Thursday Link-a-thon

Bob Gorrell cartoon via Townhall.

Now here’s a headline that looks like it’s at least a week old, I mean, this is really getting beaten to the ground: New York Post: Christie seriously considering presidential bid after GOP prodding:

Christie pals said the pol’s “mind-blowing” experience at the Reagan library in California Tuesday changed his thinking.

“We need you. Your country needs you to run for president,” one woman pleaded after Christie’s moving speech there.

Yet when the governor first arrived at the Reagan library, he was still telling his inner circle he was a definite “no” for a presidential run — and planned to make that clear in his appearance.

Something changed that night, sources said.

Behind the scenes, sources said, the discussions about running took on a more serious and “surreal tenor,” as the encouragement from Reagan, Kissinger, Bush and others began to sink in.

Even Christie’s wife, Mary Pat, has warmed to the idea of becoming First Lady after months of discouraging a run.

I disagree with conservatives who call Christie an “establishment Republican”, or worse, a “Rockefeller Republican”. I like to think of him as an “effective” Republican.

Oh. mah. Gah:

Newsbusters: MSNBC’s Bashir Attacks NJ Governor: ‘Go Home, Mr. Christie. Your State Needs You Much More Than America Does’

There are times when I am truly sickened by what I see from the current breed of television anchors and hosts. Today is one of them.

Martin Bashir on the MSNBC program bearing his name finished Wedneday’s show with a segment attacking New Jersey governor Chris Christie concluding, “Go home, Mr. Christie. Your state needs you much more than America does” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Read more: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/09/28/msnbcs-bashir-attacks-new-jersey-governor-go-home-mr-christie-your-st#ixzz1ZMtJabuq

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Not that I believe that the current field is hopeless.  No, I’m not a fan of Mittens, and Perry leaves me cold. But Herman Cain is surprising everyone with his strong showings in the latest polls.  Hot Air has the latest: Florida poll puts Romney up two points over …

Maybe that P5 straw poll in Florida had more significance than some thought.  A new poll by Survey USA of likely Florida primary voters shows Mitt Romney ahead in the GOP nomination race at 27%, but the second-place finisher comes within the margin of error — and it’s not Rick Perry:

In the Florida Republican Primary for President, Mitt Romney at 27% edges Herman Cain at 25%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WFLA-TV Tampa. Rick Perry finishes 3rd with 13%, others further back. The Primary is tentatively, and controversially, scheduled for 4 months from today, on 01/31/12.

Daniel Henninger looks into Herman Cain’s successes as a businessman in his WSJ Piece: Taking Cain Seriously:

In the late 1970s, Mr. Cain was recruited from Coca-Cola in Atlanta, his first job in business, to work for Pillsbury in Minneapolis. His rise was rapid and well-regarded. He joined the company’s restaurant and foods group in 1978 as director of business analysis. In the early 1980s, Pillsbury sent him to learn the hamburger business at a Burger King in Hopkins, Minn. Then they assigned him, at age 36, to revive Pillsbury’s stumbling, franchise Burger King business in the Philadelphia region. He succeeded. According to a 1987 account in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Pillsbury’s then-president Win Wallin said: “He was an excellent bet. Herman always seemed to have his act together.”

In 1986, Pillsbury sent the 41-year-old Mr. Cain to turn around their Godfather’s Pizza business, headquartered in Omaha. The Herman Cain who arrived there April 1 sounded like the same man who roused voters last Sunday in Florida: “I’m Herman Cain and this ain’t no April Fool’s joke. We are not dead. Our objective is to prove to Pillsbury and everyone else that we will survive.”

Pillsbury sold Godfather’s to Mr. Cain and some of his managers in 1988. He ran it until 1996 and served as CEO of the National Restaurant Association from 1996-1999. This June, Mr. Cain visited with the Journal’s editors and put the issue of health-insurance availability inside the context of the restaurant industry. He said the restaurant association tried hard to devise a health-insurance program able to serve the needs of an industry whose work force is complex—executives and managers, full-time workers, part-timers, students and so forth. Any conceivable insurance system would require great flexibility in plan-choice and design.

It’s from this period that one finds the famous 1994 video, now on YouTube, of Herman Cain on a TV screen from Omaha debating Bill Clinton about his national health legislation during a town-hall meeting. After the president estimates the profitability of Mr. Cain’s company, suggesting he can afford the legislation, Mr. Cain essentially dismantles the Clinton math, in detail. “The cost of your plan . . . will cause us to eliminate jobs.”

You can watch that video, here.   Dems will underestimate this man at their own peril.

See also: Roger L. Simon’s Book Review: This Is Herman Cain

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It’s nice to see that Ed Morrissey, after saying just yesterday, “if this botched operation hadn’t created such deadly havoc, it would be hilarious”, is finally willing to entertain the possibility that Fast and Furious was not a “botched operation”, after all. Better late than never, I guess.

The latest revelations that changed his mind are featured in former Big Journalism Editor, Michael Walsh’s piece  in The New York Post: A ‘Furious’ revelation Feds sold guns to drug gangs

This just might be the smoking gun we’ve been waiting for to break the festering “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal wide open: the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives apparently ordered one of its own agents to purchase firearms with taxpayer money, and sell them directly to a Mexican drug cartel.

Let that sink in: After months of pretending that “Fast and Furious” was a botched surveillance operation of illegal gun-running spearheaded by the ATF and the US attorney’s office in Phoenix, it turns out that the government itself was selling guns to the bad guys.

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So where’s the outrage?

There’s none from the feds. Attorney General Eric Holder has consistently stonewalled Rep. Darrell Issa, Sen. Chuck Grassley and other congressional investigators.

In a constantly evolving set of lies, Holder has denied knowing anything about Fast and Furious while at the same time withholding documents from the House and Senate committees looking into the mess while muzzling some witnesses and transferring others.

Justice calls the allegations about Dodson’s operation “false.” But Grassley says that’s “a lie,” as he told Greta van Susteren the other day. “The ATF ordered this ATF agent to purchase these guns and in turn sell them, and supposedly track them,” he said. “But he was a lone wolf in the operation — they wouldn’t give him any help for 24-hour surveillance.”

So now the wheels have come off the official explanation for Fast and Furious. Of course, that explanation never made much sense in the first place.

For one thing, the ATF had no authority to track the guns once they were in Mexico; for another, nobody bothered to inform the Mexicans of this intrusion on their national sovereignty.

Further, we now know that a host of federal agencies (including the ATF, the FBI and IRS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration and, very probably, top officials at the Department of Homeland Security) were all in the loop at various levels, as was the White House.

So calling “Fast and Furious” a cockamamie operation gone wrong just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

There are two possible explanations. The first is that the anti-gun Obama administration deliberately wanted American guns planted in Mexico in order to demonize American firearms dealers and gun owners. The operation was manufacturing “evidence” for the president’s false claim that we’re to blame for the appalling levels of Mexican drug-war violence.

If this is true, then Holder & Co. have got to go — and the trail needs to be followed no matter where it leads. For the federal government to seek to frame its own citizens is unconscionable.

A second notion is that the CIA was behind the whole thing, which accounts for all the desperate wagon-circling. Under this theory, the Agency feared the los Zetas drug cartel was becoming too powerful and might even mount a coup against the Mexican government. So some 2,000 weapons costing more than $1.25 million were deliberately channeled to the rival Sinaloa cartel, which operates along the American border, to keep the Zetas in check.

Of course, there’s a third explanation — that both scenarios are true, and that those in charge of Fast and Furious saw an opportunity to shoot two birds with one Romanian-made AK Draco pistol.

Time for a special prosecutor, who’s both fast and furious.

A Special Prosecutor will be appointed after Issa’s committee completes its investigation, Issa told bloggers who were in on a conference call with him, last week. I’m counting on it.

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Gateway Pundit: Flashback: Obama Blames US Guns For Mexican Violence… Then Starts Running Guns to Mexico 5 Months Later (Video):

In April 2009 Barack Obama traveled to Mexico and blamed US gun sellers for “This war being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States.”

Keep in mind, that 90% number was widely debunked at the time.

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In related news, it’s good to know that Holder’s ATF will go after gun “trafficking” that doesn’t involve criminal gangs, but does involve Republican  Car dealers:

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Human Events: Max Motors targeted by ATF, banks and General Motors, Missouri car dealer offered AK-47’s with new car purchases:

Despite the White House harassment, and the loss of financing and insurance arrangements that came in the past, the Butler, Mo., car dealer who will be giving away AK-47’s again starting in October.

“Guess what? We are doing it again! It is the Fourth Annual Great Guns and Gas Give-Away!” said Mark Muller, the owner of Max Motors, whose July 17, 2009 interview with CNN’s Carol Costello about his promotion was great publicity, but brought him unwelcome attention.

Within days of the CNN broadcast, three agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrived at the dealership, he said.

“I was not there, they identified themselves and asked who was in-charge, and everybody pointed at each other,” he said.

Undeterred, the agents demanded to see the guns, he said. When it was explained that there were no actual guns, and that the promotion was really for vouchers towards the purchase of an AK-47, the agents did not believe it.

“There was an empty gun box here from a gun dealer in North Carolina, and they took that and demanded to see the gun that came with that box,” he said. The agents also went into storage rooms and took photos.

The next day, Muller received a call from the ATF asking him to come in for a meeting with all of his personal guns, which they insisted they had to authority to order, he said. Muller held his ground and refused to submit to the audit without first going through due process.

“The ATF people were just as nice as can be. They were not mean or hateful—and finally I asked the lady on the phone: Don’t you have something better to do?” he said. He then re-explained that there were vouchers for guns and that no guns were being given away.

“She said: ‘Let me tell you how important this is, the White House started their morning with a briefing on you. We got a call from Washington, D.C. this morning. They wanted you checked out,” he said.

Feel safer, now?

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PETA is up to its stupid anti-human tricks, again, as  Ace reports:

At Gizmodo, a story about PETA’s latest advertising campaign nasty, anti-human, stunted emotional development provocation.

Charles Wickersham, a 21-year-old guy, was bitten by a shark while fishing with his friends in the Bay Area near Anna Maria Island. Sharks. Bite. Near death. Beyond scary. Anyone with a modicum of a soul would hope that Wickersham gets better (he’s still in intensive care right now) and lives a happy life. Those more equipped might help with the hospital bills or raise awareness on how to prevent such animal accidents from happening. A human survived a traumatic shark attack, what a story that is, amiright? That’s normal behavior for normal people with normal emotions.

PETA is not normal. No. They’re insane.

In response to Wickersham’s accident, those heartless pricks are launching an insensitive ad campaign against all types of fishing. They’re using a man, who almost died, as their soapbox. Their rallying call. Might as well accuse him of being Michael Vick, why don’t you. Their photo, which will be plastered across benches and billboards in the Bay Area, shows a shark chewing on a bloody human “drumstick” (leg) with the tagline: “Payback is Hell. Go Vegan.”

Ace has some ideas of how sane humans can fight this insensitive idiocy:

The only thing I can think of is to set up a website promoting meat-consumption every time they run one of these viciously anti-human ads. Something like a mass agreement to go to a meat-serving restaurant during a specific week. And maybe not just meats, but the sort of meats that PETA gets especially weepy over — veal, for example. Or game meats, venison, bunny rabbits. There are some neat restaurants that specialize in hunted, exotic meats, like ostrich or kangaroo.

Bunny rabbits, Ace? Just no!

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Seton Motley, President of Less Government,  responds to Media Marxist outfit Free Press’s lawsuit – “which absurdly claims the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s illegal Network Neutrality Internet power grab is…not authoritarian enough: Media Marxist Outfit Free Press’s Net Neutrality Lawsuit Wins Them ‘Most Out of Touch Award’”:

“Has Free Press not been paying attention to the political discourse – and the sea change political movement – in this country these past three years?  Americans are in overwhelming, historic numbers demanding less taxes and less regulation.  They want less of everything from government – except accountability, of which they want much more.

“So who’s more tone deaf and out of touch than the Obama Administration’s FCC – which illegally seized control of the Internet so as to then impose in unauthorized fashion Network Neutrality?  That would be Free Press, which sues to contest the power grab claiming – it wasn’t power grabby enough.

“Throw in the fact that Free Press’s first bout of Net Neutrality litigious inanity was laughed out of the D.C. Circuit Court – while the judges were unanimously throwing out the FCC’s first attempt to illegally impose it – and you have our ‘Most Out of Touch Award’ winner.

“This once and for all proves that Free Press is not a ‘public interest’ group.  They are not a ‘consumer interest’ group.  They are a government interest group.  They serve only the interest of Huge Government.

“The public has time and again demonstrated that they are not at all interested in Free Press’ Huge Government policies.  With this ridiculous lawsuit, Free Press has yet again demonstrated they are not at all interested in what the public wants.  They are only interested in what they want – which is illegal, authoritarian, out-of-control Huge Government.”

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For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath for Janeane Garofalo to weigh in on Herman Cain’s candidacy, her latest “limbic brain” spasm does not disappoint: Weasel Zippers:  Lefty Crank Janeane Garofalo: Republicans Supporting Herman Cain Because They Are Racist…

(RCP) — Janeane Garofalo: “Herman Cain is probably well liked by some of the Republicans because it hides the racist elements of the Republican party. Conservative movement and tea party movement, one in the same.

“People like Karl Rove liked to keep the racism very covert. And so Herman Cain provides this great opportunity say you can say ‘Look, this is not a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-female, anti-gay movement. Look we have a black man.’”

Of course!

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Here’s reason #68,641 why people shouldn’t scoff at the idea that Obama is systematically going about destroying our capitalist economy:

Hot Air: New DoE loans favor even more Democratic donors:

Earlier today, I noted that one of the new loans approved by the Department of Energy for green-tech stimulus just happened to favor a company with connections to Nancy Pelosi’s family.  That’s not the only connection in the batch of new loan approvals from the DoE, as the Daily Caller discovered.  Digging into investment records and public statements, it appears that a number of key donors will benefit from the Obama administration’s largesse — including a central figure in the collapse of Solyndra and the destruction of a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money:

The Hill newspaper reported Wednesday that the Santa Monica, Calif.-based SolarReserve has secured a $737 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy for a Nevada solar project.

That company has ties to George Kaiser, the Oklahoma billionaire who raised $53,500 for President Obama’s campaign in 2008. Through his Argonaut Private Equity firm, Kaiser holds a majority stake in Solyndra.

Argonaut has a voting stake on SolarReserve’s board of directors in the person of Steve Mitchell, who also serves on Solyndra’s board of directors.

John Rossomondo also notes the connection to Ron Pelosi at SolarReserve, but there are more connections to big Democratic donors…

I’m speechless…

Michelle Malkin: Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces execution for refusing to renounce Christianity: Where are the Hollyweirdos and Euroweenies now?; Update: White House statement

To oppose the Koranic mandate of death for apostasy is to take on the entire sharia-enforcing Muslim world.

Which is why you never hear purported anti-death penalty bleeding-heart celebrities say a peep about it.

It takes no guts or brains for Hollywood liberals (hello, Alec Baldwin) and America-bashing Brit journalists (hello, U.K. Guardian editors) to bemoan the execution of a convicted Death Row cop-killer who was able to pursue every last legal avenue for more than two decades.

It tells you everything about their selective outrage that they have nothing to say about the latest impending execution in Iran of a Christian pastor.

See also: Weasel Zippers: Boehner Denounces Death Sentence Of Iranian Pastor For Refusing To Recant His Christian Faith…