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Mehsud to head Taliban Movement of Pakistan
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
The "black helicopter" crowd will love this one
James S. Robbins, "The Corner" @ National Review

Interesting article from U.S. News here discussing when Michael Whouley convinced John Kerry to tour Iowa in a helicopter (the "Kerry-copter") and saved his flagging campaign. Now Whouley is working for Hillary, and she's going to campaign in a helicopter. Is that all it takes? It's nothing new. LBJ used a helicopter, dubbed the "Johnson City Windmill" to spur his come from behind Senate win in 1948. He was copying New Jersey Republican Senator H. Alexander Smith who had used a campaign helicopter successfully in 1946. In the case of the "Hillacopter" I hear they are going to come in low into each town with loudspeakers blaring the "Ride of the Valkyries" . . .

If the Hillacopter encounters the Ron Paul Blimp, imagine the fun!
Posted by: Mike || 12/15/2007 13:37 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Broom One"

ht to ? Lucianne?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2007 14:36 Comments || Top||

#2  If Bill comes, they can play the theme from "Don Juan in Hell"
Posted by: Neville Elmitle4663 || 12/15/2007 14:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Helicopters have an annoying habit of falling out of the sky. (Hope, Hope, I Hope.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2007 15:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Speaking of Shrillary, I polled all my extended family's females, not one vote out of thirty-one.

Didn't bother polling the men.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2007 16:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Makes sense since everybody knows the Bushees can crash planes, but not helicopters. Yet.

/kos
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/15/2007 16:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Barnstorming in a crop duster bi-plane would be more Iowa sensitive. She'd look better in a helmut and goggles anyway. Maybe a banner behind it with "To Hill with Your Votes!"
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 12/15/2007 16:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Lyndon used a loudspeaker to screech at 'en over 'burgs too small or too dangerous to land in.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/15/2007 17:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Skipping this...

I loved crawling through black choppers....
Beautiful instruments.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/15/2007 22:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Hollywood Straw Poll For Obama?
Some amazing numbers were posted Friday for this weekend's movie releases. Warner Bros' I Am Legend opens closer to $80 million than the studio's hoped-for $50 million from Friday through Sunday after making a whopping $29.6 million Friday in 3,606 theaters.

This more than demonstrates that Will Smith is now the biggest U.S. box office stud bar none and breaks his previous opening record (I Robot's $62 mil in summer).

This also will easily be the biggest December movie opening ever...

...I won't have exit polling until tomorrow, but Smith is one of the few, if not only, Hollywood stars right now who tracks extremely well with both African-American and Hispanic audiences as well as whites.

That accounts for why I Am Legend's numbers went through the roof even though its "last man on earth who's not alone" subject matter is a downer. "But put Will Smith into it, and it really changes the equation," a Warner Bros source told me. "It's definitely tracking four quadrant."

I'm told the movie played broadly -- almost equally male/female, under age 25/over 25, ethnic/non-ethnic -- and playability was strong with all audiences being at or above the norms with males slightly stronger than females. That was evident even going into Friday, I was told, when the PG-13 thriller had definite interest among young males (74%), older males (67%), young females (56%) and older females (49%).

The only question now is whether the East Coast storms will affect Saturday and Sunday turnout there, prompting one Warner exec to rue not having a degree in meteorology...
This was immediately compared to the publics willingness to accept a "polite and erudite" successful black man as a presidential candidate, and it is a comparison that will not be lost on Hillary's campaign. In fact, they should be shaking in their boots.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/15/2007 13:18 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Poll Shows More Optimism on War
After Record Lows, Bush Gains With Republicans, Independents
Poll numbers at the link. No surprises, though the movement amongst independents who think the war is making progress is about 14 points better.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/15/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No cite for this, but the 12/14 ABC nightly news with Charles Gibson broadcast mentioned good news for Iraq, in that no major violence was reported today.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/15/2007 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Must have been a very slow news day.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/15/2007 6:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, dear - this will set off a mad search by the mainstream media for traces and evidence of quagmire, incompetance and needless death. Any bad news will be fallen upon with tears of grateful ecstasy and screaming headlines above the fold.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 12/15/2007 8:29 Comments || Top||

#4  So much for the 'Great Wall' of the MSM. Even with the full power of government behind it, the Soviet propaganda machine couldn't hold back the truth. Of course their apologists rationalize the 'fall' happened only because the 'right' people were not in charge. MSM think they're the 'right' people.

There is no substitute for personal testimony/experience by one's family, friends, neighbors, community to 'validate' what the true story is. Just as the MSM media buries stories about crime perpetrated by 'protected groups', it can not overcome personal experience, no matter what the 'intentions' are. The same here. The troops coming home and telling the story. In Vietnam they carried the story that the government wasn't. It destroyed the credibility of the government. Here it is the story of Iraq that MSM doesn't tell. It is destroying the credibility of the MSM. Amazing how institutions don't learn.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/15/2007 10:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Bush's own poll numbers rising, parallel to Petraeus' progress in Iraq. The American people continue to have contempt for Congress, with lower approval ratings than the War. Here's yet another reason why.
Posted by: doc || 12/15/2007 10:05 Comments || Top||

#6  No the MSM and other Dem allies will not search for Quamire/Losing stuff - they will do what they ahve done: try to drop coverage completely so that they can keep peopel IGNORNAT of the success.

The MSM has yet to show victories (like MUsa Qala, Anbar, etc) on the news as victories.

And now it looks like thye never will.

They are abrogating their DUTY to inform the public - they are trying to influnce it instead. I say bring antitrust against all the big networks, Fox included. Break them up.
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/15/2007 10:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Little wonder they are so afraid of bloggers. They were the leak in the damn of lies that was holding back the truth. The foundation has now been eroded away and the damn is breaking and cracking.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/15/2007 10:42 Comments || Top||

#8  They still can't resist trying to manipulate the news. In this case, they *changed* the poll questions from earlier polls, to downplay the change in public opinion in support of the war.

Before, when the public mood was more against the war, the question was "more" honest, along the lines of "Do you support the war in Iraq?"

But now the question is changed to "Is the war in Iraq worth fighting?"

You'll not that this question is a lot more contrived. Its axioms begin by saying that there is a "war" in Iraq, not an "occupation"; and "fighting", not "reconstruction", is going on, which is what almost ALL of the US military in Iraq are doing.

In truth, probably less than 1% of the US military in Iraq is currently "fighting" at all. Maybe 15% are to some degree supporting these "fighters", but the other 84% are either rebuilding Iraq, training Iraqi military and police, or just maintaining the US presence in the region.

So what would the American public say if asked to respond to a truly honest question:

"Is worth it for the US occupation forces in Iraq to continue to rebuild that nation?"

You have to wonder what the poll results from that would be.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/15/2007 11:03 Comments || Top||

#9  It's imperative we loose for the good of the country. The short term pain will sadfijw;erhafg

/10,000 commies at typewriters everywhere
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/15/2007 17:54 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
27[untagged]
5Hamas
2al-Qaeda in Iraq
2Taliban
2Govt of Pakistan
1Govt of Sudan
1Govt of Syria
1Iraqi Insurgency
1Islamic Jihad
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
1Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
1PFLP
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1TNSM
1Fatah al-Islam
1Global Jihad

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2007-12-15
  Mehsud to head Taliban Movement of Pakistan
Fri 2007-12-14
  Khamenei appoints Qassem as Hezbollah military commander
Thu 2007-12-13
  Leb car boom murders top general
Wed 2007-12-12
  Qaeda in North Africa claims Algiers blasts
Tue 2007-12-11
  Taliban abandons Musa Qala
Mon 2007-12-10
  al-Abssi is in Syria and Fatah al-Isalm is in Gaza
Sun 2007-12-09
  Fierce battle rages for Taliban stronghold
Sat 2007-12-08
  Berri postpones Lebanon presidential election to Tuesday
Fri 2007-12-07
  Pak troops capture Mullah Fazlullah's base
Thu 2007-12-06
  Suicide attack on army bus in Kabul kills 16
Wed 2007-12-05
  Somali leader taken to hospital
Tue 2007-12-04
  Abu Maysara Positively Deader Than a Rock
Mon 2007-12-03
  40 Taliban killed, 14 held in Afghanistan
Sun 2007-12-02
  Walkout in Iraq parliament over Sunni leader raid
Sat 2007-12-01
  Binny: Euroleaders 'like living under shadow of White House'


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