The usual Democrat concern for the truth

In his town-hall meeting last Wednesday night, Edwards sang the refrain he has made the core of his big-government populist campaign: Big-business controls Washington and blocks crucial regulations and welfare programs, and John Edwards is the only man who can take it on. And the crowd loved it.

For all the free passes Barack Obama has received from the media, he's never gotten away with being as demonstrably wrong on the facts as John Edwards is nearly every time he sounds this theme. The truth of the matter is an awkward one for Edwards and his fans: the very big businesses they vilify support the very big-government policies they advocate.

In Thursday's debates, when asked about federal curbs on greenhouse gases to battle global warming, Edwards said: "first of all, we need to recognize what the obstacles are to the change that everyone believes is necessary. And the obstacles are oil companies, power companies, all those entrenched interests that stand between America and the change that it needs."

Democrats in the crowd nodded their heads at this, and reporters in the press room didn't bat an eye. That sounds natural to them: big oil and big energy oppose regulation of fuel and power, right?

Well, not Duke Energy whose CEO, Paul Anderson, has been calling for a tax on carbon dioxide for nearly three years.

Is there any more "entrenched interest" than General Electric, which every year since 1998 has spent more on lobbying than any other company in America? Hardly an "obstacle" to Edwards's favored policies, GE's Jeff Immelt on January 22, 2007, joined CEOs from Alcoa, DuPont, and other corporate titans to call for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

And oh yeah, one former big power company (the biggest in the world, at the time), lobbied two White Houses for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, pointing out in one e-mail, "This agreement will be good for Enron stock!" I could go on, but you get the point.

The same is true of health care. Edwards said Thursday that "corporate power and greed have literally taken over the government, and we need a president who's willing to take these powers on. It is the only way we're going to . have universal health care." Well, you could take them on, but that hardly seems necessary considering that many of the biggest corporations are firmly behind the big government health care plans that Edwards and the Democrats are offering.

More here

*************************

ELSEWHERE

A takedown of Lefty blogger David Niewert (aka "Orcinus") here. I had some fun with him a few years ago. Also here.



Fred Thompson well-received in Iowa: "Haus was understandably upbeat, especially considering David Yepsen's column about Thompson today. Haus tells me Thompson has been received quite well: “I think, just based on the reception we’ve seen in the last 24 hours, it’s been nothing short of spectacular." “... It’s hoots and hollers and 'hell yeas' from the back of the room. It’s almost Revivalesque. It’s stuff we’re not used to in Iowa," says Haus. He also tells me he's also surprised by the number of folks who are undecided, and the number of folks who are unhappy with the candidates they are currently supporting.

A Brigadier and a soldier: "The British Forces commander in Afghanistan played a personal role in the recapture of Musa Qala, the Taleban-controlled town in the north of Helmand province. Brigadier Andrew Mackay, who commands 6,000 troops of 52 Brigade, walked for nearly a mile across no man's land to reach the town as the battle raged. He then took up position on Roshan Hill, which overlooks Musa Qala. The Taleban were driven from the town by a combination of American, British and Afghan troops, using a plan devised by Brigadier Mackay and his staff, called Operation Ma, which means "snake" in Pashtun. The 50-year-old brigadier, who would normally have been expected to stay well clear of the frontline action, flew by helicopter to the area around Musa Qala and walked the last stage. He spent ten days supervising the attack on Musa Qala from his headquarters, "just a hole in the ground", on Roshan Hill, about 700 yards from the fighting."

A myth about consumer spending: "Every year, and especially during holiday-shopping season, we hear the familiar refrain: 'What the consumer does is the most important thing.' ... 'If shoppers stop spending, we're in big trouble.' ... 'Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the economy.' ... These Keynesian principles have become ingrained conventional myths. But they're not true. Many factors are far more significant than consumer spending in stimulating the economy: business spending on capital goods, tax cuts, lower interest rates, and productivity."

Handling the specter of victory in Iraq: "A specter is haunting the Democratic Party. The long-awaited defeat of American forces in Iraq, on which so many critics of this administration have built their fondest hopes, seems to have been delayed again and - unsettling thought - may not even materialize. Even the dreaded word, Victory, is being whispered. Who would have thought it? Besides, of course, that dwindling minority of Americans who never gave up on the valor of America's armed forces - and the flexibility of their commanders, including their much-despised commander-in-chief."

A happy day: "Border checks between the former communist states of eastern Europe and their Western neighbours will end on Friday, a move potent with symbolism for those who lived behind the Iron Curtain and were then made to feel like "second-class citizens" in a united Europe. "We have been dismantling our own Berlin Wall stage by stage. The first stage was in 1989, and the second will be in December," proclaimed Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek during a recent visit to Dresden to prepare for his country's entry into the Schengen zone. The Czech Republic, along with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the three Baltic states and Slovenia, as well as Malta, will this week join the 15 countries in the zone where passport checks have disappeared."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

****************************