VOTE!!!

Do your duty. VOTE!

This should could might be interesting…CNN is featuring bloggers on election night. From Wizbang:

The cable news network plans to host more than two dozen bloggers from across the political spectrum - including sites like RedState and Daily Kos - at a Washington Internet lounge where they can monitor the election returns on a slew of flat-screen televisions. (Each blogger will get his or her own monitor, which can be tuned to any channel.) There will be free wireless access - and plenty of food and beverages, natch.

[…]

Beltway Blogroll notes some of those represented include (with links to their announcement posts): Althouse, Americablog, Ankle Biting Pundits, Betsy's Page, Captain's Quarters, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, Eschaton, FireDogLake, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Pam's House Blend, Redstate, TalkLeft, Townhall (Mary Katharine Ham), Wizbang. and others.

Some bloggers (and their commenters) at the links above speculate that the most interesting scenario is what happens if the anticipated Democrat tsunami fails to materialize. Will there be fist-fights? Much gnashing and thrashing? Or just profanity-laced tirades from the Left, as is their wont? I’m not a CNN fan, but I just might channel-surf on by this evening to see how the bloggers are interacting.

But…before I leave this subject, I just have to include this bit from the Lefty FireDogLake announcement (from that same internet café that will host tonight’s “event”):

Christy: We just finished a fun nosh — Pach and I split a cheese and fruit tray, with some brie, gorgonzola, goat cheese rolled in freshly chopped parsley, fig jam, toasted walnuts, smoked gouda, fresh grapes and pear slices and baguette, and a dish of a tasty warm shrimp and crab dip with more baguette. I had a great glass of chenin blanc, and some much-needed water. (Flying makes me very thirsty.) We've got a lovely slice of double chocolate cheesecake to take back to John Amato.

Make of that what you will. Personally, I find the entry just SO “in-touch” with the common man. And that’s what the Left is all about, right correct?

And one more thing. My absolute favorite television moment during the 2004 election night telecasts was when Ohio was finally declared for Bush. Poor Wolf Blitzer looked like he was going to cry. Seriously. I laughed my a$$ off. Hopefully we’ll see another moment like that this evening or early tomorrow morning.

Über-Lib Michael Kinsley, writing in The Guardian (UK): “Thank God I voted first; The Democrats may be poised to win the House, but their manifesto does not inspire confidence” (that’s the title of the column. No kidding.):

What will a Democratic House of Representatives be like? The Republicans have been painting a portrait of Democrats roasting children on a spit in the Capitol Rotunda. Hoping for a more encouraging view, I picked up A New Direction for America - a 31-page manifesto released by House Democrats in June. All I can say is, thank goodness I voted beforehand.

[…]

Fairness is one of three qualities that need to be restored to American public life after six years of George Bush. The other two are honesty and competence.

Honesty is not just therapeutic. Fiscal honesty is a practical necessity. A New Direction for America rightly denounces the staggering fiscal irresponsibility of Republican leaders and duly promises "pay-as-you-go" spending. But in the entire document there is not one explicit revenue raiser to balance the many new spending programmes and tax credits.

[…]

Competence, of course, brings us back to Iraq. Apparently, and unfortunately, Bush is right that the Democrats have no "plan for victory". (Neither does he, of course.) For national security in general, the Democrats' plan is mostly about new cash benefits for veterans. Regarding Iraq, the Democrats' plan has two parts. First, they want Iraqis to assume "primary responsibility for securing and governing their country". Then they want "responsible redeployment" of American forces.

Older readers may recognise this formula. It's Vietnamisation - the Nixon-Kissinger plan for extracting us from a mistake. But Vietnamisation was not a plan for victory. It was a plan for what was called "peace with honour" and is now known as "defeat".

Sounds a lot like buyer’s remorse to me. The only thing Kinsley doesn’t say (explicitly) is “I f*cked up.” He should have.

And finally…Bill Whittle has a new essay up at Eject! Eject! Eject! As another blogger noted, Whittle doesn’t write often, but when he does…home run. An excerpt:

Are we beating these terrorist scumbags and child-targeting insurgent bastards? Are we winning?

Well, let’s see if we want to switch sides with them. Let’s imagine the war where the insurgents have our cards and we hold theirs.

Imagine the US completely occupied by Al Qaeda forces, subject to Sharia law. We are able to take pot shots at a few of them, and we manage to murder a few dozen of our own people every day in an attempt to stop the population from collaborating with the hated invader. But more and more Americans seem to be turning to Sharia and want to get on with their lives. We find sixty percent of the population wants Al-Qaeda to leave, but hatred for the US insurgent forces – the Wolverines – is at about 98%. The people hate the occupiers, but they despise the Wolverines.

Now imagine that a year into the occupation of America, George Bush’s two daughters were killed in a firefight with the enemy, which had surrounded the college sorority house where they were hiding. A year after that, President Bush was pulled out of a septic tank in Crawford by the Fedayeen, then put on trial and sentenced to hang, which he did on national television to widespread cheering. Condi Rice was captured in an early morning raid several years ago, and Donald Rumsfeld was killed by a suicide bomber this last summer.

Everywhere you turn – in every street and every city in America – Al Qaeda forces run security patrols, training Americans to do this for themselves. The only way to stop this is by killing our own people, which further alienates us from a populace that already despises us.

Does that feel like winning to you? Me neither. Welcome to the insurgency.

Tip of the ice berg, that. Whittle takes apart almost all of the current Leftie memes, and he does it with class and facts. It’s a keeper.

Today’s Pic: Another, longer shot of the British train layout from the Clovis Depot, since all y’all seemed to like yesterday’s pic. April, 2004.