UPDATE: According the subscription-only MIRS News, Stabenow announced she is donating the $4,200 Norman Hsu gave to her campaign to the Michigan Children’s Trust Fund. A Stabenow spokesman didn’t say when the donation was/would be made, nor any word about the the $27K in bundled money Hsu raised for the Senator. It is worth noting that Stabenow’s camp made narry a peep about returning the Hsu contribution until it was raised here, and on other blogs, over the weekend.

Is this Michigan’s Own U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow with Democrat fugitive felon fund-raiser Norman Hsu?

Here, Stabenow is seen yucking it up with Hsu at a fundraiser he held for the senator at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, I believe it was held in 2005.

Here is what the NYTimes is saying today about Hsu:

Shadowy Money Trail of a Fugitive Fund-Raiser
By MIKE McINTIRE

At the center of the ever-deepening mystery of Norman Hsu, the fugitive fund-raiser who was captured after a brief flight from the law last week, is the question of how he evolved from a bankrupt swindler in 1992 to a wealthy donor to many Democratic candidates, and a bundler of campaign contributions to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2007.

A review of financial records for one of Mr. Hsu’s companies begins to shed light on some of his recent activities, including his dealings with a circle of campaign contributors that has fallen under suspicion since news of Mr. Hsu’s criminal past, murky business interests and unexplained riches rocked the Democratic Party. [SNIP]

And this from the Associated Press:

Years later, he resurfaced as a top fundraiser, donating $260,000 to Democratic Party groups and federal candidates since 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records.

A string of Democratic politicians have announced plans in the past week to return or donate to charity Hsu’s election contributions. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said Thursday he would donate nearly $40,000 in contributions, and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo. said Friday he donated a $1,000 contribution to a charity that helps soldiers.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she plans to give to charity $23,000 in donations she received from Hsu for her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee, HillPac.

According to a search of FEC filings, Hsu has personally given Stabenow $4,200 and bundled more than $27,000 to her campaign coffers. He did all this while a fugitive from justice. Really, don’t these Democrats check who’s raising money for them, or don’t they care? Wait, I just answered my own question.

Speaking of questions, Michigan voters are bound to have a lot, like, is Stabenow going to give back or donate to charity the amount that Hsu raised for her, as did Hillary? Stabenow made a big stink in the ‘06 about her challenger, Mike Bouchard, for siting on the board of directors of a Michigan-based insurance company that had outsourced some of its operations. It was a disingenuous claim, considering Stabenow took campaign contributions from that same company’s PAC. At least the company is a law-abiding corporate citizen, and not on the lam like Stabenow buddy Hsu.

So, Debbie, what are you going to do??

(The photo above was captured from a site called CamerArts Events, which allows people to purchase photos of political events.)

Stabenow Hsu

Technorati Tags: Michigan, Politics, Hsu, Stabenow, Campaign+Contributions

Here is an excellent column from Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe on the consequences of kowtowing to the “defeat at any cost” crowd in Washington. You can read it en toto here, but a few highlights:

Three decades ago, similar arguments were made in support of abandoning Southeast Asia to the communists. To President Ford’s warning in March 1975 that “the horror and the tragedy that we see on television” would only grow worse if the United States cut off aid to the beleaguered government in Cambodia, then-Representative Christopher Dodd of Connecticut retorted: “The greatest gift our country can give to the Cambodian people is peace, not guns. And the best way to accomplish that goal is by ending military aid now.” So Washington ended military aid, and Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, which proceeded to exterminate nearly 2 million Cambodians in one of the ghastliest genocides of modern times. [SNIP]

We are in a war with barbarians who proclaim their love of death and revel in the slaughter of innocents — and are fighting to win. We can choose to settle for defeat in Iraq, but far from ending the war, it will only make it more difficult and deadly. The price Americans will pay if they abandon Iraq will be steep. The price Iraqis pay will be steeper.

Technorati Tags: Iraq+War, Troop+Withdrawal, President+Bush, Troop+Surge

…shouldn’t throw stones, especially when it comes to presidential pardons.

The ire the Democrats expressed over President George W. Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s 30-month federal prison sentence for perjury rings a bit hollow when compared to their silence with respect to President William J. Clinton’s rather prolific use of the pardoning pen.

Let’s just dispense with a discussion of the legal differences between a pardon and a commutation. You can look them up.

Click here for a list of President Clinton’s pardons. They are legion. Drug trafficking, racketeering, embezzlement….and the list goes on.

Technorati Tags: Clinton, Bill+Clinton, Bush, President+Bush, Libby, Scooter+Libby, Democrats, Pardons

Attention DC Democrats: There’s a new sheriff in town.

As least that’s the message of the guys over at the Majority Accountability Project, or MajorityAP for short. They look to do to Democrats what they’ve been doing to Republicans for a long while…lifting up rocks and seeing what’s underneath. Good for them.

Check out their opening YouTube vid about their venture.

Welcome to the block, boys.

Technorati Tags: MajorityAP, MajorityAP.com, Republican, Democratic, politics, conservative

There’s quite of bit of “Red State” self-re-evaluation going on over the ‘Net over the Democrats impressive showing on the online fundraising — $15 million worth among WH’08 candidates in Q1.

I won’t plow the same ground twice; you can read Robert Bluey’s take from the Right. DC’s conservative ‘SpokesBlogger’ David All has some good analysis and overview of the chatter.

The gist is this: Dems are doing more than eating Repubs lunches when it comes to using the Web 2.0 to its fullest advantage, they are in a completely different cafeteria. Even of more concern to Bluey, et al., is that for Republicans, being wired means two cans and some string.

I would have to say I am not a maudlin about this as some, but there is cause for concern.

Republicans lost their way somewhere along the road and with it went the connection they made with people who felt Washington and government had turned a tin ear to their concerns. Now, as a new generation of the electorate comes of age in a socially networked and connected world, Republicans the risk of becoming irrelevant and — more importantly — unconnected.

Some GOP ‘Net strategists point to the $15 million Dem presidentials raised in Q1 as the making of a tipping point. There was a lot of chest-thumping from the Left, and deservedly so; that’s a lot of money coming from clicks. But it may not be the big deal most are making it out to be.

There is one issue or question that must be answered: Is the majority of the $15 million coming from direct Internet asks by the campaigns, or is it something viral that has taken on a life of its own?

In other words, if that $15 million came from 30 million e-mail asks by the respective campaigns, then we have case of nothing more than the Democrats being aggressive in driving likely donors/supporters to the web. If, on the other hand, the campaigns made a million or less Internet asks but half of those asks each forwarded that ask on to 15 friends who are first-time political donors, then Republican are in for a world of hurt.

The problem here is that answer to that question will be hard to come by. I am sure the Democratic campaigns will be reticent to release such details about their online donors, if they have such data to being with. So, to be safe, we have to assume the worse and create our own Marshall-esque Plan for catching up to the Democrats or risk another 50 years of irrelevancy, at least on Capitol Hill. Or as someone smarter than me said: “Pray like Hell and keep rowing.”

Thoughts? This is a discussion that needs to keep going. If you have a blog and are a conservative, please post something about this and send me a trackback.

Technorati Tags: Web2.0, Democrats, Republicans, WH’08, President, Politics, Michigan

Here’s how The NY Times’ Maureen Dowd pined for John McCain on Meet the Press today:

I tend to miss him even when I am with him because he is such a completely different candidate than who I covered before.

She said with a sigh….

This is just the lastest of several national reporters who have said in the last weeks that McCain is the ‘maverick’ he was in 2000. NPR’s Mara Liasson has a piece about McCain trying to woo South Carolina evangelical conservatives and, in the process, tarnishing is vaulted status among the MSM media in the process.

This is inetivable on the part of the MSM. It is only newsworthy is someone is on the rise or on the fall. That’s why they love Barack and Rudy, dispite some pretty glaring blindspots in both those gentlemen.

Technorati Tags: McCain, NY+Times, Dowd, Maverick

Careful listeners will recognize the name of Don Gonyea, NPR’s White House Correspondent, from when he was on public radio in Southeast Michigan. The Monroe native (WJR’s Paul W. Smith is another smooth-talking big-name radio personality to hail from Custer City) was back in Michigan last week to cover Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign kickoff at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

“I interviewed his father almost in the exact same spot,” Gonyea told LBC, referring to one-time MI governor and American Motors Company chairman, George Romney. “It was when they added the Rambler to the museum.”

It was that same Rambler that serverd as part of the backdrop for Mitt’s announcement, where talked about bringing innovation to Washington. Also on stage was a DC 3, which changed air travel from a novelty for the rich to a means of mass transporation, and a new Ford Escape gas-electric hybrid.

Technorati Tags: Romney, President, NPR, AMC+Rambler

When is the sycophantic MSM going to do its job and start asking the tough questions about John McCain, namely, is he too old and is his health too frail for him to lead the free world?

It’s a fair set of questions and in this ‘08 presidental nomination race — which is accelerating to light speed — these kind of questions need to come sooner rather than later. There is growing talk that the Democrats and Republicans could have their respective nominations wrapped up (for all practical purposes) this fall, possibly even before the Iowa Republican Straw Poll on August 11.

‘Older Than Dirt’
The “health” question could very well be the torpedo that wounds or evens scuttles the McCain juggernaught.

McCain is found of joking: “I am older dirt and have more scars than Frankenstein.” It’s a funny line made poignant by the fact that it happens to be true.

If nominated and elected president in 2008, he will be the oldest person, at 72, to take the oath of office for the first time — even older than Ronald Reagan. That’s not to say that such an age automatically disqualifies someone from being able to handle the rigors of the highest office in the land. (Seventy-one is the new 51, I know.)

The Cancer Issue

But add to his age his health concerns and suddenlly it becomes a bigger issue. McCain sports a 6″ scar on his left cheek that is the result of some rather major and invasive surgery to remove a malignant melanoma, which is a very serious and dangerous form of skin cancer. By the looks of the scar and what’s not there anymore, skilled surgeons took out a big chunk of the good senator’s face. This is also a cancer that has a very high rate of recurrance.

Speaking to a head-and-neck cancer doc LBC knows said it all: “He looks like the patients at clinic for whom I don’t have good news.”

All of this is speculative, of course, but it is probably the most pressing issue surrounding whether McCain should get the GOP nod. I want my party to nominate the best candidate who can bet Hillary. I’m tired of supporting whichever Republican whose turn has come up. No more Bob Doles please, great American that he is notwithstanding.

Losing His Step?

McCain is a great American, but being so doesn’t make one White House ready. He’s lost quite a bit in his gait since 2000 and it shows.

His less the maverick. His staff controlls his media opportunities much more now than seven years ago. His talk is less “off-the-cuff” and a little less focused. He looks, well, old.

Still, our friends in the mainstream media have not bothered to throw their Kleg lights in his direction (The Politico’s Roger Simon is one exception.) I have to think in the HDTV and YouTube environment that is defining the ‘08 presidential horse race won’t be flattering for McCain.

MSM Wising Up

That’s not to say the MSM is giving McCain the same lover’s treatment it did the last time around, when reporters couldn’t wait to report the lastest untoward comment from the senator as if it was the new wisdom straight from the prophet’s mouth. There is much chatter now indicating the “Straight Talk Express” bus is showing a little rust.

Dick Polman, political analyst for the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote today that he’s rather under-impressed with McCain seven years later, as are others…

[SNIP]They (MSM) fell hard for McCain in 2000, not just because he granted so much access, but because he sold himself as a rebel, an antiestablishment reformer with no patience for political orthodoxy. Reporters bought the McCain persona, because they (like many of their fellow citizens) are frustrated romantics who yearn for authenticity in public life. So when an alleged rebel turns out to be a calculating opportunist, that’s an open invitation for the Fourth Estate to lose the love and rediscover its adversarial impulses.

It’s impossible to pinpoint when the long media honeymoon finally ended; perhaps it was last April, when the Associated Press sent out a story headlined “McCain’s straight-talking image called into question.” Suffice it to say that reporters generally don’t abide politicians - not even the friendly ones - who say one thing and do another. And at this point, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that McCain has been riding the Double Talk Express for the better part of a year, flip-flopping with an alacrity that would humble Hamlet.[SNIP]

Polman then goes on with an augmented litany of McCain flip-flops and “I’m just like everybody else in Washington” activities.

[SNIP]Few facets of the old McCain appeal - including his military heroism (which wowed the reporters, few of whom have served), and his willingness to admit error (reporters love candidates who cop to flaws) - will shield him from rigorous questioning in the months ahead. A new mainstream media Web site, Politico.com, even referred to McCain the other day as “the onetime maverick,” which is probably some kind of milestone.[SNIP]

Here’s hoping the scribes looking for another trip on the “Straight Talk Express” will pause long enough this time to kick the tires and check the undercariage. When they do, they are more likely to find a candidate a bit long in the tooth.

Technorati Tags: McCain, president, Politco, Straight+Talk+Express

The newly minted chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee recently announced his priorities for the new Congress. At the top of Rep. Bob Filner’s (D-CA) list? A plan to produce a “Sesame Street” style video so that toddlers can recognize post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their parents. As reported here, Rep. Filner said:

“we want to stress mental health. I would like to see a kids’ Sesame Street kind of thing. There must be a million children of recently-deployed, now-deployed, will-be-deployed troops, and they ought to know what PTSD is, so that if Dad comes home, Mom comes home, and they slap around the other one, the kid could say, ‘Daddy you have PTSD. You better get to a clinic.’ But then there have got to be resources to do it.”

PTSD is a serious medical condition. But I really wonder how Big Bird would handle it…

That appears to be the message from the “Ol’ Gray Lady” otherwise more commonly known at the New York Times, which opines today that a soon-to-be-introduced bill by Sens. Barack Obama and Charles Schumer to regulate political speech is just what our county needs.

Stronger proof that the NYT is the greatest threat to freedoms we enjoy in this Great County could not be found than in today’s editorial. We shouldn’t be shocked. Afterall, this is this paper — chiefly, and others less so — that has put sensationalism and circulation above national security.

Here’s is the most telling line from the editorial:

[SNIP]The bill is careful to avoid infringing on First Amendment rights, and that is the right course. But in steering clear of regulating speech, it is not clear how effective the measure would be in addressing one of the worst dirty tricks of last fall’s election:…[SNIP]

The Times is talking about automated telephone — Robo — calls, but it seems to saying that expediency at accomplishing a good justifies the means that brings it about. Just for the record, this is the exact opposite logic the Times used to denounce the Bush administration on any number of executive orders decisions aimed at rounding up and interrogating suspected Islamofacists.

I guess our constitutional rights are sacrosanct only when they buttress the Far-Left agenda of the Times and the Limousine Liberals on the East Coast that still subscribe to it.

Technorati Tags: Free+Speech, Politics, New+York+Times, Elections