Quick Takes - 5-30-08

Been on the road all week but still managed to gather up a few random links for your consideration:

Based on the results of the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries, it looks like Senator Barack Obama hasn't been able to put the Reverend Jeremiah Wright problem to rest. I think that's at least part of his problem and may prevent him from being elected in November.

Joel Belz agrees with my previous assertion that recent judicial activism in California will be an issue in November.

Enviromentalism is the new religion of America. I consider myself more a conservationist. God created the Earth. We are only stewards of his creation.

An interesting fact: the road has been unusually unkind to baseball teams this year.

Why people love to watch House, M. D. Count me as one of the faithful viewers.

I've always been a fan of space exploration and the potential that it holds for mankind. But ever since the end of the Apollo program we haven't really had any real goals for space. It's too bad none of our current presidential candidates have been willing to step up and share a future vision for NASA.

Speaking of space, this year is the 50th anniversary of NASA. The Discovery Channel will mark the anniversary with a brand new series entitled When We Left Earth that premieres on June 8th. I just received a preview copy in the mail this week and it looks like it will be a terrific series. Stay tuned for a review here next week.

Four generations of Eagle Scouts met with President Bush this week. Amazing.

Carol Platt Liebau on Scott McClellan's new book: "The fact is that when you offer two versions of the truth, you make it clear, at least one time, you were lying." Well said. Based on what his former colleagues are saying, it sounds like he may be lying now. Of course, the fact that McClellan's publisher is a far-left liberal outfit may explain what's going on. And I tend to agree with Matt Lewis that this endorsement doesn't improve one's opinion of McClellan.

Have a great weekend.

Appeasers and Activists

Yesterday was a big news day with two unrelated events occurring that will each have an impact on this fall's elections. While on the surface the two may seem unrelated both spell trouble for Democrats.

President Bush, speaking at The Knesset in Israel, used the opportunity to launch an unmerited attack against Senator Barack Obama. At least, that's what Senator Obama, aided and abetted by the left-leaning media, would like voters to believe. Here's the paragraph that got Democrats' collective undies in a bunch from the transcript of the speech:

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals,
as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.
We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in
1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

The truth hurts, doesn't it? The reason there was such wailing and gnashing of teeth among Democrats yesterday is because President Bush made it clear that he thinks they are appeasers of terrorists, which of course, they are. Senator Obama didn't help himself by making such a big stink about it, either. Trying to refute the charge that he's an appeaser merely reinforces the idea in the mind of the voters.

The second event was the decision yesterday by the activist judges of the California Supreme Court to overturn the ban on gay marriage that was enacted by voters back in 2000. A move is already afoot to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in California in November and supporters shouldn't have any problem getting the required signatures.

While most Democrats no doubt applaud the court's decision they surely must hate the timing. This will put traditional values back in play as an issue in the election and the decision will no doubt motivate Republicans and other values-voters to turn out in huge numbers both in California and elsewhere.

All of this, combined with the continuing bloodbath that is the Democratic nomination process, means that November is looking better for Republicans every day.