The Daily News reports that Los Angeles Unified School District officials have quietly hired two consultants to help improve their public image.

The recent hirings come in addition to a six-person communications staff with a nearly $1.4 million budget, an overall $10 million communications budget, and a separate consulting contract with Darry Sragow, who helps LAUSD develop communications strategies and policy issues.

Their online poll asks whether hiring consultants help improve LAUSD’s image. So far, more than 90 percent of respondents say NO.

But the question is not whether consultants will help improve LAUSD’s image, but why LAUSD and UTLA would bother to provide the education that our taxpayers and children deserve.

After doubling their budget during thirty years of decline, why would they? So far, their formula for failure has delivered nothing but ever-increasing budgets.

LAUSD’s 50 percent drop-out rates, bloated bureaucracy, hemorrhaging budget, abysmal test scores, drug- and gang-infested campuses threaten hundreds of thousands of children each day, and Admiral Brewer plans to waste $10 million to promote their image? Why do lipstick and pigs come to mind?

Q-Tips, Honda, and LA’s private schools don’t sell because of their advertising, but because they provide superior products and services at a reasonable price. Spend $10 million to promote OJ and, no matter how slick the campaign, you still end up with a double murderer. Spending $10 million to report that no one was shot at Venice High today is NOT progress…

The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but that train ain’t comin’.

H/T AJK

You won’t hear this news if Harry Reid, Rick Sanchez or John Murtha was your sole source of news. In fact, if they were your only source of news, you’d think that our troops were dying by the thousands each month. Everyone talks about the miracle known as the Anbar Awakening. This news ins’t any less miraculous:

In the first-ever convoy financed by their government, hundreds of Iraqi refugees boarded buses leaving Syria on Tuesday and heading home to Baghdad, cautiously hoping the improvement in security means they can stay for good. Khaled Ibrahim, 45, from central Baghdad, said he was so homesick after having been away for a year, that he wanted to give it a try after hearing things in Iraq have improved.

“If I go and discover that the situation is not stable I will come back” to Syria, said Ibrahim, with his wife, three sons and two daughters in tow. His elder son Abdullah, 13, helped load the family’s bags in a small pickup that was to drive them to the buses parked about 800 meters (yards) away at the collection point in Damascus.

“I will go to school in Baghdad and explosions don’t scare me,” chirped Abdullah, in blue jeans and beige jacket.

Let’s compare that with what LtGen. Rick Sanchez recently said:

“I saw firsthand the consequences of the administration’s failure to devise a strategy for victory in Iraq that employed, in a coordinated manner, the political, economic, diplomatic and military power of the United States. That failure continues today,” he said.

With all due respect to Gen. Sanchez, he’s full of it. When Gen. Sanchez says that “That failure continues today”, it should be recognized for what it is: a political statement designed to advance a political agenda. It shouldn’t be considered an objective military assessment. In fact, it isn’t a stretch to think that Sanchez’s statement has more to do with professional jealousy than with a sober assessment of Gen. Petraeus successful surge strategy.

That aside, the important thing is that conditions in Baghdad have improved enough that Iraqis that fled the country are returning. That’s outstanding news. It’s news that should tell Americans that President Bush fought to defeat the terrorists. Democrats, on the other hand, were only interested in fighting President Bush. (continue reading post »)

This statement from Zogby International chastizes Mark Penn for his statements on Joe Scarborough’s show this morning. Here’s the important paragraph from their statement about Penn:

Penn mischaracterized this latest online Zogby poll as our first interactive survey ever, a bizarre contention, since we have been developing and perfecting our Internet polling methodology for nearly a decade (Zogby Interactive Methodology), and since Penn’s company has been quietly requesting the results of such polls from Zogby for years. We always comply as part of our pledge to give public Zogby polling results to any and every candidate and campaign that asks for them. What is interesting is that no other campaign has made as many requests for Zogby polling data over the years than Penn has made on behalf of Clinton.

(continue reading post »)

That’s the distinct message of Jack Kelly’s latest column. Mr. Kelly won’t let Gen. Sanchez’s complaints against President Bush go unchallenged. Here’s Kelly’s most devastating shot at Gen. Sanchez:

Sanchez implies “that somehow he was a blameless bystander and not the one entrusted with day-to-day operations during the critical year following regime change in Iraq,” noted the Small Wars Journal. “It appears that Sanchez did not have a problem with U.S. strategy at that time. Moreover, as the senior commander he had the authority to take measures that could have lessened the impact of a failed or nonexistent strategy had he so desired.”

Here’s another Kelly observation that’s worth highlighting:

It does seem odd that Democrats would excoriate Gen. David Petraeus, architect of the strategy that has turned things around in Iraq, and embrace Gen. Sanchez, especially since it was Democrats in Congress who led the criticism of him during the Abu Ghraib affair.

That’s what Democrats do. They ridicule success and embrace failures. Here’s historian Victor Davis Hanson’s take on that phenomenon:

“In all these cases there is a dismal pattern: a mediocre functionary keeps quiet about the mess around him, muddles through, senses that things aren’t going right, finds himself on the losing end of political infighting, is forced out or quits, seethes that his genius wasn’t recognized, takes no responsibility for his own failures, worries that he might be scape-goated, and at last senses that either a New York publisher or the anti-war Left, or both, will be willing to offer him cash or notoriety, but only if he serves their needs by trashing his former colleagues in a manner he never would while on the job,” Mr. Hanson said.

Exactly right.

Technorati Tags: Ricardo Sanchez, Abu Ghraib, Iraq, War Critic, Democrats, David Petraeus, Surge, Republicans

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Newt is officially on the record as saying that Obama will win Iowa with a surprising margin of victory. Meanwhile, Dick Morris is predicting that Team Hillary will intensify the negative attacks against Obama. I think both are exactly right.

I’m predicting that going negative won’t help Hillary. Instead, I suspect that Obama will use her sharpened attacks to cast her in a negative light. Here’s Morris’ key observation:

The Clintons’ political MO has always had a good dose of negative campaigning, especially when the going gets rough. There’s no reason to assume that they will alter their game plan now. (continue reading post »)

“Re-enlisting soldiers is one of my favorite duties, one of the greatest honors I think any of us can perform. And it is a true honor to be with you to re-enlist 281 of you at lest count, and that does include a ‘Sailor of One’.”

Someone needs to have a word with these soldiers. They’re making Democrats look bad.

Cross-posted @: Bottom Line Up Front

It’s just getting harder and harder for the Democrats to come up with excuses for failure in Iraq. The U.S. Department of Defense is reporting that U.S. troops begin coming home tomorrow, November 27:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2007 – The first reduction in American forces in Iraq is under way as the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division heads back to Fort Hood, Texas.

The brigade will not be replaced. Roughly 162,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq in 20 brigade teams or their Marine equivalents. If all goes well, this will drop to 15 brigade combat teams over the next eight months, Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq in Baghdad, said Nov. 24.

Iraqi security forces are attaining the expertise and operational capabilities needed to police their own country, Smith said. Iraqi forces are taking over more of the battle space in Baghdad and around the country.

“Current conditions allow for a withdrawal of the first unit … starting on Nov. 27,” Smith said. “If conditions continue to permit, a total of five brigade combat teams will be redeployed over the next eight months.”

The redeployment of the brigade shows the coalition’s confidence in Iraqi security forces and reflects the overall improved security in the country, Smith said. The brigade – based in Diyala province – will not leave a vacuum in the province.

Army COL David Sutherland, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, added:

“These concerned local citizens understand that the future of Iraq can be better if they get involved in ridding the province of al Qaeda and participate in the development of their own democracy.

“As I’ve said on numerous occasions, we cannot kill our way out of this.  In Diyala, when the government loses its will, the people lose hope and they turn to other sources to provide that hope.  Today, there is hope in Diyala.”

HOOAH!

Cross-posted @: Bottom Line Up Front

Redacted, a smear film on U.S. troops in Iraq centered around the rape of an Iraqi girl, grossed an abysmal $25,628 in theaters across the U.S. its opening weekend.  Here are some headlines:

• ‘Redacted’ Rejected 
• ‘Redacted’ is Repulsive
• De Palma Iraq Flick Bombs
• ‘Redacted’ is One Big Mess
• Abuse and slander of US troops is cowardice

All CBS can ask is, “Too Soon to See Iraq on the Big Screen?”

Please!  Bad acting and slander against the troops are always too soon.

This summer at the Venice Film Festival, other Hollywood types loved the movie. Reuters reported that Redacted’ Stunned Venice. The film’s director, Brian De Palma, said this in Venice:

“The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people.  The pictures are what will stop the war. One only hopes that these images will get the public incensed enough to motivate their Congressmen to vote against this war.”

Oh, not so much!  People are incensed enough to boycott the movie, though!

Listen to the trailer and tell me, those of you who actually know soldiers serving in Iraq, if they sound anything like their portrayal in the clips. Of course they all joined for the college money, none are patriots, they’re all moral reprobates….

The global war on terror has been going on since 2001. How many wars can you name that have lasted 6 years with an all volunteer military and no draft? All branches consistently meet or exceed retention and recruitment goals. Most soldiers and commanders believe in the mission and are good, decent, heroic human beings.

Take a lesson from history, Hollywood: America wants movies like The Best Years of Our Lives, The Longest Day and The Sands of Iwo Jima. Patriotism is cool; enemy propaganda isn’t. 

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Cross-posted @: Bottom Line Up Front

October and November 2007 have yielded the fewest U.S. casualties since the start of the war in 2003. September 2007 yielded the lowest since it tied with 42 in 2005. Otherwise, you’d have to go back to 2003 at the start of the war to find a lower figure. August 2007 yielded the lowest U.S. casualties since 2004.

Essentially, we’re seeing the best downward trends in both civilian and military fatalities since the start of the war. HOOAH!

Cross-posted @: Bottom Line Up Front

Hillary is learning firsthand that it isn’t fun not being the frontrunner. A month ago, she was riding high in most polls. Hillary had an aura of invincibility back then. Her troubles began when Tim Russert asked her a simple question. When she tried being on both sides of the issue, her troubles began. Then came the planting of questions at an Iowa townhall meeting. Her latest troubles are a direct result of those stumbles. John Zogby’s latest interactive poll shows her trailing all five of the major GOP presidential candidates:

Clinton, a New York senator who has been at the top of the Democratic pack in national polls in the 2008 race, trails Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mike Huckabee by three to five percentage points in the direct matches.

In July, Clinton narrowly led McCain, an Arizona senator, and held a five-point lead over former New York Mayor Giuliani, a six-point lead over former Tennessee Sen. Thompson and a 10-point lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Romney.

It’s amazing to see a prohibitive favorite stumble. It isn’t s a pretty sight to watch them get their feet back underneath themselves. The only ones that are able to recover are people who don’t resort to pandering. Unfortunately for Hillary, that’s about the only thing that she does well. As I wrote this afternoon, Hillary can’t regain her political equilibrium because Barack Obama gets the better of her in the back-and-forth exchanges.

All that said, the biggest reason why Hillary’s lost her lead is because Hillary couldn’t resist the opportunity of having things both ways on the Spitzer drivers license issue. That panderfest hurt her. In fact, it’s been all downhill since then. (continue reading post »)