New Democratic House Strategy

Huh. Rahm Emanuel, Chris Van Hollen and the rest of the crowd at the D-Trip have come up with an interesting new strategy for disbursing their financial resources: among Democratic incumbents, only spend in those districts where the NRCC is spending.

It's smart: they're playing a lot of offense next year, and unless incumbents are in deep trouble, they can take care of themselves. Given the enormous cash disparity between the two parties, Republicans won't be targeting many incumbent Democrats anyways. For those Dems who are already flush with cash and in conservative districts, not having the national party visible in their district may allow them to further themselves from their egregiously unpopular national party.

This is also emblematic of the way in which the Democratic Party's pulling ahead of the GOP on the ground - the money helps of course, and they still haven't beaten the Republican Party's infamous "72 Hour Plan" GOTV operation, but they're learning. Thankfully, the national environment in 08 is unlikely to be anywhere near as poisonous to Republicans as it was in 06.

Churchill and the Jews

"Churchill and the Jews" is the entirely un-PC title of a good-looking book by Martin Gilbert, reviewed on today's Opinion Journal; it opens with a Churchill quote I'd never heard before: "Why should we Anglo-Saxons apologize for being superior? We are superior."

Which brought to mind perhaps the most absurd comment of the week, that by Columbia U professor George Saliba: "All modern discoveries are by Muslims scientists." I'll leave you to ponder that one.

Top 100 Conservatives and Liberals

The UK's Telegraph has compiled their list of the top 100 liberals and conservatives in America, based on well...I'm not entirely sure what. They defend from the outset Bush's exclusion from the top 20 on the conservative side. I'm not sure their defense is so necessary - he's not exactly well-loved by anyone these days. I'll just make a few observations.
Conservatives:
- I've got problems with many if not most of their top 20 - Giuliani at #1? Really? While it's somewhat vindicated by Robertson's endorsement, I doubt they weren't being prescient.
- Petraeus at #2 and Gates at #7 are especially eyebrow-raising. Gates more so than Petraeus.
- Drudge at #4? He's still got clout, but his glory days are over - he was the front edge of the wave, and now we're inundated.
- Andrew Sullivan? Drew Carey?
- What's their thing with Giuliani and his coterie?
- Rove is absurdly low at #42...he may be out but he ain't that down
- PJ O'Rourke above Scalia and Jindal?
- Chuck Norris?!
- O'Reilly at #82 is absurd

Liberals:
- I'm just amused that Mark Penn is ranked above Her Majesty
- Bayh at #11? In what world?
- Kos at #12? Thanks for handing the party over to the crazies, Telegraph!
- Edwards (Elizabeth) over Edwards (John)...
- Howard Dean at #84? Below Sorkin, Streisand, Colbert, some rank and file Reps...
- (unless I missed him) no Charlie Rangel? The man's going to try and rewrite the tax code - he's a pretty important liberal right now...

Wow this is a discombobulated post.

[ed: I meant to blog on this a few days ago...whoops]

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

The 5th of November, known in England as Guy Fawkes Day, may become known in the US as the Ron Paul Crazies day: if you missed it, on Monday Ron Paul hauled in some $4.2 million, a single day record for a US politician. Hooray for a few thousand weirdos in their parents basements with internet connections and credit cards; the charges will probably be bookended by subscriptions to internet porn and Dungeons & Dragons memorabilia. To be fair, it was 35,000 basement-dwelling troglodytes...I can't wait for this particular pile of FEC data to be released.

The Politico story linked to above is titled "Ron Paul Gets Relevant in a Hurry" - I think that's a a dramatic overstatement - while he will be able to afford plenty of airtime in Iowa and New Hampshire, it doesn't matter if you don't have supporters in-state. Those 35,000 donors are likely scattered across the country, without any real geographic focus - and even if they are, some 65,000 votes were cast in New Hampshire's open primary in 2004 (open meaning voters can select either ballot).

The whole Guy Fawkes tribute thing sort of creeps me out - and brings to mind this YouTube video, which was the first I'd heard of their November 5th plot (for what it's worth, they fell far short of their 100,000 donor goal there).

Given that I'm two days late on this, I'll just link to some more coverage and analysis:
Hot Air
A Politico piece on Trevor Lyman, the man behind Ron Paul
Captain's Quarters
More to come, perhaps? Again, no Republican Party tag for Crazy Uncle Ron.

Yowza

When Sam Brownback dropped out of the race a few weeks ago, there was some chatter that perhaps he'd endorse Rudy Giuliani, thus giving him some badly-needed credibility among social conservatives. Well, Brownback will endorse McCain this afternoon.

Rudy, for his part, has gone one better: he'll be endorsed by religious leader Pat Robertson. For a candidate whose always been criticized for being too liberal on the social issues, this is a huge leg up, and comes in the wake of Romney's endorsement by Paul Weyrich, one of the major players in the founding days of the Religious Right. Romney, I think, has gotten more major endorsements from the leading social conservatives than either Giuliani or McCain, but I also think Giuliani's got the momentum overall.

I do think, however, that Fred Thompson has been left standing at the door by the Religious Right. I for one think that it's too late for him; he should close up shop and go back to Law & Order.

Also hurt by these endorsements is Mike Huckabee; he was the natural for the support of men like Robertson and Brownback, and their shunning him basically dooms him to the second tier.

2007 Weblogs Awards

It's that time of year again - [I didn't blog on it last year] - the 2007 Weblogs Awards. Several of my favorites are up, and you can vote every 24 hours - so what are you waiting for? My personal nominees:
Best Blog: Captain's Quarters
Best Individual Blogger: Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit)
Best Comic Strip: Day by Day
Best Online Community: Little Green Footballs
Best Conservative Blog: Captain's Quarters
Best Political Coverage: Real Clear Politics
Best Military Blog: Michael Yon OR Blackfive - I'm torn
Best Podcast: The Glenn and Helen Show

Oh and browse the other categories - there's some cool stuff...