My upset prediction is Michael Steele wins the Senate race in Maryland.”

Here's that first debate. And, Sunday's debate on Meet the Press.

Michael Barone, America's preeminent political analyst, was an old media guy who adapted quickly and has become a key participant in new media.  His column on the polls this morning is a must read. "What's with the polls?" Barone asks, and then answers.

Short version:  There's plenty of reasons why the GOP should not be deterred by the numbers of many polls, and plenty of reasons why Dems have to fear another bit of secret  sauce and echo-chamber-induced premature celebrations.

Mark Halperin is ABC News' political director, who has brought an ancient elite media perspective to a very dynamic new media fixture, "The Note."  As I wrote last week, "The Note" is a sort of daily supply train to the D.C.-Beltway MSM that doesn't want to work the web for themselves and prefer to rely for most of their e-news and analysis on Halperin's brigade. Virtual blinders work the same way as the real ones.

Halperin has written, along with the Washington Post's John Harris, The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. 

Halperin is my guest for the entire show today, as election countdown begins with an in-depth look at why you simply cannot trust MSM when it comes to political coverage, from the polls to its silliest headlines or most partisan plays.  If you can't listen at 3 PM pacific, the transcript will be here and the audio here at 6 PM pacific.

"I'm okay; You're pathetic" syndrome may yet save GOP By Michael Medved Wednesday, October 18, 2006	Email It Print It Take Action Book Club
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A new health care poll featured on the front page of USA TODAY on October 16 illustrates one of the most troubling elements of American pop culture, at the same time that it offers a few scraps of hope for beleaguered Republicans in the upcoming election. Vice President Dick Cheney, right, listens to President Bush speaks prior to Bush signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006, in the East Room, of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) In a truly breathtaking contradiction, only 44% of our fellow citizens indicated they were “satisfied” with the general quality of medical care in the USA, but nearly 90% expressed satisfaction with their own health care providers. In other words, nearly half of the American people believe that all doctors and hospitals stink—except for the uniquely wonderful healers and facilities they, personally, are privileged to use! This “I’m okay; you’re pathetic” syndrome applies to every significant issue in our lives. The people of this country feel consistently pleased with their own circumstances and hopeful about their individual progress, and at the same time they take a grim and gloomy view of the nation at large. For instance, while the public expresses vast disapproval of the current state of the education system, more than two thirds of parents (and in some surveys, more than three-fourths) tell pollsters that they are proud and pleased with whatever schools their children actually attend. For more than a generation, all surveys show overwhelming majorities indicating shockingly high levels of satisfaction with their own intimate, marital arrangements, at the same time we bemoan the sad state of family life in the nation at large. Even during recessions, most people say they like their jobs and feel confident about their chances for personal advancement, but even during boom times (like today) most people look at the economic “big picture” as harsh and menacing. In October of last year, at a time when Americans believed the country was on “the wrong track” by a two-to-one margin, a survey by the Pew Research Center asked a simple question about personal happiness: “How happy are you these days in your life?” An amazing 84% of respondents considered themselves “happy” (34% “very happy” and 50% “pretty happy”). Only 15% (disproportionately those in poor health and unmarried) said they were “not too happy.” Amazingly, these basic numbers (at least 80% reporting overall happiness; less than 20% saying they’re “not too happy”) have remained virtually unchanged for more than thirty years. In other words, bad downturns in the economy, costly wars and terrorist attacks, high crime, or the advance of decadent and dysfunctional culture, can impact our sense of the state of the nation, but these big events and trends do virtually nothing to shake our levels of personal contentment. When we’re worried about the direction of America it’s almost entirely “the other guy” we worry about. How can we explain the contradiction? If our own situation seems so encouraging to most of us, how can we feel so profoundly discouraged about the nation at large?

Democrats' agenda found!

---

Posted: October 21, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

It's finally been found: the agenda the Democratic Party would pursue should it take control of Congress Nov. 7. For those voters who have been confused about what exactly the Democrats would do if they were to take power, things have just gotten a lot clearer.

Prior to the 1994 takeover by Republicans, GOP leaders touted their "Contract with America," a specific list of policy changes they would make if given power. This year, pundits have hammered the Democratic leadership for not providing a similar set of initiatives so voters could understand specifically what they would do if entrusted with congressional control. These merciless commentators have suggested the Party of Clinton has no concrete plans but instead hangs its collective hat on unending criticism of President Bush.

But alas – such criticism is unfounded! A list of bills introduced by Democrats over the last two years was released this week by Paul S. Teller, deputy director of the House Republican Study Committee. Finally, we voters know what kind of government we might enjoy under Democratic leadership.

As I began to read the list, I was initially skeptical. After all, there are a lot of hoaxes floating around in cyberspace. How did I know this list was accurate and not the latest offering from a spoof site like the Onion?

(Column continues below)

After looking up a few of the bills on Congress' official legislation website, I was assured that Teller was not telling us a whopper with his list of Democratic ideas – they are actual bills that have been introduced, seemingly with a straight face, and whose development was financed by our tax dollars.

Here are a few of my favorites from the list:

The Justice for the Unprotected against Sexually Transmitted Infections among the Confined and Exposed Act, or JUSTICE Act, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. This bill would make sure the "guests" housed in federal prisons have government-issued condoms aplenty for their use. Subsidized homosexual activity by convicts – yep, that's the kind of America I want to live in.

The Crack-Cocaine Equitable Sentencing Act, sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. The bill would eliminate the mandatory minimum sentence for crack-cocaine convictions. Finally – a bill to start reversing the silly tough-on-crime mindset that has kept far too many crack-cocaine dealers behind bars.

A bill "to provide for coverage under the Medicare and Medicaid Programs of incontinence undergarments," sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would make adult diapers a covered item under Medicare and Medicaid. Now here's a piece of legislation our Founding Fathers would be proud of. After all, we all know their intent was for government to provide for the "common Depends." A diaper in every drawer! (or drawers).

The Gas Stamp Act, sponsored by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., a bill that would creates billions of dollars in gas stamps each year for people to get free gas. The stamps would to be distributed to those already eligible for food stamps. Now you're thinkin'. Rather than drop restrictions on domestic energy production, which would increase supply and lower prices, let's just have the taxpayer buy gas for those who can't afford it. This bill also imposes a windfall-profit tax on those evil oil companies – nice touch.

The Democrats also have big plans for U.S. foreign policy. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., represents his party with the End the War in Iraq Act. Otherwise known as the "Admit Defeat, Place Tail Between Legs and Scurry Home Act," the bill would completely defund the U.S. military in Iraq, forcing an immediate withdrawal of all troops. So simple yet so profound – why couldn't the Republicans think of that?

Congresswoman Lee continues her leadership by sponsoring A Living Wage, Jobs for All Act. According to the Republican Study Committee, it would create rights to "decent" jobs, income for individuals unable to work, a "decent" living for farmers, freedom from monopolies, "decent" housing, "adequate" health care, Social Security, education, work training, collective bargaining, a safe working environment and other wonderful things too numerous to mention. Wow, I can envision the utopia now – how incredibly "decent" of Ms. Lee to provide so much decency to her fellow Americans.

For those of us who are too selfish for our own good, Rep. Rangel offers the Universal National Service Act, requiring all Americans between the ages of 18 and 42, to perform a two-year period of national service. Good ol' "mandatory volunteerism" – an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. I'm just sorry I recently aged out of this program; if I wanted to volunteer, I'd have to do so on my own, without the federal government to help me – hmm, not sure I could do that.

And from the "Government's job is to protect us from ourselves" department, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., brings us The Menu Education and Labeling Act. This vital piece of legislation regulates what certain restaurants must print on their menus. Yes! What a perfect proposal to help us dimwitted Americans who just might order a dessert loaded with trans fat and not even realize it. How in the world have we existed for over two centuries without federally regulated restaurant menus? How barbaric.

You can see the entire list of inspirational bills online.

I hope this list of proposals will give American voters a clearer picture of how the Democratic Party wants to govern the nation. If nothing else, perhaps it has given the Onion an idea of two for its next edition.

---

Translating Pelosi-ese

Nancy Pelosi's liberalism is rarely cloaked in vague political rhetoric, but it's clear that she's not always saying what she really thinks. Below is a comment she made earlier this year. I received it via Dan Clifton who is rightfully criticizing her for her opposition to Health Savings Accounts:

"I think Health Savings Accounts are very damaging and can lead to poor health for the American people. I think they're a way to do cherry-picking, to make matters worse for most working families in America. So I'm very, very vehemently opposed to them." -- Nancy Pelosi speaking at a news conference, May 4, 2006.

Here's what I believe Pelosi would say if she spoke her mind:

"I don't believe in personal responsibility and I certainly don't trust people to manage their own affairs. Democrats need to protect working families from themselves. We are the de facto parents and they are the children. Why do you think we want to tax them so hard? It's because it's expensive to take care of them. Plus, if we allowed Health Savings Accounts to flourish, more people would turn into Republicans. We can't stand by and let that happen."

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

With this post about Marine 2nd Lt. Joshua Booth, a sniper victim, Gateway Pundit captures the widespread revulsion at CNN's decision to air enemy propaganda, which it admits is enemy propaganda: a terrorist sniper killing an American.  Wolf Blitzer lamely attempted to explain to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter yesterday that CNN blacked out the frames where the GI gets hit and goes down.  Hunter wasn't buying it, and neither are the vast majority of Americans.

CNN has thus triggered not an October surprise but an October surmise:  We are in a war but elite media and much of the Democratic Party is indifferent to victory in that war, and genuinely incapable of regulating themselves and their behavior so as to maximize the chance of victory.  Now a leading network is airing a snuff film from the terrorists, which follows a year in which newspapers have compromised both our electronic surveillance of terrorists communicating with their operatives in the US, and our tracing of terrorist money flows, stories which in both instances undeniably assisted terrorists in eluding capture.

The enemy is trying for a Ramadan version of the Tet offensive, and generally succeeding because even as was the case in 1968, the media and the left have no desire to understand much less report on the reality of the enemy and their tactics, but is instead in love with the idea of American defeat. Nancy Pelosi announces on 60Minutes that her goal is to make Bush and Cheney "lame ducks."  There's a platform for you:  The Party of Paralysis at Home and Defeat Abroad, supported by a MSM committed to showing the enemy's best side and our worst. 

The Tet offensive claimed  4,324 killed, 16,063 wounded, and 598 missing among U.S., South Vietnamese and South Korean forces. Approximately 45,000 of the enemy were killed, and their offensive shattered.  The communist butchery was vast, and in the city of Hue alone, 2,800 were murdered and another 2,000 went missing.  The Viet Cong were in fact shattered, but that message never got home to America.

The enemy in fact won an enormous propaganda victory, including the famous photograph of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon.  On February 27, 1968, Walter Cronkite presumed to throw in the towel for America, and the seeds of the genocide of a few years later were sown.

Now there is a Tet sequel underway, and the same players --the elite media and the Democratic Party-- want the same ending: Another quick exit and another long bout of self-flagellation over the limits of American power.

This time, though, the enemy will not stay in the land we leave.  9/11 showed us that, and if you want the details, consult Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower. 

It was possible for Democrats and the MSM to claim in the late '70s that they had no idea what we had abandoned southeast Asia to.

No such claim can be made about the aftermath of a defeat in Iraq or anywhere in the war against Islamist fascism.

Our eyes are wide open, watching terrorist snipers gunning down America's finest, and reading state secrets on the front page.

Prosperity Amid the Gloom

Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A29

Monday, October 16, 2006

28 Month-Sentence for Terrorist-Assisting Lawyer, Lynne Stewart

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 3:19 PM

Her lawyer's name was "Fink." Indeed. John Stephenson: "Yes, I’m dissapointed. This traitor deserved to die in prison…it’s as simple as that. This is an absolutely outrageous ruling letting this scumbag get off so light!" Ace: "We seem to have a lot of judges who view treason* as an acceptable form of political expression." LGF: "For her part in aiding the global jihad by disseminating messages from imprisoned World Trade Center bomber Omar Abdel-Rahman, radical leftist lawyer Lynne Stewart has received an outrageously light sentence." Michelle Malkin: "Stewart deserves the max for conspiring to spread violent messages to Rahman's followers--actions which resulted in the death of some 100 tourists at Egyptian resorts. Also found in her law offices: a draft fatwa from Rahman calling on jihadists to kill Americans and their children until his release is won." Sister Toldjah: "28 freakin' months." Tammy Bruce: "If you send her to prison, she's going to die. It's as simple as that," defense lawyer Elizabeth Fink had told the judge before the sentence was pronounced. They should have thought of that before she helped a terrorist. Butit really doens't matter. At this rate. Stewart will have other "health problems" in prison, and will probably serve less than one year. So, in today's world, explode a nuclear bomb, get your cognac taken away. Help a terrorist--get free prison health care and hero status amongst the lunatic left. Lovely. Right Voices: "...how is this a victory?" Allah: "fiasco," plus lots of updates. Background on the lovely Lynne. Watch this. It'll turn your stomach, combined with the sentencing news. Fair warning.

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John Hawkins has posted a detailed and up to the minute review of the race for the House.  Even without any pick-ups for the GOP, it is very possible to keep Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, John Conyers et al at bay.

I wonder why MSM can't find the space to report in such detail?

Japan Bans North Korean Imports Wednesday, October 11, 2006	Email It Print It Take Action Book Club
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Saying the country was "in gravest danger," Japan ordered a total ban on North Korean imports late Wednesday and declared that ships from the impoverished nation were prohibited from entering Japanese ports as punishment for its apparent nuclear test. North Korean nationals are also prohibited from entering Japan, with limited exceptions, the Cabinet Office said in a statement released after an emergency security meeting. North Korean men stand on a boat used for trade between China and North Korea on the waterfront at the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong Wednesday Oct. 11, 2006. The boat flies the flags of China, left, and North Korea. With its decrepit economy dependent on China for food and fuel, North Korea would be vulnerable to sanctions prompted by its nuclear test, but success would depend on Beijing's willingness to squeeze its tiny ally. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) Twenty-four North Korea-registered trade ships were moored at Japanese ports as of Wednesday afternoon, according to public broadcaster NHK. Local traders were already refusing to unload shipments to protest the alleged test, and the boats were expected to be ordered out, NHK said. "Japan is in gravest danger, if we consider that North Korea has advanced both its missile and nuclear capabilities," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters following the meeting. "We cannot tolerate North Korea's actions if we are to protect Japanese lives and property," he said. "These measures were taken to protect the peace." Abe added the government will swiftly implement the measures, which were to be formally approved by the Cabinet on Friday. A spokesman for Japan's Self-Defense Force, Toshihiko Seki, said battleships would be ready to respond to any threat posed by North Korean ships but there would be no immediate military dispatch to secure Japanese waters. A total ban on imports and ships would be a big blow for North Korea, whose produce like clams and mushroom earns precious foreign currency on the Japanese market. Japan imported $133 million worth of products from the North in 2005, mostly sea and agricultural produce, coal, and other raw materials, according to government statistics. Ferries also serve as a major conduit of communication between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations. Tokyo has already halted food aid and imposed limited financial sanctions against Pyongyang after it test-fired seven missiles into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula in July, including one capable of reaching the United States. Japan has reason to react sternly. It lies well within the range of North Korean missiles, though Pyongyang isn't believed capable yet of mounting one with a nuclear weapon. Tokyo has also been exasperated by Pyongyang's kidnappings of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and '80s, which the North only admitted to several years ago. Some within the region have raised concerns that the North's brinkmanship could give Japan a pretext to go nuclear next, triggering countermoves by suspicious Asian neighbors. Abe, however, has insisted Tokyo will stick to its postwar no-nuclear weapons policy. The North on Wednesday lashed out at the prospect of further economic sanctions. "The enemy schemes to destroy us through economic lockout ... but that is merely a foolish illusion," said an editorial published by the state-run Rodong Sinmun, according to Radio Press. At the port of Maizuru, about 250 miles west of Tokyo, six North Korea-registered trade ships unloading shipments of mushrooms were expected to be ordered out, a coast guard official said. "It's a decision taken in Tokyo, so I expect orders to come through soon," said the official, who agreed to be identified only by his last name, Uchida. The coast guard would be in charge of keeping North Korean ships out after that, he said. Earlier, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, demanded that Pyongyang return immediately and unconditionally to the six-party nuclear talks, and honor promises to freeze its missile program and strengthen regional peace under a 2002 bilateral pact. The North has boycotted the six-way talks on its nuclear program, which also involve the United States, China, South Korea and Russia, due to anger over separate financial sanctions imposed by Washington. "It's vital that North Korea return to negotiations," Shiozaki said. "I urge North Korea to ... put our agreements in place one by one." Japanese military aircraft, meanwhile, continued to monitor for radioactivity in the atmosphere, but reported no abnormal readings Wednesday. Officials have said any fallout from Monday's blast, believed to have been equivalent to hundreds of tons of TNT, could hit Japan this week. Determining conclusively whether the North did set off a nuclear device could take days, if not weeks, according to defense officials. ___ Associated Press writer Kozo Mizoguchi contributed to this report.

Here is post from High Hewitt on Townhall.com with links to article by Robert Kaplan, author of Imperial Grunts, in Atlantic Monthly that deals with North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Got to www.hughhewitt.com for full story.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

The AP:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean government officials said North Korea performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test Monday, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korean officials could not immediately confirm the report.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun convened an urgent meeting of security advisers over the issue, Yonhap reported.

The North said last week it would conduct a nuclear test as part of its deterrent against a possible U.S. invasion.

The Clinton-Kim 1994 Agreement, midwifed by Jummy Carter, bears its fruit.

How long until the gangster regime sells its wares to jihadists?

The Atlantic Monthly would do a great public service if it would make last month's Robert Kaplan cover story on North Korea available for everyone to read. (Update: The article is here.)