THE FOUNDATION

“The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man.” —James Madison

UPRIGHT

“In selecting Sen. Joseph Biden as his running mate, Barack Obama gains some needed foreign policy expertise, but loses some credibility. If Washington is as bad as these two say it is, was Biden a contributor or an enabler during his six Senate terms? If 36 years in the Senate doesn’t make you an ‘insider’ and part of the problem, what does?” —Cal Thomas

“When Obama, the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, according to the 2007 vote scoring done by National Journal, picks the third-most-liberal senator, does that count as reaching across the aisle?” —Jonah Goldberg

“Joe Biden wasn’t even on Barack Obama’s short list until August 7, when Russia suddenly invaded the neighboring country of Georgia. That’s the word from key Democrats meeting here in Denver who say the Obama campaign’s need to shore up its foreign policy bona fides helped push the Delaware senator to the top of the pack. ‘We didn’t pick our nominee. Vladimir Putin did,’ is how one Democrat, who professes to be pleased with the Biden choice, put it.” —John Fund

“Just what changes the old Democratic order when you have Bill Clinton speaking one night and Hillary Clinton the next night? Is Mayor Daley, Obama’s strongest backer and the boss of the corrupt Chicago Democratic machine, a symbol of change? You look at this… convention and you have to ask yourself, ‘Have I not seen this show before?”’ —Michael Reagan

“The hard-core left vowed to turn out 50,000 protesters for the Democratic National Convention this week. They pledged to ‘Re-create ‘68’ and cause the kind of tear-gas-infused revolutionary havoc that marked the DNC in Chicago four decades ago. Police prepared for the worst riots. Media from around the world anticipated the best pictures. But when rhetorical push came to real-life shove, the nostalgic, Marx-adoring organizers of Re-create ‘68 seem to have mustered no more than, oh, 68 bodies.” —Michelle Malkin

“[W]hat does one call a lawmaker who would condemn to death the child survivor of a botched abortion by permitting doctors to refuse that child, once born alive, potentially life-saving medical treatment and nutrition? A number of things come to mind. Mr. President isn’t one of them.” —Matt Barber

“You know why they call it birth control? Because it’s meant to stop a birth from happening nine months later. We know when life begins. Everyone who ever bought a pack of condom knows when life begins. To put it another way, with conception something begins. What do you think it is? A car? A 1948 Buick?” —Peggy Noonan

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“The most enthusiastic members of the Denver party believe that the country is finally, for the first time really, on their side. The nation’s and the party’s Left is both enlarged and inflamed. The shrewder ones, who are calling the shots, hope that the public will be sufficiently disaffected with the Republicans to tolerate or overlook their ideology. Thus the task before Obama and Biden this week is threefold. They must feign toughness on foreign policy and moderation on values. At the same time they must present their enthusiasm for bureaucracy as sympathy for the economic challenges of the middle class. They must persuade the country that they are not what they are: the most Left-wing ticket their party has run in 36 years. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time; 51 percent may be more feasible.” —National Review

INSIGHT

“The timid, civilized world has found nothing with which to oppose the onslaught of a sudden revival of barefaced barbarity, other than concessions and smiles.” —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“If you see a man approaching you with the obvious intent of doing you good, you should run for your life.” —Henry David Thoreau

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” —George Orwell

“It takes the highest courage to utter unpopular truths.” —Herbert Spencer

“A sure sign of a genius is that all of the dunces are in a confederacy against him.” —Frank Lloyd Wright

“I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligence.” —William F. Buckley Jr.

DEZINFORMATSIA

Heal the planet: “If it happens that [Obama] is elected, or even his just being nominated, will send positive ripple effects throughout the country on the race issue.” —PBS’ Jim Lehrer

Nah, couldn’t happen: “[T]he reasons they think Biden would be strong is because, one, he’s a great attack dog… And… they think the press loves Biden and so the press will sort of go easy on him on the past gaffes and when he’s contradicted Obama.” —CNN’s Jessica Yellin

Leftmedia sycophant: “I think that the Democratic Party, over the last eight to—a number of years, has wanted a prize fighter. And they have two right now.” —Newsweek editor John Meacham

This week’s “Leftmedia Buster” Award: “My colleagues in the national media are absolutely biased, in the tank supporting the Obama candidacy while claiming the mantle of objectivity.” —CNN’s Lou Dobbs

Over the top: “As intense as the anticipation over Obama’s choice is, it pales next to the hubbub over whether McCain is going to tap Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. This would give Lieberman a unique niche in American history—one politician who was the vice-presidential nominee for both parties. We would speak of it with awe, like that story about the two-headed turtle in Brooklyn.” —New York Times columnist Gail Collins

Not exactly: “Ronald Reagan had some success with this question a few years ago and things weren’t nearly as crummy then as they are now: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? But this time it’s been eight years.” —CNN’s Jack Cafferty, who apparently was in a coma during the Carter years

Ignorant America: “A lot of people have never seen anything that looks like a Michelle Obama before. She’s educated, she’s beautiful, she’s tall, she tells you what she thinks and they hope that she can tell a story about Barack Obama and about herself.” —PBS’s Gwen Ifill

Newspulper Headlines: We Blame Global Warming: “Sales of Thermal Underwear Soar in Dismal Summer” —Daily Telegraph (London)

Look Out Below!: “Lead Wheel Weights to Be Dropped in California by End of 2009” —Los Angeles Times Web site

News of the Tautological: “Berkeley Tree-Sitters Still Refuse to Leave” —San Francisco Chronicle

Help Wanted: “New York City Agrees to Pay Protesters $2 Million” —Reuters

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: “Fla. Deputies Taser Plop-Plop the Unruly Emu” —Associated Press ++ “Global Warming Pushes Peru to Pick Coffee Earlier” —Reuters ++ “U.S. Amish Population Surges and Spreads: Study” —Reuters

News You Can Use: “Beware of the Left-Wing Liberals” —Baxter Bulletin (Mountain Home, AR)

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Biden Pick Draws Democratic Praise, GOP Criticism” —Associated Press ++ “Kerry to Address Democratic Convention Wednesday” —Boston Herald (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

Gaffe central: “So let me introduce to you the next president—the next vice president of the United States of America, Joe Biden.” —Barack Obama at Saturday’s rally in Scranton, PA ++ “A man I’m proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next president of the United States—Barack America.” —Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)

Flashback: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” —Joe Biden in January 2007

Geographically challenged: “I’m here with the Girardo family here in St. Louis.” —Barack Obama addressing the Demo convention via satellite on Monday night… from Kansas City ++ “Joe [Biden] comes from a state, Delaware, that borders Virginia. The eastern shore part of Virginia and Delaware are not only bordering but very, very similar. And I think there’s a lot in common, and Joe understands that.” —Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who isn’t aware that Delaware does NOT border Virginia

Commie sycophant: “Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are all vastly superior to us now.” —Barack Obama

A woman scorned: “I am doing everything I can to campaign for Senator Obama. I think it’s fair to say that I have done more, as Senator Rich said, in a relatively short period of time, on behalf of my opponent, than probably anyone else has.” —Hillary Clinton, who still calls Barack “my opponent”

Dumb and dumber: “I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Uh, Nancy, natural gas IS a fossil fuel.

VILLAGE IDIOTS

What does it mean?: “All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won’t do—that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be. That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack’s journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope. That is why I love this country.” —Michelle Obama “She loves her country because of the thread that runs through the journey where the current meets the tide?” —James Taranto

Heal our divisions: “I think [Barack’s candidacy] already has sent a wave of approbation and admiration in many countries around the world just knowing that this black boy who grew with just a loving mother and grandparents and that was about all he had to start with, has now had a chance to become the nominee of the Democratic Party for President… I don’t think there’s any doubt that there’s a spirit and a bright new hope for America within this country and around the world, and if Obama is elected, which I think he is going to be, then I think that will be the transforming grace for the end of racism and prejudice and hatred between races in this country.” —Jimmy Carter ++ Or not: “There are people who are not going to vote for [Obama] because he’s black. And we’ve got to hope that we can educate people to put aside their racism and to put their own interests number one.” —Teamsters President James Hoffa **And there will be people who vote FOR him because he’s black.

Friendly fire: “Well, if this party has a message it has done a [heck] of a job of hiding it… There’s no message coming out of [the convention], there is no sense that the party has a sense of urgency.” —Clintonista James Carville

Windy city?: “Perhaps companies will want to put wind turbines atop bridges and skyscrapers, or use the enormous potential of powerful offshore winds miles out off the Atlantic coasts. I think it would be a thing of beauty if, when Lady Liberty looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean wind farm.” —New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

SHORT CUTS

“Senator Joseph Biden has been anointed by the Chosen One to be his running mate for Vice President. That locks down the important swing state of Delaware and puts the combined fatuous egotism of the ticket into overload territory.” —Roger Fraley

“Barack Obama is finally ready for the dreaded 3 a.m. telephone call. Now he can answer it and hand the phone to Joe Biden… Joe starts talking and figures he’ll eventually think of something to say. Sometimes he does, and often wishes he hadn’t.” —Wesley Pruden

“Obama wanted to gave himself a boost riding into Denver. But his shot in the arm only put a bullet in his foot. Obama-Biden? These guys are gonna be more laughs than Tom and Jerry.” —Martin Sieff

“Barack Obama has made his economic thinking excruciatingly clear, so it also is clear that his running mate should have been not Joe Biden, but Rumpelstiltskin. He spun straw into gold, a skill an Obama administration will need to fulfill its fairy-tale promises.” —George Will

“Vanity Fair found Barack Obama’s long lost brother George Hussein Onyango Obama in Africa. He’s now living in a hut on the outskirts of Nairobi on a dollar a month. He bet everything he had that Hillary Clinton would get the Democratic nomination.” —Argus Hamilton

David Letterman: From the “Top Ten Ways to Make the Democratic Convention More Fun”: Every night, one lucky lady gets to go home with John Edwards; In honor of party mascot, serve assortment of delicious donkey and mule treats; Special appearance by the exhumed remains of Lyndon Johnson; Give John Kerry’s crazy wife five minutes to say whatever she wants; Kick things off with a song from Dennis Kucinich; Try to squeeze Al Gore into the same suit he wore at the 2000 convention.

Jay Leno: As you all know by now, Barack Obama sent out a cell phone text message at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning to tell everyone he picked Joe Biden as his vice president. How do you think this makes Hillary Clinton feel, huh? Finally, she gets a telephone call at 3 a.m.—it’s to tell her they picked Joe Biden. … Well, you know at the Democratic Convention this week in Denver, both Bill and Hillary will be speaking. Not to each other, of course. … John McCain is an older, white-haired man who has been in the Senate for over 20 years, voted for the Iraq War, and said Barack Obama did not have the experience to be president. I’m sorry, that’s our intro for next week when Joe Biden is on, I got confused.

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)