Nightly Ramble: The “Smart Guy” Edition

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the “smart Guy” Edition

• Burris and Blago: Apparently, we have Burris on tape offering Blago money.  Bruce at Q&O has some comments you’ll want to see. The Senate should be rejecting his credentials, since it’s clear he lied to the Illinois House impeachment committee. I won’t hold my breath, though.
• Caption this: 2nd place in OTB’s caption Contest, this time.
• Attention Mickey Kaus:  Look, man, the only person who can damage Anderson Cooper is Anderson Cooper…. and the weapon of choice? The mouth of Anderson Cooper.  He does seem to be doing a fair job of managing it.
• More on Sotomayor: Ya know, I’ve been watching this bit with Sotomayor with interest. One of the memes that keeps popping up is the fact that she’s Hispanic, as if this is something we’re supposed to seriously think an advantage. Where was all this talk about Hispanics on the bench when the Bush administration was appointing Hispanics left, right and backwards? I guess they’re only concerned about this identity politics thing they’re pushing if the subject at hand is Hispanic and an activist liberal.  Back on September the 21st, Cox news Service ran the following:
  

  Latino advocacy groups are pleased; DNC stays mum By KEN HERMAN
  Cox News Service

  WASHINGTON — President Bush has had more Hispanics confirmed for federal judgeships than any president in U.S. history, a record that earns him praise from Hispanic organizations but is downplayed by the Democratic National Committee.

  Of the 282 Bush judicial appointees confirmed by the Senate, 27 — almost 10 percent — have been Hispanics. President Clinton held the previous record, having appointed 23 Hispanics (just over 6 percent of his 367 appointees) who won confirmation.

  With about 16 months remaining in his term, Bush now has appointed more than one-fourth of the 95 Hispanics confirmed for the federal bench. The first Hispanic federal judge was Reynaldo Garza of Brownsville, who was appointed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy.

  Chronologically, the record-breaker for Bush came in a jurisdiction in which it is difficult to appoint a non-Hispanic. Gustavo A. Gelpi Jr. became the 24th Bush-appointed Hispanic federal judge when the Senate confirmed him in July 2006 for a Puerto Rico bench.

  Now, as the article goes on to point out the DNC has little good to say about this. Apparently the idea of advancing Hispanics in our society isn’t of interest to the DNC if they wander outside the fold of liberalism. Limbaugh pointed this up yesterday:

  

  Rush Limbaugh

  George Bush nominated a bunch of Hispanic judges. He had an attorney general who was Hispanic, and the left went out and destroyed both of them. The way to get Hispanic votes is with conservative founding principle values repeated unalterably in a campaign. This identity politics approach that the moderates in the Republican Party want to make is not gonna work. It’s already been demonstrated that it doesn’t work with McCain.

  …

  Ask Clarence Thomas. Ask Ken Blackwell in Ohio. Ask Thomas Sowell. Ask any number of black conservatives if they are treated at all like liberal minorities are, and they’re not. So the idea that we can go out there and support Sotomayor and somehow this is going to be remembered in about two or four years, “Oh, yeah, the Republicans supported her.” If our number one Hispanic supporter, John McCain — author of amnesty for illegals, running against his own party on the issue — was not able to get the Hispanic vote, then please explain to me how supporting Sotomayor is going to accomplish it. This is what’s wrong with our party. We accept the premises of the left and then we very defensively and cowardly proceed on the basis of those premises, that we’re somehow mean-spirited, extreme, wacko, racist, sexist pigs, and we’re not.

  Precisely so… and let’s recall that Limbaugh already warned us about all this back in 1998.  Oh… and don’t let them tell you how qualified she is for the position. There’s a major argument about that….  60% of her rulings that have come before the USSC have been overturned. I’ll have more to say about all of this, I’m sure, as time goes on. Also, drop the idea that she was a daughter of immigrants. Check me on this, but the last I knew, Puerto Rico is a US holding and therefore Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. Hmmm?

•  I’ve said it before…The New York Times this morning, suggests that the federal government will own upwards of 70% of GM. If that’s true, a life- long GM guy…me… will have bought his last GM vehicle. I doubt I’m alone. I’ve stuck with them, and to a lesser extent, Ford, as a matter of principle. That same principle will in future, cause me to look elsewhere, including the used lot for vehicles that will serve my purposes. Including crashworthyness, and being able to haul my family in comfort and safety, and hauling my 5000lb camper. Absent those qualities, I’ll simply drive the wheels off what I have. No reason it won’t go 20 years, at need. Obama isn’t making any friends, here.
• Sport Hybrid? Reynolds: 
  

  TEST-DRIVING THE Lexus 250h hybrid. “The interior of the HS is techy, cool and far more inviting and driver-oriented than, say, the Prius.” .

  Well, I’ve always said the Prius is the perfect car for people who don’t like to drive and want that dislike reinforced. So, being more inviting than the Prius isn’t all that hard to do.

• Soul? No:  And is it just me, or is there something about the ad campaigns for the Kia Soul that turn you off?  I mean, comon… Hamsters? Or is it Gerbils? I can never keep that straight. And by the reports, Gerbil power is what you have, too. the thing won’t get out of it’s own way on a prayer.   So, let’s see… I’m paying close on 20 kilobucks for an underpowered box that still only gets 30mpg on the open road, when the wind’s right?  Plus I’ll have my knees in my nostrils, and no storage space AND no towcap? No, thanks.  Keep in mind, folks, even this weak kneed attempt doesn’t meet with Obama’s expectations. Are you reading me, here?
• The Numbers are in: Rasmussen Reports is saying:
  

  Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters nationwide now disagree with President Barack Obama’s decision to close the prison camp for suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, conducted after the President’s speech on Guantanamo last week, shows that 38% agree with his decision.Just 25% share the President’s view that the Guantanamo camp weakened national security. Fifty-one percent (51%) disagree with that perspective.

  And, by a 57% to 28% margin, voters oppose moving any of the suspected terrorists to prisons in the United States. Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party strongly oppose transfers to U.S. prisons. Democrats are evenly divided.

  We knew all this of course having mentioned it here previously. Nice to have it confirmed, though.  But think, now; Consider the reaction of Harry Reid to these issues of late. Think he didn’t feel the ground shaking? Think this wasn’t what changed his mind for him, forcing him to oppose The Chosen One? I’m telling you, folks, these people can be bent to our will. This path to that is keeping up the pressure.

• Huck for Rubio: I see Mike Huckabee has endorsed Rubio down in Florida… not Crist.  I wonder who else we’ll see on that bandwagon before this is over.
• WordPress 2.8:  I note preparations for WordPress v2.8 to be released. Bitsblog will likely be on it before July… that seems the way of it. This is a fairly major change from earlier versions but I doubt you’ll notice them. Most of it is backend stuff.