Posts with the tag 'blogs'
At what price, saving face?
The Murtha-inspired, media trumped so-called “Haditha Massacre” has had its share of casualties long after the event had transpired. Eight Marines, whose only crime was to follow Rules of Engagement (ROE) and to execute their mission of weeding out terrorist elements in the town of Haditha, have had their reputations and their honor dragged through the mud, not to mention having had the “honor” of treatment that would make Guantanamo detainees look like they’re being put up at the Waldorf Astoria by comparison.
On Tuesday, Military Judge Colonel Steven Folsom, USMC made the right decision when he saw through the undue command influence and dismissed all charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani without prejudice.
Said Richard Thompson, resident and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, who has been defending Chessani,
“This case has turned into the persecution of one of the Marine’s finest combat commanders. LtCol Chessani devoted his life to the Corps and his Nation. He served three tours of duty in Iraq, away from his wife and children in defense of us all. In their attempt ‘to get’ Chessani, prosecutors granted immunity to seventeen Marines, including one they had charged with murder. Still they failed. Sadly, in the process they have destroyed the career of an outstanding officer. Enough is enough.”
WND just had a story published today that Chessani rightfully planned to sue Congressman John Murtha over his slanderous pronouncement of the Haditha Marines guilt of murder in cold blood. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there is more “undue influence” coming from Murtha to pressure prosecutors to make an example out of Chessani. Murtha, after all, is in charge of defense appropriations in the House and is certainly in a position to exert such influence. Given Murtha’s long history of what was, in my opinion, influence peddling in the form of a legion of earmarks and defense contracts, there is in my opinion nothing too low for the King of Pork to resort to save his sorry fat backside from the consequences of his actions.
The military powers that be, along with the politicians that be, know that the Haditha prosecutions will be considered by historians as one of the largest travesties of justice in military history; a time when the interests of politicians and military leaders were put far ahead of the interests of justice itself. Their pitiful attempts to continue to prop up a false set of charges against one of the great military leaders in the Corps as a means of salvaging face serves neither the honor of the military nor the interests of justice.
It is nothing less than reprehensible.
Lots more on the background of this case here, here and here.
Read more on Murtha’s role in this travesty here, here, and here.
Tags: blogs, Earmarks, Haditha Case, Iraq, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, Murtha
June 19th, 2008
The Washington Times has an interesting article about John McCain’s blog reachout efforts, which have recently include left-leaning and apolitical bloggers.
Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign is trying to tap a new audience of potential voters by taking his campaign message straight to liberal and nonpolitical issues-based blogs, which reach millions of readers but don’t often delve into conservative politics.
The strategy was in full swing yesterday when Mr. McCain invited non-conservative bloggers to join his regular blogger conference call, just hours after he delivered a major speech previewing his war strategy and other priorities for a first presidential term.
It already has started a war among liberal bloggers over how to react to Mr. McCain’s overture.
In answering the first question on the call, Mr. McCain said his likely Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, lacks the judgment to be commander in chief, which set him up for a bruising from the readers at TalkingPointsMemo.com, a liberal-leaning site that joined in the call.
Blogger Greg Sargent said it amounted to “what may be [Mr. McCain’s] most direct attack yet on Barack Obama’s national security credentials.” But commenters were split: Some took aim at Mr. McCain, some said they were thankful for the intelligence on “what the enemy is planning,” and others lashed out at Mr. Sargent, saying he should have been harsher in evaluating Mr. McCain’s attack.
“This IS a Democratic blog, and as such, it would seem to me that there SHOULD be SOME bias with regards to how YOU report of McCain’s craziness, as opposed to treating his ranting and attacks with a sort of dignity they and he DO NOT deserve,” wrote one emphasis-abundant reader.
Ahh, there’s some of that liberal “tolerance” on display. While in many ways this broader blog reachout strategy is good, there are clearly many bloggers on the left who have no interest in actual dialogue. They don’t want to debate issues, they want to be agreed with.
The question I have is, would Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton ever attempt to reachout to conservative bloggers? While both claim they can unite the country and both parties, their campaign rhetoric and actions have proven the opposite. I don’t see either of them attempting to deliver their message to conservative bloggers and field questions. They were too afraid to debate on a Fox News debate, so I’m sure they are equally, if not more afraid of conservative bloggers who will actually challenge them on issues and ask hard questions.
Tags: blog outreach, blogs, John McCain
May 16th, 2008
I have an announcement for everyone here at Blogs For Victory. About a month ago I moved from Boston, MA to Buffalo, NY. I have traded Ted Kennedy and John Kerry for Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton. I only had to suffer one day with Eliot Spitzer as my governor.
Anyway, so, that’s my news. I am now a resident of New York State. As you may know, aside from this and other nationally oriented blogs, I also have a local Massachusetts politics blog, Hub Politics, which is still operating. I co-founded Hub Politics with my brother back in 2005, and it became the biggest conservative blog in the state. It will still go on, with my role gradually decreasing as I have now started a new conservative local politics blog for Western New York called The Buffalo Bean. So, for any of you out there from New York state, particularly Western New York, I encourage you to check out my new blog project.
Tags: blogs
April 28th, 2008
Looks like Ron Paul is “suspending” his campaign so he can focus on his primary election for his congressional seat. Robert Stacy McCain puts it best with this translation of Paul’s announcement:
“Hey, chumps, ever heard of something called a ‘bait and switch’?
“Remember all that money you donated so I could campaign for president?
“Well, instead I’m going to use it to campaign for re-election to Congess, you stupid chumps.
“However, just in case you’re not smart enough to realize you’ve been played for a sucker, I will maintain a token presidential campaign. That will allow me to continue paying fat salaries to the genius pimps who masterminded this scam.
“You’ve been so totally punk’d, dude. I got your hopes up, then screwed you over.
And after all that effort spamming online polls…
Tags: blogs, Ron Paul
February 10th, 2008
We’ve had quite a day today. It started with President George W. Bush’s speech, dark and early at 7:15 a.m. It was a great speech, one that ought to be called his Conservative State of the Union. I have no doubt that history will look back on Bush’s presidency and acknowledge all the good he did for our country and the world.
Later in the morning Mark and I had a breakfast chat with Robert Stacy McCain, co-author of Donkey Cons, who blogs over at The Other McCain. He endorsed our book, Caucus of Corruption.
In the afternoon we had a meeting with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a great American and conservative leader. Mark and I were very grateful he was able to take some time out of his schedule to meet with us. As you know, Tom DeLay also endorsed our book. It was a nice meeting, we talked politics and about the presidential race. It was a very nice meeting, and we are both glad we finally got to meet him in person. It is a shame how the Democrats smeared him.
It was a busy day, and it’s still not over yet. We’ll be heading out in a little while, but I did want to give everyone an update.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I was interviewed yesterday by MarketWatch…
Tags: blogs, President Bush, Tom DeLay
February 8th, 2008
John J. Pitney Jr., writing at National Review, explains how Barack Obama’s “message of unity” and calls for change are neither new, or genuine.
As I explained on NRO nearly a year ago, Obama is echoing what George W. Bush said in the 2000 campaign. In fact, if Obama’s speeches were term papers, I’d report him for plagiarism. “Our country has unlimited potential. But our politics is broken — at least in Washington,” Bush said in California on October 30, 2000. “You know what’s wrong, Washington is obsessed with scoring points, not solving problems.” In another California swing a month earlier, Bush said: “I’m going to reject the ugly politics of the past, where people felt like they could get ahead by tearing down their opponents.”
One could argue that Bush was merely spouting political pap — but that’s the point. The “unity” message has been old for a long time. Here’s another example:”I saw many signs in this campaign. Some of them were not friendly. Some were very friendly. But the one that touched me the most was — a teenager held up the sign `bring us together.’ And that will be the great objective of this administration, at the outset, to bring the American people together.”
That was Richard Nixon, after his election in 1968.
I suggest you read the whole thing, but the main thing you need to get from it is that anyone can claim to be a uniter, and anyone can claim to be the agent of change. But it’s just rhetoric. Those claims don’t mean anything. As Mark pointed out earlier, Obama’s “change” mantra is meaningless because he hasn’t gone into specifics. He doesn’t go into specifics because his idea of “change” is even more liberal and extreme than even Hillary Clinton’s.
Still, even his idealistic calls for change and unity, and his railing against the status quo and politics as usual are lies. Pitney explains,
Like so many politicians before him, he speaks lofty prose while leaving the wet work to underlings. Eisenhower had Nixon, who later had Agnew. Obama has David Axelrod, among others.
Axelrod has been Obama’s chief political adviser for years. In 2004, Obama defeated millionaire Blair Hull for nomination to the Senate after sordid details of Hull’s divorce came out. Obama didn’t talk about it in public. But according to David Mendell, the reporter who broke the news about the divorce papers, Obama’s campaign “worked aggressively behind the scenes to fuel controversy about Hull’s filings.” And says the New York Times, many in Chicago “believe that Axelrod had an even more significant role — that he leaked the initial story. They note that before signing on with Obama, Axelrod interviewed with Hull.”
So let’s recap. Barack Obama is a senator today because his campaign exploited his opponent’s messy divorce. This is a miracle that qualifies him for secular sainthood.
And should I really have to mention Tony Rezko and other questionable deals/actions by Obama?
Obama is getting through this campaign because of the brand he is presenting. He’s not giving an accurate portrayal of who is, what he’ll do, or where he’ll take our country.
Tags: agenda, Barack Obama, blogs, Hillary Clinton, National Review
January 7th, 2008
Despite the Democrats extraordinary efforts to take Ohio’s Fifth Congressional District, and recent polls showing a close race there, with 98% report, Republican Bob Latta won with 57% of the vote. Looks like false attack ads couldn’t sway the district to the Democrats…
We also won in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, where Democrats had recruited a nationally acclaimed school teacher and decorated Iraq war veteran. It was a conservative district, and the DCCC chose not to meddle in that race, but they’d talked up their chances for victory in that race, but ultimately the conservative message for lower taxes and securing our borders prevailed.
While the left will say these were races the GOP should have won anyway, I think it’s important to note the attitude towards the OH-05 race prior to the election.
Latta campaign manager Matthew D. Parker says both parties see the contest as “a key battleground for the 2008 presidential election.” He views the Democratic push for Weirauch as “a test run to get Hillary Clinton into the White House.”
“I think it’s a bellwether for Ohio and a bellwether for the country,” agrees the dean of Ohio’s Democratic congressional delegation, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, who backs Weirauch. She calls the race a “tossup” and predicts the side that gets the most supporters to the polls in a low-turnout special election will win.
Let’s say that it is true, that OH-05 was a bellwether for Ohio and the country… then we can’t ignore the fact that in 2006, Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat, won the district with 55% and Sherrod Brown, also a Democrat also won the district in his U.S. Senate race.
But, there is something that bothers me. The liberal nutroots put a lot of money into the race… ridiculously out-raising the conservative rightroots. Despite various plugs from this and other blog, only $1,908 was raised from 21 donors on SlateCard. Meanwhile the liberal netroots raised $15,605 from 320 donors via ActBlue for Latta’s opponent, Robin Weirauch. While it’s good that the conservative message trumps liberal cash, I do wonder why the right pales in the comparison to the left when it comes to online fundraising. I hope the rightroots can unite in 2008…
So, we won tonight… the polls said OH-05 was close, but we got it in a landslide. Democrats certainly appeared confident about it, but we prevailed in the end. But, let’s not get our hopes up with all this talk about a bellwether for 2008. We can win back the majority in both Houses of Congress, but we’ll have to win them one race at a time. We can win the White House in 2008, but we have to be united behind the nominee.
Let’s fight to win. The Democrats may be confident about 2008, but they were confident about OH-05 and VA-01, too…
UPDATE: More from David All at Slatecard.
Tags: blogs, Bob Latta, online fundraising, special election
December 11th, 2007
Reporting straight from Baghdad over at GraniteGrok:
My name is Major Kirk Luedeke, and I’m blogging with my fellow Granite Staters, from Forward Operating Base Falcon in Southern Baghdad.
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This is the first of what I hope will be a regular companion piece to Doug’s and Skip’s terrific blog. The blogosphere continues to expand and explode, and it is a distinct honor that granitegrok.com has asked me to become a contributor to this forum. I hope that you will all come away with a better understanding of what is happening in our little slice of Iraqi paradise when all is said and done.
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As a U.S. Army brigade Public Affairs Officer, I will state up front and for the record that the content of this blog will consist of facts, observations and personal opinions based on firsthand experiences here. I am in no way speaking for the Army or the U.S. government. I welcome anyone who has questions or wants to engage in additional discourse to contact me via email at kirkaluedeke@yahoo.com.
The sad facts of the modern world are that we cannot rely on the MSM to report the truth - fortunately, there are bloggers like Major Luedeke who will tell us what is really going on. We here at Blogs for Victory welcome Major Luedeke to the blogosphere.
Tags: blogs, Iraq, milblogs, War on Terror
December 10th, 2007
I am pleased to announce that Blogs For Victory will be hosting the official blog for the campaign of Gayle Harrell, Republican congressional candidate in Florida’s 16th congressional district.
We are very excited to host the official blog for Harrell’s campaign. This is a seat the Republican Party can win back next year, and Harrell’s campaign clearly understands the importance of reaching out the internet grassroots.
Harrell hopes to unseat Democrat Tim Mahoney, who barely won Mark Foley’s seat last year campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, and then to voted in favor of putting indicted congressman William Jefferson on the Homeland Security Committee.
Be sure to check out out Harrell’s official campaign site and her blog. You can also join her campaign’s official Facebook group, and add her as a friend on MySpace.
Tags: blogs, Congress, Gayle Harrell
December 4th, 2007
I quick Technorati search shows that many blogs, liberal and conservative, are talking about Senator Larry Craig, and the eight men claiming to have had homosexual encounters with him.
I find this interesting… the reactions and the willingness of left-leaning bloggers to accept the accusers claims as genuine without scrutiny or a hint of doubt. It’s interesting because a similar benefit of the doubt did not exist when it came Bill Clinton and the women who accused from rape to fondling to witness intimidation.
When Kathleen Willey was on Hannity & Colmes a few weeks ago, Alan Colmes, bursting with Clinton talking points, attacked Willey’s credibility at her accusations, which have been carefully documented in her new book, Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Would Colmes, or any Clinton Defender for that matter, give equal scrutiny to anyone accusing any Republican of something damaging? Of course not. Partisans on both sides of the aisle are more than willing to doubt those who attack their own, and accept wholeheartedly those who attack their political adversaries.
I can’t say any whether or not those men claiming to have had encounters with Larry Craig are telling the truth or not — and neither can those liberals who are anxious to take political advantage of the scandal. But, if they are going to be given the benefit of the doubt by the media, or the Democrats, then Bill Clinton’s accusers deserved (and still deserve) the same.
Tags: Bill Clinton, blogs, hypocrisy, Larry Craig, media bias, partisanship
December 3rd, 2007
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