This CBS article provides some impressive statistics that prove the Surge is working. Here’s what I’m talking about:

There were 28 combat dead in November. Compare that to 120 killed last May as the troop surge was reaching full strength, reports CBS News national security
correspondent David Martin.

Here’s another statistic that tells the same story:

“The IED attacks are down about 50 percent from a peak about three or four months ago,” Ret. Gen. Montgomery Meigs says.

This statistic is the one that startled me:

In the first six months of their deployment, the 10th Mountain Division had 93 vehicles destroyed by roadside bombs. In the last six months, just one.

Finally, there’s these statistics:

Marines fighting in the once wild west of al Anbar province have not suffered a combat death since October 8.

Bethesda Naval Hospital used to care for as many as 50 wounded Marines at a time; today there are 10.

Perhaps these statistics are why John Murtha admitted that the surge is working. Perhaps they’re the reason why the Pew Research Poll shows a marked shift in public opinion towards the war:

For the first time in a long time, nearly half of Americans express positive opinions about the situation in Iraq. A growing number says the U.S. war effort is going well, while greater percentages also believe the United States is making progress in reducing the number of Iraqi casualties, defeating the insurgents and preventing a civil war in Iraq. (continue reading post »)

This Politico article is more proof that it isn’t 2006 anymore. No section illustrates that better than this section:

Rep. Jim Cooper, a moderate Democrat from Tennessee, said not a single constituent has asked about the war during his nearly two-week long Thanksgiving recess. Rep. Michael E. Capuano, an anti-war Democrat from Massachusetts, said only three of 64 callers on a town hall teleconference asked about Iraq, a reflection that the war may be losing power as a hot-button issue in his strongly Democratic district.

First-term Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.), echoing a view shared by many of her colleagues, said illegal immigration and economic unease have trumped the Iraq war as the top-ranking concerns of her constituents.

In an interview with Politico, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) attributed the change to a recent reduction of violence and media coverage of the conflict, saying there is scant evidence that more fundamental problems with the Bush administration’s policy are improving. Even so, he agreed voters are certainly talking less about the war. “People are not as engaged daily with the reality of Iraq,” Hoyer said.

The change in mood perceived by Democratic lawmakers comes as one of Congress’ most vocal war critics, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), returned from a trip to Iraq and told reporters Thursday that “the surge is working” to improve security, even though the central government in Baghdad remains “dysfunctional.”

The apparent shift in voter intensity about Iraq, also captured in some polls, shows how dramatically the political context of the war debate has changed from last summer. (continue reading post »)

By now, everyone’s heard about or read CNN’s statement that attempts to justify the Democratic plants at the CNN/YouTube debate Wednesday night. Here’s the part I find utterly phoney:

“The whole point of these ground-breaking CNN/YouTube debates is to focus on
substantive questions of concern to real people and to throw open the process to a wider range of Americans all around the country. CNN cared about what you asked, not who you were. This was the case for both the Democratic and the Republican CNN/YouTube debates.”

If that was the goal, CNN failed miserably. The word is that the 34 questions were picked from over 5,000 videos submitted. That puts the odds of getting your video picked at less than 1 percent, with it being closer to .7 percent. It strains the imagination that 7 of those 34 questions were from Democratic plants.

Let’s forget about that for a moment. CNN’s statement says that they wanted to “focus on substantive questions of concern to real people.” Why is it then that taxes weren’t talked about? Why is it that immigration received so little time? Why is it that foreign policy other than Iraq didn’t receive much attention? Why didn’t the issue of judicial nominations get much attention? Aren’t those “substantive questions that real people” care about, too?

Here’s some more questions that We The People demand answers on: Why did CNN think that a question about whether Rudy Giuliani believed every word in the Bible was to be taken literally? Why did CNN think that the idiot with the guns asked a substantive question?

That statement is a shameful attempt to rationalize/justify their shoddy journalism. CNN deserves to be excoriated for its shoddy journalism. Worded differently, how did the “most trusted name in news” miss what pajama-wearing computer geeks hacking away at their keyboard found in little over an hour?

Based on simple common sense, isn’t it obvious who’s earned the title of the “most trusted name in news” and which organization has just used it as a slogan?

Technorati Tags: CNN, YouTube Debate, Bloggers, Democratic Operatives, Journalism

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

According to this Pitsburgh Post-Gazette article, that’s Rep. John Murtha’s opinion. While his opinion of whether the surge is working has changed, his position of bringing the troops home hasn’t:

U.S. Rep. John Murtha today said he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week, but he warned that Iraqis need to play a larger role in providing their own security and the Bush administration still must develop an exit strategy.

“I think the ’surge’ is working,” the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president’s decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis “have got to take care of themselves.”

Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes in the once-volatile Anbar province, where locals have started working closely with U.S. forces to isolate insurgents linked to Al Qaeda.

I suspect that this will be the new Democratic approach to Iraq. They’ll grudgingly admit that President Bush Gen. Petraeus was right and that the surge is working. Then they’ll quickly pivot from that and say that that’s why we need to establish a timeline to start bringing more of the troops home faster. President Bush should then restate his position that conditions and generals, not politicians, will establish any troop withdrawals.

I suspect that this has more to do with election year politics than it has to do with conviction. Lord knows that this won’t sit well with MoveOn.org, Kos and other anti-war activists. (continue reading post »)

Stuart Shepard gives us the name of what we do with holiday catalogues related to the 25th of December - Tossmas (video).

Jason Whitlock responds to members of the black press after they complained that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor’s victimhood by reporting on his troubled past:

No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you’ve been murdered… Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner’s office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren’t checking W-2s.

Rather than whine about white folks’ insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we’d be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees…

More here

Hugh Hewitt’s post, titled Romney Rising, is proof that he’s lost touch with the Republican base. One thing Hewitt has done is avoided talking about the real Romney record. I won’t make that mistake. Here’s some typical Hugh fluffery:

Patrick’s enthusiasms for Governor Huckabee aside (what debate was he at?) the next 45 days are about whether Rudy or Mitt runs against Hillary.

Hugh’s smart enough not to mention that Romney is a liberal. His answer on whether he’d sign federal legislation banning abortion is a clear sign that we couldn’t trust Romney on picking judges. Reagan conservatives are federalists. Conservatives have said for years that abortion would return to the states if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

In saying that he’d sign legislation banning abortion, Romney essentially said that he didn’t care about states rights or the Tenth Amendment. Why should conservatives trust Romney to nominate strict constructionist judges if he’s elected?

It’s my opinion that Romney has an authenticity problem. He said last night that he’d made a mistake in being “clearly pro-choice” early in his political career but that he’s changed since getting elected. This YouTube video tells you all you need to know about Romney, abortion and trustworthiness. (continue reading post »)

Just when you thought that Hillary Clinton couldn’t be more manipulative, we find more proof that she’s the most manipulative presidential candidate in recent history. Here’s what happened to cement that belief:

It turns out that Keith Kerr, retired Colonel., U.S. Army; retired Brigadier General, California National Reserve, who submitted a YouTube question about gays in the military, is actually a member of Hillary Clinton’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual Americans For Hillary Steering Committee. He’s also part of a film production crew trying overturn the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Please explain why Hillary pulls stunts like this. That’s such a punk move. It proves once again that the Clintons are shameless, disgusting human beings. The good news is that Hillary’s getting taken to task on it:

Keith Kerr a retired Colonel., U.S. Army; retired Brigadier General, California National Reserve pushed forward his issue of allowing gay Americans to serve openly in the US Military. While that is certainly a fair issue and open for debate, once again CNN looks to be in the hip pocket of the Clinton campaign.

It would have slipped by except CNN commentator Bill Bennett actually let the cat out of the bag and told CNN host Anderson Cooper that the former soldier apparently works for Clinton in the post debate analysis. Cooper played dumb at the time, but it did not last long as moments after the debate a bit of investigation showed that he is indeed a member of Hillary Clinton’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual Americans For Hillary Steering Committee.

(continue reading post »)

Admittedly, I haven’t been watching the entire debate but I thought Rudy’s best moments were his saying that he’d veto the federal legislation making abortion a crime. He correctly said that it’s a states’ rights issue.

Rudy’s answer to the kid from Atlanta was possibly the best, most direct response of the debate that I’ve seen. Rudy gets an A+ on that.

Fred Thompson’s YouTube hit on Romney and Huckabee was surgical and powerful. Romney’s ‘I’m not perfect’ response was lame at best. His saying that he consistently chose the side of life doesn’t square with the fact that his health care program has a $50 co-pay for abortions. MAJOR OOPS!!!

As the debates roll on, there are a couple thing that are predictable:

Paulites actually believing that bin Laden wouldn’t have attacked America if we hadn’t put forces in Saudi Arabia and Hugh ignoring objective criteria to declare Mitt Romney the winner of the debate.

Let’s deal with the last item first. It’s embarassing to hear someone who is as intelligent as Hugh ignore basic conservative principles out of self interest. That’s the only reason I can think of why he’s sticking to the line that Romney is a conservative. He’s to the left of President Bush. That isn’t a conservative. As I stated earlier, Romney’s health care plan has a $50 co-pay for abortions.

That information demands an answer to this question: When exactly did Romney’s conversion happen? RomneyCare was one of the last things he did as governor. Hugh knows this but still touts Romney. It’s a sad thing to watch. I didn’t think I’d see the day when Hugh Hewitt became part of the Agenda Media but it’s happened. What’s particularly shameful is that he’s doing this to support a closet liberal like Romney.

Another thing that’s obvious is that Ron Paul’s supporters blindly follow him. Tom Tancredo’s reply that “I don’t know what world Ron’s living in” but it doesn’t sound like the real world nailed it. You know that something’s wrong when Tom Tancredo sounds like the voice of reason on a subject.

I thought a couple of Fred’s answers were right on target. His response to the “Name 3 things you’d cut” question was fabulous. He started off by citing the need for entitlement reform, then moving onto the list of programs he listed in his report as chairman of the Government Reform Committee was the best answer of the night. Fiscal conservatives are cheering that answer.

I also thought that his answer on the question on whether he’d veto a bill to ban abortions should Roe v. Wade was overturned was strong and predictable. One of Fred’s strength is his belief in states’ rights.

This is another question where Mitt Romney stumbled a bit. When he said that he’d sign it, it was his attempt to capture a few extra pro-life votes, nothing more. It said that he isn’t a states’ rights person. That’ll lose him more libertarian votes than pro-life votes he gained.

There isn’t a true conservative who isn’t a big Tenth Amendment person. Romney failed that test miserably.

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney, Abortion, Tenth Amendment, States Rights, Hugh Hewitt, Agenda Media, Rudy Giuliani, Crime, Fred Thompson, Entitlement Reform, Fiscal Conservatism

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

If this Pew Research Poll isn’t the worst possible news for Democrats, then it’s extremely close. Here’s what Pew’s poll is reporting:

For the first time in a long time, nearly half of Americans express positive opinions about the situation in Iraq. A growing number says the U.S. war effort is going well, while greater percentages also believe the United States is making progress in reducing the number of Iraqi casualties, defeating the insurgents and preventing a civil war in Iraq.

Roughly half of the public (48%) believes the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going very or fairly well. Judgments about the overall situation in Iraq have been improving steadily since the summer. As recently as June, only about a third of Americans (34%) said things were going well in Iraq.

After all the cold water that Democrats have tried throwing on the Surge’s success, whether it’s Rick Sanchez’s remarks or one of Harry Reid’s doom & gloom diatribes, the American people have noticed the reports about the Anbar Awakening, the refugees returning from Syria to Baghdad and the dramatic drop in Iraqi casualties and US troop casualties. (continue reading post »)