Check out the 'Western' effect of Sarah Palin - McCain closes in the State of Washington to 2, count 'em 2 points... that's 10 points in 30 days...

WIth Dino Rossi here, is it possible that there will be a Red Washington?

Would be a shocker...

In the 9/11 Presidential Forum at Columbia University, there's an obvious ease on McCain's part to discuss widely broad topics.

And the Maverick shows no fear - in the midst of a discussion about service and patriotism he boldly points out that Columbia University - Obama's Alma Mater - has no ROTC program - Kaboom! Broad applause from the audience. Think the press saw that one coming?

He's skilled, he's confident and a marked contrast to the stilted, uh, uh, overthinking, pedantic party pawn Obama has become.

UPDATE: NY is a +16 point Obama state. But didn't McCain really get an awfully warm reception? How did they come up with these venues anyway - first in California, now in NY. Are we going to have a Presidential Forum at an Air Force base in Alabama? I mean, basically they are serving (no pun intended) up a very softball topic here and Obama is tripping up on a question about benefits for civilian service versus military service. Is this what's on the minds of the citizenry? More likely on the minds of Columbia University elitists. Columbia University, with no ROTC program, but with a forum for Iran's Ahmadinejad elitists. (DId you notice when Ahmadinejad was scheduled into Columbia all the mainstream press coverage about the lack of an ROTC program there? No?)

Key takeaway? Obama throws Columbia under the bus. He thinks there should be an ROTC program there too. Anything to move towards the center now you know. Want to take a wager on the installation of an ROTC program at Columbia University before the election? No?

Once again, I'm in Japan during September 11th. It's strange to be far from home in a place where they don't pay much attention to what happened on that fateful day. For me, it is more poignant.

Never forgetting means also, for me, being thankful for the subsequent protection that we've enjoyed since that day. With all of the scheming and attempts that have happened, it is truely remarkable - and a tribute to vigilance - that we have been spared further attacks.

We will never forget that day. We will never forget those who defend us. We will never forget those who watch ceaselessly on our behalf.

God Bless America.

I'm sure the Obama campaign hopes this receives wide dissemination. Seems like the Democrat's rejection of Hillary Clinton and their "blatant and stunning sexism" has had some adverse impact - which the introduction of Sarah Palin salves:

Virtually moments after the GOP announcement of Palin for vice president, pundits on both sides of the aisle began to wonder if Clinton supporters - pro-choice women and gays to be specific - would be attracted to the McCain-Palin ticket. The answer is, of course. There is a point where all of our issues, including abortion rights, are made safer not only if the people we vote for agree with us - but when those people and our society embrace a respect for women and promote policies that increase our personal wealth, power and political influence. [Ed: Emphasis added.]

There's a recitation of just how misogynistic the Democratic party has become - and then:

It should be no surprise that the Democratic response to the McCain-Palin ticket was to immediately attack by playing the liberal trump card that keeps Democrats in line - the abortion card - where the party daily tells restless feminists the other side is going to police their wombs.

The power of that accusation is interesting, coming from the Democrats - a group that just told the world that if you have ovaries, then you don't count.

Yes, both McCain and Palin identify as anti-abortion, but neither has led a political life with that belief, or their other religious principles, as their signature issue. Politicians act on their passions - the passion of McCain and Palin is reform. In her time in office, Palin's focus has not been to kick the gays and make abortion illegal; it has been to kick the corrupt and make wasteful spending illegal. The Republicans are now making direct appeals to Clinton supporters, knowingly crafting a political base that would include pro-choice voters.

All I can say is welcome aboard Tammy. How about this big tent?

Sarah Palin's emergence does have the left scrambling to make sense of their world, so much so that some screeding left coasters have entirely tilted their logic into incomprehensibility.

Case in point, Judith Lewis (she of LA Weekly and certainly nee leftist screed), posted The Luxury of True Reproductive Choice in the Mother, er, Jones (that smart, fearless falling off the left edge 'zine) last week.

Ms. Lewis makes sure to discuss the topics do jour, making sure to interject how agonizing it must have been for Palin and her daughter to choose to go through with their pregnancies (Certainly you would agonize Ms. Lewis. The Palins? Don't think so.)

Begrudgingly, Lewis admits admiration at the lack of hypocrisy on the Palin's part, while making sure to cycle the criticisms that "some say" (oh, but you wouldn't say would you Ms. Lewis?)

But - now get this - what we really need to understand is that the Palins are the fortunate kind of people that can actually exercise reproductive choice - because they can afford to. They can afford to choose to have their children and not abort them. That's right, the right to choose is a matter of socioeconomic status. All the disaffected women in our country really don't have the right to choose - they must have an abortion!

Why? Well, according to Lewis, certainly because Republicans don't want to support disaffected mothers (including teens). If Palin has her way, she'll make abortion illegal and then refuse to support the disaffected poor. Lewis just can't help herself from finally introducing one of last week's Palin smears:

Paradoxically, kindness toward mothers and children in need—in the form of food, shelter, and education—is not a value the party she belongs to, including that energized base, upholds. Just this year, Palin used her gubernatorial power to reduce funding to Convenant [sic] House Alaska's Passage House, a program that "assists young mothers in developing skills such as healthy parenting, money management, priority setting, housing acquisition and social skills development." 

This claim has, of course, been well fisked for the smear that it is, but the bald assertion in this context does bring up an interesting point. Does Ms. Lewis actually support a Christian organization that provides the ability to choose not to abort specifically to homeless pregnant teenagers? Now, now, Ms. Lewis, Planned Parenthood is going to strip you of your pro-choice creds.

So what can we draw from this, er, piece of smart, fearless journalism? That 90% of Down Syndrome pregnancies happen to the disaffected poor who can't choose to let those children come to term? That of the roughly four million children that are born in the US each year, about 300,000 of them must be aborted because their mothers can't afford to have them - only women who have sufficient economic wherewithal actually have reproductive choice - the great society experiment of the last forty years, with all of its increasing entitlement programs, is insufficient to keep the poor from aborting their babies? That the more financially secure a woman is the less likely she is to choose an abortion? That faith based organizations should have unfettered support for assisting young mothers? And that, given that the entitlement system is insufficient, there must be government guaranteed health care so that women can actually choose to have their children instead of kill them?

That looks like a pretty tight corner there, Ms. Lewis.

...I will fight for her as long as I draw breath so help me God.

God does raise up great men and women to serve our great land when we need them.

I seem to remember seeing shots of Mr. Obama shooting hoops - apparently he can make a 3 pointer under some pressure. And he has played some three on three with a WNBA player:

(Frank Polich / Reuters)

How about a game of one-on-one between Sarah Barracuda Palin and Barry O? You know, just for fun.

A few days ago, if someone asked you: "Quick name all of the serving state Governors that you know", most of us probably would have been able to name the Governor of our home state (I still maintain that ours achieved the title by recounting enough times to find enough votes to win.)

A few of us might think of Arnold Schwarzenegger, because he's Arnold and because it's California. We perhaps have heard various media quotes from Charlie Crist (Florida), Bill Richardson (New Mexico), or Ed Rendell (Pennsylvania). We've heard recently from Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) in hurricane news. Should we have been paying attention there has been some considerable seminal news about Deval Patrick (Massachusetts) and David Paterson (New York).

But, quick, (without consulting the Wikipedia) how many women currently serve (with any party) as state Governor? Did you think it was eight?

And, honestly, until tonight, how many of you knew that the Governor of Hawai'i was second term Jewish Republican, Linda Lingle, who took office after more than 40 years of Democrat office holding, the state's first female Governor (among many of her firsts for this state), turned a budget deficit into a surplus and was re-elected to her second term by the largest margin of victory in state history? (Fooled ya!)

It's no wonder that, until tonight, almost no one knew that there was a populist statesperson of Jeffersonian stature in the person of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

out of the arena.

Wow.