Afternoon Latte’ snorters edition

The Obamessiah says it is time to move on from the affair d’Wright

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday sought to quell concerns over anti-American remarks by his former pastor, saying people are paying too much attention to a small number of “stupid” comments.

What else do we have to pay attention to? Hope and change? The affair d’Wright goes to the heart of Obama’s campaign, which is his character. 20 years, marriage, baptised children, etc, and so on. Doesn’t reflect well on Obama’s character.

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And guess when it was (AP thru SF Gate)

Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The three anti-war Democrats made the trip in October 2002, while the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq. While traveling, they called for a diplomatic solution.

Sorry, slight interlude. The Bush Admin was not try to persuade Congress to authorize military action. That is entirely to simplistic, and not quite correct. The Bush admin was asking for authorization IF Saddam would not comply with the United Nations resolutions that had previously been passed. There had to be a stick to go with the carrot for when Resolution 1441 was passed by the UN on November 8, 2002.

Prosecutors say that trip was arranged by Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a Michigan charity official, who was charged Wednesday with setting up the junket at the behest of Saddam’s regime. Iraqi intelligence officials allegedly paid for the trip through an intermediary and rewarded Al-Hanooti with 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil.

The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. None was charged and Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said investigators “have no information whatsoever” any of them knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.

OK, we are not saying here that any of the three knew that Saddam was sponsoring the trip. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt (which the Left would not extend were it Republicans involved.) But, was it really necessary to make the trip? They came back, especially Baghdad Jim McDermott, sounding like a Saddam/Iraq spokesman. Which is not entirely surprising when it comes to Democrats.

Oh, and let’s not forget the $5,000 donation McDermott recieved from Shakir al Khafaji, who was allegedly involved in teh Oil For Food Scandal, which was later returned.

Bluto at The Jawa Report: They say they wouldn’t have gone if they’d known who was footing the bill. They don’t say why they didn’t bother to find out who was footing the bill.

See more at Memeorandum.

This looks good for McCain (Gallup)

A sizable proportion of Democrats would vote for John McCain next November if he is matched against the candidate they do not support for the Democratic nomination. This is particularly true for Hillary Clinton supporters, more than a quarter of whom currently say they would vote for McCain if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee.

….But only 59% of Democratic voters who support Clinton say they would vote for Obama against McCain, while 28% say they would vote for the Republican McCain. This suggests that some Clinton supporters are so strongly opposed to Obama (or so loyal to Clinton) that they would go so far as to vote for the “other” party’s candidate next November if Obama is the Democratic nominee.

….Seventy-two percent of those who support Obama for the party’s nomination would vote for Clinton against McCain, while 19% would desert and vote for the Republican.

Granted, it is only March 26th, and it is a long time to go before the Primary, but, we are continuing to see the meltdown in the Democrat Party, and not just withing the Nutroots. Hillary is not planning on dropping out, despite many Democrats hoping for that, and will certainly take it all the way to the Democrat convention, during which I certainly hope the Colorado National Guard is ready.

A lot can change, though. Remember, it was just a few short months ago that the media and the Democrats were talking about how the Republican Party was toast, due to the fighting between Romney, Huckabee, Paul, and Fred. McCain was out of it. Yet, McCain fought back, things calmed down, and we are doing fine. While it is certainly easy to see the national GOP go idiot, I doubt McCain will go soft. He is too seasoned, too principled, and, after being thought dead in the race for the GOP convention, yet, with the fight back, he will not give that up.

See more at Memeorandum.

Now this is a good Conservative position

Let’s start with some straight talk:

I will not play election year politics with the housing crisis. I will evaluate everything in terms of whether it might be harmful or helpful to our effort to deal with the crisis we face now.

I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers. Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy.

In our effort to help deserving homeowners, no assistance should be given to speculators. Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners, not people who bought houses for speculative purposes, to rent or as second homes. Any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren’t. I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits. In this crisis, as in all I may face in the future, I will not allow dogma to override common sense.

When we commit taxpayer dollars as assistance, it should be accompanied by reforms that ensure that we never face this problem again. Central to those reforms should be transparency and accountability.

Homeowners should be able to understand easily the terms and obligations of a mortgage. In return, they have an obligation to provide truthful financial information and should be subject to penalty if they do not. Lenders who in