What is Mrs. Pelosi Smoking?

Dhimminitude Nancy in addition to being an an unindited felon, Logan Act, has gone delusional.   Anne Flaherty reports Mrs. Pesoli’s babblings: 

WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deflecting White House criticism of her trip to Syria, said Friday she thinks the mission helped President Bush because it showed the United States is unified against terrorism despite being divided over the Iraq war.

Moe Lane, Red State:

You gotta admit, she keeps plugging. Despite violating the Logan Act (Not that that would worry any American politician!), repudiating the Syrian Accountability Act [text here] (A scrap of paper! True, one with her signature on it, but! A scrap of paper!), putting extremely unwelcome words in the mouth of one of our most fervent allies (But that’s a plus! For certain members of the antiwar movement, that is.) and getting lambasted by various newspapers…

Mrs. Pelosi has been repudiated by Israel, denoiunced in Lebanon and dissed the United Nations.   And she calls this help!   Hrs. Pelosi is time for your to resign and retuirn to minding your grandbabies, the one task at which you are competent.

Good Friday. Ken Collins explains why it’s called “Good”. As a boy, I can recall being restricted to the house between noon, the time mentioned when the sun was blotted out of the sky, and 3pm, the time our Lord died.

* The Music: Don Williams collection. No particular album, I told Winamp to grab the directory containing his stuff and go to town, and it did.  I have perhaps 10 of his albums converted to MP3 along with a couple greatest hits collections amassed over the years. I should explain, I suppose, that I’ve been a fan of the man since the 60’s. He formed the Pozo-Seco singers back in ’64, a group that produced a number of memorable tracks, such as “Look What You’ve Done” and “I Can Make It With You”… and of course their first Single, “Time” which went to the top ten. What a debut!

He went on to record a number of number one singles on the Country charts, did very well indeed on crossover stuff, (“Good old boys like me”, “Tulsa Time”) and won the hearts of millions with that suburb voice of his. He’s called ‘The Gentile Giant” and so he is. I managed to catch his act at the height of his career here in Rochester at the Auditorium Theater.  He was even more personable than I imagined.

I’ve always got a few of his albums with me in the truck, and at work. Smooth and gentle delivery and a voice sounding like honey poured over hot coals, along with sparse arrangements designed to highlight his voice and not overwhelm the listener, make for a sound unlike anything else in the neighborhood, musically speaking.
Don’s retired from touring now, last year being his farewell tour… him being in his 70’s, now.  Sad; I wanted to catch him again, but family and other obligations, always prevented it.

* Hume, last night:

The left-wing blogosphere was abuzz earlier this week over a photo of White House adviser Karl Rove taken in a Chattanooga restaurant in February. Rove is seen carrying a folder with the word COPTIX on it — the name of a Chattanooga graphic design and web development company.

The “Wonkette” site called the picture “a crime scene” and said: “This proves without a doubt that Karl Rove is illegally running all the White House e-mail through a private company instead of the White House government servers which belong to the American people.”

It also referred to the administration’s “double-secret private communication system.” Daily Kos headlined: “Rove Personally Connected to E-mail Scandal” and said the picture “may help establish a timeline or provide ammunition for a subpoena.”

But it turns out the photo was an April Fool’s Day joke. Here’s the original on the right. There is no folder in Rove’s hand. Coptix Executive Vice President Josiah Roe says it was an “experiment” to illustrate how misinformation can filter upward and outward. He says all the bloggers failed to realize it was April Fool’s Day weekend. They also failed to notice the tip-off — that the image on the TV set in the corner was also fake — from the 1970’s TV show “Land of the Lost.”

What does this demonstrate? That these leftist morons are going to latch on to ANYTHING they think is going to credit their Bush Derangement syndrome. The speed with which these idiots jumped on board this hoax would chasten anyone… but not these idiots. Given the same input, they’ll do the same thing all over again.

* James Joyner says tonight:

Steve Rubel notes that, while the number of blogs is increasing, the number of blog posts is decreasing, owing perhaps to the growth of other social media, and thinks blogging has therefore “peaked” as a phenomenon.

Brad Levinson respectfully disagrees. He notes a number of trends, including the emergence of corporate and non-Western blogs, which he believes are primed for an explosion in growth. Further,

Also not taken into account is the difference between “journalistic/trade/opinion” bloggers versus the “OMGZ! Sanjaya is awfulz!” bloggers. My bet is that the amount of “personal” bloggers is dying off as they move to social networks laden with RSS and other types of blog-like CMSes. So, blog consumption and usage has merely changed and morphed and evolved, not peaked.

Time will tell, I guess. My bet’s on blogging to continue to evolve and thrive. Indeed, in the not-too-distant future, I see the distinction between blogs and other social media largely disappearing.]

I think I have to go with James on this one.  I also think the numbers are overly inflated , by virtue of the idea that the majority of them won’t last beyond day 3.  Most of the numbers presented, are not serious online entities.  They are, rather, the average teenybopper spreading his wings for a few minutes.  Come back to me and let me know when those blogs have been online for as many years as this one has.

That point aside, the article on linking to hear is interesting because it touches on the infighting among the left side bloggers. He titles his bit, appropriately, “Why Lefty Bloggers Are Owed a Living.”

Really.  And that’s the gist of every post I’ve seen on the subject; these people are bent all outta shape that they’re not being handed money for simply spouting. Well, at least they’re consistent.

Kathy at Liberty Street and Shakesville argues that what’s needed is more socialism, with the A-list lefties spreading the link love, starting mentorship programs, and otherwise living up to their values of “diversity, inclusiveness, a place at the table for everyone, [and putting] human needs before defense contractors’ wish lists.” In doing so, they should take a page out of books from the evil right-wingers who, despite being, “narrow, intolerant, exclusive, and hateful are so much better at supporting their ideological soulmates than we on the left.”

Well, of course, that particular dog barking up the wrong tree.  In watching what’s been going on on the left side of the sphere lately, the one conclusion that you can draw is that the left is anything but charitable, even to each other. Indeed, based on what I’m seeing, tyhe ones being “narrow, intolerant, exclusive, and hateful” are the lefties.

The whole thing seems to be about what I’ve spoken of before, here…personal power and instant satisfaction, and to hell with anyone else.  They are all out for themselves.  “By their fruits, ye shall know them”, he said.  And so we do.

Funny thing, they’ve been charging the right with precisely that, for quite a while now.  Kathy may be on to something, when she observes that it is not in fact happening on the right as their conventional wisdom would have it.  Personally, I wonder how many on the left will take the hint.  I doubt strongly that it will be many.

* I’ve got snow outside my window here. It’s cold again, likely for the last weekend of the winter weather. We’ll spend most of it at home, I suspect. I’ve got work to do on the blog, anyway.

I’ve already done quite a bit of work; I’ve added some code to make the site more readable on your cell phone or PDA. basically, it inserts a different theme, one that’s far more simple than the one I’m running.  Makes it a lot more readable on that small screen.  I’ve also added tracking code, and some writing shortcuts.  I’m also considering updating the version of WordPress I’m using, but there’s a stumbling block involving the version of MySQL we’re using.

* Look, Billy, going after a yutz like Erb is important, if only to teach others that there is no sense in what he’s saying. I do encourage you to continue, for that reason alone, (aside from which, it’s a lot more productive than kicking the dog ) …and I have joined in, for both reasons…  But the concept of him taking a flying leap off of a bridge, is just not happening, man.  You know was well as I do that kind of a reaction is reserved for somebody who is actually capable of both a common sense, and shame.  Erb has demonstrated repeatedly that he is incapable of either.

Dhimmitude Nancy Pelosi claims to paving the road to peace in the Middle East.  Yet the voices in Lebanon are questioning her direction. Michael Young, Daily Star, Lebanon, wails “When a dilettante takes on Hizbullah:”

We can thank the US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for having informed Syrian President Bashar Assad, from Beirut, that “the road to solving Lebanon’s problems passes through Damascus.” Now, of course, all we need to do is remind Pelosi that the spirit and letter of successive United Nations Security Council resolutions, as well as Saudi and Egyptian efforts in recent weeks, have been destined to ensure precisely the opposite: that Syria end its meddling in Lebanese affairs.

And you thought the democrats liked the United Nations.  Mrs Pelosi has been rebuked by Israel for passing the wrong message and praised by terrorists.   I boggles the mind trying to determine Mrs. Pelosi’s objective.   It doesn’t look like peace.

H/T: Michael Rubin, Nation Review Online,

Ian, Hot Air, has another reason John McCain’s campaign is finished.   McCain has ticked off his base, audio.

H/T:  Emperor Misha, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler; via John Hawkins, Right-Wing News.

“My daddy’s car lot was on that stretch of road, so it’s special to me, but the fact is that I didn’t build it and I didn’t pay for it. The taxpayers did.”

Fred Thompson, via Don Surber.

So what does Knut, Berlin’s favorite polar bear, have to do with Jenny Ballantine?  Glad you asked.   It all about projection.

Knut symbolizes German’s low fertility rate.   As Germans lack their own children to parent, they seek to become Knut’s parents.   From Spiegel:

The cuddly baby bear too, it seems, has quite a bit to look forward to. While he is a bit young yet to be thinking about the birds and the bees, the search is on for a suitable girlfriend for Knut. Indeed, zoos from around the world have reportedly expressed interest in having little polar bear girls get to know Berlin’s little polar bear boy.

Toddlers don’t worry about marriage,  Their parents do.

Meanwhile back in the States, Americans like Ballantine, first reject God, then seek to project the divine onto mere politicians

(H/T photo:  Rush Limbaugh ).

WAVY-TV:

Geraldo Rivera and others come to the defense of the Virginia Beach mayor. Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly attacked Mayor Meyera Oberndorf again on his show Thursday night.

O’Reilly said Alfredo Ramos should have been deported after a previous drinking charge.Police said Ramos, an illegal immigrant, was believed to be intoxicated when he ran into 17-year-old Allison Kuhnhardt and 16-year-old Tessa Tranchant’s vehicle Friday night, killing them. The mayor said it is not the city’s job to enforce American borders.Rivera told O’Reilly, “It has nothing to do with illegal aliens, it has to do with drunk driving and I think you owe that mayor an apology.”

Look, let’s be honest about this; (and by the way I’ve said this several times before in these spaces,) Bill O’Reilly is the south end of a northbound horse. Complete with flies. However; just as a blind pig will occasionally find an acorn, Bill O’Reilly has got this one right.

The denials from the Virginia Beach police chief and the Mayor and the council there elicit no sympathy from me. Each one of them, when they took their oaths of office, swore to uphold the constitution. That means, as a direct consequence of that oath, that their task is also immigration, since immigration has a constitutional matter. By the way, that comment is also directed at governor Tim Kaine. None of these idiots not a one of them, is doing their job. Pointing fingers at the Fed is a dodge.
The very reason that this is become an issue, is because local municipalities local officials are falling down on their job. That kind of Federal infrastructure required to take over all immigration issues as is being demanded by these idiots, has never existed previously. And yet, we’ve never had the problem to the degree we have now. The reason? The local officials have abdicated their jobs. Jobs they swore they’d do.
And in the case of Virginia beach, two girls are dead as a direct result of that abdication.

Finally, let’s discuss the worthless slug, Rivera.

Rivera told O’Reilly, “It has nothing to do with illegal aliens, it has to do with drunk driving and I think you owe that mayor an apology.”

The guy was here illegally. Period. By even being here, the man shows disrespect for our laws. Does anyone really think that laws as regards drunk driving are going to be respected anymore that our immigration laws are, by this guy, or anyone else, for that matter?

Addendum: (David L) Allahpundit, Hot Air, has the video. Gotta go along with O’Reilly on this one. The discussion only got heated after Rivera insisted that illegal immigration had nothing to do with the problem.

That would be like saying, that I got staggering drunk broke into Rivera’s house, passed on his floor and then insisted the burgalry had nothing to do with it. Rivera, and all those who defend him, are in denial.

Mike Allen at Politicosays Fred Thompson is getting more serious about running:

Thompson’s coming-out as a candidate-in-waiting will be a May 4 appearance at the 45th annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County in the heart of Ronald Reagan country in Southern California. The invitation was widely sought by aspiring Republicans, and his advisers expect considerable media attention around the visit. But there are no plans now for an announcement then.

Thompson will also stoke speculation with a meeting of House Republicans April 18 at the Capitol Hill Club, organized by Rep Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), the most vocal promoter of a Thompson candidacy. More than 60 House Republicans have indicated they want to come to hear the former senator, according to organizers.

Though Thompson has shown well in some polls since he said he was actively considering a presidential bid, the hurdles to such a late start are many. And some people who worked with him in the Senate question his willingness to do the brutal work of a national campaign. But friends and advisers say Thompson has been buoyed by the response so far at a time when many Republicans are openly expressing disappointment with their presidential field.

The story here of course, is that nature hates a vacuum.  Which unfortunately is what our presidential field for the Republican side has generated so far. I really must say though that I’m somewhat taken aback by this being considered a late entry.  Consider, that just a few cycles ago, anyone entering the race this early would have seemed over eager.

“The outreach to him has been so overwhelming that he is now starting to talk to people to really calibrate what it would take to run a successful campaign,” the adviser said. “He’s talking to some of the top unaligned strategists and fundraisers. He’s said: ‘I’m seriously considering it, and I’m happy to hear your thoughts and ideas.’ ”

Thompson will not make a final decision until at least May and may delay any announcement until even later because he recognizes the benefits of being “a non-candidate candidate,” according to advisers.

Therein, I think, lies a strength, and not a weakness.  I suspect that by the time the actual election rolls around will be suffering with burnout from the Hillary Clinton/ John Edwards/ Barrack Obama self promotion machines. and frankly, shameless self promotion, ala Hillary Clinton is not his style… Particularly at this early stage in the game. at the same time, it would be foolish to deny that the dearth of a field has provided Thompson with genuine opportunity.

At least Fox isn’t an admitted member of NAMBLA like Clinton’s appointee to Luxembourg was.

Maybe if Pres. Bush appointed a child molestor and agreed to pay him, the Demos. would be happy.

Jerry Green, in a letter to the Washington Post, subject G.W. Bush’s recess appointment of Sam Fox as ambassadoir to Belguim.

Dhimmitude Nancy Pelosi’ amateurish foray in to diplomacy, has iincured the wrath of the Bush Administion, caused an embrassment our ally the State of Israel, and been called foolish by the Washington Post.

It one thing for an amateur like Jesse Jackson to attempt to play diplomat.   Jackson never was in government.  Any failure on the part of Jackson, would have been a strictly personal one.  It quite another thing for the Speaker of the House to claim to deliver diplomatic message to Syria from Israel which Israel has denied sending.

Mrs. Pelosi should restrict herself to tasks in which she is competent, minding grandbabies.

More, Ed Morrissey, Captain’s Quarters. McQ, QandO.

Update:   Who’d have thunk!   Syria has feminists, and Mrs. Pelosi has ticked them off:

Had Speaker Pelosi worn the Hijab inside a Mosque, this would have indicated respect but for Pelosi to wear it on the streets of Damascus all the while she is sitting with the self-imposed Baschar al-Assad who has come to symbolize oppression and one of the reasons why women are forced to wear the Hijab as they turn to religion to express their freedom is a statement of submittal not only to oppression but also to lack of women’s rights in the Middle East

H/T:  Pamela Geller Oshry, Atlas Shrugs.

There was something Stockholm Syndrome-ish about the amount of happness with which the press and some of the public, received the 15 British Marines home a few hours ago. The Brits have always been somewhat fatalistic  from my perspective, but never moreso than today, it occurrs to me.

And it wasn’t just the reaction in the UK. All over the west, the news agencies sprung into wall-to-wall mode, as the plane was on approach at Heathrow. The phrase “Please Sir, may I have another?” kept popping into mind, unbidden.

For the sake of the 15 individuals, I’m pleased they’re home. But I won’t deny that I’m uneasy about the amount of denial going on about the defeat we suffered, which brought these events to pass. With what we know at the moment about these events, I don’t know how it could be labeled as being anything else. Which ought to make the Desperate- for- defeat- Democrats here in the ‘States happy.

The Telegraph seems to agree, saying in part:

Yet the satisfaction of a diplomatic challenge eventually handled with skill is soured by the string of psychological humiliations that Britain has suffered.

First, there is the apparent incompetence of the Royal Navy in providing insufficient protection to lightly armed inflatables, at a time when relations between Iran and the West were particularly volatile following the imposition of UN sanctions. Second, the seized personnel lost no time in admitting to having trespassed and in apologising for their mistake. The old military practice of giving name, rank and number, and no more, has obviously been abandoned.

Third, the dénouement of this crisis showed Mr Ahmadinejad in the most favourable of lights, whether in “pardoning” the 15, pleading on their behalf with Mr Blair, admonishing this country for separating a mother, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, from her child, or shaking hands and chatting with the newly besuited Servicemen after his press conference.

The Iranian president has rightly been demonised in the West for his call for Israel’s destruction and his pursuit of a nuclear weapons programme in defiance of the UN. Yet yesterday he was able to adopt the moral high ground, admonishing the Government while treating graciously those who had been acting on its behalf at the head of the Gulf.

The annoying part is we in the west seem quite willing to LET Iran pull this again. Apparently Carter’s folly taught us nothing, after all.

Bruce McQuain points out that while some are trying to define Iraq as a failure, the fact show a different story. Does a pretty fair job of it, too. As usual.

What Bruce is pointing up, however is but a bit of the total effort;

I’d point out that this article he lists is much the same as the move we saw in Congress the other day, trying to ‘ban’ the phrase “Global war on terror’ when talking about Iraq.

Iraq is on track toward becoming a huge victory in the war on terror for the Bush administration. What we see from the press and the left (A redundancy) is the attempt to redefine it as neither.

The left needs the United States to be defeated in Iraq. Needs it badly.

Isn’t it time we asked them ‘why?”

The Music: Koinonia, Celebration;

Released in November 1984, and recorded in Stockholm and Gothenburg the March before, this was released originally in Europe then Japan, then finally, the ‘states. I happen to have a copy from Japan still on Wax. THe band included Alex Acuña,who until a few months before had been playing with Weather Report. and Justo Almario, who played with among other people, Latin jazz great Mongo Santamaria… as music director, no less.

As individuals, these guys have put together literally thousands of albums between them, having been first caliber studio types for years and years. Collectively, the sound is rather like earlier Spyrogyra, but with more of a experimental edge to it, and certainly not afraid to get into the Latin funk, as they do on “Countin’ the Cost”, which is a favorite of mine. Almario shines with a great sax sound on “Pilgrim’s Progression”
Some of their later work, on subsequent albums, went into vocal tracks, which really didn’t fit with the groove… and they lost the edge before it really had the chance to catch on here in the states. Sad.
You’re going to have a nasty time finding this album, I think. It’s out of press, and I’ve never I’ve never seen a CD copy. but if you can find it, grab it. It’s worth it.

* This presidential election, seems to be surrounded by incidence of cancer. First, we see where Edwards and his wife show up in the news. Now suddenly, we see where Matt Drudge is making note of an additional spot on John McCain’s forehead. Hotline, bounces in, and as usual is skeptical of the new media, being themselves very much a part of the old media… (One wonders why they bother with a website!)

Suddenly, Drudge has sophisticated image capturing software and a detailed obsession with the nooks and blemishes on Sen. John McCain’s head? Nah. This is a tasteless bit of oppo sent Drudge’s way by an overconfident opponent of McCain’s who wants to exploit McCain’s vulnerable political status right now by forcing the campaign to answer questions about his age and health.

If you think about it, this is the second time in just about as many days that we’ve been hearing stories where Matt Drudge gets used as a punching bag…. With accusations against him that are so marginal has to be laughable. Why, it’s almost as if there’s some kind of PR campaign against him. (As if there hasn’t been a concerted effort on the part of the mainstream media to silence that particular voice, for as long as he’s been online!)

Joyner pipes in, and says;

Drudge is an annoying propagandist, to be sure, but touting controversial issues is what he does for a living. Further, it’s not unreasonable to be curious about the health of a 70-year-old man who has had skin cancer on three separate occasions, let alone one who spent five years being tortured by the Viet Cong.

Quite true. And that is quite a reasonable attitude. But I have to tell you, that Hotline’s response seems to signal at least one if not two things things that we should be paying attention to:

As someone who’s been reading this kind of thing for a few years, it strikes me as a large possibility that what they’re really annoyed about is that the “opponent of McCain’s who wants to exploit McCain’s vulnerable political status right now by forcing the campaign to answer questions about his age and health.” didn’t send the slight peice to THEM. The reason of course, is that Drudge , for whatever else you may argue he is, is certainly more effective than spreading that kind of message.

The second possibility is that we have a number of closet McCain supporters at Hotline? It would certainly explain their response in sharper focus.

Personally, I like John McCain, far less than I like Matt Drudge particularly as regards how much or how little I trust each. But in truth, I really can’t stand either one of them. Sitting back and simply watching, seems the best policy.

Regardless, this comment of Hotlines would seem to me their “jump the shark” moment.

* Speaking of Edwards, Hume says tonight:

The outpouring of sympathy for John and Elizabeth Edwards following news her cancer has returned has benefited Edwards’ presidential campaign in more ways that just a bump in the polls. It has also swelled the campaign’s list of potential financial contributors.The Washington Post reports that well-wishers who sent notes to the Edwards’ via their Web site were added to the campaign’s e-mail data base and promptly sent solicitations for money.

And now, just tonight, we hear that the cancer that she has is far more treatable, than was thought prior to the point in time the all this happened for the Edwards campaign. Like I said, gang, not so very long ago, a miracle cure is going to show up, and it was even sooner than I figured. Apparently the sympathy ploy has had as much effect as it’s going to for now… so off the table it goes. Like fishing in a barrel, predicting this stuff is.
* The message from the Iranians, to the remainder of the world, given the release of the fifteen British hostages, is rather load, and rather simple; kiss our ass, and we may not kill you today. This is not exactly Britain’s finest hour. And I’m still unconvinced that there was not a good deal of threats behind the scenes making this happen. So is Captain Ed.

If one believes the Iranians blinked, that probably came from the significant amount of military assets the US began deploying in the Gulf over the last two weeks. The US conducted war games within sight of the Iranian military, a none-too-subtle reminder that America had the firepower to make life uncomfortable for the Iranians, even if they thought the UK did not. With many believing that George Bush wants a reason or even an excuse to go after the Iranian mullahcracy before he leaves office, the incident seemed too provocative by half, especially for more cautious Iranians.

I think ultimately, it was the firepower deployment that got them released.

* Oh… a new Blog you should check out.

Egads, I don’t know why I am doing this, Rush dissected this twit today, and hard to find anything to say after Rush covers a subject,  But here it goes any way.

Jenny Ballantine at a John Edwards townhall meeting in New Hampshire, via Rush Limbaugh:

BALLANTINE:  I need to be able to look to my leader and see words of encouragement, words of hope.  I need to be able to trust that person.  I need to be able to know that I’m going to be grow in a world that’s not going to be full of hate and prejudice and racism and to know that I matter, that I wasn’t just dumped in this world for no particular reason whatsoever

Where to begin?  Edwards is running for president.  He is not, and not will become, Ballantine’s father.   Ballantine is not looking for a president.  She looking for a father figure.

As for the state of the world in which we live, Edwards might be able to change the world.  However no man, not even Mrs. Clinton, is going to rid the world of hate and prejudice.  We will alway have democrats.  Ballantine is woefully ignorant of history.

As to whether Ballantine matters, she looking to Edwards, a mere mortal.   What she seeks is God.  It is God which provide to Ballantine the reason she matters.   Liberals at once reject God and then seek to replace God with mortal politicians.   Ballantine seeks from Edward what she would better find in Church.

BALLANTINE:  I’m busting my ass in school, I work 25 to 30 hours a week, and it’s just me and my dog.  So what can you do for the people that are in my situation, that are trying their damnedest in school, wanting to go to grad school, is going to be hit with the loans — and, uh, I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up.  I don’t know what I want to be when I’m an adult.  But I’m 22 right now, so people are like, “Honey, you are an adult.”  You know what?  It’s about me. It’s about me voting for you or supporting somebody who’s going to be the next president.  So it’s all about me right now.  Just give me something.

Ballantine is twenty-two but she sure isn’t an adult, in any meaningful sense.   If Ballintine wants to know her purpose in life, here it is.   She is exhibit A, for raising the voting age to thirty

Jason L Durhan, USMC, was twenty-two when he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.  I doubt that Ballantine knows who Corporal Durham was, and most likely could care less.   It seems that aside from her dog, there is nothing about which Ballantine cares.  May the Lord have mercy on her soul.

Update:  Rush talked to Ballantine today, transcript.   I said what I said, and meant what I said.   I gave a gut levell reaction to Ballantine’s questions taking them at face value.  After reading the transcript, I am not sure how much of Ballatine’s question reflected her true feelings  and how much represented a litmus test for Edwards.

I certainly feel that Ballantine is quite capable of climbing Ronald Reagan’s hill (Bit’s comment).   Does she want to climb it or get a ride to the top?  I don’t know.