Sarah Palin!!!

At long last, John McCain throws the ball into the end zone, into a crowd. takes a big risk. And comes up HUGE.

This resuscitates the chances of my voting for him, but he needs to show me a lot more. As of now, I still stand with Bob Barr, but this really got my attention. And observe the rage of the liberals over a strong conservative woman violating their code of identity politics.

Georgia

And as if we didn't have enough foreign policy problems... Thanks, Vlad. Let me take this opportunity to thank President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rice for their strong support for Georgia. I think we can all pronounce freedom in Russia dead. The place is no longer the fledgling republic it was under Yeltsin. Putin and his goon squad have completely transformed the country over the past 6-7 years. And the bear is hungry.

I'm going to depart from my normal libertarian/paleoconservative foreign policy worldview here. We need to do everything possible to guarantee the sovereignty and integrity of not only Georgia, but Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and every other former Soviet/Russian satellite. Yes, up to sending troops there. I wonder how Vlad would like a U.S. Air Force base in Georgia, and a U.S. naval base at Kerch?

Two observations... The silliness of Kosovo just came back to bite us. Everything the Russians and Serbs said on that was right on.

And secondly... maybe if we weren't screwing around in Iraq we could really deal with the Georgia crisis.

The Dems as of Tuesday evening...

During my hiatus, I knew that I would have to rant about the freakshow that is the Democratic National Convention upon my return. Our own Marky Mark delivered the keynote last night. RWL, in his best post in a long time, feeds it through the Translator. Classic stuff. Then we have the spectacle of Ted Kennedy, everyone's favorite longtime socialist alcoholic murderer, trying to demand that Barack Obama be elected President in his memory. Spare me. Maybe this is too far, but I'm going to say it anyway. Please, just die, Ted. You've inflicted plenty enough damage on our country already. Failing that, at least resign and shut up.

Hillary Clinton just looked upset during her whole speech. You get the feeling she thinks this was somehow "stolen" from her. Let's see, you and your husband controlled your party for the last 15 years, you had almost the entire Democratic establishment in your back pocket in January of '07 (besides Howard Dean), and you still couldn't come through. Maybe it's because people finally figured out you're a walking, talking pillar of pander, and will say anything to win, and haven't really accomplished... well... anything in the United States Senate. Or, really, ever, besides getting rich at other peoples' expense. Just saying.

Just say "NO" to New Coke

Over at The Oath, we have an email discussion posted of his debate with a friend over whether to support John McCain. I have to agree with The Oath. No, thank you. As I have in private discussions many times, let me make the analogy of McCain and neoconservatism to "New Coke" circa 1984-85. For years, good ol' Coke (Goldwater conservatism) had been serving the nation and the Republican party well. Freedom, less government, lower taxes, personal responsibility. But about 25-30 years ago, here come Wolfowitz, Kristol the Elder and Younger, Richard Perle and the like, Democrats all, fleeing that party and joining the GOP.

They bring with them New Coke (neoconservatism/big government conservatism), which they claim is new and different and better and more advanced than the old Coke. In reality, its syrupy sweetness likens it more to Pepsi (the Democratic party) than any type of Coke. In the face of public uproar, at first the exponents of New Coke continue to insist, against all evidence, that the new formula is superior, even taking an increasingly insulting tone. After a sustained period of outrage and dropping sales (McCain 2008), the switch is made back to the old Coke ("Coke Classic.")

One hopes the GOP takes a lesson from this after the impending rout, and returns to real conservatism.

Chichester and his RINO brethren

Over at Bloggers for Gilmore, Justice Leaguer brings up one of my favorite topics, the group of RINOs that have been festering in the GA, and particularly the Senate, for years. I cannot abide Chichester. I grew up in Stafford County, in his district, in the 70s and 80s and watched his rise. Now he's helping Marky Mark's campaign. He is an insufferably arrogant, pompous so-and-so. I'm glad he's gone, along with Potts, Callahan and the like. I hope guys like Emmett Hanger, Bill Howell, Dave Albo and Tommy Norment follow him out the door in years to come. If you aren't for minimizing the state government to only things the citizens and their local governments can't do, and correspondingly shrinking the tax burden, we don't need you. Scram, RINOs and DCs.

One more reason to support Jim Gilmore.

Resign, Senator Ted Stevens. Now. Please.

It's bad enough that this guy may be the biggest porker in the history of Congress. It's bad enough that he regularly cajoles and threatens to keep stealing money from the taxpayers of the United States and sending it home to Alaska and to his friends. But now he's been indicted... yes, indicted, this past week for accepting gifts and favors for doing so. He is a walking, talking avatar of everything wrong with the Senate, the Congress, and the federal government in general. Resign, Ted, and save us some taxpayer dollars.

Bonus, we'll get ourselves a better Senator from Alaska, no matter if it's Dave Cuddy (hopefully), Vic Vickers, or even Democrat Mark Begich.