We’ve suspected it for a while. At the start, it was kind of a joke – “hey, these liberals are all saying the same thing…and not just on TV, but also in print and in mere blog comments…must be they get together every morning to coordinate talking points, har har har!”. Then it became kinda creepy how they would continuously hit the same talking points and how they would always try to steer conversation towards whatever twaddle Obama, et al were peddling on a particular day. Well, now we know – just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you:

How many faintly ominous pieces has Politico run this year about people close to Obama colluding to target their political enemies? There was the story about Rahm Emanuel’s friendly daily chats with Begala, Carville, and Stephanopoulos, then there was the expose on the group effort (“explicitly authorized” by David Axelrod) to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the GOP, and now this. No wonder Ben Smith’s using the word “conspiracy.”

Question to our resident Politico-haters: Has any other publication written extensively about this sort of thing? If so, I missed it.

The vast new left-wing conspiracy sets its tone every morning at 8:45 a.m., when officials from more than 20 labor, environmental and other Democratic-leaning groups dial into a private conference call hosted by two left-leaning Washington organizations…

The call has proved particularly effective at coordinating attacks on critics, said Jackie Schechner, the national communications director for Health Care for America Now, a labor-backed alliance of groups that support Democratic efforts to expand health care.

“There’s a coordination in terms of exposing the people who are trying to come out against reform —they’ve all got backgrounds and histories and pasts, and it’s not taking long to unearth that and to unleash that, because we’re all working together,” Schechner said.

When a new group called Conservative for Patients Rights, for instance, launched an ad campaign featuring former health care executive Rick Scott, “There was a discussion about what do we know about this guy and in a very quick period of time we were able to come up with his background,” she said…

This, as noted later in the linked article, is smart politics – in a media-driven age where the merest impressions can cause major shifts in the electorate, its just smart to have a well-oiled machine for both getting your views out and hitting hard at the opposition. But even though we GOPers will, naturally, copy this and, just as naturally, do it better (and, also just as naturally, when it comes back to bite Democrats they’ll suddenly be offended by it and claim that this GOP nastiness just has got to stop), it is a bit creepy. Creepy – but also boring.

Fortunately, we here at Blogs for Victory do have the saving grace of a few very intelligent and actually well-read pinkos (Sergei, Ricorun, kmg, etc) and thus we’re not just being hit with talking points…but to turn on any liberal talk show or read any lefty commentary is just dull as dishwater these days…they all say the same thing in the same way at the same time. Doesn’t it bother you liberals to have your views just ground out by a propaganda ministry-type operation? I mean, come on – can’t you stand to differ with your Fearless Leader just a bit? I broke with most of my fellow GOPers on immigration reform, ya know? And yet my fellow conservatives still like me – heck, I also go my separate way on the death penalty, and I’m still able to hold my head up high at a conservative gab-fest. Its actually a bit more fun when you hash things out and there’s more than one opinion on the table.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sitting Senator poll this low:

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) is drawing digits in a primary with two other candidates, according to a new poll.

The Zogby poll, conducted for the Independent Insurasingle nce Agents of Illinois, suggests the question of whether or not Burris seeks a full term in the Senate in 2010 is largely inconsequential, because he stands almost no chance of winning it.

The poll matched him with two statewide officeholders – Treasurer Alex Giannoulias and Comptroller Dan Hynes. Giannoulias led Hynes narrowly, 28-27, with Burris at just 5 percent.

Giannoulias is the only Democrat officially in the race. Former Commerce Secretary William Daley (D) is also looking closely at it, as is Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).

Democrats bad nightmare: a long primary fight between Burris and other Democrats repeatedly bringing up Blagojevich and the general corruption of Illinios, led by Democrats.

Democrats worst nightmare: a long primary fight where Burris emerges as the Democrat nominee, thus leading to Democrat meltdown in November of 2010.

As for me – as a GOPer I fully support Senator Burris’ clinging to office like old chewing gum on the bottom of a chair and fighting as hard as he can for the Democratic nomination. If Burris/Blagojevich causes Democrats in Illinois to crash and burn, it will be simply justice being done to that corrupt gang which has afflicted Illinois for far too long.

As of this writing, there are just under 95,000 responses, with 59% of them giving him an “F”.

Put your two cents in.

UPDATE: Now, 11:03 am EDT, with a bit more than 108,000 responses, 60% are giving him an “F” – come on, liberals, help your guy out!

Bismarck was once reported to have said that there is a special Providence for fools, drunkards and the United States of America – in the withdrawal of Charles Freeman to be intelligence chief, we can see that Bismarck’s dictum still holds:

President Barack Obama’s controversial pick for a top intelligence post blasted the “Israel lobby” on his way out the door Tuesday, intensifying a debate on the role Israel’s allies played in the latest failed Obama appointment.

Charles W. Freeman Jr.’s abrupt withdrawal from his appointment as chairman of the National Intelligence Council came after he drew fire on a number of fronts – including questions about his financial ties to China and Saudi Arabia.

But the most heated opposition came from supporters of Israel – and Freeman’s departure shows Obama’s reluctance to signal a change to a U.S. policy in the Middle East that centers on standing beside Israel.

“Controversial” doesn’t even begin to cover it – he’s a mere tool for Chinese and Islamists interest and the fact that he was even considered for the intel post shows how entirely out to lunch Obama’s national security team is. For crying out loud, the person in charge of advising the President on intelligence issues should be a patriot – but if we can’t have that, can we at least have someone who thinks that terrorism is inexcusable and Tienamen Square a crime against humanity? Naturally, such a person does not withdraw with good grace:

There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.

The outrageous agitation that followed the leak of my pending appointment will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. I regret that my willingness to serve the new administration has ended by casting doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the interests of the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government.

You see, it was The Jews who did him in – those nefarious sons of Israel and their world-wide web of control! Aha!

Yeah, whatever, Freeman. Tell ya what – I’ll bet that al-Jazeera will find a home for you. There you’ll be able to hang out with your like – the Michael Moores, Jimmy Carters, David Dukes, Noam Chomskys and other such dunderheaded fools who think that if we can just ditch Israel, people who hate us for what we are will come to love us…

How much more of this are we going to take?

The election of Barack Obama offered the promise of a new set of fixes for the financial crisis and the economy, a do-over that might help nurse the stock market back to health.Since then, the market hasn’t just gotten worse — it’s turned in its worst performance ever for a new president.

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen 21 percent during Obama’s first seven weeks in office. Count back to Election Day and the results are even bleaker: That afternoon, the Dow closed at 9,625. Now it stands at 6,547, a loss of 32 percent.

Obama’s ardent defenders will try to shift blame on Bush, but the markets clearly aren’t comforted by Obama’s proposals, and instead of easing tensions, he exasperates them. 

Market analysts usually play down the influence of presidents on the market but say this time could be different as taxpayer dollars prop up private companies and Obama’s first proposed budget stands at $3.6 trillion, with a gaping deficit.

In this case, said Wachovia Securities chief market analyst Alfred E. Goldman, investors are saying “they have no confidence in the stimulus package doing much stimulation anytime soon. And they’re greatly concerned about the size of the budget.”

On some of the most wrenching recent days in the market, it’s been easier to connect cause and effect.

The Dow sank 4 percent on Feb. 10 as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a new bank bailout plan that Wall Street immediately criticized as laughably light on details.

Several weeks later, investors shaved another 4 percent off the Dow after the government agreed to give insurer American International Group an extra $30 billion, bringing its loan total to $180 billion.

Now the Dow seems to drift lower day after day, with Wall Street waiting for clarity and selling in the meantime.

Investors want to know when and how the government will cleanse banks of bad debt and whether it will suspend accounting rules requiring companies to value assets at current market prices.

As the brilliant Thomas Sowell said, Obama should resign… maybe then the economy will get better.

This morning a blog post I wrote for the American Issues Project was published on their site. Do check it out. I have recently joined them as a blog contributor, and will post there a few times a week.

Have at it, dear friends, and liberals. Plenty to talk about today – one suggestion: Is Obama an idiot, or nefarious? Is he cutting America off at the knees ’cause he doesn’t realize the sword is sharp, or because he thinks we need cutting off at the knees?

And he’s just much smarter than any of us, so listen:

JH: Now, we’ve heard people say that this is a uniquely bad economic situation — that it could be as bad as the Depression, etc. However, looking at GDP and job loss numbers, it doesn’t look as bad as, say, the recession in the early 80s. So how bad is this really and if you were advising the president, what would you tell him to do?

Thomas Sowell: Resign.

JH: (Laughs) That would be helpful.

Thomas Sowell: Yes, because he is determined to interfere in the market. How did we get out of the recession in the early 80s? Reagan did nothing. The economy adjusted and we’ve had 20 years of growth, low inflation, and low unemployment. Many people argue that the New Deal got us out of the Depression by spending. Well, the New Deal spent for years without getting us out of the Depression and then the war came along. The defenders come along and say, “You see with the war, spending increased and that did it.” What the war did was put an end to the New Deal. When the New Deal ended, the economy revived…

…JH: Now, I’d like you to elaborate on something you wrote in National Review back in 2007:

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.

Thomas Sowell: That’s true, unfortunately. I just noticed this morning that … I am getting more and more emails from people who are simply despairing. They are saying that we may have reached the point of no return. We have had dumbed down education for enough generations that people don’t even realize that it’s dumbed down education. We have propaganda against all the institutions of this society, literally from the elementary school to the universities. You can’t raise a whole generation of people who don’t know how to think but are taught to resent anything that they don’t understand, and expect that you are going to survive in the long run.

JH: One last question: if John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Michael Steele — the guys who are leading the Republican Party today — came to you and said, “Thomas, we respect you. Tell us what you think we should be doing.” What would you tell them?

Thomas Sowell: One good thing they are doing right now is not going along with this stimulus. Too often, the Republicans have acted as if they have to be players and join in with the Democrats so we can all go over the cliff together. The other thing is that they have got to learn is to talk. The inarticulateness of the Republicans can be fatal politically.

Obama is a man entirely out of his depth and you don’t need the immense intellect of Thomas Sowell to see it – but it is important to understand that Obama’s plans are based on the false premise that the New Deal helped. It didn’t – it just made the Depression deeper and longer. You can’t spend money you don’t have an come out ahead of the game – the more you spend money you don’t have, the worse it gets. This can be easily understood by anyone sitting around in a swank house which has lost half its alleged value while surrounded by tip-top consumer goods and $35,000 in credit card debt at 29.99% – that guy, if he’s any sense at all, wishes he had no house and no goods and no debt.

Unfortunately, Obama and his boys and girls are not people who have actually had to live in the real world – ensconced in the overlapping worlds of advocacy, education and government, they’ve never had to produce a product for the market, nor measure up to a strict set of standards for success. And when we take the clueless (like Obama) and couple him with the corrupt (like Pelosi and Reid), then we get a toxic political mix which can result in utter catastrophe. The liberals are driving us off a cliff which will lead, at best, to an economic depression, at worse will land us in civil war.

The key, now, is for those who understand just how bad these liberals are is to stand fast – all of those, right, left and center, who know that Obama is a false promise and a tin-plated messiah must hold the line as much as possible, and work for a new political alignment in 2010 and 2012 to first slow, then reverse, the damage Obama and his Democrats are inflicting on the nation. There once was a liberal who did say something smart – we have nothing to fear but fear, itself.

Geesh:

The US and the UK are trying to refurbish the aging W76 warheads that tip Trident missiles to prolong their life and ensure they are safe and reliable but plans have been put on hold because US scientists have forgotten how to manufacture a mysterious but very hazardous component of the warhead codenamed Fogbank. ‘NNSA had lost knowledge of how to manufacture the material because it had kept few records of the process when the material was made in the 1980s, and almost all staff with expertise on production had retired or left the agency,’ says the report by a US congressional committee.

We’ll want to be working on this one, boys and girls.

In Obama’s overturning of the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research:

The U.S. bishops’ conference pro-life committee chairman is denouncing President Barack Obama’s executive order that will allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Cardinal Justin Rigali issued a response to the U.S. president’s order today that will allow federal tax dollars to be used to fund scientists in the destruction of live human embryos to develop stem cells for research.

The cardinal said: “President Obama’s new executive order on embryonic stem cell research is a sad victory of politics over science and ethics.

We don’t need embryonic stem cells to do stem cell research – we have plenty of other means of obtaining them and, indeed, while embryonic stem cells are proving worthless as a treatment, adult stem cells are proving ever more worthwhile. It is sheer culture of death bloody mindedness which impels Obama along this path – that plus the amount of research dollars and reputations already tied up in embryonic stem cells, and thus the vested interest in keeping this useless line of inquiry open.

Keep in mind, dear people, that we will be making human beings in order to kill them for our personal benefit – and that is only if, by some odd chance, a treatment actually comes out of embryonic stem cells. If, as I expect, embryonic stem cells continue to prove unusable, then we will have made human beings to kill them for nothing.