Barrel Strength

In a recent missive to the Barrel Strength audience Dalwhinnie asked, “Does the US need a British-style Conservative Party?” If by that one means a party ready and committed to some genuine soul-searching and reorganization, then yes.

That is not to say that the GOP has to go wobbly. I remember how queasy I felt when I heard David Cameron make his execrable “hug a hoodie” pitch. But the Cameron organization did make an effort to learn from the mistakes of recent British Tory leaders. They have pursued a more professional campaign organization and made sincere outreach to communities thought previously outside the Tory fold. The Cameron Tories have grown themselves beyond the fringes of the “country pursuits” set to become a competitive responsible alternative. We had to undergo a similar experience in Canada, and we know that some have never cottoned to Harper’s reshaping of twenty-first century Tories.

American conservatives, thankfully, do not face quite the formidable systemic barriers that have necessitated the Long March approach adopted — thus far successfully — by Harper. They do have to try and rediscover who they are and how they tell that story to more people.

Read the rest…

First, Kremlin sock-puppet Dimitry Medvedev throws down the gauntlet on missile defence. Now, plans may be underway to put Vladimir Putin back into the Russian presidency until 2021:

A proposal on Wednesday by Mr. Putin’s protege President Dmitry Medvedev to extend the presidential term from four to six years has re-ignited speculation that Mr. Putin, who stepped down this year because of a term limit, could be preparing a comeback.

Vedomosti newspaper reported that the proposed term extension was part of a plan drawn up by Vladislav Surkov, Mr. Medvedev’s first deputy chief of staff, to trigger an early presidential election in which Mr. Putin would run.

Now there’s change He didn’t expect.

Lawrence Martin descends into territory plumbed two centuries ago by Thomas De Quincy:

Mr. Obama campaigned against George W. Bush’s culture of fear – a culture that sees Americans humiliating themselves on a daily basis by taking off their shoes to get on an airplane, that sees the world’s greatest military power erecting perimeter walls around its embassy in Ottawa, projecting cowardice instead of courage.

The values of the unilateralist Bush administration were all about borders. The values of the multilateralist Mr. Obama transcend borders. While there are many protectionist Democrats in Congress who would like to see trade barriers go up, Washington is in no position to start pushing Canada around on the trade front. A priority of Mr. Obama is independence from foreign oil held by hostile regimes. For energy security, it needs Canada; it won’t want to mess with a free-trade accord that enhances its security.

Because, of course, no rational man unimpaired by generous dollops of laudanum could write such drivel for pay.

Is the honeymoon over for the Teleprompter Jesus?  It would seem so.

Indianapolis – Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd.

The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.

“I want my money today! It’s my money. I want it right now!” yelled one former campaign worker.

Seems workers got “change”, but not the one they were looking for.