During the GOP primaries I gravitated towards Romney and thought that he would make a much better candidate than McCain. In retrospect it is obvious that Romney would have been in his element during this economic crisis. Since there is nothing we can do about the past election, we can at the very least begin helping GOP to move towards remaking itself into the Romney party.

Take a look at this diary from Redstate.

Today is the first day of his polling track that includes all polling after the VP debate. 70 million people watched that debate, and the results are that Obama's lead increased to 8 points? How does that make any sense in a sane universe? Giving the MSM spin, at best it can be called "Biden held his own", which should have resulted in the tracking poll holding steady.

Quite obviously, everyone wants their party/candidate/issue to win or otherwise gain power. I wish to discover at what cost people are willing to ensure their candidate wins. The trend I'm beginning to see in our increasingly hyper-partisan and polarized politics is that this line is shifting, but in the wrong direction.

Ender's video which featured the former Clinton supporter indirectly reminded me of the topic of judicial appointments and its effect on voters.

A common argument for McCain that has been used to shore up his support among the base is that he will appoint strict constructionist judges in the mold of Antonin Scalia while Obama will try to pack the court with far left ideologues. That, in and of itself, is a good enough reason to pull the lever for McCain, regardless of what views he may have on other issues. Indeed, a McCain presidency could finally be what overturns Roe v. Wade. Lets take a moment to dissect these arguments.

On Monday’s Countdown show, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann attacked Sean Hannity for his recent declaration on FNC's Hannity's America that Obama;

"Can’t point to a single instance in which President Bush or McCain or Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama’s race." Because they haven't, it is Mr. Obama who continuously brings his race into the contest.

In 1968 anti-Vietnam war demonstrators ruined the Democratic national convention in Chicago, and thereby vanquished Hubert Humphrey's chances to become POTUS. So what did these "demonstrator's" and their accomplices do next?

To: Philip K. Paulson (1947-2006)
Re: Latest decision: Cross can stay

Yeah, you're dead, and as Atheists we believe that it means the end, oblivion, nothingness. But, you know how we all are all the same, reluctant to give up connections with those we are fond of.

Hat tip to Dr. Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek who cites a commentary in today's WSJ by David Boaz of Cato.

In the commentary, Boaz challenges the notion, implicit or explicit, put forth by the presumptive nominees which states that we as citizens should commit ourselves to higher national causes.

Boaz is obviously not impressed with this vision.

Hat tip to Publius Endures (PE) for this little expose' of the mind of a Modern Conservative.

The article he links to is from Michelle Malkin and written by "See-Dubya".

Says Mark at PE: (emphasis mine)

Via this diary at the Forvm , we have a recent WSJ Article on tax policy.

The article goes into some well-discussed and common issues on tax policy that we've all heard and talked about and surly have our own opinions on.

Hat tip to Tyler Cowen .

Ben Casnocha summarizes a speech by the NYT's David Brooks. See link for Quick Time video version of speech.

* "I'll be brief because many of you are academics, and you're not here to hear me talk, you're here to hear yourselves talk."
* He likes Edmund Burke.
* People learn when there's an emotional connection.
* All factions of conservative movement united around distrust of government - this ain't enough.

Think Tanks are valuable sources of information. No doubt. But at the same time, I think most people can admit that they can also obscure debates on issues because they do their job too well.

In a way, I'm reminded of a previous diary that grumbles a bit about the complexity of stats and how it would seem that the same raw numbers can made to support opposing arguments....gotta hand it to those think tanks.

That is the title of this latest entry at The Art of the Possible, a libertarian/liberal fusionist website for deep discussion on the sometimes colliding, sometimes overlapping world views.

Back when I was contemplating a Political Science minor, I took a few upper level poly sci courses. Posted below is one of the essays I wrote in PLS 462 -- Comparative Revolutions. It's a long read, but it might interesting to the SC crowd. If anyone is interested, I can email them the full PDF. For copyright purposes, this can be considered public domain.

Hat Tip to Logan at Freedom Democrats for continuing to cover Kevin Carson's discussion of Libertarianism and Liberalism.

***This is actually a follow up to Logan's original posting on the matter from a few days earlier.

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Private protection has a strong and under appreciated place in our society says Sheldon Richman

This is Richman reflecting on a speech by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel:

In making the case for private nonstate protection, he pointed that we already are protected to some extent from government invasion by private organizations. How so?

That's the title and topic of this month's Cato Unbound .

For those not familiar, see About Cato Unbound . It's basically a lead essay on a provocative topic followed by two reaction essays which is then followed by further discussion.

Well, probably not. But that's OK. He doesn't have to be. But it he's awfully libertarian-esque these days. I'll tell you one thing, though: Few things about politics bring a real smile to my face. But one of those things that does is when liberal concerns and sensibilities on outcomes are channeled through classical liberal/libertarian policy views. Not only does it bring a grin to the face of a libertarian like me but it also resonates with voters if given a chance...not only does it resonate, it's 100% correct! How about that?

Hat to Arnold Kling at EconLog

Ibsen Martinez writes about life in Chavez's Venezuela and follies of his policies.

Recent conversations on here sparked this diary- that's right, I blame you.

Many many moons ago I discovered a card game called magic. You may have heard of it.