links for 2010-08-18

“I've been really, really disappointed by some of these endorsements and some of the things she's done,” former Marine Sgt. Jesse Kelly said at a small gathering videotaped by former Kelly supporter and Tucson tea party activist Robert Mayer. “She’s got a lot of rehab on her image to do because we need independents to win it, and you don’t need to be less conservative to win independents, but you can’t have your image destroyed, and she needs to rehab that.
Kelly, now a project manager at a construction company, is running against GOP state Sen. Jonathan Paton for the right to challenge Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in November.

Paton immediately slammed Kelly for his remarks. “Jesse sounds more like Keith Olbermann or Joy Behar than a Republican candidate for Congress,” Paton spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said, referring to the two outspoken, liberal talk show hosts.
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Don't think this will propel Kelly to vicotry

Chances are that Mr. Obama will try to avoid the gathering political storm by pledging, with all apparent solemnity, to obey the court. But Mr. Obama opposed gay marriage during the 2008 campaign, and when the issue moves up through the federal courts, his Justice Department will have to decide whether to support the many states that agreed with him.

His Supreme Court appointees, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, will have to vote on gay marriage in the next few years. And when opponents of gay marriage seek to reverse unfavorable court decisions, as they inevitably will, every member of Congress will have to go on the record regarding whether to send the Federal Marriage Amendment, introduced in 2004 to define marriage as between one man and one woman, to the states for ratification.
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This WILL become an electoral wedge issue should SCOTUS approve gay marriage

Even some who support same-sex marriage worry that, in striking down California's voter-approved proposition defining marriage as between one man and one woman, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker went too far. They are right — and not the only ones who should be concerned. Walker's ruling is indefensible as a matter of law wholly apart from its result.

By refusing to acknowledge binding Supreme Court precedent, substantial evidence produced at trial that was contrary to the holding and plain common sense, the ruling exhibits none of the requirements of a traditional decision. This opinion is arbitrary and capricious, and its alarming legal methodology and overtly policy-driven tenor are too extreme to stand.
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Read it all

There's a new argument emerging among supporters of the Ground Zero mosque. Distressed by President Obama's waffling on the issue, they're calling on former President George W. Bush to announce his support for the project, because in this case Bush understands better than Obama the connection between the war on terror and the larger question of America's relationship with Islam. It's an extraordinary change of position for commentators who long argued that Bush had done grievous harm to America's image in the Muslim world and that Obama represented a fresh start for the United States. Nevertheless, they are now seeing a different side of the former president.
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Do you miss Bush yet?

All this traffic angst was stirred up by street closures as the president made his way from the Beverly Hilton hotel to the Hancock Park home of "West Wing" and "ER" producer John Wells to raise $1 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Frustrated motorists took to websites — including that of the Los Angeles Times — to vent.

"If you want an investigation, start with John Wells and everyone at his fundraiser who thought this was a good idea," wrote one man on The Times' website. "Yes, I understand that the actions yesterday were at the Secret Service's direction, but you'd think the president should know by now that when he travels, this is what happens. He could have easily said no or done it at a hotel near the airport. All of that yesterday for a million bucks, just phenomenally inconsiderate."

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But, couldn't he helicopter to Hancock Park?

More incompetence from the Obama led government