New Rasmussen survey:

For the first time in recent years, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 key electoral issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. The GOP holds double-digit advantages on five of them.

Republicans have nearly doubled their lead over Democrats on economic issues to 49% to 35%, after leading by eight points in September.

The GOP also holds a 54% to 31% advantage on national security issues and a 50% to 31% lead on the handling of the war in Iraq.

But voters are less sure which party they trust more to handle government ethics and corruption, an issue that passed the economy in voter importance last month. Thirty-three percent (33%) trust Republicans more while 29% have more confidence in Democrats. Another 38% are undecided. Last month, the parties were virtually tied on the issue.

As the economy worsens – or, at best fails to improve – that last issue will become crucial. The GOP was justifiably hammered in 2006 for corruption – now the Democrats are in charge and more and more people are realizing that while the GOP had corrupt members, Democrats have an endemic problem with corruption coupled with a complete unwillingness to do anything about it (at least we GOPers gave our corrupt members the boot). In the normal course of events, the GOP would have picked up 20-25 House seats next year – a bad economy, a corrupt government and a near-revolutionary ferment in the body politic might make things vastly different.

It will still take GOP leadership to translate all of the elements in to smashing GOP victory – but the ground is being laid, the Democrats are being exposed…and all we have to do is summon the courage and conviction to do what is right.

And that is a bit scary:

On Thursday night, Reid went over to the White House for a talk with the president. The conversation centered on Reid’s desire to put Schumer’s national opt-out plan into the base bill. White House officials were not necessarily pleased, and they made that known. Everyone agrees that they didn’t embrace Reid’s new strategy. Everyone agrees that the White House wants Snowe on the bill, feels the trigger offers a safer endgame, and isn’t convinced by Reid’s math. But whether officials expressed a clear preference for the trigger, or were just worried about the potential for 60 votes, is less clear. One staffer briefed on the conversation says “the White House basically told us, ‘We hope you guys know what you’re doing.'”

The country sure is in the best of hands, right?

From NRO’s Campaign Spot:

With his attendance at fundraisers for Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts today — boy, there’s a pair of popular incumbents — President Obama has now attended seven fundraisers since General Stanley McChrystal submitted his request for additional troops in Afghanistan.

Boy, it’s a shame Gen. McChrystal isn’t an unpopular incumbent Democrat; if he were, Obama might be more eager to help him out.

Your job, Mr. President, is to lead the nation – not bail out failing Democrats.

I guess they’ve entirely written off Virginia:

Sensing that victory in the race for Virginia governor is slipping away, Democrats at the national level are laying the groundwork to blame a loss in a key swing state on a weak candidate who ran a poor campaign that failed to fully embrace President Obama until days before the election.

Senior administration officials have expressed frustration with how Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has handled his campaign for governor, refusing early offers of strategic advice and failing to reach out to several key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in 2008, they say.

Rather ugly, isn’t it? The votes haven’t even been cast and the man groomed and selected by the Democrat establishment is already a political un-person in Democratic circles. Well, he did commit the only sin a Democrat acknowledges – the sin of losing. To be sure, he hasn’t actually lost, yet; but he will, and it looks like by a wide margin. Additionally, it looks as though the whole Democrat ticket in VA is going down with him.

So, Democrats, just one year after your sweeping triumph, you’re about to not just get beaten, but crushed, in Virginia. To be sure, you might eke out a win in New Jersey (I don’t think you will, but anything is possible), but a bare win in a heavily Democrat State will not take the sting out of losing a State you thought had fallen your way for good in 2008. Get used to it, Democrats – unless there is a massive turn around in the economy, November of 2010 will go just like November of 2009…except it will be nationwide…

The headline:

Clamor masivo en Madrid contra el aborto

I’ll translate for any of your liberals out there who can’t figure it out.

Here’s a link to the video. When that many people turn out for life and hope, then we have to say that, just perhaps, Europe can be saved – that there are enough Christians left on the Continent, even at this point, to turn things around.

Showing that she understands the political ferment of 2009:

The people of the 23rd Congressional District of New York are ready to shake things up, and Doug Hoffman is coming on strong as Election Day approaches! He needs our help now.

The votes of every member of Congress affect every American, so it’s important for all of us to pay attention to this important Congressional campaign in upstate New York. I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next Representative from New York’s 23rd Congressional district. It’s my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win, including having my political action committee, SarahPAC, donate to his campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law.

Our nation is at a crossroads, and this is once again a “time for choosing.”

The federal government borrows, spends, and prints too much money, while our national debt hits a record high. Government is growing while the private sector is shrinking, and unemployment is on the rise. Doug Hoffman is committed to ending the reckless spending in Washington, D.C. and the massive increase in the size and scope of the federal government. He is also fully committed to supporting our men and women in uniform as they seek to honorably complete their missions overseas.

And best of all, Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine.

Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty.

That is it, in a nutshell – a few paragraphs and the entire campaigns of 2010 and 2012 are set in place. This is the lady our opponents ridicule. Have at it, lefties – she’s a lot smarter than you are, and far more savvy about how things are going.

Gonna be a lot of fun over the next couple years.

UPDATE: According to NRO, Hoffman took in $116,000.00 in donations yesterday. That is an astounding event given that, really, is just the right blogosphere and a few conservative outlets which are even seriously covering the issue. People on the right are fired up.

A stark indicator of just how bad it is out there:

Union Pacific Corp. reported a 26% decline in third-quarter profit Thursday, citing a persistent slump in rail demand, particularly from the auto industry, in the face of the global recession…

…The Omaha, Neb.-based railroad operator posted earnings of $517 million, or $1.02 a share, down from $703 million, or $1.38 a share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue fell 25% to $3.47 billion from $4.63 billion, bogged down by a 30% decline in its auto-freight business and a 39% drop in industrial-products freight.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for earnings, on average, of $1.01 a share on revenue of $3.73 billion.

“As we enter the final quarter of 2009, business volumes seem to have stabilized, but at very low levels for Union Pacific,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Young, in a statement.

As in the earlier story we had of merchant ships anchored rather than plying the trade routes, it is indicators like this which show the true story of the economy. The froth of the DOW and banks cashing in on bail outs makes the headlines – but it is the fact that goods are not moving which shows our plight. No matter what the government or the banks say, until ship and rail traffic is up, we’re not getting anywhere on the economic front. You can’t even go entirely by industrial production numbers – the best measurement is retail sails, and goods being shipped. If people aren’t buying and retailers are ordering (and thus having goods shipped), then nothing is really happening out there.

For the past year we’ve merely spun our economic wheels – we’re huffing and puffing but not going anywhere. Moving money around from the Fed’s printing press to the Treasury vaults to the banks’ balance sheets doesn’t do a thing for the economy. It can get suckers to buy in to a stock bubble and it can get Obamaniac economists talking happy talk, but it doesn’t create wealth. It doesn’t, that is, create the situation where goods are made, shipped and bought. Until we start doing that – by making, mining and growing more of our own stuff – we’ll continue to waste our time…and slide ever further in to debt, making it ever harder for us to climb out.

HAT TIP: Mish’s

From frying pan to fire:

In fairness, Dick Cheney totally started it. But like our mom used to say, “Then you be the one who stops it!”

Last night in a speech to the Center for Security Policy, the former vice president called out President Obama for being “afraid” to make a decision on troop levels in Afghanistan.

“The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger,” Cheney told the conservative gathering. “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.”

Sounds familiar. What’s suprising is not so much the vim with which the former vice president repeatedly goes after the Obama administration — but how reliably the Obama administration responds. Has no one heard of a dignified silence? Oh, wait. This is Washington. Never mind.

“What Vice President Cheney calls ‘dithering,’ President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. “I think we’ve all seen what happens when someone doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.”

Gibbs and his boss will come out second best in this contest. We’ve got the lightest of lightweights daring to challenge Vice President Dick Cheney – arguably the most intellectually substantive man in politics.

This will be fun to watch.

You’d think they’d know to mind their own business, but when the Catholic Church is involved, I guess they can’t help themselves:

Well, the media mantra about the Vatican’s welcome to Anglicans has begun, and the anti-Catholicism is about as ugly as it gets.

Venues such as National Public Radio, the London Times, and the Kansas City Star describe the Church as “poaching.” USA Today says the Church is “rustling.” Other media outlets used the term “luring.” Some question whether the move was a “hostile takeover.” And London Times’ Columnist Libby Purves says that “converts may choke on the raw meat of Catholicism.”

Mainstream newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post have used the word “bid.” The Boston Globe uses both the words “lure” and “bid.”

No matter how you look at it, they’re all unsavory terms used by the secular media to describe the Church’s actions.

They just can’t stand it – that millions of Anglicans might decide to re-unite with Rome. But, seriously, where else were they to go? Sure, Anglicans could have become Baptists, but the plain fact of the matter is that any believing Anglican will find the Catholic Church to be most “home like” of all the Christian denominations. As the Anglican leadership – and especially the American leadership – has strayed ever further from Christian teaching it becomes a matter of survival for Anglicans who take the Bible seriously…stay with the current leadership and risk slow apostasy, or unite with the Church and meld the streams together in to a larger and stronger Church. Its really as simple as that – had Anglicanism remained firmly committed to Christian principles, this issue never would have arisen.

But, here it is – and the elite are angry over it. They know what will come of it – a tiny, absurd sect calling itself Anglican will have all the sexually active gay bishops and female priestesses they want…but everyone will know that whatever the group is, “Christian” isn’t the word for it. They wanted something they could call Christian to lay in opposition to Rome and the Evangelicals…now they won’t have it.

Interesting – via New Editor:

Roll Call’s Steven T. Dennis and Tory Newmyer report:

Three dozen moderate Democrats are warning Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) that they must show that their health care bill will cut long-term costs or they will vote it down.

CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf has indicated that the bill being considered by the House does nothing to rein in the cost of health care, and therefore may not be sustainable outside the ten-year budget window, the Members say in the letter. We will be unable to support any health care legislation that doesn’t meet the president’s goals of driving down and holding down the cost of health care, as determined by CBO.

It just might be too much – especially for the common run of Democrat politicians, who most certainly don’t want to lose office.