Rescind her High School Diploma

For some reason I can’t fathom, front-running Presidential candidate John McCain went on The View (maybe he’ll also do Sesame Street) and talked to Baba Wawa and Whoopi Goldberg. While he was talking about the need for judges who interpret the Constitution instead of rewriting it, Whoopi interrupted and asked if that meant she had to worry about being a slave.

Note to Whoopi: slavery was abolished by an amendment. And guess what amendments are? Part of the Constitution.

You can thank Republican President Abraham Lincoln, by the way.

If you don’t know who he is, don’t worry about it. He was just an old white dude from a red state.

This Campaign has Performed an Illegal Operation and Will be Shut Down

I hope Karl Rove is keeping his payments to Barack Obama current. The Golden Child is doing a wonderful job, generating gaffes to help John McCain.

Today’s atrocity? A TV ad with the following message: JOHN MCCAIN SHOULD NOT BE ELECTED PRESIDENT BECAUSE HE’S OLD.

Proving they know exactly what they’re doing, “Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said the campaign was not making an issue of the 72-year-old McCain’s age.” If this pig had any more lipstick on it, the weight would pull its hind legs off the ground. Pfeiffer went on to bulk up his credibility with the following remarks: “Up is down, September is actually July, and I’m definitely not wearing my underwear.”

The ad features a disco ball. It features unflattering 1982 footage of McCain in Congress. It has a short piece of what appears to be a commercial made in the Fifties. It reminds everyone that he hasn’t mastered crucial Presidential skills, such as email, Myspace, Google, Youtube, Napster, and Facebook.

John McCain is an old fart! He doesn’t know how to SUPERPOKE people! He can’t send Naughty Gifts or Booze Mail! He has ZERO Myspace friends! He has never answered a Nigerian spam letter! We can’t let a guy like that in the White House! Where are his piercings? Where is his Ipod? Where is his creepy little post-90s chin beard? Are you kidding me? This guy is DANGEROUS! We can have Mac, and we’re electing PC’s dad!

What are we going to do, when Putin goes nuts and decides to nuke Poland, and John McCain can’t put a rebuke on Putin’s Facebook Fun Wall?

I have to ask. When did we decide it was okay to discriminate against job applicants based on age? Didn’t liberals coin the term “ageism”? Didn’t they afflict us with laws making age discrimination an incredibly expensive federal tort?

You want age discrimination? I’ll give it to you. The Constitution says you can’t be President until you’re 35, and it was written at a time when a lot of folks dropped dead before reaching that age. What does that tell you? It tells you the framers were more worried about hiring immature punks than they were about Presidents who have to use reading glasses.

Some people–lunatics, I guess–have the crazy idea that human beings learn as they age. They think older people are wiser and more mature. We need to find these people and deprogram them. Then we can fix the Constitution and elect our new co-Presidents, the Olsen twins.

If old is bad, what the hell is Joe Biden doing on Obama’s ticket? He’s SIXTY-FIVE. Joe Biden is NINE DAYS OLDER THAN OBAMA’S MOTHER. On November 20, he’ll have a birthday, and then he won’t be able to serve, because it will be time to turn him into Soylent Green.

Please, please, let Biden pick up on this and try to change his image. He’s insecure enough to do it. He already has plugs and glowing blue teeth. Please, just once before I die, let me watch Joe Biden try to skate on a half-pipe. Let him throw up ONE gang sign at a debate. Then I could die happy. Here’s what he should say when they interview him on Nickelodeon:

Is it because they didn’t work hard? My ancestors, who worked in the Apple stores of Northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play Wii for four hours? No, it’s not because they weren’t as smart. It’s not because they didn’t work as hard. It’s because they didn’t have a pair of Crocs upon which to stand. Dude.”

I want to see Biden in Mountain Dew commercials. I want to see him play a high school kid on his own DNC-financed sitcom: That 40s Show. That makes Obama Fez. Just imagine it. “Olbermann, to you I say good day!” Then John McCain can come in with a beer in his hand and call Biden “dumbass.”

Let’s see. The Democrats have made it clear they hate working moms. They hate Christians. They hate gun owners. They hate teenage girls who have sex before marriage. Now they hate old people. Who’s next? Who’s left? They call themselves the Big Tent party, but the biggest tent is the one they’re filling with people they detest.

I don’t know what McCain should do about this. Maybe Pfeiffer and Obama should both be grounded.

McCain continues creeping up in the polls, like the shuffleboard scores of a retiree who has just discovered Celebrex. Obama continues working his helpful magic. When a person whose primary job is PR thinks he can do no wrong, wrong is what he is most likely to do. Keep scolding the press, B. Hussein. Keep attacking demographic segments you need in order to survive. This is like the scene in Fight Club, where Ed Norton goes into his boss’s office and beats himself up. You’re doing something the Republicans could never do in their own right.

Hurry, November. Let’s get this thing finished before Illinois mounts a Senatorial recall election.

Get Oprah Some Fresh Dress Shields

The other day, I was writing enthusiastically about McCain’s poll numbers, and people told me the electoral map was what really mattered. I said it seemed to me that if the national poll changed, the electoral numbers would have to follow it. It doesn’t really make sense to have a big change in popular-vote polls without an accompanying, albeit delayed, shift in the electoral picture. Think about it. The planets have to line up a certain way in order for the popular vote and the electoral vote to conflict. It’s not normal.

I guess I was right. Take a look at Realclearpolitics: the latest electoral map shows Obama with 217 votes and McCain with 216. Nearly even.

I hope Obama continues to offend and pat himself on the back and cry victim. I hope he keeps scolding and patronizing the press. It might eventually become fashionable for mainstream journalists to pretend they knew he was a brat all along.

Today McCain said he would offer Obama a cabinet post. It was a silly thing to say, but it may have a positive effect. There may be some BO voters out there who aren’t totally sure about Obama as President, but who would like to see him in the picture somewhere.

If we’re still seeing good numbers on Monday, I think Obama will officially be over.

THINK

Regarding the election…I think it would be wise if commentators, when discussing the Republican VP choice, would stop saying McCain “tapped” Sarah Palin.

Didn’t the Dalai Obama say They Were Harmless?

Fausta thinks we may be on the verge of another Cold War. I’m glad I went on Ebay and bought those electric boxers.

Correction

A reader informs me that it’s not actually cold during a Cold War. Apparently it’s just an expression.

Suspicions Confirmed

I have wonderful news.

At last, science has an explanation for liberalism.

First Amendment Unimportant to Liberals

Moxie lives in California, the land of tolerance. See how Californians express their tolerance for a McCain banner on private property.

Better still: if you leave the banner up so people can see what happened, the city tries to force you to remove it.

More

While you’re there, read about the shocking sliming of B. Hussein.

Who Gets Custody of Joe Biden?

Ben Smith at Politico points out something interesting. Barack Obama just kicked the press out of bed and took his money off the dresser.

In his bizarre, whiny, faux-patriotic response (see Otter’s courtroom scene in Animal House), Obama began to criticize the press for paying attention to his pig/lipstick/smelly fish gaffe. He began ranting about how “the news media” were going after the story, and he compared it to catnip. He said America (stand, place hand over heart) was the true victim.

What Smith omits from his quote is Obama’s feeble effort to make it look like he’s not really criticizing the press. Obama expressly went after the press, but then after the words “This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about,” he tried to turn it around, claiming “they” meant McCain’s people.

Let’s be honest. He did swerve toward McCain at the end. But that was only after he made it very clear he was trying to run down the press.

What will happen now? If there is one thing the press hates as much or more than a Republican candidate, it’s being told how to do its job. Barack Obama can’t handle criticism, but compared to the press, he’s gracious. The press has a long memory and a short fuse. And it is nearly impossible to beat them, once the bombs start flying.

How can this man be so ungrateful? The press sent three news anchors on his ridiculous jaunt to Europe. They put Sarah Palin on a magazine cover over the words “Babies Lies & Scandal,” one week after putting him and his wife behind “Michelle Obama: Why Barack Loves Her.” They ignored the first half of McCain’s campaign. They continue to ignore Obama’s confessed-terrorist buddy, Bill Ayres. They sat on the Edwards scandal because they thought he might be Obama’s running mate. They practically groped Obama at the debates. They made an icky homoerotic remark about tingling legs. They uncritically published lie after lie about Sarah Palin, even as untrained bloggers with day jobs were disproving the rumors. How can he risk alienating an utterly corrupt journalistic establishment, which fawns over him as if he pooped diamonds and cancer vaccines?

The press loves him so much, they’ve had to discipline themselves. The cable pseudopod of NBC, the farthest-left, least self-aware network, actually became embarrassed by Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews and removed them from their anchor posts. You can’t buy friends like that. They are irreplaceable.

How does he think he got where he is? He’s a junior senator with 143 days of work behind him and no major accomplishments. Before that, he was a state senator with no major accomplishments. Before that, he was a political machine flunky. He’s not even a real lawyer; he has never had a practice. He thinks he jumped to the top of Mount Everest, and now he’s throwing rocks at the Sherpas who carried him.

The most likely thing is that the press will bite its collective tongue and suffer the insults until he’s elected. But maybe they won’t. They brought Gary Hart down, after he dared them to prove he was an adulterer. They might give the Precious a dose of the same bitter medicine.

To paraphrase Dean Vernon Wormer, maybe it’s time someone put his foot down. And that foot is the press.

The Voice of Class

Barack Obama’s mouth is like Pandora’s box. A helpful aide should glue it shut, while there is still someone Obama hasn’t offended.

Yesterday, we learned that Obama used the old “lipstick on a pig” joke, which appeared to be a reference to Sarah Palin, who made a famous and very recent joke in which she said lipstick was the only difference between pit bulls and she and her fellow “hockey moms.” He compounded the error by making an ill-advised reference to a smelly piece of fish.

Today, Obama gave us his official response. And it was a beauty. He said–smirking–that this was a “made-up controversy” of the type of which the public was tired. There was no apology. There was no acknowledgment that anyone could have taken legitimate offense.

He made his remarks at a high school. How appropriate.

There is about a two percent chance his pig remark was not aimed at Palin, so he could be excused if he claimed he wasn’t referring to her. But a mature man would have apologized, anyway. He should have said, “I can see how people would misunderstand. I am sorry if it appeared that I was insulting Governor Palin, and I did not mean it that way.” Instead, we saw the now-familiar, highly insensitive face of the Chosen One, dismissively chiding blasphemers and implying that those who claim they were offended are lying. And he ignored the PUMAs, who have nothing to do with the McCain campaign, and who are more angry than anyone.

Before the PUMAs arrived on the scene, I did not realize how badly Obama’s arrogance and contempt offend people. Since they started creating blogs and message boards, my eyes have been opened. They complain about sexism, disrespect, and bullying. They see Obama as a spoiled child who becomes indignant when criticized, and who feels entitled to a cushy ride into the White House, as if it were somehow his birthright. The more I read and the more I watch, the more I see what they’re talking about.

Here are two examples of what they perceive as crass Obama behavior.

At a rally in Iowa, Obama’s people played a rap song as background music. The refrain? “99 Problems but a bitch ain’t one.” Look it up. I’m not joking. Using rap music, in and of itself, is evidence that contempt for women doesn’t bother you. Rap’s history of vile sexism is indisputable. Using that song at a rally, while you’re trying to beat a powerful female opponent, is just plain over the top. And a song that crude and antisocial is inappropriate at a rally, no matter what the circumstances are.

We know campaigns fret a great deal about the music they use. They choose it with care, they think about the message, and they worry about how the public will take it. They even pay for rights. Right now, the McCain campaign is involved in a kerfuffle with 80s band Heart, because the campaign bought the right to use “Barracuda” to promote Sarah Palin. Obama’s people can claim they didn’t think about the rap lyrics, or that they didn’t know the song would be played, but the obvious and reasonable presumption is that they reviewed it and approved of it. Did Obama apologize? I see no record of it.

In April, in Raleigh, North Carolina, a bruised and petulant Barack Obama discussed the spanking Hillary Clinton had given him at a televised debate. While making childish remarks, he raised his right hand to his cheek, pulled back his index and ring fingers, and brushed his cheek beneath his right eye. Any high school student can tell you what this means. It’s a way to give someone the finger, while pretending not to. It’s an ancient and widely used insult. Every teacher has seen it a thousand times. You can see it in the movie “Aliens.” The character Sergeant Apone uses it in response to a stupid question from a private.

Now, maybe Obama’s cheek itched. Maybe the supporters, who sat behind him on the stage and broke up with laughter as he made the gesture, were laughing about something else. But the L.A. Times–not known for its hostility to Obama–thought there was enough doubt to justify running an item on one of its blogs. And again, if there was an apology, it’s not very obvious in Google searches.

This is the guy who thinks diplomacy is his great strength. He’s going to sweet-talk our enemies until they make peace with us. If he can’t be tactful and respectful in a political campaign, how are we supposed to believe he can charm the Iranians and North Koreans? So far, his efforts at charm have been limited to convincing slum dwellers that the government owes them more stuff. That’s not a job that requires a Clarence Darrow.

I won’t complain. Every time he stiffens his neck and refuses to be gracious, he moves votes into the McCain column.

Sun Tzu said, “If your opponent is quick to anger, seek to irritate him.” Maybe that’s the recipe for a McCain win. Call Obama on his disdain and narcissism, and wait for him to respond like an angry adolescent. He simply can’t take the heat. He treats criticism aimed at him the way jihadis treat criticism of Mohammed; it’s as if you’re criticizing someone he worships. Remember how upset he got when Maureen Dowd talked about his ears? If George Bush (or any other prominent Republican politician) were that sensitive, he would have killed himself by now. He makes John McCain seem almost serene, and that’s saying something.

It’s no wonder the PUMAs call Obama “the Precious.”

Maybe we should start calling him “Radar,” “Dumbo,” and “Jughead,” just to see if he throws a fit.

I’m glad Obama is working so hard to help us win. I don’t think we could pull it off without him.

This is Too Easy

If there is one thing female Clinton voters love, it’s seeing women compared to pigs and pieces of smelly old fish.

HOW MUCH IS KARL ROVE PAYING THIS MAN?

I realize it’s possible to twist a speaker’s words and get a result the speaker did not intend. But you would have to be stupid to make remarks like this and not realize how they would be taken.

More

In case you live in a bunker, let me give you the particulars. He uttered the ancient “lipstick on a pig” crack, clearly referring to Sarah Palin, and then he said something about old fish stinking even after you wrap it in newspaper.

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Here’s comforting proof, for the Golden Child, that REPUBLICANS ARE CRAZY WHEN THEY CLAIM HILLARY VOTERS WILL VOTE FOR SARAH PALIN.

Let me extend my hand to the PUMAs in peace. Look, you got screwed. We got screwed. None of us got what we wanted. Let’s all agree that regardless of McCain’s failure to totally satisfy, he’s better than the Dalai Obama. And he’ll put a woman in the White House.

More

Here’s a very typical comment of one of those Hillary supporters who definitely won’t be abandoning Obama for McCain. About Obama, she says: “He’s such an awful disgusting arrogant bile-filled trail of cat sick.”

More

Here is the official, solitary talking point the Obama flaks are uttering on cue: “Obama didn’t call Sarah Palin a pig.”

That is true.

He just IMPLIED it as hard as he could.

Was it unintentional? Maybe. If he’s high on PCP.

Sky Falls – Gore Would be Pleased

AUGGGGHHH.

They said there was a 70% chance of rain today. Apparently the other 30% is behind us, because we are getting HAMMERED.

And not in the good way.

Why do they call them “feeder bands”? We’re not getting fed. We’re getting watered.

Whoops, it’s over.

Kids Become Scratch and Dent Items

Could this happen in America?

According to AP, there are 88 earthquake victims in China who need to be adopted. They were orphaned by a quake that struck four months ago. So far, only one has found new parents. The reason? Prospective parents don’t want to adopt children over six, or children with handicaps. Naturally, earthquake victims are likely to have injuries and handicaps.

It’s hard to believe. There are over a billion people in China. Can’t they absorb 88 kids?

It says a lot about the attitude taken by people who want to adopt. The point of adoption should be to help a child who is lost in the world. That aim is doubly served, where the child has disabilities or other problems. To people with the right spirit, these kids should be more desirable.

It must feel awful to be one of these kids. They must feel like factory seconds.

When you decide to have kids, you should ask yourself what the goal is. If the goal is to satisfy your need for something to cuddle and show off, you’re doing it for selfish reasons, and you would be better off with a dog. When you have a kid, you’re obligating yourself to perform a series of altruistic acts, for a minimum of eighteen years. If you’re thinking mainly of yourself, you’re setting yourself up for a great disappointment.

Find Out What’s Going on in Latin America

Fausta linked me today at the hurricane edition of the Carnival of Latin America.

She is also doing podcasts every day at 10 a.m. Eastern.

TEN

My life is all about anger management these days. I don’t want to hit 60 and find I’ve turned into a combination of Michael Moore and Chris Matthews. I am Mr. Patience. That’s my new name. BUT I got a little annoyed, watching a weatherman on Saturday. In the morning, I had confirmed that Miami was outside the Cone of Death for Hurricane Ike. Not far outside, but definitely outside. You can still be hit when you’re outside the Cone of Death, but the whole point of the Cone is to show who is most likely to get the storm, and if you’re out, they don’t expect you to have problems.

This guy said we were “WELL WITHIN” the Cone.

How is “just outside” equivalent to “well within”?

Admit it, dude. Nobody expects Ike to hit Miami. I know it’s hard for a journalist to let go of the hope for a major catastrophe. But the lives and property of several million people are somewhat important, too.

I have enough aggravation. I don’t need it compounded by a missing roof and looters. If I’m in danger, please let me know. But don’t yank my chain just because it makes me pay attention to you.

TV journalists got really spoiled by Andrew and the 2004-2005 mess. They got to sit in canoes in knee-deep water and pretend it was major flooding. They got to film Sean Penn’s rescue dinghy, as it sank because he didn’t realize you have to put the plug in the drain hole. They got to use infrared police video of ignorant looters who didn’t realize the cops could see them in the dark. And they got to film a destroyed American city. Now they have to be content with rare storms involving cataclysmic misfortunes such as trees falling across driveways. They don’t seem too happy about it.

For journalists with the wrong attitude, the only bad news is good news. Maybe our journalism schools need to start offering seminars on how to endure and present bad news without developing clinical depression.

Speaking of bad news for journalists, McCain is up…what? What? TEN percentage points in the latest poll? TEN? I would have been thrilled with three. At this rate, by November, Sarah Palin runs the risk of becoming a false deity. Enjoy her, folks. Just remember, she’s mortal. No faux Greek temples, please.

My best wild guess is that the PUMAs helped generate this result, and that they are quite serious when they put up Internet posts and comments overwhelmingly supporting this woman. And why should we be surprised? Nervous liberal talking heads say women “won’t be fooled” into thinking Sarah is an acceptable candidate, just because she’s a woman. My response? Why not? It worked for Hillary.

Here’s a bitter pill for partisans on both sides of the aisle: most Americans do not understand the difference between socialism and capitalism. They are not committed, one way or the other. This is why life is so frustrating for the politically aware. We’re constantly yammering at unobservant people who refuse to absorb obvious knowledge. We’re like Yossarian in Catch-22, pounding on Aarfy’s chest, trying to make him understand that he needs to get out of the nose of the plane.

When Barack Obama tells them they can have piles of socialist trinkets and mirrors, it never occurs to them that these things will erode the capitalist system and destroy wealth. When John McCain tells them he wants to cut pork and keep the tax rates low, it never occurs to them that he is endangering their Great-Society-style handouts. TV pundits say it’s insulting to suggest that the PUMAs would vote for Sarah just because she’s a woman; they say her conservative politics will turn them off. But not all of the PUMAs are true liberals. A lot of them are politically flexible ladies who just want to see a woman on the ticket, even if it’s Phyllis Schlafly. And they’re absolutely correct to believe that a Republican woman will have the same glass-ceiling-shattering effect as a Democrat. If a woman is what they want, Sarah Palin will do. The acronym “Party Unity, My Ass” ought to tip the pundits off.

So maybe the convention bounce comes largely from the PUMAs. If it does, Obama’s free-range goose is cooked. They always say there are 18 million PUMAs. If half of them vote for McCain or stay home, Obama will have a real problem. Last time around, each candidate got around 50 million votes. When 18 million voters desert you, it’s a serious void in your constituency. You can’t just patch it with a composite of nebulous “change” and Bond-O.

Then there’s the other problem: the Bradley Effect. No one likes to talk about it. Non-black voters usually exaggerate their willingness to vote for black candidates. Dinkins was supposed to beat Giuliani, remember? Hypocrisy is most rampant when there is no price to pay. When you’re on the phone with a pollster, you can say anything you want. If it makes you look good to the stranger on the other end of the line, you won’t hesitate to say it. In the voting booth, it’s another story. If you have a problem with black leaders, you’re going to express it with your private vote. Sad, but true. History proves it. From observing the behavior and speech of non-blacks all my life, I’ve come up with an estimate that about fifteen percent of Americans have significant racism issues, and they generally manifest them only in private. If that’s even close to correct, the Bradley Effect is inevitable.

A lot of people in Appalachia will never vote for a black man. The same is true in Boston. Nationwide, Hispanics generally resist voting for blacks. I’ve even heard anti-black sentiment from a surprising number of upper-middle-class suburban Jews. These are shameful facts, but that doesn’t mean they can be wished away. And don’t forget; the last time Obama won an election, his opponent was black.

It would be wonderful to see Americans base their votes on sound reasoning, but things like prejudice and intuition and the candidates’ personalities play huge roles. There is no point in fighting it. If John McCain wins, I’ll be happy, even if I will have questions about the motivation of a lot of the people who helped put him in the White House.

Hey, at least he can count on overwhelming support from blacks and Muslims. I’m sure they’re basing their votes purely on his policies. Whatever those may turn out to be, when he chooses to nail them down and inform us.

Did you notice how he’s saying he might keep the Bush tax cuts? Oh, yeah, that’s a sign of confidence. You can tell he’s not scared or anything. Geez, B. Hussein, if we wanted four more years of Bush, shouldn’t we just vote for George W. McCain? That’s what one of your community organizers told me.

The weird thing about this election is that regardless of who wins, a woman or a black man will be at the inauguration. If you wanted change, get ready. You’re going to get it.

I hope the poll trend continues. I hate having to consider the possibility that a former ward heeler with a history of refusing to rock the boat could ever be elected as a reform candidate, especially without being required to tell us what his policies are.

Mr. Obama’s Shabby Profession

Someone suggested I explain the term “ward heeler,” which I used to describe Barack Obama, who used to perform this function in Chicago.

A ward heeler is a flunky for a political boss. They are close kin to bagmen; some do both jobs. In the past, bosses hired scary goons to do this stuff; I suppose they still do. Ward heelers roam around town, convincing people to “vote the right way.” They keep people in line. They find out the concerns of the citizens, and they try to turn them to advantage. They may exchange money and alcohol for votes. They sometimes stand as near to polling places as they can, staring down voters who disagree with them, and making it clear that they will be remembered. They “help” us make the right political and social decisions. Bosses are too busy counting their money to attend to these matters.

Ward heelers are now called “community organizers,” for a very important reason: it sounds better. They’re more sophisticated and less violent than they used to be, but it’s still a fairly slimy gig. They have community organizers in Cuba. They exhort others to support the regime, and they spy on the people in their neighborhoods, and they have them sent to prison for things like buying meat. The Nazis had community organizers. Some were called Hitler Youth; others were called capos. The concept is associated with contrived political philosophies imposed from the top down; the very opposite of grass-roots movements, which arise spontaneously from below. Obviously, Barack Obama is not a Nazi collaborator or a corrupt communist stooge, but he belongs to a broad class which includes such people. He was a professional busybody, paid to keep the citizenry under control. This doesn’t have to be done by coercion or intimidation; you can do it by building “food banks” and organizing marches, but the aim is fundamentally the same. Reward the faithful. Punish those who disagree.

According to Wikipedia, Saul Alinsky is a seminal thinker in the area of “community organizing.” You may not remember Mr. Alinsky. He was the subject of Hillary Clinton’s thesis at Wellesley. He wrote a book on the concept. It was called Rules for Radicals, and he dedicated it to Lucifer, “the first radical.” If you want to learn about Mr. Alinksy, buy Jonah Goldberg’s book, Liberal Fascism. I don’t recall all the facts, but the general impression I got was that this man had a Khmer-Rouge-style philosophy, in which morality was defined solely by the leftist results one’s actions produced.

Oddly, a lot of people who know nothing about the Bible call Jesus a community organizer. The truth is that Jesus was a great disappointment to the Jews, precisely because he was not a community organizer or any other type of political operative. First-century Jews were sick of Roman rule, and they hoped for a Messiah who would be a political ruler, more like Saul or David than Moses. The rejection of Jesus was partly based on this distinction. He came and went, and the Romans were still there. Jesus was not a community organizer. He organizes individuals, one at a time. From within.

Jesus was an evangelist. He did not organize protests. He did not tell people how to vote. He spoke up against civil disobedience. He never made any effort to expel the Romans. In fact, he left them pretty much alone, reserving most of his criticism and exhortation for his fellow religious Jews. He preached a form of religion based on each individual’s personal relationship with God, not a community-centered movement fueled by the power of organized groups.

It’s pointless to explain this to people who are unfamiliar with the Bible, i.e. leftists. They think Jesus and Buddha and Gandhi were basically fungible, and that they agreed on all the essentials. In reality, the similarities are few, and the differences are obvious and irreconcilable.

It’s odd that a man with a Harvard law degree would become a professional lackey for a notorious political machine, but that’s what Barack Obama did. Yet somehow he is considered exceptionally pure, and Sarah Palin is considered a hack, because she thinks we should drill for bad old oil, which may make money for old white guys. The world is a funny place, and that goes double for Cook County.

Now you know what a ward heeler is. Wouldn’t it be great to have one in the Oval Office?

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The point is illustrated nicely, over at Sondra’s place.

Correction

A commenter points out that Obama got his law degree after his stint as a Chicago machine flunky, not before.