VIDEO: Graham Hits Sotomayor Hard

I was very critical of Lindsey Graham about a month ago when he said, "To call her (Sotomayor) a racist is out of bounds". He came across as wimpy and then trumped himself when he suggested she should apologize for her "inappropriate" comments about a "wise latina woman" having better judgment than a "white male".

That said, he did well today. You DON'T have to tell me that Senate hearings are shows for constituents and that Graham was probably throwing some red meat to those who took the time to file complaints with his office. He Still did well and his efforts may have far-reaching consequences.

If you watch none of this video, do yourself a favor and watch from 14:45 and don't stop until you've seen three minutes. It is the quintessential rebuke to reverse discrimination and Sotomayor is the rightful target.

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NOTE: Did you catch the part of the exchange when Graham attempted to read the "Wise Latina" quote aloud but couldn't find the document containing it and asked Sotomayor if she remembered it. When she said, "yes", he asked her to recite it (because he couldn't locate it). I'd like to give him credit for an attempt to get her to give us the visual image (with live audio) of her repeating those comments but likely just an inadvertent misplacement.

At that point, Sotomayor knew that the video recording of her reciting the infamous quote again (regardless of context) would have been dagger-esque so she sat there with a rather dumb look on her face for a few moments. If Graham would have held out a little longer, he may have either created a very uncomfortable situation for Sotomayor OR gotten her to recite her racist comment for the EIGHTH time.

Oh well, he did ok anyway.


h/t to Hot Air

VIDEO: Obama Booed in St. Louis

Maybe you hear cheers and maybe I'm tone deaf so get me a Q-Tip. In any case, six months after being sworn in, Obama is confronted with a LESS than stellar reaction.



Heck, it IS St. Louis. Maybe he should have summoned the Barack Obama Truth Squad to keep everyone in line.

VIDEO: United Airlines A Little Upset

The "United Breaks Guitars" video is causing more YouTube fallout. On Tuesda, July 9th, CNN reported on the story and the video. They reported that United reached out to Dave Carroll after only 50,000 views! Guess what? As of July 14th, his video is at 2.8 Million views.

United's official statement was that they were going to use it as an internal training exercise (translation: they were going to try to make chicken salad out of chicken you know what).

If you want to view the actual CNN report, here it is.



And of course, to watch the video that started it all...

Walpin-Gate going Bi-Partisan?

There are two writers who seem to be doing most of the legwork in reporting on the Unjustly-fired Inspector General story. Byron York at the Washington Examiner and Robert Stacy McCain at American Spectator. They seem to be taking turns reporting on the story, which seems to be keeping it fresh.

The latest installment comes from McCain, who reports that the investigation is revealing raised bi-partisan eyebrows, which can't be all that pleasing to Obama.

In his piece, The Little Scandal that Could, McCain points out that Lieberman, who once showed reticence to question the Walpin firing actually appeared to backtrack after the Washington Times reported that fact.

....when accused by the Washington Times of "punting" the Walpin case, Lieberman responded that he was "committed to conducting an independent review to make sure Mr. Walpin's termination was not arbitrary, capricious, punitive, or political." And the suspicious circumstances surrounding that termination continue to be investigated.

AmeriCorps is under the Corporation for National Community Service (CNCS), which secured taxpayer money for AmeriCorps, who issued to St. HOPE, a non-profit organization under Sacramento Mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson.

$850k was, to put it kindly, allegedly squandered and the settlement between CNCS and AmeriCorps was to give Johnson a slap on the wrist and allow him to continue receiving taxpayer money.

Walpin protested and that's apparently when the trouble started (why 100% of the American people aren't applauding Walpin is beyond me but oh, well).

In any case, McCain is right about this story continuing to chug along.

CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!

CHUG A LUG!



h/t to Michelle Malkin

VIDEO: Sotomayor Not so Wise Today

Before I get to what struck me about today's round of hearings in the Sonia "Ignore my comments, my rulings, and my affiliations" Sotomayor, let's start with the "Wise Latina" woman comments that got her in a bit of trouble today. It's very important to remember that she said these words on six or seven different occasions. To illustrate, here is the quote seven times.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

Yes, on at least six (maybe seven) occasions, nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor uttered those words. Today, she said the words were misunderstood and she shouldn't have used them. They fell "flat" according to Sotomayor.

So we're to believe she DIDN'T think those words fell flat after the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth time she said them. They fell flat when it was time to SAY they did in order to get confirmed, right Ms. Sotomayor?

Here's a video of her taking questions about her comments from Jeff Sessions (R - Alabama) today.



h/t to Hot Air for the link.

Puff Piece in WaPo on new AFL-CIO President Shredded

It's only going to be a matter of time before those who support the MSM begin to get victimized by the same entities they're championing. Chris Cillizza writes a Puff Piece Profile on new AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka and it's ripped apart by.............a Left Wing blog?

h/t to NewsBusters for uncovering the "selective reporting" uncovered by The New Republic.

Cillizza's profile of Trumka highlight's the latter's history as a uniter and not a divider when it comes to bringing groups togethery. In light of the current status of the AFL-CIO, such a man would be envied.

The long and short of it is that the AFL-CIO has lost member unions to a competitor called "Change to Win". The more well-known defectors are SEIU and Teamsters. Cillizza apparently had softballs dancing in his head at the keyboard because he never questioned, challenged, nor reported on Trumka's questionable past. In fact, what Cillizza did was akin to grilling an onion without taking off the dried, outer brown layer.

Quoting from John B. Judis' piece in New Republic...

The story (Cillizza's piece) fails to mention that Trumka himself was one of the reasons for the split. In 1996, James P. Hoffa ran for president of the Teamsters against the incumbent Ron Carey. Carey won the election, but the results were thrown out when federal officials discovered that Carey campaign people were illicitly using Teamster funds for his campaign. Carey’s campaign would send the money to individuals in other organizations ostensibly for other purposes and the individuals and organizations would arrange for the money to be donated back to the Carey campaign.

According to a statement made by Carey’s former campaign manager, Trumka and the AFL-CIO were involved in this money-laundering scheme. At Trumka’s request, $150,000 was sent to the AFL-CIO for get-out-the-vote efforts in the 1996 general election. The money was then sent to Citizen Action, a community organizing group, which passed it back to the Carey campaign. While Trumka was mentioned in the federal complaint, he was not indicted. And he refused to testify in the federal investigation on fifth amendment grounds. So nothing has been proven, but you would probably have a hard time finding a labor official – and particularly one at the Teamsters – who doesn’t believe Trumka was laundering money for Carey.

If there's any truth to this, being a fly on the wall of Hoffa's office while he's reading Cillizza's piece just might command a hefty premium.

Read Cillizza's piece for yourself.

Sarah Palin sounds like Dagny Taggart

In 'Atlas Shrugged', Dagny Taggart ran a railroad and corrupt powers prevented her from running her business. With Sarah Palin, oil and gas pipelines are facing similar opposition. In a column by Sarah Palin that appears in the Washington Post today, she says the following:

Our 3,000-mile natural gas pipeline will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America. We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.

On July 3rd, I wrote that Palin's decision to resign made sense if her motivation involved going on offense.

As Governor and former VP Candidate, the abuse she's endured has been malicious, cruel, unjustified, and the kind I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy (not the least of which involved a despicable left wing blogger distorting the face of Palin's Down Syndrome son, Trig). And guess what? The attacks were effective because they put Palin on the defensive in almost every instance.

Not anymore. In her editorial, she slams Obama's policies. More importantly, her words are going to force the Obama Pawns to respond, which means they will have to switch from offense to defense, if only for a little while.

With justified attacks on the Obama economy, Cap and Trade, and unemployment, Palin delivers some VERY STRONG body blows.

In 'Atlas Shrugged', Dagny refused to be denied when it came to building a bridge to Wyatt Oil. Palin is showing a similar tendency by insisting that Alaskan oil be made available to the lower 48.

h/t to Gateway Pundit

ACORN Whistleblower Speaks Out

Michael McCray is a former member of ACORN and now one of the ACORN 8, which is a group that is demanding that ACORN's funding be withheld until an investigation is completed. Doug Ross interviewed McCray and posted it to his blog.

Read the whole thing here.

McCray maintains that all of the manifestations of ACORN's corrupt practices that we've all come to know and love are just symptoms. The real problems, says McCray, are the corrupt leaders (hmmmmm, sounds like the U.S. government's problem too).

Anyway, ACORN is run with a militant mindset and a union-like structure. Don't believe me, just listen to a guy who was on the inside. As you read McCray's words, think about how often what he says here is said about some Unions.

the biggest shortfall is that ACORN has become unaccountable to the needs and desires of its membership; while purporting to be (and claiming benefits from) being a membership organizations. I believe ACORN has been hijacked by a cabal of individuals who are acting in their own financial and political best interest.

Now for the militant part, which is even more disturbing in light of what Barack Obama has said on video.

Some pray, some write letters, some make phone calls but ACORN goes to “war,” they will engage in immediate direct action for the benefit of low and moderate income families. In a way ACORN is like the Marines.

ACORN is like the "Marines" and "goes to war"?

The founder of Community Organizing was Saul Alinsky. If you listen to Alinsky's son David, Barack Obama is Community Organizing's Golden Boy.

Let's not forget Saul's methods...

The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.

Or this...

Through a process combining hope and resentment, the organizer tries to create a “mass army” that brings in as many recruits as possible from local organizations, churches, services groups, labor unions, corner gangs, and individuals.

Now have a look at Barack Obama on July 2nd, 2008 while in Colorado.