Redstate

Posted at 8:56am on May 19, 2008 Recalibration Watch, 05/19/2008 (Obama Campaign) [Updated]

CC: Rhetoric and Agitprop, West Coast Regional, & Bitter Flyover States Regional Divisions.

By Moe Lane

[In what will no doubt relieve the the Obama campaign, two new polls have come through with two solid double-digit wins for him in Oregon. Always a thrill a minute for our Democratic colleagues, huh? - Moe Lane]

Good morning.

We have received reports showing concern over American Research Group's forecast yesterday of 50/45 the Obama in Oregon, and 65/29 Clinton in Kentucky. We would like to remind our operatives that ARG has been notoriously bad this election cycle in picking a winner, so be sure to mention that often.

Particularly since, according to Suffolk, it's 45/41 the Obama in Oregon and 51/25 Clinton in Kentucky. Accordingly, please be sure to also use the words "outlier" and "statistical blips," emphasize that Oregon uses exclusively a [mail]-in ballot, immediately switch to a narrative where the Obama was always going to have a fight in Oregon, and of course redouble all efforts to insist that a bare majority of pledged delegates in a reduced primary total gives the Obama a moral right to his Party's nomination.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Hope and change,

The the Obama Campaign

PS: And for the love of Barack, don't talk about thermostat regulation. People are going to wonder why we even care, given the whole global warming thing.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Kentucky | Oregon | The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:09pm on May 11, 2008 Getting just a little testy about West Virginia and Kentucky, are we?

Dueling. Banjos. Ye gods, and little fishes.

By Moe Lane

Those two particular states? Just not down with the narrative. You know, I'm reminded of a poem... one which it would seem that the progressive movement has finally decided to take to heart:

The Solution

After the uprising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writers Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

- Bertolt Brecht

Ironic, really: Appalachia has always been where the hard work's been. Coal, iron, steel... you can talk about the railroads, you can talk about the truckers and stevedores, you can talk about the textile mill workers and the garment makers; but this is where the labor movement - the real one, the true one, the one that existed before the 1960s mucked it up like everything else - built its spine. And if there really are two Americas, Appalachia's in the one that the progressives so often insist that they're worried about.

But I guess that we know how seriously to treat that pious assertion of theirs now, huh?

Moe Lane

Posted in 2008 | Appalachia | Kentucky | Obamafiles | West Virginia — Comments (33)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:07am on Nov. 16, 2007 A question for Kentucky Governor-elect Steve Beshear

By David Adams

Kentucky remains under a state of emergency called by Governor Fletcher in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. That call triggered a 2004 price gouging law that allowed perpetual states of emergency to be called. A 2007 law lifted the governor's ability to call states of emergency which never end, but didn't stop Attorney General Greg Stumbo from suing Marathon Oil for $89 million for selling gasoline at "a price which is grossly in excess of the price prior to the declaration and unrelated to any increased cost to the seller," whatever that means.

The winds have long-since died down, Governor. Will you call off this silly state of emergency?

Posted in Kentucky | State Politics — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:22pm on Nov. 12, 2007 Ideological clash in Kentucky coming Tuesday

By David Adams

Kentucky Democrats passed an enormous tax increase in 1990 to fund a grand educational experiment called the Kentucky Education Reform Act(KERA).

The game plan over the ensuing two decades has been to loudly cheer any evidence of scholastic improvement and to call for even more tax increases to keep the "momentum" going.

Recent think tank research has raised serious questions about the efficacy of KERA.

A big showdown in Lexington tomorrow might be the beginning of a long-overdue shift in the Bluegrass State's education reform movement.

Posted in Kentucky | Policy — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:11pm on Nov. 5, 2007 Attacking Mitch McConnell With Made Up Sh. . .tuff

By Erick

In 1994, the GOP ousted House Speaker Tom Foley at the ballot box. In 2004, the GOP ousted Democratic Leader Tom Daschle from the Senate. Contrast that with the Democrats, who have never been able to oust a Republican congressional leader at the ballot box. The Democrats M.O. has been scandal, real or imagined.

They are at it again with an imaginary scandal involving Mitch McConnell. And, as usual, the media is directly complicit in the deal. Dan Riehl has the best overview. In essence, the Democrats are accusing Mitch McConnel of spreading false information about the 12 year old that did the Democratic address on SCHIP.

Who is spreading the information? A guy named Matt Miller. This is the same Democrat hack who leaked the Mark Foley story to the media, after having the knowledge for a year.

So, let's review:

The media is accusing McConnell of smearing Graeme Frost. The paper quotes Matt Miller. The evidence is an email from McConnell staffer Don Stewart. What did the email contain? Links to blog that recounted the SCHIP debate, some of which mentioned Frost.

WHAS-TV got McConnell on video saying there was no leak from his office about Graeme Frost. Now the lefties are saying McConnell is lying. He's not.

Now, let's go to the Lexington Herald-Leader. They are hitting McConnell on another fake scandal, completely misrepresenting the facts. The reporter, John Cheves, did a series of hit pieces on McConnell last year with research provided by a lefty interest group.

When McConnell wrote a letter to complain and set the record straight, the Herald-Leader edited the letter down to nothing. We've put Senator McConnell's letter below the fold.

Elephants in the Blue Grass has up a post showing that, not only is the story false, but John Cheves is channelling lefty blogs to write his story.

Oh, and naturally, John Cheves spent last year working for Ron Wyden (D-OR). That might be helpful for readers to know.

Below the fold, Senator McConnell's unedited letter.

Posted in 2008 | Kentucky | Mitch McConnell — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »