Leon Wolf is displeased with Meghan McCain’s book, Dirty, Sexy Politics:

…It is impossible to read Dirty, Sexy Politics and come away with the impression that you have read anything other than the completely unedited ramblings of an idiot. This being a professional website for which I have a great deal of respect, I searched for a more eloquent or gentle way to accurately phrase the previous sentence – but could not find one…

…On the whole, I am simply not a talented enough writer to express how truly horrible this book was. The last line of the book implores readers not to let Meghan “pick up this torch alone.” I can honestly say that I was encouraged throughout to pick up a torch in order to burn my copy of Dirty, Sexy Politics, even though I was reading it on a Kindle. There is no reason that anyone who is not getting paid to review this book should ever, ever spend money on it. If you simply must have large doses of poorly-written fictional tripe written by a narcissistic person who hates conservatives and everything they stand for, read Mike Lupica instead. At least he’s smart enough to know which side he’s on.

That’s gonna leave a mark. I’ve read some books like that, too – where they are just so bad that you are positively embarrassed for the author.

Its hard to he harsh to a fellow writer – even bad fellow writers who write stupid things. But it is a bit easier to be blunt with people who only got their book deal because of who they are. Hopefully this will prove a good lesson to publishing houses that if you are going to try and cash in on the untalented, hire a ghost writer.

Today we’ll find out if O’Donnell or Castle wins the Delaware GOP Senate primary. As it stands, it is all over but the shouting as far as the primary election goes. The votes will soon be cast, it is unlikely that a number significant to change the result will switch from one side to the other right here on election day. What will happen tonight is as written in stone as anything can be in politics. Personally, I think that O’Donnell will win – and I think in a year like 2010, someone like O’Donnell can win, even in Delaware.

Of course, I could be wrong – all of the O’Donnell supporters could be wrong, at least in that sense: we might be backing a loser in the general election where, if we had backed Castle, we would have been backing as sure a winner as you can get. Furthermore, Mike Castle, victorious, just might be the 51st GOP Senator – while a GOP Senate majority is still highly doubtful (no more than a 50/50 shot and maybe less, from what I can see), taking away Delaware from the Democrats just might be the final win we needed to do it.

Because of all this, many conservatives are backing Castle, even though he’s so liberal that if he were running even in a moderately red State like Virginia, he’d be a Democrat because he’d have zero chance as a Republican. Allahpundit over at Hot Air links to a video clip of Charles Krauthammer being rather upset with Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint for backing O’Donnell over Castle. The point being made is that we must stop and roll back Obama policy, and this will require a GOP Senate majority.

I have the greatest respect for Krauthammer, but I think in this he is dead wrong. So are all the conservatives who are arguing that we must back Castle. In fact, I hold that for a conservative to back Castle is a tremendous mistake – a political mistake, not just an ideological mistake.

It is, first off, not a 100% thing that Castle would win. True, his lead in the polls is strong – but once the Democrats get after him and he proves himself just a squishy, me-too version of the Democrat with a couple of alleged small government caveats, no one can really say how it will come out. Other than to point out that when faced with a choice between the real thing and a weak copy, people tend to choose the real thing. If Castle won’t fight on principle, then it merely becomes “please like me” campaign…and a good campaign by the Democrats can derail that.

Secondly, it is not a certainty that O’Donnell will lose. Certainly, polls show her behind, but being behind after a bruising primary fight is not unusual. If she wins, that mere fact will prove her a formidable candidate – taking on the establishment and winning always has a great appeal. Doubly so in 2010 when the establishment (left and right) is in such disrepute. It is, additionally, a bit of political cowardice to say that the political message must be strictly tailored to what “experts” say the people of a district or State are like. The job of being a politician is to be a leader – to challenge the people and move them along a desired path. If all we GOPers are doing is playing along with a lazy, big government propagandized electorate then we’re failing in our task. One thing certain in 2010, if O’Donnell wins, the people of Delaware will have a real choice to make…and even if they end up choosing the other side, at least the seeds of conservatism will be planted in the heart of blue America.

Third, and most importantly, to win a GOP Senate majority with Mike Castle as the 51st GOP Senator may prove fatal to the GOP. If he’s the only person keeping a majority of the Senate from voting with Obama policy, then we’re doomed…because he will be swayed to cross the aisle and extend the hand and work together in a bi-partisan manner…all of which are just code words for “do what Democrats want”. The electorate appear set to award power to the GOP in November – but they are doing so not out of love for the GOP, but provisionally, and only if the GOP does the right thing.

If starting in January we are boldly challenging the President and liberalism in general and demanding strict, constitutional government, big spending cuts and meaningful reform, then we Republicans will be earning the trust of the people, and the will give us even more power in 2012. If, on the other hand, are are scuttling our side and making deals with Obama and his Democrats, then the people will be convinced – and forever – that the GOP isn’t worthy of support.

The TEA Party is just two steps away, at any moment, from founding a new political party…and it would immediately rip away at least 100 GOP House member and 20 Senators, thus giving it a national base from which to expand, first at the expense of the GOP, secondly at the expense of allegedly “moderate” Democrats. The Republican party has a chance, once again, to become the repository of the trust of the people – the party of the middle class and working poor. The party of the republic; the party of the Declaration of Independence. We can do this – but we can’t do it by giving ourselves a RINO majority which will then cut us off at the knees.

In this year of 2010 when all things are going our way, it is the time for us to be firm – not to try and run up the score. Better 49 Senators we can rely on than 51 who will break our hearts. 2012 and 2014, those are our years not just for a GOP Senate majority, but for a massive, constitution-amending, conservative GOP Senate majority. We should be happy with 48 or 49 Senators after November…between now and 2014, if we do right by the people, we can add 20 more to that number…along with a huge House majority, and a Republican President, and a solid majority of the States governed by Republicans. Then we’ll have to power to undo liberalism…

Or, we can fret that we might not get to 51 in 2010, and thus go chasing after yet another Arlen Specter who will take our money, take our work and take our votes…and hand them over lock, stock and barrel to Obama and his Democrats when it matters the most.

I prefer the hope for the future as opposed to the fears of the present – I vote for a reformed America, and I work for the conservative majority which will bring it about.

UPDATE: From Ed Morrisey – “Castle is almost the reductio ad absurdum of RINOism.”

UPDATE II: On the other hand, Doc Zero endorses Castle.

Main thing to take away from this – there has been a lot of bitter name-calling over this and that is just stupid. If anyone wants to launch a bitter, political attack on some one, then do so against the nearest Democrat.

UPDATE III: “If the GOP retakes Congress and doesn’t immediately take on the Tea Partiers’ top issue, the national debt, they face a backlash that could cost them the support of the movement—whose expectations are sky high.”

Precisely – and why we daren’t go with Castle at this juncture.

So, the GOP decides that they want to hold a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts past December 31st. How does the MSM headline it: Like so:

U.S. Senate Republicans firm on tax cuts for rich

Since when is refraining from increasing taxes a “tax cut”? Oh, I know – when its a matter of carrying water for Obama and his Democrats. That is their end-of-campaign theme: the GOP is just the party of the rich and they want to give money away to billionaires. Please ignore the hundreds of billions Obama and his Democrats have given away to real billionaires over the past 18 months…

But, once the MSM gets their marching orders from the Democrats, slavish devotion takes over…so, just expect more and more “reporting” like this between now and November 2nd…and don’t sweat it: the people are on to the scam and won’t fall for it.

From the Financial Times:

Communist Cuba will shift hundreds of thousands of state employees to the private sector in 2011 as the government prunes more than 500,000 workers from its payroll.

The official trade union federation said on Monday that eventually more than a million jobs would be cut…

Its a sad, sad day when a communist government is figuring things out faster than ours. Admittedly, the Cuban government, per capita, is much more bloated than ours, but it is an amazing thing that they realize its time to cut it back, while Obama and his Democrats can only think of expanding ours.

November can’t come fast enough…

You should check out Black and Right’s blog, by the way.

This time in Pennsylvania:

The embattled government of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital, will avoid default on a $3.3 million bond payment this week because of $4.4 million in last-minute state aid.

With Harrisburg’s city council scheduled to meet Tuesday to explore filing for bankruptcy, Gov. Ed Rendell announced Sunday that he was speeding up state funds and grants to the financially-strapped capital…

Harrisburg is bankrupt – it simply cannot pay all of its bills. In fact, it has already not paid some of them. Municipal bankruptcy is really the only way out…but that would harm the city’s bond holders. So, riding to the rescue, Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA). Mish wonder’s how connected the city bondholders are to the Governor – I wonder, too, because this sort of bail out is a monumentally stupid waste of money. It just kicks the can down the road for the city…but it does allow the bondholders some time to try and dump their holdings while the markets are thinking the bail outs will continue indefinitely.

What is really rich is that while a Democrat governor is using taxpayer money to bail out bond holders, one of Harrisburg’s city council members is claiming this is a Wall Street vs Main Street fight…the bond holders are demanding that the burden be put on the taxpayers! For crying out loud, it was the city council who put the burden on the taxpayers – the bondholders are just demanding repayment for money lent. This isn’t a people vs powerful moment but an idiots vs morons scenario. Idiots who bought municipal bonds as if city governments have an endless supply of cash, morons in city government who kept issuing bonds as if ditto.

Go bankrupt. Default on the bonds. Vote Republican in November. That is all Harrisburg can do at this point.

From AFP:

Economists peddling dire warnings that the world’s number one economy is on the brink of collapse, amid high rates of unemployment and a spiraling public deficit, are flourishing here.

The guru of this doomsday line of thinking may be economist Nouriel Roubini, thrust into the forefront after predicting the chaos wrought by the subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of the housing bubble.

“The US has run out of bullets,” Roubini told an economic forum in Italy earlier this month. “Any shock at this point can tip you back into recession.”…

My only quibble is with “back in to recession” – I don’t think we ever left. The official statistics keepers appear likely to decide that it ended in July of 2009…but do any of us really feel like it did? Or is it that a mass of printed and borrowed money just gave the US economy a temporary bloom of health? And at the cost of worse problems down the road because of the printed and borrowed money?

New policies are needed – the Keynesian model followed by Obama in emulation of FDR has failed. Well, not really “failed” as in “it worked once, but didn’t this time” but more as a “you frickin’ moron: how could you ever think that stupid idea would work?”. For crying out loud – printing money to pick the pockets of the poor and middle class combined with borrowing money the private economy desperately needs for investment…that is an economic model? Did anyone ever check to see if Keynes was drunk when he thought that up?

Time for a change – it is the only way to avert economic catastrophe. We have only a few years left to get our act together, or we’ll face a generation of economic crisis. Step one comes on November 2nd.

We’ll easily forgive the Castle endorsement – this guy just gets better all the time:

This via Gay Patriot:

Obama Attacks Boehner; NYT runs Page One article attacking House Minority Leader for Lobbyist Ties

Coincidence? I don’t think so…

Neither do I – the two events are too close together for it to be coincidence. Apparently, having failed in their effort to run against President Bush in 2010, Democrats are instead hoping to run against Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff…bringing us back to the 2006 campaign, which got the Democrat ball rolling.

Naturally, the MSM is going to play along with whatever instructions Obama and his Democrats provide. It is what they do because for many years now, the MSM has been the merest adjunct of the DNC. Get ready for some interesting smear campaigns as November approaches. Everything including the kitchen sink will be thrown at us.

From the New York Times:

…From street markets to corporate offices, consumers and executives alike in China are trying to cope with rising prices. The National Bureau of Statistics announced on Saturday that consumer prices in China were 3.5 percent higher compared with a year earlier, the largest increase in nearly two years.

To make matters worse, inflation over the short term also seems to be accelerating. A seasonally adjusted comparison of August prices to July prices showed that inflation was running at an annualized pace closer to 4.8 percent.

Prices are rising in China for reasons that many Americans or Europeans might envy. The economy is growing, stores are full and banks are lending lots of money, according to other statistics released by the government on Saturday. Compared with August of last year, industrial production rose 13.9 percent last month, retail sales increased 18.4 percent, bank lending climbed 18.6 percent and fixed-asset investment surged 24 percent…

Look for more stories soon about the Chinese economy and how we can learn from it. China’s economy is “growing” because of massive government money-printing and banks lending money like there’s no tomorrow. Trouble is, tomorrow is coming – and China, already filled with empty offices, empty malls and even empty cities is simply force-feeding itself in to the appearance of growth. As long as the bills never come due this will continue to work.

This, of course, is what Obama and Co hoped would happen to the US economy – shovel a lot of money in to it, and watch growth take off. What killed the concept was the amount of debt we already carry – government and personal. China had relatively low debt at the start of the crisis…but they are massively increasing it, and placing the debt on a fundamentally weak economy (weak because most of the people live in grinding poverty or a sort Americans can’t even imagine). This won’t be pretty once that bill comes due.

I figure the bill is probably going to be presented for payment pretty soon…

HAT TIP: Mish’s