It appears as though there’s a major discrepancy in how many people attended today’s ‘Back Jack’ rally. Here’s how the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review saw it:

An estimated 2,000 people assembled in the city’s downtown to support Murtha, a Johnstown Democrat, who will be the focus of an opposition rally today at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena by the group BootMurtha.org, which orchestrated a similar campaign against Democrats U.S. Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts and former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, of Georgia.

Here’s how the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat saw it:

Local supporters gathered Saturday by the hundreds with picket signs and ponchos, cheering on a congressman they believe has been unjustly attacked. And when U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, and his wife, Joyce, walked onto the stage at Central Park, the crowd closed in around the pair, supporters reaching out to shake Murtha’s hand.

Here’s how WJAC-TV called it:

A couple of hundred veterans come out to “Back Jack” Saturday.
The “Back Jack Murtha Rally” was held in Johnstown’s Central Park aimed to give Congressman Murtha support with his stance on the war. Gov. Rendell, former Presidential Candidate Wesley Clark, and Former Senator Max Cleland were among those supporting Congressman Murtha.

WJAC has posted the video of the event here.

Please tell me how 2,000 people “close in around the pair.” Based on KJAC’s video, I’m hard pressed to see 2,000 people.

I’ve done some digging into the size of Central Park in Johnstown, PA. follow this link to view the map of the block where Central Park is located. Based on the map’s table, the block that Central Park is located on is approximately 500 ft. X 250 ft., give or take 50 ft. I also found out that there’s at least one cafe on the block so that shrinks the square footage available.

Based on the video, the size of Central Park, and the reporting, I’d say that those that say there was a large crowd in excess of 2,000 people are telling a whopper of Murtha-esque proportions.

Technorati Tags: Murtha, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Johnstown Tribune-Democrat

Cross-posted at Murtha Must Go

John Murtha never met an ethical code that he couldn’t rationalize away. That wasn’t more in evidence than in the days leading up to the pro-Murtha Rally. In a Pittsburgh Tribune Review article, Rich Cholodofsky reports that the Westmoreland County Republican Party has uncovered some wrongdoing. Here’s the details on that:

Westmoreland County Republicans on Friday accused county government officials of promoting the campaign of U.S. Rep John Murtha using taxpayer resources. John Panichella, the director of the county’s Veterans Affairs Office, is coordinating a bus trip for this morning’s pro-Murtha rally in Johnstown and doing so from his fifth-floor office in the courthouse, according to Westmoreland GOP Chairman Perry Christopher.
“It’s not proper use of government and it’s not right,” Christopher said. “This is a partisan event, and I don’t think he can use his office like that. It makes it look like the department of Veterans Affairs supports Murtha, and I don’t believe the county can do that.” Panichella did not dispute the allegations, but said he never viewed his efforts as political. He said representatives from Murtha’s campaign contacted him several weeks ago and asked that he coordinate the bus trip so local veterans could attend the rally. Panichella said no county tax dollars are being used to pay for the bus or any of his organizing activities. “I was organizing veterans in support of John Murtha. It didn’t matter if they were Democrat or Republican,” Panichella said.
On literature promoting the Murtha rally, Panichella is listed as a local contact for veterans who wanted to attend the campaign event. He is identified as head of the county’s Veterans Affairs Office along with a telephone number that rings through to his desk at the courthouse. (continue reading post »)

I just got done reading the transcript from Nick in Daytona’s call into Rush’s Friday show. I’ve gotta say that he’s got it exactly right. Here’s a collection of what “Nick in Daytona” said:

Listen, I am sick and tired of talking about Democrats taking over the Senate and the Democrats when we should be talking about burying these people! We should be talking about a ten-point race in Florida that Katherine Harris can win over Nelson and sending those people home. And the reason why I’m so upset, in about one or two hours, my daughter, the angel of my heart, is going to land in Baghdad, and she’s going to do guard duty. And you want to know something? She’s going to put on a bulletproof vest that Kerry voted against, that he voted against. My joy, the only child I have. That’s all I got to give.
—————
And I’m sick and tired of these people who may sit in a seat in the Senate, but they just simply don’t care about this country. They don’t care about my daughter. They don’t care about me. They’re not willing to make the sacrifices! They want their power. You know what, if we send Bill Nelson home, he’ll have a job as a lobbyist in a month. We don’t have to feel sorry for the Democrats. We don’t have to feel sorry for the moderate Democrats. We need to start winning seats. We need to take more seats. We need to own more of it, because we’re the only people who are serious about fighting this war and winning it and saving our country.
—————
We need to win seats, and we’re going to. America is tired of sitting back and have to go fight with itself and wrestle power in order to make decisions and to do the right thing.

People, I’m betting that that spirit is running through lots of you. I’m betting that you’re already volunteering in local Victory Offices to get your local slate of conservatives elected. I’m betting that you’ve already contributed to Republican candidates. I’m betting that you haven’t seen any of the disgruntled or dispirited Republicans that the Agenda Media has talked endlessly about.

You know why I’m willing to make that bet? Because we know that policy matters. We know that there’s a clear difference between Republicans and Democrats not named Lieberman on the issue of preventing terrorist attacks. We know that most Republicans believe in securing our borders. We know that that won’t happen with Democrats controlling either house of Congress. (continue reading post »)

(via Yahoo! Picks)
Anousheh Ansari boasts many firsts: She’s the first female space tourist, the first astronaut of Iranian descent—and, now, the first civilian to blog from beyond Earth’s orbit. Her account of training for, blasting toward, and taking up temporary residence on the International Space Station is filled with rousing moments and some marvelous video (space flight will do that for a blog). However, we loved it as much for its intimacy. From Anousheh’s posts, we learned that space smells like a “burned almond cookie.” We read of what it’s like to stare at our planet from so far away, how easy it is for ISS crew members to bruise their feet, and how they brush their teeth in zero gravity. Anousheh has since returned to terra firma, and we join with the hundreds posting to her site to say: Welcome home, space traveler! (in Astronomy and Space)

—

And we hope she’ll never forget what made her flight possible: Western freedom and democracy.

See her video at XPrize.org

RELATED:
First Female Space Tourist: Thanks to
Western Democracy and Capitalism

Technorati Tags: Anousheh Ansari, Space blog, Democracy, Iran

The Democratic strategy thus far is heavily reliant on polling, not common sense, playing politics instead of advocating clear, and appealing, policies. Daniel Henninger says that that won’t work and I agree with him.

After the White House released the NIE summary late Tuesday afternoon, reporters reading it for the first time on the Web undoubtedly kept hitting the Page Down button on their PCs. This is it!? Three crummy pages that anyone could have boiled down from a Foreign Affairs “Wither Iraq?” symposium.
The Democrats’ problem is this: They are trying to beat policy with politics and weaken belief with polls. This may work for Social Security. I don’t think it works with war. Don’t be surprised if come November, Democrats are still on message, Iraq as failure, and still in the minority.

It’s telling that the Democratic Party has hitched its wagon so closely to such a nothing report. I’m guessing that they’re still thinking that their media allies will carry the ball after they’ve made the initial allegations. For that strategy to work, they have to rely on you not thinking for yourself, instead taking the word of the NY Times, Washington Post and CBS. That strategy worked before people tied into the internet but it’s an obsolete strategy now.

But at this late stage of the campaign, Iraq-as-failure has become the central narrative in the Democrats’ strategy. A memo sent out to Democrats last week by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a strategy group led by former Clinton pollster Stan Greenberg, discusses Mr. Bush’s “failure in Iraq, which energized Democrats and dispirited Republicans.” It urges Democrats: “On Iraq, stress Bush/GOP ‘mismanagement’ and need for a ‘new direction.’”

Not only have the Democrats hitched their electoral successes to the NIE report but they’ve also hitched their wagon to the hope that lots of people agree with their confusing menu of ‘Get out of Iraq’ policies. There’s a big chance of people voting Republican because of the Democrats’ increasing unseriousness on the terrorism issue.

People might disagree with President Bush’s Iraq war policy but they don’t doubt that he’s serious in fighting terrorists. The same can’t be said about Democrats.

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Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Well, not really. But it’s equivalent to this story.

AP reports: “Mexico said Friday it will try to persuade President Bush not to sign a bill that would extend a wall along the border in an effort to stop illegal immigrants.”

“We think it is a gesture that doesn’t reflect the friendship between nations of Latin America and the Caribbean and the United States.” – Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, who strongly criticized the legislation to build a 700-mile border fence, which the Senate approved Friday and sent to Bush to sign.

Strong fences make good neighbors.

So, what’s the real concern for Mexico?

“There are an estimated 11 million Mexicans in the United States, about half of whom are illegal. Last year, Mexican migrants sent home more than $20 billion in remittances, providing Mexico with its second biggest source of foreign income after oil.”

Bottom line (as usual): the almighty dollar.

U.S. fence ends immigration dream of Mexico’s Fox

That’s Reuters headline. Bring out the Kleenex…

“Mexican President Vicente Fox retires in November with his dream shattered of a U.S. immigration overhaul that would allow millions more Mexicans to work legally north of the border.”

Now there’s an economic plan wrapped within a foreign policy: Instead of developing your own nation and “creating jobs,” as politicians like to say, Mexico’s government sees a better opportunity in exporting the workers and importing their paychecks. Right on, we’re following.

Even with a border fence and stricter enforcement of our immigration laws, can’t we still be friends?

“I don’t think there is a decision to turn away from the United States,” said former ambassador Andres Rozental, of the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs.

Really? y’think?

“We all recognize in this country, and I think Calderon [the successor to Fox] does too, that our relationship with the United States is the most important one we have…”

Mexico, which sends around 90 percent of its exports to the United States, still has very close links to the north.