To teach the Taliban how to surrender properly.

A thoughtful look at a man now poised to seize the Democratic nomination through the sheer force of earnestly expressed empty platitudes;

Attempting to discern true meaning from Obama’s speeches gives one the feeling of having been trapped in a sort of verbal quicksand. Hair-pulling levels of frustration await any effort to find any specific meaning. A sensation of lethargic sinking into an abyss of abstract gibberish awaits the mind looking for specifics..
Obama’s public statements, his speeches, even his “present” votes in the Illinois legislature leave one dangerously unsure of his true intentions.
Whatever Obama’s concrete plans are, they ought to aligned with his political mentor, Saul Alinsky, and his spiritual mentor and liberation theology specialist, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The Alberta Liberal Party just rose a few notches in my estimation. No, the other Alberta Liberal Party – the one that isn’t in office. Ezra exerpts the relevant passages;

The Alberta Liberal Party supports Mr. Levant’s freedom to express his opinions and to maintain, what the American Supreme Court termed, “the marketplace of ideas”. If citizens and publishers don’t maintain the limits of their freedoms it would bring about a chill in fundamental freedoms which could adversely affect all Canadians. The Alberta Liberal Party shares the opinion expressed in Ross v. New Brunswick School District No.15; when discussing the importance and limits of expression, Justice La Forest opined in s. 2(b):
“…[freedom of expression] is not restricted to views shared or accepted by the majority, nor to truthful opinions. Rather, freedom of expression serves to protect the right of the minority to express its view, however unpopular such views may be…”

Contrast that with new information from Al Seibring;

It appears the Harper government doesn’t have the political stomach right now to engage in any kind of major defense of free speech rights in Canada. NoApologies.ca has obtained a copy of a document circulated to all Conservative MP’s from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson’s office late last week.

It’s a tough position to be in, no question – job one on the Conservative agenda is achieving a majority in what could be a spring vote. There’s the media wing of the Liberal Party to contend with, for one thing. In the way that Kim Campbell once advised that an election is no time to be talking about issues, the National is no place to be debating them. It doesn’t take an imagination to picture Joan Bryden clickety-clacking along on her heels, “Mr.Kenney – has the government launched an investigation into the neo-Nazis working in the PMO?”
If “freespeechers” want a decent shot of pushing CHRC reform forward successfully, those hopes rest with a government that isn’t legislating with a hand tied behind its back.
That said – it hasn’t stopped the Alberta Liberals from taking a position, and a little political courage can go a long way towards demonstrating that principles still matter. And with a growing number of MSM editorials questioning the legitimacy of these tribunals, it would seem that political cover is there to be had, if selected Conservative MP’s were given the nod to take the debate forward.
Read both links.
(As an aside – a google search on “stormfront Joan Bryden” returned 199 hits. I don’t know what to take away from that.)
Good point – “You might want to ask why the Harper government is more committed to building a $100 million Museum for Human Rights than to ensuring real, live freedom of speech in the here and now. “
Because it’s easier to worship symbols than it is to uphold principles.

At The Long War Journal – An examination of the political structures and internal conflicts within the Iraqi government;

Colonel Martin M. Stanton, Chief of Reconciliation and Engagement for Multinational Corps–Iraq, is quick to praise the remarkable progress in ground-up reconciliation he’s seen in his job coordinating Iraqis who want to engage with the Coalition and Iraqi government. But he is also candidly skeptical about the willingness of the “Shia [federal] government” to reconcile with Sunnis, in light of sectarian hostility.
“What haunts me is the prospect of wasting all these opportunities,” said Stanton. “It’s encouraging at the bottom, at the tactical level, and then you deal with the people in the Iraqi government who are so paranoid and so reticent, and it’s a real emotional rollercoaster.”
But while most officials acknowledge a heavy atmosphere of mistrust stoked by sectarian carnage that peaked in 2006, many cite other elements that impede action on key political benchmarks. This Long War Journal series on Iraqi politics – involving more than a dozen interviews with American and Iraqi officials – will attempt to examine the factors, including but beyond sectarianism, that have affected political progress by the Iraqi federal government.

Part Two is also up.

Via Tom Elia;

20 voters in a North Side Chicago precinct were told not to worry when the apparently non-working pens they were given to mark their ballots really contained “invisible ink” that would be read by scanners.

Update – Now on video…

Globe and Mail;

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is prepared to put his minority government on the line over the future of the Afghanistan mission after he warned Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion that the Tories are preparing a confidence motion that could be voted on as early as next week.
A source told The Globe and Mail that the government is prepared to give notice tomorrow of the motion that Canada’s role be extended. If the government were to lose, it could plunge the country into an election.

Related: Dion ponders strategy.
More: Is he a leader, or is he a flounder? Perhaps a fishing analogy would be better.

“It’s the politics that got small.”
John Iveson – “… Mr. Spector’s secretary had come to her to say she had been asked to photocopy Mr. Mulroney’s household expenses and had felt it was a “very unusual request.”
Flashback: Once a slimy little creep, always a slimy little creep, I guess.

Since it’s dominating the news, and I’m busy with other stuff. Meanwhile, the Corner is probably your best source for Republican side analysis.
Another link: Making sense of exit polls.
Meanwhile, cast your own ballot on this question:

Comments are open for your related links or observations.

Possibly the darkest…
Some cynical individuals would claim that the Liberal Party of Canada is trying to make political hay by attacking PMSH for merely mentioning that just because two people are Greek, it doesn’t mean there is a conspiracy.
Yet others would claim that the mere mention of anyone’s ethnicity, particularly by conservatives, is a significant attack on that culture, brought on by political correctness gone amuck.
But not me…
When I heard Harper’s statement, I tore open my shirt and ripped the hair and gold chains off my chest. I tried to console myself by drinking Ouzo, breaking plates and yelling “Opa” in anguish.
I tried playing a soulful tune on my bouzouki, but as everyone knows, every Greek song starts off slow but speeds up near the end, so you can’t help but form and line and dance around the restaurant.
All kidding aside, the LPOC has always been big in ethnic communities, and this righteous indignation might be a way to show Canadian Greeks that the Liberals are still right behind them. But in reality, this faked outrage means nothing.
Greek Canadians do deserve an apology, but not from Stephen Harper.
We deserve an apology from a fellow Greek, Liberal John Cannis, trying to manipulate the opinions of hard working Greek Canadians on a comment from the Prime Minister that meant absolutely nothing.
To paraphrase Kate’s motto,”Liberal MP John Cannis, you don’t speak for me!”
Update (by Kate) – The pilaf thickens! A darker day for Stephane Dion…

Update: Indeed.

The political equivalent of inviting a poltergeist into your home. Long after the exorcism is over, vases keep falling off the shelves.

h/t
Which reminds me of this: the one question no interviewer has yet had the courage to ask of Hillary – What will you do, as President, if there is another bimbo eruption in the White House?

Ed Driscoll on media revisionism;

Yes, how did the Swift Vets, on their budget, talk Industrial Light & Magic into digitally inserting Kerry into footage of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations back in 1971, and pay Rich Little for doing an outrageously over-the-top Boston Brahmin accent? (But c’mon Rich–JJJJJennnghis Kahn? isn’t that a bit too much? Nobody will believe it!) To complete the ultimate scam, ILM then digitally inserted Kerry, much like Hollywood’s Forrest Gump a decade ago, onto the set of the Dick Cavett Show from that same year. And they talked C-Span into running that footage in 2004. Amazing!

This isn’t a byelection. It’s a fringe festival.
Stephane, please – a favour. When the Orchard Davidians are ready to spit out the chewed up husk of your political credibility, please leave Elizabeth May’s phone number where they can find it.
Thank you.
I really mean that – thank you.

Is another man’s racial slur. The Obama campaign plays the language cognition card.
Update: “One of the stranger things of an increasingly strange campaign season is to hear that a former President of the United States obsequiously called into the Al Sharpton radio show to sort of apologize?—or at least to gain a reprieve from Sharpton for Bill Clinton’s supposedly intemperate caricatures of Sen. Obama.”

An interesting exchange between CKOM talk host John Gormley and Ralph Goodale just now, roughly quoted;

Gormley: Did you ever say to David Orchard there will not be a candidate selection in this riding?
Goodale: The responsibility for informing candidates is with the candidate committee to handle the process… and to be fair when David came forward they were told of the leader’s perogative to appoint … they received a kit…
Gormley: Ralph is your answer “no”, you never told him?
Goodale: In a telephone conversation with David, I mentioned to him that the leader had the power to designate a candidate… I’ve seen that comment from David and don’t want to get in a he-said she-said…

Advantage, Orchard.
Update: Speak of the devil…

At the Corner tonight.

We’ll know soon–in my judgment, Thompson need only sustain this performance for a couple of days before votes, and money, start moving in his direction. But tonight the one consistent and authentic conservative in this race made himself the man to watch. When Fred roars, he roars.

I missed the debates. Too bad, because he’s getting rave reviews.

Winner: Thompson. This performance was so commanding, I wanted his last answer to echo back to the lights in the back of the auditorium, blow out all the lamps and spotlights, for the theme to “the Natural” to play, and for him to trot around the stage in slow motion while sparks showered down in the background.

Also weighing in Brendon Loy, and this from the New York Times blog;

Mr. Thompson rocks tonight. Asked about the recent confrontation between United States warships and Iranian speedboats, he suggests casually that if Iran’s Revolutionary Guard becomes more hostile, the Iranians will see those virgins they’ve been looking for.

Clips at Hotair.

‘Cause I’m lovin’ it;

Disgruntled Liberals in the province’s north have organized a meeting for Saturday to protest federal Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s decision to bypass a nomination meeting for an upcoming byelection.
Those involved say the issue has united Metis and First Nations communities in opposition to the appointment of former NDP provincial cabinet minister Joan Beatty as the Liberal candidate in the March 17 vote in the riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River.
The move has pre-empted a nomination meeting that would have seen free trade critic David Orchard facing off against Prince Albert educator John Dorion.
[…]
Sources say Dion’s hand was forced by Saskatchewan Liberal Ralph Goodale, who is dead set against the idea of having Orchard as a Liberal candidate in a winnable riding, in spite of the fact Orchard played a key role in helping Dion win the party’s leadership in 2006.

It almost makes up for the “Wacky and Karwacki” moment we were deprived of during the provincial campaign.

How Clinton won.
Update: Or did she?. After all – the left’s never lost an election that wasn’t stolen.
And a prediction: “Obama is about to endure a media backlash.”. (Not here he won’t.)

He’s always rubbed me the wrong way. Now I know why.
Sound analysis – watch the races within the race. This is your thread for discussion of the NH primary, if you’re so inclined.