PunditGuy

I have no idea what the story is about, but I’ll agree with this headline any day of the week, no matter the context.

When you’re an FOB (Friend of Bill), you never know what communicable disease you might pick up. In the case of Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, it appears he caught a case of the “touchy feelies”.

Saturday’s Albuquerque Journal newspaper ran a story which included an allegation that the governor touched Lt. Gov. Diane Denish inappropriately.

The article, headlined “Hands-On Governor,” quotes Denish describing Richardson touching her at public events. It also notes how the governor has greeted people with bear hugs or head butts — or in the case of a DeVargas Middle School student in 2003, a headlock. For his part, Richardson said he’s just being playful. “I tease Diane. I touch guys. It’s my way of lessening tension,” Richardson said in the story.

Did he say he touches guys?

Denish told the Journal:

“He pokes me,” Denish said when confronted about photos taken of Richardson and her at an appearance in Bernalillo in late October. “He pinches my neck. He touches my hip, my thigh, sort of the side of my leg. I try not to put myself in that situation, trying not to stand or sit next to him.”

Sounds like sexual abuse to me. And it doesn’t appear that Denish has an axe to grind.

Dealing with Richardson’s touching and poking “is one of the challenges of this governor,” Denish told The Journal . “He has a lot of good qualities and this is one of the challenges.”

The article said, “When he’s doing it in these public environments, I have chosen not to embarrass him by not doing anything blatant about it publicly … I don’t think I should embarrass him.”

She used words like “joking” and “joshing” in the article. But, according to the article, she spoke about the problem with Billy Sparks, Richardson’s deputy chief of staff about the matter.

This deserves more attention, and probably a full-on investigation. If there’s one accuser, there’s often more.

Dean Esmay highlights Democratic party psychobabble (which, by the way, is too easy these days – there’s just so much material to choose from), then Dean silences the wind with this:   

Will someone at the Democratic National Committee put me in charge please? These people could absolutely neutralize the Republicans on national security issues quite easily, and then slug it out entirely on issues at home where they just might win. Instead it’s like Republicans just put a big “kick me, I’m soft on national security” sign on their backs and they’re too stupid to notice.

No, even that’s being too kind. It’s like they put the sign on their own backs.

He’s right, on both accounts. It might be too easy for Republicans to use the ol’ “they’re wimpy” case, and then think their job is done. Fact is, all it would take is a couple of bad PR stories and the power of the liberal MSM and the Democrats could win some seats back. Republicans need a wide-angle view of the playing field with an early warning detection system to thwart any covert move made by the Democrats. Since they believe having no Iraq policy is a good move for them, we know they don’t have any significant plan for the war or any subsequent plans for leading America. Therefore, the Democratic party message in 2006 will be no message. This means they’ll have to rely upon dirty tricks, whining and…well, that’s about it.

Republicans, quit sleeping; be ready.

Drudge steals a play from Tim Russert’s bag o’ tricks:

FLASHBACK: DEM LEADER HARRY REID ALL SMILES AT PATRIOT ACT SIGNING

THE DRUDGE REPORT has uncovered a photograph of President Bush signing the Patriot Act in the East Room of the White House on October 26, 2001.

And standing over the President’s shoulder with a smile on his face is Democratic Senate Minority Harry Reid (D-NV)!

Reid is currently leading efforts in the Senate to block the renewal of the Patriot Act.

After Reid successfully prevented the Patriot Act’s renewal late last week the Senator attended a Democrat political rally and proudly declared, “We killed the Patriot Act.”

One Republican strategist familiar with the photo said, “Democrats think they can regain the majority? Not a chance if they continue to put politics above what’s best for the country. Harry Reid is making a colossal miscalculation, but it’s not the first time and thankfully for us, probably not the last.”

Simple hypocrisy.

This just arrived at my house.

UPDATE: Whoa! Where did that day go?

Do you realize how fast the hours can go by when you receive a Phillips 37” Flat Panel LCD TV? What? You think I was sitting and watching television all day long? Heh, I wish. The setup on this thing is killer.

First, I replaced all the speaker wire in my living room. I brought in Monster Cable XP-CI speaker wire to all 5 speakers. Cutting wire, stripping wire, twistin’ wire, and crimpin’ wire takes A LONG TIME.

Next, it was the new television stand, because I’m too cheap to have the guys at Best Buy install the stuff (their cheapest install package was $399!). So, I had to pull this baby out of the box and build it.

And that didn’t go up in a couple of minutes either.

Finally, I got to unpack the TV, put the legs on and set it on the new table.

Then, came the tweaking – picture, surround audio, HD resolution, etc., etc., etc.

I’m still not done.

But wow…what a great TV, and a GREAT (early) Christmas present.

Puhleeze.

Cut and Run? Forget it.

My fellow citizens: Not only can we win the war in Iraq — we are winning the war in Iraq.

It is also important for every American to understand the consequences of pulling out of Iraq before our work is done. We would abandon our Iraqi friends — and signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word. We would undermine the morale of our troops — by betraying the cause for which they have sacrificed. We would cause tyrants in the Middle East to laugh at our failed resolve, and tighten their repressive grip. We would hand Iraq over to enemies who have pledged to attack us — and the global terrorist movement would be emboldened and more dangerous than ever before. To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor — and I will not allow it.

An act of recklessness and dishonor. He’s exactly right.

But, will this silence the detractors? Nope.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said it was wrong for Bush “to attempt to silence his critics by calling them defeatists.” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., commended Bush for his “increased candor.” But he said Bush still had not told the nation exactly what had to be accomplished before U.S. troops could begin returning home.

Hello? Were they listening to the same speech I heard? Of course they were, but you see, they have no alternate solution, no recommendation, no plan. So, this is the response they give. It’s the only one they have.

It’s terribly important that we elect leaders in 2006 who are as strong and resolved as our president. After all, if it weren’t for George W. Bush, we’d be living in the United States of the Republic of Radical Islamists.

To the MSM and the Left – let Bush do his job. Let our military men and women do their job. Help us win this war, win the peace, and bring the troops home. 

Others: AP | Michelle Malkin | Glenn Reynolds |

Video of Bush Speech

As you know, today we celebrated the birthday of one of my kids. He received a few gifts, but none more significant to him than the ESPN Shot Block Basketball game.

Looks innocent enough right? Think again.

If you don’t put this thing together just right, you’ll have to take the whole thing apart and put it back together again. And then if you don’t put the loops through just right, you’ll have to take the whole thing apart, and put it back together again.

Oh, and if you put the chute right-side up instead of right-side down, you’ll have to take the whole thing apart and put it back together again.

We finally got to play ESPN Shot Block Basketball, late this evening.

The moral of the story? Don’t believe for one second that you’re smarter than the instruction booklet that comes with ESPN Shot Block Basketball.

And one more thing – the recorded sound effects include Dick Vitale yelling “Swisheroo Bay-beee”, over and over again. It gets really annoying. Make sure you hang this thing on a door, way away from wherever you spend the majority of your time.

It’s what being a Dad is all about.

My son is celebrating his 8th birthday today. Yes. 8 years old, with a party, and friends, and cake, and everything else.

‘Nuff said.

Blogging will be light.

You may remember the controversy sparked by a bought-and-paid-for poll conducted by John Zogby two weeks ago which concluded that a majority the US population thinks Wal-Mart is bad for America. Yesterday, the Pew Research Center released the results of a national poll which, amazingly enough, counters the findings by Zogby.

• 84% of Americans shop at Wal-Mart
• 69% have a favorable view of the company. (That’s thirteen points higher than what Zogby’s biased survey found.)
• 79% of union households shop at Wal-Mart.
• So do 86% percent of people with incomes less than $30,000 per year (53% do so regularly). And this group gives Wal-Mart the highest marks for favorability proving that those who value Wal-Mart most need Wal-Mart’s low prices the most.

Pew poll

There’s no mistaking it, Wal-Mart is Americas store, but they still have their detractors. At one store in Florida yesterday, a union-funded group called Wake Up Wal-Mart dressed up as Santa’s elves and conducted a protest which ended in the arrest of two union members and children of shoppers in tears.

“Unfortunately, this union leader campaign stunt went too far,” said Bob McAdam, vice president for Corporate Communications at Wal-Mart.  “Union demonstrators dressed as Santa and his elves entered a Wal-Mart and began presenting some of the children in the store with wrapped boxes.  The children became excited and started saying things like, ‘Let me have the big one.’  But when the children opened the boxes, they found that the boxes were empty. Needless to say, the children were upset and some began crying.

“When asked to leave, the demonstrators became argumentative.  They claimed that they had permission from the Wal-Mart home office to demonstrate, but, in fact, they did not.  Soon the demonstrators began pushing and shoving
Wal-Mart associates.  The Broward County Sheriff’s office was alerted and deputies arrested two demonstrators for battery and gave fifteen other demonstrators trespassing warnings.

“This just goes to show that the union leadership will stop at nothing -– even upsetting children with fake Christmas gifts and resorting to physical confrontation with our associates.  We have tolerated numerous union demonstrations and disruptions in our stores, but we cannot tolerate attacks that become physical.  We ask for the union leadership to publicly apologize to our associates, these children, their parents and the customers who were in our store and pledge that any future demonstrations will be peaceful and non-violent.

Somehow I don’t think a public apology is what the union has in mind.

Did any of the protesters stop and think about what effect their little demonstration would have on kids who saw their elf costumes and gifts being handed out? Obviously they didn’t.

In the end, the message sent by the union was received loud and clear – by the children. Some of Santa’s little helpers are really just inconsiderate people who do stupid things.