Miscellaneous Commentary For November 6, 2006

— I haven’t said much about disgraced preacher Ted Haggard because there isn’t that much to say. He’s not a major player on the right; in fact I haven’t ever mentioned his name before on RWN. And while it’s sad that he turned out to be engaging in some immoral activities that he preached against, it’s not a huge surprise. I mean, how many times has everyone heard that the, “spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak?” It’s a sad, but true statement about the human condition. I will say this though: liberals seem to be primarily seizing on the hypocrisy of it all, which, to me, misses the real point. When a man cheats on his wife with a gay prostitute, the primary problem isn’t the hypocrisy, it’s the cheating with the gay prostitute that’s the real issue. All that’s left to say is that I hope the man cleans himself up and gets his life back together.

Military Times, which is owned by the same people who run USA Today, have called for Donald Rumsfeld to be fired. Combine that with Richard Perle doing a CYA motivated attack on Rumsfeld and I do think it damages Rumsfeld’s credibility with the general public. As to whether Bush should get rid of Rummy after the elections, Bush should make his decision based on whether he still thinks Rumsfeld is the best man for the job. If he does, he should hang on to him, but if not, it’s probably time to go ahead and make a change.

— So, they’re finally going to hang Saddam. Talk about a long overdue verdict…and let’s face it, it was victor’s justice, just like the Nuremberg Trials were. We should have just shoved a pistol in his mouth and blew his brains out 5 minutes after he was captured. The result would have been the same and it would have been a lot quicker and easier than making up some court from scratch that’s supposed to subjectively judge Saddam’s actions as a dictator. Even though we’re trying to put a happy face on his execution by having a show trial, people are still complaining, so what would have been the harm in simply killing him outright, early on?

— So how’s the Gang-of-14 compromise looking now?

For the past several weeks, there has been a rumor circulating among high-level officials in Washington, D.C., that a member of the U.S. Supreme Court has received grave medical news and will announce his or her retirement by year’s end. While such rumors are not unusual in the nation’s capital, this one comes from credible sources. Additionally, a less credible but still noteworthy post last week at the liberal Democratic Underground blog says, “Send your good vibes to Justice Stevens. I just got off the phone with a friend of his family and right now he is very ill and at 86 years old that is not good.”

I hate to say I told you so — no wait, I don’t hate to say that at all — but, if there’s another opening on the Supreme Court in the last two years of Bush’s presidency, Republicans are going to be kicking themselves for missing their chance to pull the trigger on the nuclear option because the votes may not be there this time around.

— Fox news reporter Steve Harrigan allowed himself to be waterboarded and he was “fine within minutes.” As far as I’m concerned, waterboarding should be a regularly used technique at Gitmo. Of course, I think they should build a gallows at Gitmo so they can hang every confirmed member of Al-Qaeda once they finish pumping them for info, so I may have a little harsher attitude towards the terrorists than the average person.

— From the RNC,

“The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (November 1-4) shows Republicans cutting the Democrat lead on the generic ballot from down 11 last month (39-50) to down just four points today (43-47). The ABC News/Washington Post poll (November 1-4) shows Republicans cutting the Democrat edge from -14 two weeks ago to only a six point margin today. In addition, Gallup (November 2-5) has the Democrat margin dropping by half over the past two weeks, to a seven-point race.

…Democrat interest in the election has remained relatively static, while Republican interest (+14) and enthusiasm (+10) have increased significantly, according to Pew, which concludes “Republicans now register a greater likelihood of voting than do Democrats…”

We do seem to have the momentum, but we’ll have to see if it actually translates into more wins than expected tomorrow. Personally, I tend to focus on the numbers in individual races much more than I do on the generic numbers.

— If you want to know what socialized medicine would be like in the United States, look to Britain to see how people are being treated there. It’s not a pretty picture:

“A woman has been told she must remain in agony for more than two months because her hospital will be punished if it operates on her more quickly.

Bonnie Collins, who has gallstones, has been advised by her GP to live on water and occasional cream crackers to stop her condition getting worse.

Doctors will not operate on her until Christmas at the earliest, because debt-ridden Ipswich Hospital – which is planning to treat cats and dogs for cancer to raise funds – will not get paid for moving her up the waiting list. This is because her case is classified as urgent, but not an emergency.

‘I am disgusted that NHS professionals expect me to survive on water for the next two months,’ said 28-year-old Mrs Collins, an events co-ordinator from Trimley St Mary, near Ipswich.

‘I’m so weak I spend all my time in my pyjamas, either in bed or lying on the sofa under a duvet.'”

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