Like radicalism, only with a pleasing candy coating! Me, I’d call them “Alinsky Wafers,” but then, I’m all about giving credit where it’s due. And let’s face it, this Messiah business is starting to look like a real pressure filled job. From Stanley Kurtz: From 1995 to 1999, [Barack Obama] led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), and remained on the board until 2001. The group poured

— And it’s in you, the white guy or gal who is not planning to vote for Obama. Okay, well maybe not you in this case: here, the target seems to be Democrats who may either cross over and vote for McCain or who will stay home rather than vote for a black man. Conservatives of all races are de facto racists, of course, and so can be comfortably excluded

Unsurprisingly, deregulation is not to blame. First, here are Charles Calomiris, professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Paul Wallison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and general counsel of the Treasury Department in the Reagan administration, writing in the the WSJ. From “Blame Fannie Mae and Congress For the Credit Mess”: the vast accumulation of toxic

Though it seems unlikely to me, one way the election could play out, as noted in the Washington Times, is as follows: On Nov. 5, the presidential election winds up in a electoral-college tie, 269-269, the Democrat-controlled House picks Sen. Barack Obama as president, but the Senate, with former Democrat Joe Lieberman voting with Republicans, deadlocks at 50-50, so Vice President Dick Cheney steps in to break the tie to

Though he was limited to 800 words, our own commenter Aldo had his piece defending Sarah Palin published in the online edition of the LAT’s opinion page: […] much has been made of [Governor Palin’s] supporters’ protectiveness, such as the recent complaint that Republicans are indulging in the type of grievance politics that they have traditionally opposed. “Why can’t she be questioned?” goes the refrain. Obscured by the word “questioned”

     “You sure them’s ducks — and not, say, some other kind of water fowl?”      “No, those are definitely ducks.” Billy cocked his shotgun. “You can tell by the beak. And the little sailor suits.” finis

…from Bloomberg. Fuel for the fire. (h/t Bob Reed)

An important timeline of events that led to the current financial crisis, and the attendant spin that is causing pedestrian poets to “lament” the potentiality of a revolutionary government overthrow. By way of, say, Larry Gelbart and Mike Farrell conducting commando raids with poisoned “peace darts” on Hummer dealerships or some such. From the WSJ: Once upon a time, in the land that FDR built, there was the rule of

Jawa is on the story — a long and drawn out bit of research in which he names names and connects dots. Unsurprisingly, it looks like the Obama campaign, in addition to using Nixonian-type plumbers, has followed its lead in a “dirty tricks” strategy perfected by Don Segretti of C.R.E.E.P. (nb: as the Jawa story makes clear, this was not only known, but it was heartily supported by members of

From Gary at Nielson: Nielsen just finished a review of how “engaged” voters were by the national political conventions ( e.g., how much attention they were paying). We found that voters not yet committed to either candidate were 12% more engaged by TV coverage of the GOP convention than the Democratic convention. John McCain’s acceptance speech on September 4 drew the most attentive audience of uncommitted viewers. Telecasts of Barack