Worst Congress Ever. Donate now.

These past two years we've seen the most disfunctional, unpopular and irresponsible Congress in our lifetime. The Worst. Congress. Ever.

For the first time in US history this Democratic-led bunch abandoned our men and women in uniform on the battlefield by voting against funding war operations. They voted to lose a war.... Damn the consequences.

We've also seen gas prices more than double and the economy collapse as Democrats continue to offer no answers and no relief! We've seen Democratic politicians caught in scandal after scandal. We've also seen the Democratic leaders turn their heads the other way.

And, just this week we heard the most vile speech by a House Speaker we have ever witnessed in our country's history...

Therefore, I'm joining Ace of Spades HQ, Atlas Shrugs, Conservatives With Attitude, Gateway Pundit, Moonbattery, PoliPundit, Power Line, Redstate, Right Wing News, & Wizbang! to help raise money for worthy candidates in the last month of the campaign.


Gateway Pundit has more on the rationale and the slate we're supporting. Suffice it to say that you can make a difference. Any donation, no matter how small (even a dollar), can help kick the assclown to the curb.

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How much damage can an assclown do in one minute?

Note: I think "assclown" is the term Nancy Pelosi prefers. Anyhow, I'm thinking the answer is about $700 billion.

Oh, and I found the following headline in CNN's dumpster: Pelosi's uplifting speech unites Congress behind the Bailout.

The transcript of Pelosi's speech -- which blamed the mortgage meltdown on Bush, Rethuglicans, Cheney, Rove, Reagan, Sarah Palin, radio talk-show hosts, bible-wielding Pennsylvanians and Walker Texas Ranger -- is something for the ages. It was as ill-timed and as dishonest a speech as has ever been given in the halls of Congress.

Pelosi and Reid make Benedict Arnold look like Nathan Hale.

Do you think Barney Frank regrets giving up that one minute of time to Madame Speaker? Because that's all it took for Pelosi to torch a verbal agreement in a manner similar to Genghis Kahn's rampage through the city of Balkh (which was destroyed it in the year 1221 and "has not fully recovered from the damage to this day").

Best. House. Speaker. Ever.

Here's the transcript. You can read between the lines. Literally.

SPEAKER PELOSI: Madam Speaker, when was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion?

Roughly the same time I asked someone to give me $18 grand, which is the amount Pelosi accepted in donations from Fannie and Freddie last year -- more than any other single person.

It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush Administration's failed economic policies-policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system.

Correct. We know it didn't have anything to do with Clinton operatives Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, Jim Johnson and others instigating an accounting fraud at Fannie Mae while sucking out $200 million in salaries. Or Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters and a host of other Democratic Congressional muckety-mucks who blocked every attempt at reform. Or Democratic front-group ACORN's phony allegations of redlining that forced banks to underwrite ever riskier loans. We know the meltdown had nothing to do with any of those things!

Democrats believe in the free market, which can and does create jobs, wealth, and capital, but left to its own devices it has created chaos.

That chaos is the dismal picture painted by Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke a week and a half ago in the Capitol. As they pointed out, we confront a crisis of historic magnitude that has the ability to do serious injury not simply to our economy, but to the American people: not just to Wall Street, but to everyday Americans on Main Street.

It is our responsibility today, to help avert that catastrophic outcome.

Kinda like how "Great Society" helped win the war on poverty. That was a big Democratic responsiblity that worked out swimmingly!

Let us be clear: This is a crisis caused on Wall Street. But it is a crisis that reaches to Main Street in every city and town of the United States.

It is a crisis that freezes credit, causes families to lose their homes, cripples small businesses, and makes it harder to find jobs.

It is a crisis that never had to happen. It is now the duty of every Member of this body to recognize that the failure to act responsibly, with full protections for the American taxpayer, would compound the damage already done to the financial security of millions of American families.

Over the past several days, we have worked with our Republican colleagues to fashion an alternative to the original plan of the Bush Administration.

I must recognize the outstanding leadership provided by Chairman Barney Frank, whose enormous intellectual and strategic abilities have never before been so urgently needed, or so widely admired.

Wait a second! Is that the same Barney Frank who fought off the Bush administration's two dozen attempts at reining in Fannie and Freddie saying "I think it is clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sufficiently secure so they are in no great danger... I don't think we face a crisis; I don't think that we have an impending disaster. ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country... I don't see any financial crisis.

Why, yes. I think that is the same Barney Frank! Well done, B!

I also want to recognize Rahm Emanuel, who combined his deep knowledge of financial institutions with his pragmatic policy experience, to resolve key disagreements.

Is that the same Rahm Emanuel who "who served on the board of Freddie Mac and... opposed every reform proposed by the Bush Administration"? The same Rahm who reportedly fast-tracked illegal aliens through the voter registration process to promote vote fraud? And has blind trusts valued at between $6.5 million and $28 million (the hallmark of an honest politician)? That's deep knowledge of financial institutions!

Secretary Paulson deserves credit for working day and night to help reach an agreement and for his flexibility in negotiating changes to his original proposal.

Democrats insisted that legislation responding to this crisis must protect the American people and Main Street from the meltdown on Wall Street.

The American people did not decide to dangerously weaken our regulatory and oversight policies. They did not make unwise and risky financial deals. They did not jeopardize the economic security of the nation. And they must not pay the cost of this emergency recovery and stabilization bill.

So we insisted that this bill contain several key provisions:

This legislation must contain independent and ongoing oversight to ensure that the recovery program is managed with full transparency and strict accountability.

Is that kind of like the oversight that Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, David Scott, Gregory Meeks, Franklin Raines and a host of other Democrats fought tooth and nail for the last eight years? That kind of oversight?

The legislation must do everything possible to allow as many people to stay in their homes rather than face foreclosure.

The corporate CEOs whose companies will benefit from the public's participation in this recovery must not benefit by exorbitant salaries and golden parachute retirement bonuses.

Say, CEOs like Franklin Raines ($90 million salary) and Jim Johnson ($21 million) who drove Fannie Mae into the ground while cooking the books to make their bonus numbers? And then took jobs advising Obama on housing? Those kind of CEOs?

Our message to Wall Street is this: the party is over. The era of golden parachutes for high-flying Wall Street operators is over. No longer will the U.S. taxpayer bailout the recklessness of Wall Street.

Great. But when do we get to stop bailing out the criminals and Democrats (but I repeat myself) who raped and pillaged Fannie Mae in the name of "economic fairness"? Like Barney ("I don't see any financial crisis") Frank?

The taxpayers who bear the risk in this recovery must share in the upside as the economy recovers.

Do we get to share in the profits with the crooks at ACORN? Those guys are really good at paying for votes with crack cocaine, making up names of voters, cajoling the dead to vote, and convincing illegal aliens to register.

And should this program not pay for itself, the financial institutions that benefited, not the taxpayers, must bear responsibility for making up the difference.

These were the Democratic demands to safeguard the American taxpayer, to help the economy recover, and to impose tough accountability as a central component of this recovery effort.

Why start now? You could probably get away with a few more years of ripping off taxpayers just like Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick and Jim Johnson did.

This legislation is not the end of congressional activity on this crisis. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will continue to hold investigative and oversight hearings to find out how the crisis developed, where mistakes were made, and how the recovery must be managed to protect the middle class and the American taxpayer.

Yes. We're all eagerly awaiting the investigation into the root cause of the crisis.

With passage of this legislation today, we can begin the difficult job of turning our economy around, of helping those who depend on a growing economy and stable financial institutions for a secure retirement, for the education of their children, for jobs and small business credit.

I guess we'll have to take a raincheck on the Tang, Mattie. I mean, Nancy.

Today we must act for those Americans, for Main Street, and we must act now, with the bipartisan spirit of cooperation which allowed us to fashion this legislation.

This not enough. We are also working to restore our nation's economic strength by passing a new economic recovery stimulus package- a robust, job creating bill-that will help Americans struggling with high prices, get our economy back on track, and renew the American Dream.

Today, we will act to avert this crisis, but informed by our experience of the past eight years with the failed economic leadership that has left us left capable of meeting the challenges of the future.

We choose a different path. In the new year, with a new Congress and a new president, we will break free with a failed past and take America in a New Direction to a better future.

The only "new direction" you're gonna get, honey, is a AAA TripTik for your ride back to Frisco after your ass gets fired.

Drain. The. Swamp!

Accountability. Back. To. Congress!

Best. Congress. Evah!

This ignorant, hyper-partisan assclown needs to do all Americans a favor and resign. Now.

Related: Swamp Politics: Bailout sunk by Pelosi speech ("Pelosi, the House's top Democrat, outraged Republican members of their conference who might have been on the fence before her speech. By her words , she pushed them to vote against the legislation.")
Linked by: Gateway Pundit, Pax Parabellum and Take our country back!. Thanks!

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Reason to be worried -- very worried -- about the bailout deal

Here's some testimony from '03 and '04 that relate to the oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that should make you cry. But these people are smiling, laughing even, about $700 billion in taxpayer money they'll use for a bailout of the GSEs they failed to control.

Any questions?

Via: Rick at Brutally Honest.

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Atlanta Gas Lines, Fuel Shortages cheered by Democrats

Atlanta drivers -- and many others throughout the South -- are suffering through fuel shortages resulting in long waits at gas stations. Linda Gregg of Virginia Highlands waited two hours to gas up her Toyota Prius.


"It's ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. What is this, Haiti?" Other drivers agreed, some of whom had driven dozens of miles trying to find a gas station with fuel.


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) applauded the waits as "necessary conservation measures that are moving America closer to a green economy." *


The Democratic leaders pointed out that their 30 year track record speaks for itself.

Democrats have blocked the development of new sources of petroleum.
Democrats have blocked drilling in ANWR.
Democrats have blocked drilling off the coast of Florida.
Democrats have blocked drilling off of the east coast.
Democrats have blocked drilling off of the west coast.
Democrats have blocked drilling off the Alaskan coast.
Democrats have blocked building oil refineries.
Democrats have blocked clean nuclear energy production.
Democrats have blocked clean coal production.

A proud tradition, to be sure, and one certain to get more Democrats elected in the fall.

* I'm pretty sure this is what they said, but the dog was barking when they were talking, so I won't guarantee the transcription.

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Gasoline: the real price-gougers

Hurricane Ike threatens our largest oil refineries...

Gas prices hit all-time highs...

...and the Democrat-controlled Congress continues to prohibit drilling for energy around 93% of the U.S. In fact, they even prohibit exploration!

It's nothing new. In 1994 Democrat Bill Clinton vetoed exploration in Alaska

In 2008 Democrat Nancy Pelosi claimed that drilling for oil is a "hoax".

And in July of this year Democrat Ken Salazar refused to consider drilling even if gas hit $10 a gallon!

Ten dollar gas? Vote for Energy. Vote McCain-Palin.

Update: Larwyn adds:

Look at the Dems' "No Zones" and realize that if drilling and refinery sites were spread out, a hurricane in the Gulf would not have such a dire effect on our economy and on your pocketbook.

Common sense folks! If your banked cash exceeds the FDIC insurance limits, you use more than one bank. Time we create more than ONE ENERGY BANK for this country....

Well said.

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Rangel found floating in Pelosi's swamp

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi swept into power with a promise to "drain the swamp" and combat a "culture of corruption."

It turns out that the swamp has in fact not been drained; it instead continues to rise and new floaters seem to surface every day.

Yesterday Bloomberg reported on the latest turd to pop to the surface of the cesspool.

He goes by the name of Charlie Rangel.

Oh, and there are some income tax violations as well.

New York Representative Charles Rangel received an interest-free loan from the developer of his Dominican Republic vacation villa, a resort official said.

...The assertion that Rangel didn't know about the interest- free loan is one of several unusual aspects of his financial and real estate dealings. He said yesterday he failed to report more than $75,000 in rental income from the villa on his federal or state tax returns. The units rent for $500 to $1,000 a night, according to the New York Times.

The revelations come on the heels of a report that Rangel occupies four different rent-controlled apartments -- including one as a campaign office -- and has violated New York City regulations in doing so.

It turns out Rangel just hit the ethics investigation trifecta; his use of congressional stationary to solicit donors for a university center that would carry the Rangel name is also under review.

With that, Rangel joins other Pelosi floaters including:

William "Freezer-burn" Jefferson (D-LA), who was found with $90,000 in marked bills stuck in his freezer at home. Federal agents told a judge the money was part of a $100,000 payoff delivered to Jefferson by an informant in a bribery probe. That probe has already led to guilty pleas by a Kentucky businessman and a former Jefferson aide. The Justice Department been investigating Jefferson's relationship to various international telecommunications agreements.


Allan "Jed Clampett" Mollohan (D-WV), who is a former chair of the House Ethics Committee under federal investigation after the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the department regarding a bizarre increase in Mollohan's net worth. For 2005, Mollohan and his wife reported assets worth $6.8 million to $25.7 million, up from $116,000 to $315,000 in 1999. His financial disclosure restatements came only after the group's complaint.


John "Porky" Murtha (D-PA), the famed chair of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee; a charity founded by a longtime Murtha aide has become a "funnel for money" to his campaigns from defense contractors and lobbyists who directly benefit from his decisions. A Taxpayers for Common Sense spokesman noted, "It's a real tangled web between the congressman, the nonprofit, the defense contractors and the lobbyists."


Harry "Land Deal" Reid (D-NV), the Senate Democratic Leader who collected a $1.1 million windfall profit on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't owned the property for at least three years. Reid also did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company. The AP learned of the land deal from a former Reid aide concerned that the deal had been "hidden from Congress."

Linked by: One Big Dog. Thanks!

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The towering intellect that is Nancy Pelosi

Excerpt of Tom Brokaw’s interview with Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on "Meet the Press":

REP. PELOSI: You can have a transition with natural gas. That, that is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels. So, so there is a way to transition this instead of doing more of the same.

...REP. PELOSI: I'm, I'm, I'm investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

From Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary:

Main Entry: fossil fuel

: a fuel (as coal, oil, or natural gas) formed in the earth from plant or animal remains

How is natural gas an alternative to fossil fuels when it is a fossil fuel?

When you're Nancy Pelosi, by gum!

It's comforting to think that this mental midget stands second in line to the presidency, isn't it?

Hat tip: Jerry

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SF Follies: The Anti-Military Sanctuary City Strikes Again

Unbelievable.

SF Chronicle: Family blames sanctuary policy in 3 slayings:

San Francisco's immigrant sanctuary policies played a "substantial" role in the slayings of a father and two of his sons by allowing city officials to shield the alleged killer from deportation, despite his violent history, according to a legal claim filed Friday on behalf of the victims' family.

Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, were shot to death on a street in the Excelsior district June 22. Edwin Ramos, 21, of El Sobrante, who authorities say is a member of a street gang, has been charged with three counts of murder... Tony Bologna's wife, Danielle, and other relatives denounced the city's sanctuary practices after The Chronicle reported that Ramos, a Salvadoran native suspected of being in this country illegally, had committed felony attempted robbery and assault as a juvenile.

The Chronicle reported that officials with the Juvenile Probation Department, relying on their interpretation of San Francisco's sanctuary city ordinance, had not referred Ramos to federal immigration authorities for possible deportation. The ordinance bars city officials from cooperating with federal crackdowns on illegal immigrants.

SF Chronicle: Pelosi censors poster of troops:

The tale of Pelosi's folly begins with Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. He wished to pay tribute to the service members of Camp Lejeune who had been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Accordingly, Walter placed a poster flat against the wall in the corridor outside his office showing their names and pictures... It was altogether fitting that Jones saluted the fallen soldiers on congressional premises. Congress authorized the wars that occasioned their tragic deaths. Congress appropriated the money that dispatched them to mortal danger...

The posters communicated to congressional visitors that war is a combination of heroism and hell. Voters would leave with more informed judgments about the costs of the twin wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was no tension between Jones' wall poster and the ordinary use of the House Rayburn Office Building to host direct communications between Members of the House and the public. On one occasion, for instance, a mother from Minnesota entered Jones' office with tears in her eyes to thank him for displaying the picture of her son who had been killed while serving the nation.

Speaker Pelosi apparently took umbrage. Under federal law, she is empowered to issue and enforce rules and regulations governing the use of the House office buildings. A 1999 rule prohibits "displaying any flag, banner, or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice any person, party, organization or movement..." On April 17, Pelosi issued a sister hallway policy to improve compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act by restricting "the display of flags and the placing or storing of any items within a hallway exit access, exit or stairwell of the House Office Buildings."

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Re-applying the Democratic energy plan...

Don Surber:

Blood shortage? We cannot donate our way out of this problem.

Accident victims will just have to cut back on their use of blood. They have to break their addiction to blood.

People starving in Africa? We cannot feed our way out of this problem. They’ll just have to cut back on their use of food. They’ll have to break their addiction to food.

Baby crying at 3 a.m.? We cannot nurse our way out of this problem. He’ll just have to cut back on his use of milk. He’ll have to break his addiction to milk.

Asthmatics short of breath? We cannot breathe our way out of this problem. They’ll just have to cut back on their use of air. They’ll have to break their addiction to air.

Oil isn't a luxury:

If we lost all oil and gas products tomorrow, however, the world would simply collapse. There would be an immense depression beyond anything we saw in the 1930s -- the economy would go back to a primitive state. There would simply not be a functioning society. It would be as if there had been nuclear war, minus the casualties from blast and radiation.

In a word, we cannot as a modern society or even a modestly industrial society live without oil and gas. That is, we do not supply a luxury or a narcotic. We supply a basic necessity of life, as basic as almost any commodity there is.

Until wind- and solar-cars are mass-produced by GoreCo, oil is among our basic fabrics enabling modern society to function.

Democrats resist this notion at their peril.

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Why do Democrats only hate American oil?

In May Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Saudi Arabia could slash oil prices by drilling for more oil.

If Saudi Arabia were to increase its production by 1 million barrels per day that translates to a reduction of 20 percent to 25 percent in the world price of crude oil, and crude oil prices could fall by more than $25 dollar per barrel from its current level of $126 per barrel...

In turn, that would lower the price of gasoline between 13 percent and 17 percent, or by more than 62 cents off the expected summer regular-grade price...

Of course, Schumer also claims that drilling for the same amount of oil in the United States would not impact oil prices.

[Schumer said that] drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge would “take ten years and reduce the price of oil by a penny.” ...Schumer also called for an end to the speculation in energy markets that drives up prices.

What does Schumer have against oil that's produced in America?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) believes that releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) would help.

Pelosi sent a letter asking the president "to draw down a small portion" of the SPR's more than 700 million barrels of oil...

"Releasing oil from the Reserve is a tool to manage our national and economic security, and when judiciously used will in no way jeopardize national security," the California Democrat wrote.

Thus, Democrats favor exploration of the SPR, which is supposed to be used only for catastrophic shortages, but believe that drilling for oil in the U.S. is "a hoax".

Can someone explain to me why Democrats only hate oil that's made in America?

Update: "Obama releases Exxon ad and hopes no one notices it's a lie"... You just can't make this stuff up...
Despite his new TV ad, Barack Obama has received more money from Exxon and Mobil employees than Senator John McCain.

Update II: "Tire-Gauge Industry Pumps Up Obama Campaign Coffers."

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My new bumper sticker

Update: Investors Business Daily:

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., now says he can live with "limited" drilling. But listen closely at what he said in his energy speech in Lansing, Mich., on Monday:

He called the inclusion of "a limited amount of new offshore drilling" in new bipartisan legislation a "drawback," adding that "I still don't believe that's a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution." But he said "I am willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan."

"Consider" should not be reported as "support," as the media have done. Moreover, Obama also wants a windfall profit tax — certain to exacerbate high fuel prices by lessening domestic production, as it did under Jimmy Carter.

And I have yet to hear someone define what a "windfall" profit is.

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Get Your New Gas Pump Stickers Here!

BUMPED AND UPDATED: I'm keeping this on the top o' the list for the evening. Email it to your friends if you get the chance.

After seeing the last batch of gas pump stickers, Larwyn suggested a few modifications.

Here's how they look on the pump.*

Click to zoom on this "four-pack" to print your own copies.

And here's a closeup.

* Remember: only affix these to gas pumps if you have the owner's permission.

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History Lesson: How Democrats doubled down on defeat

A brief tour:

• Democrat Joe Biden, Jan. 2007: "If he surges another 20, 30 [thousand], or whatever number he's going to, into Baghdad, it'll be a tragic mistake."

• Democrat Barack Obama, Jan. 2007: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraqis going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

• Democrat Hillary Clinton, Jan. 2007: "I cannot support [the] proposed escalation of the war in Iraq."

• Democrat Barack Obama, Jan 2007: "I don't think the president's [surge] strategy is going to work."

• Democrat John Kerry, Feb. 2007: "The simple fact is that sending in over 20,000 additional troops isn't the answer--in fact, it's a tragic mistake. It won't end the violence; it won't provide security; ...it won't turn back the clock and avoid the civil war that is already underway; it won't deter terrorists, who have a completely different agenda; it won't rein in the militias."

• Democrat Dennis Kucinich, Feb. 2007: "It has been proven time and time again that troop surges don't work."

• Democrat Harry Reid, Apr. 2007: "The war is lost... This surge is not accomplishing anything."

• Democrat Christopher Dodd, Apr. 2007: "We don't need a surge of troops in Iraq... there is no military solution in Iraq. To insist upon a surge is wrong."

• Democrat Barack Obama, Jul. 2007: "My assessment is that the surge has not worked."

• Democrat Dick Durbin, Aug. 2007: "By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working. Even if the figures were right, the conclusion is wrong."

• Democrat Jan Schakowsky, Aug. 2007: "I believe overall the surge is a failure. ...It’s clear to me we cannot win..."

• Democrat Joe Biden, Sep. 2007: "We should stop the surge and start bringing our troops home... [When asked whether Iraq closer to political reconciliation than before the surge began, and would continuing the operation stop the killing between Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds?] ...The answer to both those questions is no."

• Democrat John Kerry, Sep. 2007: ""The president's escalation ... has failed to achieve its goal of bringing about a resolution of the fundamental conflict between Sunni and Shi'ite."

• Democrat Chris Dodd, Sep. 2007: "It pains me to say that ... the surge tactic is a failure — and that failure is reconfirmed everyday by unfolding events in Iraq."

• Democrat Barack Obama, Oct. 2007: "[The surge is a] complete failure... Iraq’s leaders are not reconciling. They are not achieving political benchmarks."

• Democrat Harry Reid, Nov. 2007: "It is indisputable that the goals of the surge have failed."

• Democrat Joe Biden, Nov. 2007: "This whole notion that the surge is working is fantasy."

• Democrat Nancy Pelosi, Feb. 2008: "There haven't been gains [in Iraq]... The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure."

• Democrat Carl Levin, Apr. 2008: "...the purpose of the surge as announced by President Bush last year... has not been achieved"

• Democrat Joe Biden, Apr. 2008: "The purpose of the surge was to bring violence in Iraq down so that its leaders could come together politically. Violence has come down, but the Iraqis have not come together... We Democrats understand that this war must end..."

• Democrat Bill Richardson, Jun. 2008: "[when asked if he was ready to concede that John McCain had been right in proposing the surge, said] "Absolutely not."

Peter Wehner concludes:

Democrats, then, have compounded their initial bad judgment about the surge with reckless obstinacy. As ethno-sectarian violence in Iraq rapidly declined, as al Qaeda absorbed tremendous military blows, and as political accommodation and legislative achievements have emerged, Democrats, rather than welcoming the progress, grew agitated. They embraced with religious zeal the belief that the Iraq war was lost; they therefore viewed the success of the surge as a terribly inconvenient development, one they sought to deny to the point that they looked silly and out of touch. Worse, Democrats acted as if they had a vested interest in an American defeat.

Rarely has a political party been so uniformly wrong, in such an obvious way, on such an important matter. And when Americans cast their vote on November 4, they should carefully consider how Barack Obama and the entire Democratic party fought ferociously and relentlessly to undermine a policy that has worked extraordinarily well...

Democrats called General Petraeus a liar. They said the war was lost. They claimed our troops were barbaric, killing innocent civilians with impunity.

They were wrong. They were unbelievably partisan, putting their interests before those of the United States and the safety of its military.

No party has been more wrong, more often, on serious issues of national import than the Democratic party since 1864.

As for Iraq? Well, let's just say that the Democrats' track record as the Party of Weakness and Defeat remains unblemished.

Update: Even preventing a holocaust wasn't a good enough reason for Obama to keep troops in Iraq:

Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there...

Linked by: Gateway Pundit and Wolf Howling. Thanks! Sources: Peter Wehner, Stephen Collinson, Democrats.org, New York Times, Think Progress, Democrats.org, Reuters, Carl Levin's Official Website, Chris Dodd's Official Website.

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Free Gas Pump Stickers!

Mark Levin gave one of Atlas' readers an idea. He taped some pictures to the local gas pump.

The illustrations depict Congressional Democrats who've forced Americans to buy oil from the Middle East by criminalizing oil exploration in the U.S.

Need some to call your own? Click to zoom and then print away.

Here are closeups of all three versions (regular, extra, and premium).






Remember: only tape these to gas pumps if you have the owner's permission.

Linked by: Gateway Pundit. Thanks!

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Little Mama's bodacious new ride (at taxpayer expense, of course)

A protoege of Maxine "Taking you over" Waters, Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) is a deadbeat of the highest order. According to The Daily Breeze, not only has she defaulted on numerous home loans, but she's treated taxpayer money as her own little auto slush fund.

When she arrived in Congress last fall, Rep. Laura Richardson sought out a vehicle that would match her newfound status... a 2007 Lincoln Town Car - the choice of many representatives who lease their vehicles at taxpayers' expense. But hers was distinct: at $1,300 a month, it was the most expensive car in the House of Representatives.

...When she was a councilwoman in Long Beach, she crashed her BMW, abandoned it at a body shop, failed to pay a prior repair bill, and then racked up 30,000 miles on a city-owned hybrid in one year - apparently violating a policy against personal use of city cars.

A protege of Rep. Maxine Waters - she calls Waters "Big Mama" and herself "Little Mama" - Richardson has worked to cultivate an image of success since arriving in Congress last fall. That effort evidently included a major upgrade of her publicly funded car... According to a former staff member, Richardson insisted that her Lincoln be specially customized, which may explain the high cost.

...Records also indicate that Richardson owes $83 for illegally parking the Town Car in Long Beach. The ticket was issued Jan. 23, in the amount of $40, but has since doubled because it was not paid on time... Richardson also owes $9,000 in property taxes on the Sacramento home, which she is trying to get back. The new owner of the home has sued her and her lender, Washington Mutual, after the bank moved to rescind the foreclosure sale.

Thanks, Nancy, for draining the swamp!

Hat tip: Larwyn

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