I last wrote here about the appalling appointment of Charles “Chas” Freeman to be the head of the National Intelligence Council. Two days ago, I heard the happy news that Freeman himself had withdrawn his candidacy. What is because he……

I think that the posting and blogging problem that may be bugging many commenters is that your two compatriots hated many of the Republican nominees (in the name of some self styled purity) so much that they hindered the efforts to maintain a workable representation. Now they are bitching about the results of their efforts. A workable representation includes some RINOs. Many of the RINOs were selectively RINO. To give them up in the pharisaic pursuit of purity has handed the tools of resistance to the opposition.

I know you want to blame the Jews for this and all evil deeds but it wasn’t the Jews alone who sank this nomination. No, it only went down in flames after his relationship with the Chinese and his views on their reppression of the protests in Tiananmen Square and the riots in Tibet last year was exposed. If it were only the Jews then he would have slipped by to join the cadre of anti-Semites that staff the Obama NSC.

Pelosi’s threat caused the leaders of both sides to run for cover and let the bill pass because she didn’t want to have the bill return to the house and embarass the twit. Put the blame where it belongs—-the Democrats agenda.

While you may be right on McConnell’s’s weaknesses, I would suggest you take your frustration out on Obama, when he signs the earmark-filled legislation.

Rovin on March 11, 2009 at 9:25 AM

I have to disagree Rovin. We control our own destiny in the Senate. Had we stayed together none of the bills would have passed. They would be back in conference where a bill might be fashioned that did less damage to our balance sheet.

Focusing on Obama, Reid and Pelosi is a losers game. We can’t stop them from writing legislation or dreaming up ways to increase the size of government. We can only stop them at, this point, in the Senate.

Who will they pick to replace him — Philip Berg?

Bill Ayers.

It ignores the objections to his Tiananmen Square analysis (that the Chinese took too long to stomp on the protesters) and his connections to CNOOC

It ignores those because they had nothing to do with him getting bounced. Do you think there’s a big pro-China lobby in DC?

Look at Schumer’s comments. It’s clear that the fact that Freeman was critical of our Israel policy is the sole reason he was pushed out.

How the hell would you know how involved I am? Before I ran across Hot Air a little over a year ago, I had never even sent a letter to a representative of mine in my entire 53 years. I’ve written SCORES (with an equal number of phone calls as well) since then to local, state and fed reps. Go have a bran muffin.

Patrick S on March 11, 2009 at 9:54 AM

What you do in your spare time is up to you. My comments had you read them without thinking it was all about you was directed to this site and the comments here and what the focus of attention is. This is a very powerful site and if we spent more time on the repubs in the Senate passing/enabling bills it is my opinion that we would accomplish more.

By all means keep up the good work at home but generally speaking if that is/only combined with constant editorializing from influential sites it has a multiplier effect. As many other commentators have mentioned the average Senator does not give a fig’s ass about your letters or calls. Theirs is a silk lined cocoon that only folks such as Ed can penetrate and then only after repeated attempts.

Prediction, seats gained or lost by 2010 and the presidency in 2012 don’t matter. It will be too late by then. All the spending and government programs will have been launched with almost zero chance of retrieval. I really don’t think folks understand the gravity of what these repub Senators are putting in motion.

Again I ask where is the outrage, the push back.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has yet to run a single story on the PMA earmark pay-for-play scandal, despite the fact that Pennsylvanian Jack Murtha is at the center of it and three Philadelphia area Congressmen obtained large earmarks for PMA clients and received substantial campaign contributions from the firm. One of them is my congressman and almost nobody in this district knows about his association with these sleazebags – except the few of us who read this blog.

Funny how when the Jack Abramoff scandal broke, every local newspaper covered their local Congressman’s associations with Abramoff and his firm. I predicted that Paul Magliochetti would be the Democrats’ Jack Ambramoff, but that’s not going to happen because the Democratic Guard Dogs in the media won’t report it.

Before I ran across Hot Air a little over a year ago, I had never even sent a letter to a representative of mine in my entire 53 years. I’ve written SCORES (with an equal number of phone calls as well) since then to local, state and fed reps.

I’ve dunned my ‘representatives’ for years. But NJ is a Dem stronghold; I haven’t had any representation in the Senate for all of my adult life.
You wanna know how the Senators react? They don’t even bother to acknowledge my letters or calls any more. If I’m not gonna contribute to their coffers, they’re not interested.

Is that you, Chas?

[The Times] never covered Freeman’s remarks, nor did they cover Blair’s defense of them. The Times also never reported on Freeman’s connections to the Chinese and the Saudis, nor on his public backing of national ID cards after 9/11, which when reported elsewhere had civil libertarians on both sides questioning his appointment.

Ed Morrissey

Obviously none of that was news fit to print, this is why the Times is going out of business.

That’s a particularly unsubtle reference to the Joooooooooos, and to the secret Jewish conspiracy to control foreign policy, and of course to the unpatriotic nature of his critics. It ignores the objections to his Tiananmen Square analysis (that the Chinese took too long to stomp on the protesters) and his connections to CNOOC, which seemed to do more damage on Capitol Hill than anything else. That’s just what we needed on the National Intelligence Council: a wallower in paranoid conspiracy theories. Who will they pick to replace him — Philip Berg?

Isn’t Ramsey Clark still alive, Ed? He was vetted and approved by Congress back in 1967 — that should be more than good enough for an Obama Administration appointee and would give the New York Times and most of the other big media outlets more than enough of an excuse again not to cover the story.

If this site/comments continually pounded home that message relentlessly the idiot savants in DC would take notice. You have a voice and you are not using it. If that’s personal criticism so be it.

patrick neid on March 11, 2009 at 9:11 AM

How the hell would you know how involved I am? Before I ran across Hot Air a little over a year ago, I had never even sent a letter to a representative of mine in my entire 53 years. I’ve written SCORES (with an equal number of phone calls as well) since then to local, state and fed reps. Go have a bran muffin.

No, Patrick, you’re crabbing at me for not doing enough. What are you doing? You’re not blogging at all. You’re commenting on my threads.

And besides, I’d already written the post about the spending bill. It goes up in an hour or so. I write ahead in the mornings. I write between 10-15 posts a day on a wide array of topics.

Give me a fricking break. Why don’t you start contributing, if you think you can do a better job?

Ed Morrissey on March 11, 2009 at 9:30 AM

I am contributing Ed, through my comments. Unless of course you now think comments are useless or should only be complimentary. This blog, to your credit, is very influential as was Captain’s Quarters before it. The powers that be read here and other places. You know it and I know it. I have seen comments from the comment section in the national press. They use places like here as barometers. As long as we collectively are not voicing outrage on a continual basis McConnell and friends simply operate on cruise control. The House is lost and only the Senate offers hope.

But again Ed you know I mean no attack on you personally. I think my body of comments here and in the long past bear me out.

That’s a particularly unsubtle reference to the Joooooooooos, and to the secret Jewish conspiracy to control foreign policy, and of course to the unpatriotic nature of his critics.

No. It is specifically is about a chap named Rosen who started the campaign… was an executive for AIPAC, and Rosen is also charged with passing US Secrets to Israel.