Silver linings etc.

If Obama wins and the expected Democrat gains in the House and Senate materialize, the party will finally be on board with the War on Terror. Why? Because Democrats would finally have to leave the children’s table and come eat with the adults.

There would no longer be any Bush and/or Republican majority to blame for any potential attack on the US; when you have to…you know…govern, it’s a whole new ballgame. Suddenly a domestic attack would not only be bad for the country, it would be bad for the party.

That changes everything. Suddenly spying on, detaining and interrogating or even killing terrorists won’t seem such a bad idea. Sure, the Kos/HuffPo/MoveOn crowd will howl in protest and make all kinds of profane threats, but ultimately they would return to pom-pom waving – you don’t really expect them and the Soros money machine that finds them to start backing Republicans, do you?

Much as it’s hard to find anybody who admits to being an anti-anti-Communist today, a Democrat sweep will turn critics of “domestic spying” and “torture” into an endangered species.

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Another change would be big media’s treatment of the poor. One thing to keep in mind whenever you see income statistics used to make points about poverty: most of the true income of the poor does not come in the form of what most of us think of as income.

About 78% (source: Thomas Sowell) of the economic resources used by people in the bottom quintile of income comes in the form of cash transfer payments (welfare, food stamps etc.) and in-kind transfers (subsidized housing, medical care etc.).

Thus quoted “income” statistics can take the form of true income or only income earned from working, which leaves out more than 3/4 of true income. Expect the poor to suddenly be reported as much better off in the event of a Democrat sweep, even if they don’t have another penny beyond what they did during the Bush administration.

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Random statistic: Spanish-speaking US immigrants earn 50-60% more if they also speak English, according to Mexico’s TV Azteca. Think about that the next time you hear some activist saying that it’s racist to require immigrants to learn English.

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You often hear that this is the first election since 1952 that neither the president nor the vice president will be his party’s presidential nominee.

What you don’t hear as much is that this is the first election since 1928 that neither the president nor the vice president has sought the presidency. Truman dropped out of the 1952 race after an early primary loss.

So if you’re looking to precedent to figure out how this year’s election will go…good luck with that.

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Fascinating admission from Zahir Muhse’in, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, in a 1977 interview with the Amsterdam-based newspaper Trouw (via Front Page Magazine):

“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct “Palestinian people” to oppose Zionism. [Emphasis added.]

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Is there a New York Times Worst Seller List?

Nancy Pelosi’s new book sold 2,737 copies in its first week. And I have to wonder, even of that paltry number, how many were bought by Democrat-leaning organizations to use as rewards for contributors. 2,700?

The First Amendment may guarantee freedom of speech, but it does not guarantee that anybody will listen or take you seriously.