Sunday Mashup (1/10/10)

I missed this Moonie Times screed from right-wing blowhard Cal Thomas probably because I was in year-end-wrapup mode and it escaped my attention; see, President Obama talked to grade-school kids and said something typically socialistic such as your spirit is more important than your wealth, or thoughtful words to that effect, and Thomas immediately conceived a plot by the redistributing-community-organizer-in-chief, of course.

What really got me, though, was the following…

We still have stuff - too much, in fact. Letting go of some of it has not caused people to die in the streets - despite the ludicrous claim by Senate We still have stuff - too much, in fact. Letting go of some of it has not caused people to die in the streets - despite the ludicrous claim by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that someone dies in America every 10 minutes because he or she lacks health insurance.

Well, I don’t know how “ludicrous” Reid’s claim is, but I do know that Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times wrote the following (from here)…

We may know intellectually that 18,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have insurance, but to confront one such person is still heartbreaking. And I just can’t believe that we will let this opportunity for health reform slip through our fingers, so that Americans like Nikki continue to die needlessly every 30 minutes.

So Reid says every 10, and Kristof says every 30. I wasn’t able to “source” either claim as effectively as I would like, though I would take Kristof’s word on this subject over Thomas any day of the week.

In addition, the Bucks County Courier Times reported the following today (and it turns out I may need this pic again after all)…

It looks as if Mike Fitzpatrick is about to enter the 8th District race for Congress.

Speaking on WNPV radio Saturday morning, the former Republican congressman from Middletown said, "I'm certainly considering it."

Gee, at this point, I wonder who else is going to get into this fray? What a far cry from two years ago when Tom Manion was the only individual willing to take a shot.

There is a serious side to this story, and that is the fact that Fitzpatrick appears to have recovered from colorectal cancer, which is good news. However, you can rest assured that, should Mikey decide to compete for his old seat, I plan to bring a wealth of posting material from a few years ago to bear against him.

Update 1/13/10: By the way, it did not escape my attention that Fitzpatrick wrote a typically tripe-filled Guest Opinion in the Bucks County Courier Times yesterday. I will respond at my earliest opportunity, though I don't know when that will be.

Finally, I give you some pundit wankery from The Old Gray Lady today, from Sheryl Gay Stolberg in particular here (yet another story about how the Dems are supposedly collapsing because of the Dodd, Dorgan and Ritter announcements)…

WASHINGTON — There are many ways for a politician to make an exit.

There is the resignation-in-disgrace exit (Richard Nixon) and the sex scandal exit (Larry Craig, Eliot Spitzer) and the kicking-and-screaming exit (Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who declared, “I will fight, I will fight, I will fight,” as he was about to be impeached). Some politicians (Hillary Clinton, Jon Corzine) have no choice but to make an exit — the voters rejected them.

Uhh…which voters rejected Hillary Clinton again?

Oh wait, I get it now. Stolberg is referring to Clinton’s loss to Obama in the Democratic presidential primary in 2008. I see.

Although Clinton could have resumed serving in the U.S. Senate and only left when Obama named her as Secretary of State, thereby creating the vacant seat eventually filled by Kirsten Gillibrand (after New York governor David Paterson made a hash of everything).

And besides, by Stolberg’s logic, the voters “rejected” John McCain in Arizona also, though he continues to serve as the senator of that state (as well as Ron Paul, who also ran for president and still serves in Congress, and Joe Biden, who was also “rejected” but is now vice president).

Here’s what’s going on: Stolberg and her brethren will waste absolutely no opportunity to take a shot at the Clintons, no matter how much of a stretch it may be (and Stolberg has shown no hesitation to create partisan mythology against the Democrats in the past also, as noted here).