Breaking on Sky News: Another Earthquake hits China, measuring 6.1 on the richter scale.
So far there have been 145 aftershocks reported, but this one is an actual earthquake.
More bad news for Gordon Brown
The Times are reporting a YouGov poll (complete results here) that show the Tories have increased their strong lead over Labour and Cameron with Blair-like popularity:
The Tories have a 20-point national poll lead, up from 16 a month ago. Labour is on just 25% of the vote (down 2), with the Tories at 45% (up 2) and the Liberal Democrats on 18%, also up 2.
David Cameron is beginning to move towards the kind of poll leads that Tony Blair enjoyed before his landslide victory in 1997.
The prime minister’s personal ratings have plunged further. Only 17% think he is doing a good job while 78% say he is doing badly. His negative rating of 61% compares with John Major’s low point of minus 63% in 1995.
You have to wonder how long either Alistair Darling or Gordon Brown can remain in charge. One semblance of consolation though, was that, "53% blame international events for the current difficulties, though 42% blame the government". Wow, it's a sad day when those kind of numbers are supposed to provide comfort.
Ted Kennedy rushed to hospital
Sky News are calling it a stroke on the ticker but are still covering the Royal wedding.
CNN are reporting:
Sen. Edward Kennedy was rushed to a hospital in Massachusetts Saturday morning, a well-informed, prominent Democratic source in that state told CNN.Kennedy was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston after spending less than an hour in the Cape Cod Hospital emergency room, a spokesman for the Cape Cod facility told CNN.
David Reilly said Kennedy was admitted to the Cape Cod emergency room around 9 a.m. ET. Massachusetts General said it had no information on Kennedy.
The source said the 76-year-old senator had "symptoms of a stroke" at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis.
Gay Marriage a non-issue?
Campaigns may stay silent on the gay marriage:
Obama's support for a repeal of DOMA and McCain's need for independent votes in the fall may make the ruling a "political wash" on the campaign trail as the two likely contenders engage in a "conspiracy of silence" on the controversial issue.More at ABC.
Highway Robbery!
Okay, I just spent $110.00 filling up my petrol tank. What sort of hideous SUV do we drive, you might ask. Well, here's a picture of the beast:
I can't believe the Greed of Big Oil! How evil! Er, wait a minute . . . what's this?
I sure hope their spending all that tax money wisely.
VP sweepstakes on the Sunday Shows
Politico have just released their Sunday talk show tip sheet. Although the headline is that the war in Iraq is getting top billing, there's just the vaguest whiff of a potential VP-fest in air. Jim Webb, a possible running mate for Obama, will be talking Iraq on Meet the Press, which will also feature Huckabee as part of a blue-ribbon panel -- man, that's going to be an awkward introduction for Russert. I'm probably most intrigued though by Face the Nation, where Bob Schieffer will be talking to Charlie Crist, who has been mentioned as a possibility for McCain's 2-spot. Personally, I don't think he brings much to the ticket -- and it's not like McCain's under a great deal of threat from Obama in Florida. But I suppose it all comes down to what McCain wants from a running mate.
From My Cold, Dead Hands!
I think this ad is very effective on the gun issue, but then again I am very much pro-gun.
However, the best part is near the end when they show his handwriting on a survey that he says he had never seen. Obama has tried to duck responsibility for interest group survey answers in the past, always blaming any inconvenient answers on staff.
I think Barry needs some new staff.
Seriously, Huck, not cool!
Friday, 16 May 2008At the NRA convention in Kentucky, Huckabee made a joke about a backstage noise being Obama diving for cover after being shot at. This is from the Hill:
"That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak," Huckabee said. "Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."
People laughed too. Ouch.
Update:
The Young Gentleman Doth Protest Too Much?
An excellent point from Jon over at Exurban League, via Mark Hemmingway at The Corner:
Uh, dude? If you are not an appeaser, why on earth do you take it personally when Bush criticizes appeasers? . . . If Bush gave a speech about drug dealers, would you release a statement saying, "how DARE you insult me!"? Of course not; you're aren't a drug dealer. So if you really aren't an appeaser, you shouldn't have willingly identified yourself with that group.
Seriously, why so touchy? Why wouldn't you just say, "John McCain and I are in agreement: appeasement is wrong, but dialogue during my Administration will never lead to appeasement."
'Hi, my name is the Media, and I'm an Obamaholic'
Gerard Baker of The Times writes about the Obama obsession and the bizarre need of the mainstream media to canonise a new political candidate every decade (so long they are a Democrat, of course).
It's one of the best articles I've read in a while. He describes the media as being ready to "indulge in one of the greatest, orgiastic media fiestas of hero-worship since Elvis Presley."
Referring to Newsweek's story "The O Team":
This rhapsodic inside account of Senator Obama's campaign reads a little like a cross between Father Alban Butler's Life of St Francis and the sort of authorised biography of Kim Jong Il you can pick up in any good bookshop in Pyongyang.Mr Obama is portrayed throughout as an immanently benevolent figure. Not human really, more a comforting presence, a light source. He is always eager to listen to all aides of an argument, always instilling confidence in the weak-willed, resolutely sticking to his high principles and tirelessly spurning the low road of electoral politics. I stopped reading after a while but I'm sure by the end he was healing the sick, comforting the dying, restoring sight to the blind and setting prisoners free.
He goes on to talk about how it now seems conventional wisdom in the press that the only way Republicans have won anything in the last 40 years is through lies and fearmongering. He also points out that McCain, previously a "favourite because he conformed to the first law of contemporary political journalism: the only good conservative is a bad conservative", is now being portrayed as "villain and scaremonger-in-chief" to prevent him from "asking reasonable questions about Mr Obama's strikingly vacuous political background".
It's ridiculous, since when was it the media's job to act as a protective shell for a political candidate? Last night I tried to think of things that would make the MSM turn on him. Even now, with all the issues (even the latest 'sweetie' remark), the increasing frequency of bad staff work, the sheer number of unsavoury associations, you'd think they'd already be inching back ever so slightly, but they're not. CNN and Sky News (and obviously the BBC) were selling the Bush speech as him directly attacking Obama during a foreign celebration.
As Baker concludes:
If the past 40 years have taught us anything they have surely taught that premature canonisation is an almost certain guarantee of subsequent deep disappointment.
I'm just afraid that by the time the media wakes up and smells the mediocrity, we'll have a nuclear Iran and a smoldering Israel.
California in play?
Thursday, 15 May 2008Well, not quite. Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog thinks that, in the wake of California's gay marriage ruling, the conservatives will come out in force. He writes:
This helps John McCain because those conservative voters may not have come out in great numbers for him, but they will come out now to vote for this amendment, and they are more likely to vote for McCain than for the Democrat once they are already voting. That's not to say that California will go red, but it is to say that the Democratic nominee will have to devote more resources to this very expensive to campaign in state.
I'm not sure -- Kerry won California by 1.2 million votes (54 - 45). The last Rasmussen poll (April 17) had Obama with a 7 point lead over McCain (50 - 43), plus it's just as expensive for the Republicans to campaign there as it for the Democrats. I think it could become an expensive way for John McCain to lose by half-a-million votes. However, I do actually think this helps out the GOP a lot in some of the tighter congressional races.
Barry, Call Your Office!
Some free advice from Glenn at Instapundit:
MEMO TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN: When somebody condemns appeasement, it doesn't help things to jump up and yell "Hey, he's talking about me!"
One term only?
Rich Lowry at The Corner thinks that McCain might be heading for a single-term. In John McCain's words:
I won't spend one hour of my presidency worrying more about my re-election than keeping my promises to the American people. There is a time to campaign, and a time to govern. If I'm elected President, the era of the permanent campaign will end. The era of problem solving will begin.
It would be quite refreshing, but I think it's got as many cons as it does pros. Like Lowry says, at the very least it puts an accent on the age issue.
Obama Vs Everyone
Once again, a reasonable and just disagreement with Obama is somehow 'the height of hypocrisy', as, according to MSNBC, Obama vs Bush, becomes Obama vs McCain.
Why Don't They Hate Me?
From NRO:
When asked about the endorsement, Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, was flattered that Hamas compared his candidate to JFK: "We all agree that John Kennedy was a great president, and it's flattering when anybody says that Barack Obama would follow in his footsteps."
OBAMA: "It’s conceivable that there are those in the Arab world who say to themselves, “This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein, and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he’s not going to be engaging in the same sort of cowboy diplomacy as George Bush,” and that’s something they’re hopeful about. I think that’s a perfectly legitimate perception as long as they’re not confused about my unyielding support for Israel’s security."
Steve Gill at Pajamas Media says it best:
The support that Barack Obama is receiving from avowed terrorist enemies of America should bother him. The fact that it does not bother him should bother us even more than the fact that terrorists see something in him that they really like.
I don't get it. It would drive me nuts if these terrorists had nice things to say about me and I wouldn't hesitate to set them straight and perhaps ask the question: 'Why do they like me? What am I doing wrong?'
The $500,000,000 note
The BBC reports that Inflation in Zimbabwe has gone so crazy that the central bank has had to release a $500m note to ease the cash shortages. Incredibly, it's only worth $2. Imagine spending a cool billion on a Starbucks latte.
GOP 70 Votes down?
Politico reports that, following the special election defeat in Mississippi:
Many House GOP operatives are privately predicting that the party could easily lose up to 20 seats this fall.
Combined with the 30 seats that the GOP lost in 2006, that would leave the party facing a 70-vote deficit against Democrats in the House — a state of powerlessness reminiscent of Republicans’ long wilderness years in the 1960s an