. . . about the NAFTA thing. Good. Then he's a normal politician, rather than a dangerously naive loose cannon.

Via Insty, who points out, with respect to yesterday's speculation about "which bunch of rubes" was supposed to be fooled by Obama's campaign, we now know. Insty, yesterday:

When it comes to things like NAFTA, there seem to be only two possibilities. Either Obama's anti-NAFTA talk is a ruse to fool the rubes, or his coterie of distinguished economic experts is a ruse to fool a different batch of rubes.

Asked for comment, the Obama campaign remarked, "wow! Did you see that? A bobcat! You don't spot many of those around here any more."

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

"It does seem odd that two candidates who claim they're going to 'repair America's world image' want to do so by ditching a treaty and starting trade wars."

Indeed.

And here's the Investor's Business Daily article he links, which discusses the Dems' stances with respect to NAFTA. Money quote:

America's capricious, chest-thumping protectionist ally, Mexico, a third-world nation that is trying hard to transform itself into a first, bears the brunt of this coded jingoism.

That's because trade pacts these days are about more than just trade — they represent long-term strategic partnerships. But after this talk, who'll want to sign a permanent trade deal knowing they'll be threatened by ambitious politicians every election season?

Far from being an enemy, Mexico is a partner with whom we did $350 billion in two-way trade last year. In the process, we've gained millions of high-paid jobs in the U.S. The relationship has boosted U.S. incomes an average $2,000 per family since 1994. Besides buying 35% of our global exports, Mexico and Canada are also two of our biggest oil suppliers, selling us energy we'd be in huge trouble without.

Casting NAFTA nations as villains sends a chilling message to the dozen other nations that have since signed NAFTA-like agreements — countries as friendly and diverse as Singapore, Jordan, El Salvador, Australia, Morocco and Chile.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 232 words, total size 2 kb.

At Belmont Club.

Now as to why reputable academic institutions should employ the likes of Ayers and Dohrn the answer is equally simple: solidarity. It's a solidarity that exists not only in the present but goes back through history. To observe that Adolf Hitler is reviled while Josef Stalin is still held in high regard by [the] Left may be seen by Goldberg as a contradiction. It is no such thing. It's just a fact. The Left isn't stupid. It's just on the other side.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:54 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 94 words, total size 1 kb.

Diebold dropped the ball:

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Via Joyner.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

Matt Lewis at the Townhall Blog:

Howard Dean is attempting to pull off a dirty trick that would result in McCain not having a fair chance to compete.

The fact that Dean, himself, did the same thing makes it all the more hypocritical. And the fact that Dean argues that it was okay for him -- because the FEC voted to allow him to opt out -- while knowing the FEC cannot meet to vote to allow McCain out, should they want to -- makes this look politically expedient, and too cute by half.

And Jennifer Rubin adds, over at Commentary:

Davis declared twice that the McCain camp would “be happy to debate all day” who has broken their word on public financing and whose record of commitment to reform is stronger. (He reviewed some highlights of McCain’s career, including the Abramoff and Boeing investigations and the passage of campaign finance reform laws–which he accomplished over objections from his party and to his political detriment.)

The bottom line: the McCain people recognize they are essentially entering the general election battle and want to prevent Obama (as he did with Hillary Clinton) from stealing the mantle of reformer/change agent. I would expect to hear far more of the McCain camp line that “there is only one candidate” who broke his promise regarding campaign funding.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 235 words, total size 2 kb.

Ace on the Obama connection to domestic terrorists Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers:

Let me ask everyone a question: A man brutally murders his wife. Fifteen years pass, and now he's paroled.

He invites you to a party to discuss business possibilities with you. He does have money, and he could actually offer you some decent opportunities.

Do you go? Or do you not even dignify this murderer with a "no"?

For some reason, the hard left—of which Barack Hussein Obama appears increasingly to be a part—feels that there is some distinction between a terrorist and a murderer, and while the murderer perhaps should be socially ostracized, one can still do business with, and pal around with, the terrorist.

Why they believe this is a question no one in the MSM has bothered to ask them.

That was one of the things that changed for many of us in the wake of 9/11. Most Americans found themselves unable to tolerate any sort of terrorism any more, once we'd seen it up close. Irish-Americans stopped sending money to the IRA. It was over. Finished.

As a nation, we experienced a consciousness shift: most of us no longer found it possible to proclaim that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

Sure: a few of my far-left friends continued to defend, for example, Palestinian actions against "soft targets" (read: civilians), but the era of terrorist chic had come to a close.

For most of us.

Not so, apparently, for Barack Obama.*

Remember: The Weathermen sighed—and people died.

These are legitimate issues for the mainstream media—or possibly some responsible journalists—to ask the Obama campaign about.

* According to the Little Miss Attila style sheet, use of Barack Obama's middle name still constitutes dirty pool. Please recall that my sister's middle name is Syrian. Anyone who'd like to make an issue of this is invited to try. I suggest you wear Kevlar for that interview, however.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 353 words, total size 2 kb.

Over at InstaPundit:

The Swing Voter is completely outraged by the New York Times story—she vows to no longer take the Times—nay, not even for the Sunday crossword. She is also now thinking seriously about voting for McCain just to spite The New York Times.

I found myself offering a tepid defense of what really is a pretty indefensible story: to wit, that reporters in cases like this usually know more they can tell, because so many sources refuse to go on the record. The Swing Voter was unmoved. She feels like the Times, and the sort of people who staff the Times, feel that they are entitled to manipulate the election in order to get the "right" results—that such a story would never have run about a Democrat. No doubt the folks at the Times would strenuously disagree—but it matters that people feel that way. I seriously doubt my mother is the only one.

I'm quite sure she is not.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:24 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 173 words, total size 1 kb.

Cécile Grégoriadès interviewed me last week in my "adopted hometown" of Santa Monica, California, about the upcoming national election—and listened just as carefully to my stories of going to high school in Dogtown as she did to my views on John McCain.

She's a sweet, wonderful woman. Very bright. We were in her neighborhood, down by Main Street. I knew I was being silly, but I insisted on walking her back to her apartment building. Never mind that she towers over me: it's a mixed area, and I know how to handle the South side of Santa Monica. Hell—I used to live in Venice, until the drug dealers chased me out. Some part of me felt that it was no area for people who are truly nice. And never mind that houses there start at a bit over a million dollars; the bums are still always out in force.

Hey! Nobody told me that an interview with Le Monde would be published in . . . French. No fair!

Seriously: If only my French weren't so nonexistent/sucky.* But the interviews actually play in both languages on Le Monde's site—English first, translation second; the quality is remarkably good, and having the audio in the background while one reads the interviews is a good multi-media approach, shy of having to videotape every interview one conducts. Nice blend of online "print" and podcasting. And Cécile has a great microphone.

A special shout-out to Cécile: remarkably sensitive in her questions, she listened very well to what could have been quite a "hard right" point of view on American national security issues. (I am less right-wing on other topics, of course.)

* I did get, however, find out at CPAC that I was still able to converse in pidgin German with a couple of European journalists. At least, I rather think I did; I was on my second dirty martini at the time.

UPDATE: Place this quote:

"Le Monde? It's a great price, for a small vice."

UPDATE 2: David Linden writes in from New York City:

Mon Dieu!

The interview is great. The photo, however, makes it look like some Islamo-Fascist just stuck a baguette up your ass.

His ex-girlfriend, aka the Manhattan Moosette, assures me that the translation seems fairly accurate.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:33 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 392 words, total size 3 kb.

But does Obama know what the term "semi-automatic firearm" means?

I mean, other than Big Bad Gun?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:07 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

I do think The New York Times did Senator McCain a big favor by bringing out a rather weak slam piece with such . . . obvious . . . timing.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

my beloved Jonathan Rauch makes me choose between loving him, and disliking McCain as intensely as I have been wont to do.

I think Rauch's star will simply have to "settle" a bit within the big black sky of my heart.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

J. Peter Freire, writing in AmSpec on the current (somewhat anemic, IMO) McCain scandal:

The story is simply a catalogue of potential sins that are never realized, offered by sources that are never named. No wonder McCainiacs are ticked. Yet this is precisely the sort of scrutiny of moral conscience that McCain has supported.

The NRA and the ACLU both can't buy ad time in the days before an election because doing so, by virtue of the ethical senator's own philosophy, is manipulating the people and hurting democracy. But when McCain hops a flight with a campaign contributor, it ought to be obvious that he's maintaining his integrity. Why is it that associations comprised of every day citizens are suspect, but a powerful politician is not?

Sure, he's a son of a bitch. But he's the son of a bitch who's getting crammed down our throats.

Via Megan McArdle, who mentioned this over at Insty's place.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:03 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 170 words, total size 1 kb.

Larry Kudlow on the End of Inevitability:

Hillary's best bet to preserve her career as a professional politician? Pull back significantly in Texas and Ohio, as a prelude to withdrawal. Bill will say no, 'cause his career is even deader than hers. But Hillary has more class than he does. She still has some vague sense of reality, of the difference between right and wrong, even if he does not.

The Intrade pay-to-play prediction market shows Obama with a 7.5-point gain tonight, giving him a 78 to 20 lead. That's right, 78 to 20. Hillary has suddenly become an incredibly steep inverted yield curve, with a rapidly declining credit rating and a complete drying up of liquidity. She won't be able to raise two wooden nickels, and not even Bill can raise enough money in Dubai to keep her out of bankruptcy.

As of tonight, the market has officially pulled the plug, terminating her campaign. The only thing left for her is to muster some grace, humility and character to begin the process of pulling out. To do otherwise will destroy the Democratic party and what's left of the Clintons' badly tarred and tattered reputation.

The real winner tonight? That chap from Arizona. Captain John McCain.

Ann Coulter couldn't be reached for comment, but that likely won't last long . . . She and I are now both officially out of options. It's McCain.

There. I said it.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:25 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 246 words, total size 2 kb.

Hillary's a hunter!

She learned how to hunt from her father in Arkansas . . . she did grow up in Arkansas, didn't she? Or she used to go duck hunting in suburban Illionois—one of the two.

Via Insty.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:11 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.

All the testosterosphere cares about is, "is she hawt?"

And she is. End of story.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

At least, he's outspending Clinton there, according to Sean. By a considerable margin, too.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:03 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.

on the rather delicate issue of whether the DNC will adhere to its own primary rules, or—well, count every vote from disenfranchised Florida and Michigan:

The problems this poses for the Democrats are political, not legal. It is well established through a line of Supreme Court and lower court decisions that the political parties can set virtually any rules they wish for selecting a nominee. Burt Neuborne, NYU law professor, explains succinctly that "political parties are free to structure their nominating processes any way they want, as long as they don't discriminate on the basis of race." Most recently, Senator Bill Nelson's failed district court case in Florida (Democratic Party v. Jones) showed that the courts have little interest in meddling with the internal rules of a party, regardless of how important the stakes.

However, the issue is not merely a legal one for the DNC or for the potential nominee. This is, you will recall, the same party that championed the cry of "count every vote" when George Bush and Al Gore fought over Florida's vote and again when the results from Ohio in 2004 showed a close, election-ending victory for Bush. Then the party officialdom, egged on by the usual gang of liberal civil rights groups, argued that even though the result might not produce a different outcome the principle of making every citizen's vote matter was paramount.

In anticipation of an ugly floor fight and to avoid offending voters in two key states the DNC may try to broker a "deal," a compromise of sorts to count or partially count the prior returns and have a new caucus or convention in the spring so Michigan and Florida voters can have a say. Clinton would like nothing better, of course, ideally to vault her into the lead in the delegate count or, at the very least, to demonstrate an underlying weakness in her opponent and pique the superdelegates' interest in swinging the nomination her way. Obama, on the other hand, likely wants no surprises, no recount, and no rule changes at this point.

Aside from the delicious possibility that the Democrats will be tied up in knots and create real excitement at the convention, political observers and operatives have reason to be concerned about the outcome of this fight. On one hand, the ability of the parties to make and enforce rules is at stake. As pollster and political analyst Charlie Cook puts it, "This is a fight over whether appropriately-adopted party rules matter, or whether there is electoral anarchy, with any state doing what they darn well please." If there is any hope to enforce a more rational primary calendar in the future, the DNC must stick to, or be perceived as sticking, to its guns.

However, the Democrats' own rhetoric is coming home to roost. The NAACP Chairman Julian Bond has already written a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean expressing "great concern at the prospect that million of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted." Upping the ante, he went on to contend that excluding these delegates would revive memories of the "sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries."

On a more mundane partisan level, Democrats would be wary about telling voters from the always key state of Florida that, unlike 2000, their votes really shouldn't count. Republicans would certainly like nothing better [than] to welcome snubbed Florida Democrats with open arms.

So even though the nomination may not hang on it, the ongoing battle over Michigan and Florida's delegates may prove to be an ongoing source of agony for the Democrats. That can only mean one thing for Republicans: grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy the show.

I'll be buying it in bulk during the Dem convention; this should be good. After all, without a real Republican candidate to vote for, I'll have to take my pleasure where I can find it for the foreseeable future.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 670 words, total size 4 kb.

Assassinations of progressives are so 1960s, at least in this country.

It was kind of a mid-century fad—like those colored glass balls attached to branches of wood and made to look like oversized bunches of grapes. Weren't those on, like, every coffee table in America for a year or two? While "My Beautiful Balloon" played on the radio, and booths were installed in the corners of every avocado-green-accented kitchen? That was right before we started in on the shag carpeting, IIRC.

The last time someone made a try for a President, it was Ronald Reagan, a Republican. And the most heartbreaking Presidential assassination in this country has to remain that of Abraham Lincoln. He was a Democrat, though. Right? Right?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

and McCain's tin ear when it comes to conservative voters (and the rest of 'em, for that matter):

The only people who care about public financing of campaigns are so-called “good government” wonks. This issue is nowhere on voters’ radars. Sure, it’s part of McCain’s brand as a reformer, but it doesn’t put Obama on the defensive. The Illinois Senator can shrug it off by countering that he’ll focus on issues that actually affect the American people: health care; the economy; and the Iraq War. While Obama will look more engaged with voters McCain will appear more abstract and aloof.

To make matters worse for McCain talking about public financing of campaigns will irritate conservative critics. It not only brings up the disagreement many have with him on his namesake first amendment restriction legislation, but many conservatives consider public financing as campaign socialism.

Why bother with an issue that will gain him little advantage when thereÂ’s an issue sitting right in front of him begging for a strong, passionate approach? For the life of me I canÂ’t understand why McCain hasnÂ’t taken up the Berkeley-Marines issue. Some straight talk in defense of U.S. Marines would galvanize conservatives and create a wedge between the anti-war/military Left and independents and law-and-order types Sens. Clinton and Obama want in November.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

UPDATE: McCain went after Obama over earmarks and transparency. ThatÂ’s a much better issue. He needs to forget campaign finance and sink his teeth deep on this.

RTWT; he's got links and stuff.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 277 words, total size 2 kb.

what kind of change is it, exactly, that you had in mind?

Insty:

Obama's policy proposals are getting a lot more attention than they did before Hillary's inevitability broke down. Like Mike Huckabee, he got a "nice guy" pass when people thought he didn't have a shot, but a few wins in a row and he's starting to get major-candidate scrutiny. Some Obama supporters object to such scrutiny, but their claims ring rather hollow. After all, he is running for President.

The audacity of asking questions . . .

"O Bama, Oh oh Bama." I love that song. Go buy David's book, now: he spends the proceeds on feeding me when I'm on the East Coast. Really. I think I gained weight during my two days in Baltimore this time.

And he forced port and excellent Scotch upon me. I take it back: buy two copies. They make great, um, Easter gifts.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 164 words, total size 1 kb.