Pelosi to the rescue;

… introducing a bill which would essentially cripple the surge—which is having success—have an arbitrary date of withdrawal, regardless of how close America is to achieving success, and doing it in a way which is sort of ignoring reality. She’s operating as if this is November ’06, when she wins the House and the war is going badly, and not November ’07, when everything has changed on the ground. There was a report in the New York Times today that al-Qaeda’s been driven out of Baghdad. That’s a big story, completely ignored by Democrats who have only one mantra, which is Defeat and Withdrawal.

And not a moment too soon!

An important sheik from an Iraqi province had a reunion on Thursday with some Vermont soldiers at the state National Guard headquarters.
[…]
“We would like to express our appreciation to the National Guard and to the state of Vermont.’’ […] “Today in this state … we present this victory … to the families of the victims of the soldiers in Iraq … and specifically express our appreciation to the state of Vermont.’’

This is how campaign ads are done.

h/t

It was a moment that crystallized Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s struggles in Tuesday night’s debate. Questioned about a plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, Mrs. Clinton at first seemed to defend it, then suggested she was against it, until finally, pressed for a direct answer, she accused the moderator, Tim Russert, of playing “gotcha.”

Heh. “Mulls Supporting Illegal Alien Pilot License”.
Fallout on Hillary’s bad night.

Calgary Herald;

Premier Ed Stelmach faces either his “finest hour or his final hour” beginning today as the Tory chief embarks on a strategy for Alberta’s oil and gas royalties, one of the most important public policy decisions confronting government in years.
It starts tonight when the rookie premier appears in his first recorded television address, laying out his vision for the province and briefly touching on the royalty review that has sparked an emotional debate across the province.
Stelmach will then unveil Thursday afternoon in Calgary the government’s much-anticipated royalties strategy, released more than a month after an expert panel proposed hiking royalties to ensure Albertans get a “fair share” from the development of publicly owned energy resources.

I’ll bet we have oil industry readers who have opinions/predictions/observations to share. They’re welcome in the comments.

Michael McCullough;

After the fundraising scandals of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign, the dangers of vacuuming cash from a politically inexperienced immigrant community should have been obvious. But Ms. Clinton’s money machine seized on a new source of cash in Chinatown and environs. As the Times reported, a single Chinatown fundraiser in April brought in $380,000. By contrast, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry raised $24,000 from Chinatown in the course of his entire campaign.
Oh, it starts off very, very well. But by the end of the story, the Washington Post demonstrated its editorial-by-committee policy and allows Hillary to play the race card: The alternative, the campaign says, would be to prevent those with foreign-sounding names from participating in the political process.

Foreign names like “Charlie Trie”, a Chinese busboy from Little Rock;

[…] able to tap into millions of People’s Republic of China dollars for Clinton’s defense fund and even brought in a major Chinese arms dealer, Wang Jun, as a guest to the White House. Only four days before Wang Jun’s White House visit, the Clinton Administration granted an import permit for a Chinese military front company, Poly Technologies, to allow them to import over 100,000 semi-automatic weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition to a Detroit company, China Jiang An. China Jiang An also had close ties to the Chinese military.

More – Somebody’s trying to keep Hillary from winning the nomination. And it’s not a Republican.

Swallow like a man.
That’s my prediction.
Open thread on the throne speech.
I’m in a deliciously mean-spirited mood, so watching a CBC alumnus read this is sweet, though I swear I just saw her husband try to claw fabric off the arm of that chair.
Reaction from Liberal leader Stephane Dion:

This is one great campaign ad.

(Well, except for the spelling error on “Camsack”. There went the election….)

Dion threatens to fall on election sabre;

The Canadian Press reported Thursday that the Conservatives have drafted a throne speech aimed at forcing the Liberals into a politically embarrassing abandonment of its Kyoto accord commitments.
Sources told the news agency that the Mr. Harper government believes the Liberals are so desperate to avoid an election that they’ll accept a speech describing Kyoto climate-change targets as unattainable.
The throne speech will have to be put to a confidence vote in the House of Commons that could trigger an election if Mr. Dion joins other opposition leaders to defeat it.
One option for Mr. Dion to sidestep the issue would be to have the entire Liberal front bench vote against the speech while the backbenchers abstain.
Mr. Dion didn’t rule out such tactics Friday.
“We will read the throne speech and we will discuss about it between us, taking into account only the interest of Canadians,” he replied.

So, if putting his precious Kyoto pooch out of its misery isn’t a glove thrown hard enough for Dion to step up and vote down the throne speech, then what is?
Here’s where our trusty readers come in. In the comments, share your suggestions as to what juicy bait Stephen Harper might include in the throne speech guaranteed to draw the rats out into the open.
For example; “In recognition of the constitutional right of provinces to control their resources, along with the critical need to secure reliable sources of energy for Canadians, the Government of Canada will exempt oil sands development from federal environmental and regulatory oversight.”
That should help get you started.

On Sept. 24, I sent the following email to a few selected friends in media;

I’m not much of a pundit, but nonetheless I want to get on record with this.
Harper’s speech at the UN about replacing Kyoto is the election trigger.
He’s going to announce abandonment of Kyoto (in favour of replacement of a wider treaty, or made in Canada, or some such nonsense) in the throne speech … and then watch Dion sh*t himself.

Heh. Sometimes, I outdo myself.

Invited down out of the attic?

Saskatchewan organic farmer and anti-free trade activist David Orchard says he’s been approached about running for a federal Liberal nomination in British Columbia. […] Orchard, who endorsed Stephane Dion during the recent Liberal leadership race, declined to say where he was considering running in British Columbia, although rumour has it Burnaby-New Westminster is one possibility.

Oh, please let this be true.

Please empty the bait bucket?

Nothing says “forgive me” like a politician baring his soul to a tv camera while the voter watches from the shadows.

Wells asks;

…”anyone want to do the math on a swing of, say, six points from the Bloc to the Tories across Quebec and tell me how it changes the seat totals?”

Lance provides the answer..

This sounds like fun;

By tapping into the most advanced prediction market on the web, Intrade.com, NJPSE lets you buy and sell contracts whose ‘price’ (always between 0-100) represents the percentage likelihood a given outcome will occur. Think Fred Thompson’s rocky rollout has doomed his candidacy? Has Hsu sunk Hillary Clinton? Then sell! Sell! Sell! Do you believe John Edwards can ride an IA victory to Denver? You think John McCain’s ‘No Surrender’ tour can win him NH? Then buy! Buy! Buy!

From the comments;

Fun with tonights numbers. Total votes summed for all three ridings and percentages.
Con 31475 36.9
Lib 12118 14.2
Bloc 23983 28.1
NDP 14587 17.1
Green 2197 2.6
neorhino 529 0.6
other 366 0.4
The last year of polling across Canada had the Green party at ~10%. Where did that vote go? What can be said about the Liberals at 14% in Quebec with a native son as the leader?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Elizabeth May has no business being invited to a leader’s debate.

You can follow the action at Blogging Tories homepage. Comments are open for discussion, jeering, and Jason Cherniak limericks!
Outremont… with 5 polls reporting, NDP leading Liberals with nearly 50% of the vote.
(Jason, calm yourself. It’s early.)
Outremont … with 10 polls reporting, NDP leading Liberals 45% of the vote…
(jason, put down the glass. You’ll regret it tomorrow.)
Outremont … with 45 polls reporting, NDP leading Liberals with 49% of the vote…
(Jason, it’s not the dog’s fault. Stop kicking him.)
In other Earth Saving political developments, the Green Party is leading the NeoRhino candidate by a margin of 4 to 1. Good times at Elizabeth May’s tonight!
Outremont … with 60 polls reporting, NDP leading Liberals with 48.5% of the vote …
(Jason, come away from that window. Have another drink.)
Speaking of drink – you may take one for every time someone being interviewed on CPAC says “Stephane Dion is our leader”.
Outremont … with 100 polls reporting, NDP leading Liberals with 48.5% of the vote…
(The phone at Jason’s keeps ringing. Could someone please blackberry him for me and check that he’s ok?)
In the “Liberal stronghold” of Outremont, with the entire Liberal Quebec caucus holding tight to the handrails as she submerges below the waves…. Jocelyn Coulon has conceded defeat – “I feel as though I’ve won tonight”.
(Jason… put down the gun.)
From the comments (along with many excellent limericks) – “Pinhead just switched to English, and thanked “all Liberal militants.” I kid you not.”

Who aren’t screwing up Canada. It’s last call for your nominations.

Dion loyalists suspect Liberal organizers who support Mr. Ignatieff have been undermining the campaign, hoping that a loss would force Mr. Dion out of the leadership once Liberals realized that he couldn’t deliver seats in Quebec.
“I only know what I see, and I see some suspicious stuff,” said one Liberal worker on the ground.

2. Add match.

*

I’ll give credit where it’s due – hats off to Mansbridge for this.

Don’t be surprised to see Dion hit the ground in Kandahar as early as Tuesday – just to put as much distance between himself and Outremont as humanly possible.
More… Debacle… disaster.
STOP THE PRESSES: It’s sabotage!
Star Power: Dion, Dryden, Trudeau rally before 50 chanting party supporters!
h/t