Nightly Ramble:Image Vs Reality(*2);more

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read in the ‘sphere; Bitsblog’s Nightly Ramble… read and recommended by smart people, everywhere.

 There’s lots to cover. Let’s get it.

• (Shake of the head) What you need to understand, Billy, is the mindset of the kind of people Paul’s talking about, here. Consider that these are the same people who put all kinds of weight behind the ‘Office of the President Elect’… which does not in fact, exist.  Hell, man, Obama wasn’t even the president elect until yesterday.  How many people know that fact?   Certainly, damned few of his supporters.  Yet, he keeps pushing that image because it serves his ego, if nothing else. What I’m trying to point out here is that in their mindless, image, and not fact, has primacy. While in conversations between you and I or any other rational adults, or even most children, facts mean everything, it’s not so for these people.  As I keep saying; Support of Obama… and for that matter liberalism itself, is not based in fact. Therein lies both their conceptual weakness, and that of the rest of us. Weakness for them because it’s easy to poke logical holes in their arguments. Weakness for the rest of us, because  since their ideology isn’t grounded in fact to begin with,  mere facts will never defeat it, no matter how much they lie to impart the image. Worked for Adolph, huh?
• So, there are some  in the Arab world who hold this shoe tossing moron to be a hero. That is, in my view, the relative equivalent of being a hero of Cuba’s ‘revolutionaries’;  Someone who by their life or death has managed to help enslave millions upon millions of people. Both these people and their ‘hero’ should be regarded accordingly. Being bombed wuth pork entrails would be a start. Being buried in them would be more appropriate. Alive, of course.  Reynolds speaks to this incident, saying:
  

  TOBY HARNDEN:

  “Barack Obama may be the new Mr Cool on the block but you have to give President George W. Bush his due for a supremely self-composed and dignified reaction to the Baghdad shoe thrower.”

  Well, if you’re leader of the free world, you ought to be able to handle an airborne brogan. Still, I remember Madeleine Albright’s deer-in-the-headlights reaction to some heckler at Dayton, so I guess such composure isn’t to be taken for granted….

  Well true, but what you need to understand, Glenn, is the difference in the outlook of each of them. Again, as with my comments to Billy, this goes to the mindset of each. I have observed that liberals tend to operate as if they cannot imagine anyone objecting to their policies and idealism. When someone actually stands up to question them, they thereby do not know how to deal with it.  Obama demostated this quality often enough. Biden, too.  Conservatives, on the other hand, know full well what they’re up against,  and expect it, and know how to respond, too.  Mark Hemmingway thinks this incident is actually a sign of  Iraqi progress. 

  Just ask yourself how this incident would have played out five or six years ago. Saddam Hussein wasn’t exactly known for his frequent press availabilities; he was content to let Iraqi minister of information Baghdad Bob dutifully inform his subjects that the sun rose in the west, if that would suit his purposes.

  Suppose for a minute that Saddam did hold a press conference and someone stood up and threw his shoes at a visiting foreign dignitary standing right next to him. Right now, henchmen sons Uday and Qusay would currently be bickering over who gets the privilege of attaching the car battery to his genitals.

  I tend to agree, As I said yesterday,  when you come down to it, Zaidi owes the fact that he’s still alive, to Bush. I wonder if he knows it.

• 45% of Americans think Obama’s people are dirty in the Blago thing.  So says Rasmussen. And frankly, I think they’re right. Indeed, I suspect we don’t know the half of it, yet.
• Of interest there; Turns out the state employees unions and other unions are up to their eyeballs in Blago’s corruption. Anyone shocked by this?  No?  Well, me, neither.
• And what I suggested yesterday haas been confirmed… he’s not resigning.
•  We’re expecting three inches of snow tonight, and more tomorrow.  It’ll be a few months until we see green around here, now. I don’t have a link, but Bismark was showing 10 below, this morning. And it’s coming this way.  More global warming, please.
• I see Arena Football just cancelled it’s 2009 season. No shock for this. Every time the formula has been tried, it’s failed.  It’s a nice idea, but the  venues they manage to get to play in aren’t worth the money the fans spend to get into them. And you’re not going to get better venues without a mess of money being invested… far more than investors will cough up… even in the best of times.
• Speaking of football… or rather, NO football… Message to One Bills Drive:  If you’re current stable of QB’s cant get some conststancy going, it’s time to make changes across the board. But for those inconsistancies, the Bills would have won last weekend. I’m getting a little annoyed, frankly.
• HEH;   – NBC is the Nothing but Caroline network. There are times when the Menken in me wonders if America and the rest of the world with it, wouldnt be better off if we simply called in an airstrike on Hyannisport. This is one such.Remember, I LIVE in NY state.  That state line is starting to look awfully attractive, just now. Big Sky country, perhaps.
• In what has to be one of the stranger allignments of things of late, I find myself in substantial agreement with both Mickey Kaus,  and Micheal Barone.  They’ve identified our automker problem.
• I see oil’s up a bit, on rumors of a big cut in OPEC production. My advice: Chill.  Frankly, we’re not going to see $4/gal again anytime soon. The key here is the desire of the remainder of the Arab world to keep Iran tied up. Their production prices are higher than most of the rest of the region, and so they won’t be making any money anywhere under say $60/bbl, though I’ve seen their production costs running higher in some estimates.  The less money they’re making, the less they’re able to spend on nukes and whatnot. The Saudis, particularly see that as a good thing, and so should we.
• Al Franken constunes to steal the election, right in front of our eyes. Coleman is now asking the state supreme court to get involved. I’m a little dubious they’ll be able to help at this stage.
• I see Charlie Rangel, now that his record is being examined, missed more votes than any other NY house member. Some will note his age, which they suggest will excuse him. It does not. There are older house members, of greater value to this country. And even was he decades younger, nobody is worth the corruption of Charlie Rangel.  Just one more log on his pyre, in my view. Not that I expect him to get the boot with the Democrats running things.
• The search for Caylee’s killer is turning up all kinds of new evidence. The grandparents say they’re ‘devistated’, (Vid) and I guess I can appreciate that. But, I have to say in all honesty, there’s a voice in the back of my head telling me they had an idea all along, but wouldn’t let themselves believe what they knew.  Maybe too many years writing political commentary has made me more of a skeptic than is good for me, but there it is. I don’t trust anyone involved in the case, anymore.
• I mentioned Nixon yesterday, and came close to suggesting he wasn’t paranoid, after all. Perhaps I should have said exactly that. Turns out, his paranoia was well founded. I’ve no doubt that kind of nonsense goes on to this day as well, and in larger amounts.
• We’re seeing a lot about Madoff. Pay close attention to the article on The Politico where we find that most of his Washington influence buying,  skewed Democrat. Gee, big shock. This one’s going to go large, I think, once we go to trial and names start popping out.
• Nah… there’s no problem with Islam. Right?