Carnival of Ohio Politics 34 is here — a great collection point for posts across the political spectrum.

Boring Made Dull’s 7th Carnival of Economics and Social Policy is here, “feeding the inner econo-geek,” as BMD would say.

It’s not getting nearly the attention of Lieberman-Lamont or McKinney-Johnson, but Joe Schwarz’s defeat at the hands of Tim Walberg in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District despite heavy-hitter support from the Administration and John McCain, and Doug Lamborn’s triumph in Colorado’s crowded 5th District contest despite heavy support for a competitor from Hugh Hewitt and other Bush acolytes, may both be more important than either of last night’s headline-grabbers.

The Club for Growth was a key factor, and perhaps the deciding one, in both elections. The Club’s Walberg victory announcement last night said as much, and told us why (The Club’s Lamborn victory announcement is here):

“Rep. Schwarz was one of the worst examples of Republican politicians who have abandoned any real commitment to limited government and pro-growth policy,” Toomey concluded. “But Michigan voters have responded by electing to replace him with a true economic conservative who will work to enact the pro-growth agenda. We look forward to seeing Tim Walberg win in November and then serving in Washington in the 110th Congress.”

Of course, losers like Schwartz would believe that his loss “pushes the party further to the right,” with supposedly disastrous consequences. Lamborn in Colorado had the perfect retort:

“There are many things in my Republican message that will appeal to everybody: securing our borders and fighting the illegal immigration problem, supporting the military and getting a handle on the deficit,” Lamborn said after winning a six-man primary Tuesday.

BOTH parties are to the left of conservative and even most “moderate” voters on the first and third issues Lamborn mentioned, and too many in the GOP aren’t even hanging in there on supporting the military and the War on Terror (Exhibit A from last April: DeWine Backstabs Rumsfeld). The War On Terror was enough to justify moderates and conservatives holding their noses in 2004 and voting for many candidates who they considered the lesser of two evils. This November, I don’t believe that appealing to voters solely on the War on Terror, or even on “values” issues, while paying lip service to, or worse, insulting their intelligence on illegal immigration and fiscal control, will generate victory-enabling turnouts.

The big danger is that if voters don’t see an acceptable candidate, they won’t vote for one. The stay-at-home factor has much more potential to hurt Republicans than it does Democrats. It’s late in the game, but GOP candidates need to give the voters answers on all three issues, and quickly.

And of course the primary season isn’t over yet. Those that remain should be very interesting indeed. Lincoln “Chapstick” Chafee, call your office.

This draft letter is provided for parents who don’t think that a kid’s dorm room needs to be straight out of Neiman Marcus:

This loving missive is being sent e-mailed to you and hard-copied to ensure that there is no misunderstanding of my/our concern for your well-being.

I/we think that you might expect, after reading this, that when I/we send you off to college, that you’ll be able to decorate your dorm room as you see fit, with an unlimited budget, as the delayed adolescents who think they’re soooooo adult portrayed in the USA Today article seem to have.

Allow me/us to suggest that if you want a room decorated as you like, you are currently living in one, and are more than welcome to stay in it while you go to college. I am/we are perfectly willing to make minor alterations to it to accommodate your whims. There are ____ (fill in the blank for your area) quite acceptable universities in the area within easy commuting distance where you can pursue the degree you desire. I/we figure that if what’s in your sole-occupancy room isn’t acceptable for your portion of a dual-occupancy dorm room, then the dorm room itself must be what is actually unacceptable. I/we will therefore spare you the grief of living in an undesirable place, and save myself/ourselves the outrageous expense of collegiate room and board.

Love,
Your Parent(s)

In an Associated Press report last night that originally appeared at Newsday before the related text was pulled (so it’s not linked), is still present at this moment at Philly.com (5th paragraph), and was caught by Kathryn Lopez at National Review’s Media Blog (HT NewsBusters):

“They call Connecticut the land of steady habits,” a jubilant Lamont told cheering reporters. “Tonight we voted for a big change.”

OK, the writer probably meant “supporters” and made a mistake — a telling one.

Free Links:

• This unfortunate Tip of the Day has to do with Government Accountability Office Director David Walker’s testimony to the Senate Finance Committee last week, as reported at the Club for Growth blog:
  

  ….. Walker “noted his difficulty in preparing his own taxes by hand and suggested that ‘if every individual member of Congress was required to do what I did . . . we would have tax reform next year.’”

  He’s right about that. The Money Tip is that if you aren’t investing $30-$40 a year in TurboTax or one of the other commerical tax prep programs, there’s first, a fair chance that you’re wasting time (at least after the first year), and a perhaps greater chance that you’re missing out on tax-saving opportunities. I’m not at all happy about this, but I wouldn’t dream of doing anything other than the simplest individual tax return without the commercial software. Of course, the reason this is all necessary is how insanely complex the tax laws are, which is why I wish Walker’s suggestion could be an Executive Order.

• (WARNING: The story at the link is very disturbing) Well of course THIS isn’t news (/sarcasm):
  

  Tests show clinic drenched in blood
  Former HQ for abortion business had blood on walls ‘floor to ceiling’

• Saw this little squib at subscriber-only Biz Weak (so it’s not linked) — In fiscal 2005 (no, I don’t know exactly what the year-end was), Japanese carmakers built more vehicles abroad than they did at home.

• Big Bucks Investment in a Bigtime Liberal Blog (HT American Thinker) — HuffingtonPost is getting a $5 million investment from venture firm Softbank and others. Maybe now they’ll pay the help.

______________________________________

Contains NY Times Link Requiring Registration:

• Another Journalistic “Standard” Revealed (HT American Thinker) — The Rathergate standard was “fake but accurate” at The New York Times in September 2004. Apparently the standard for photojournalism in the wake of Reutergate is “manipulated but (maybe) not doctored,” based on the caption below a comparison of the photoshopped and original “Beirut Burning” pictures at at The Times:
  

  A photographer has been accused of doctoring a photo of an Israeli air raid on Beirut. The manipulated image, left, and the original picture, right.

  Hajj isn’t “accused.” Reuters itself says he “doctored an image,” while allowing Hajj to hang himself with the “Worst Excuse of the Decade.”

  The people who should feel “manipulated” are the poor saps actually paying The Times for “news.”

This goes back a few days, but deserves a response with some links.

Neil Cavuto of Fox News interviewed Rangel (HT AmSpec blog), and Rangel treated us to this whopper:

CAVUTO: Well, are you saying you’re for Castro?
RANGEL: No. I want a democratic change. But I don’t believe dancing in the street and spreading out money in Havana and in Miami is the a way to do it.
CAVUTO: Charlie, this guy killed a lot of people.
RANGEL: Well, I wonder how many people we killed at Guantanamo. I mean, we don’t have the human rights record.
CAVUTO: Well, wait — wait a minute. Are you equating Fidel Castro with what’s happening at Guantanamo?
RANGEL: You bet your life, if we’re — if we are talking about human rights.

The Cuba Archive would beg to disagree:

Many prison deaths are officially marked as “heart attacks,” but witnesses tell another story. The project has documented 2,199 prison deaths, mostly political prisoners.

I would suggest that, given the constraints and government pressure they must endure, the Archive’s estimate is very, very low.

Perhaps we could get another unhinged statement out of Mr. Rangel by having him explain why military preparedness has stepped up sharply in Cuba since Castro fell ill. The truth is that it is while they fear invasion from without (which in a better world would, by the way, be the first and best thing that could EVER happen), they also worry about it happening from within (HT Babula Blog):

But Cuba’s efforts appear designed as much to prevent internal unrest as to defend the communist island from the Yanquis.

It occurred in a hospital (HT Good News Blog):

Identical twins reunited after nearly five decades apart
8/7/2006, 2:31 p.m. ET

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — It’s hard for Bob Mican to talk about his identical twin, Al Tyson, without crying.

The last time he saw his brother was in 1958. Their path separated. They lost touch.

But in June, they came together for the first time in nearly 48 years.

“We used to be so close together, and it’s just like part of my life is complete now,” said Mican, who traveled 1,500 miles from Beeville, Texas, to his brother’s home in Jackson.

His eyes glistened from behind his glasses, and a tear appeared in the corner of his eye. His voice trembled as he spoke.

….. Growing up in Texas, Mican and Tyson agreed they were inseparable. At about 16, Tyson said, they both joined the Navy and were stationed together in Kingsville, Texas.

But Tyson was discharged because of his age. Mican said he doesn’t know why he wasn’t.

Tyson moved to Jackson with a friend to look for a job, and the brothers lost contact. When he got to Michigan, Tyson said he fell in with the wrong crowd and began drinking heavily. At 21, Tyson changed his last name to that of his friend’s family, who he said wanted to adopt him.

Mican said he had no idea how to reach his brother.

But through the years, Tyson had been in touch with the brother’s half-sister. Mican’s daughter, Cheryl Mican, got Tyson’s phone number from her aunt and called him about five years ago.

Mican’s other daughter, Peggy Sue Mican, started writing Tyson. And about two years ago, the brothers spoke again for the first time in decades.

Mican’s children began to plan a trip to Michigan several months ago so the brothers could reunite.

“They’d never met me or seen me,” Tyson said. “I guess they just wanted to see what kind of character they’ve got for an uncle.”

The plans took an unexpected turn when Tyson was admitted to Foote Hospital for respiratory distress. Mican said he didn’t know Tyson went into the hospital until he, his wife and three of their four children arrived in Michigan.

“When his wife told me they put him in the hospital Monday night, it was like somebody shot me,” Mican said. “I fell to pieces.”

During a visit at the hospital, family members crowded into the small hospital room. Mican climbed into his brother’s bed. Tyson put his arm around Mican, who clasped it with his own.

Mican held Tyson’s head and pulled it against his, and both smiled and laughed with their families.

Being reunited is the “best thing that ever happened in my life,” Tyson said.

Now that they have re-entered each other’s lives, Mican and Tyson both say this is just the first of many visits to come.

The brothers don’t intend to lose touch a second time.

“It’s my father’s one real brother,” Peggy Sue Mican said, “To make him happy makes us happy, too.”

Now that Lieberman has lost (by 4%) and has vowed to run as an independent, a few observations and predictions:

• The WORMs (Worn-Out Reactionary Media, known to most as The [formerly] Mainstream Media), will try to spin this as a turning point for the country’s antiwar and anti-Bush true believers. I too think that the antiwar left will end up savoring Lamont’s victory and will remember it fondly for many years to come — but as their high-water mark.
• The Nutmeg State is not congenitally allergic to independents, as opposed to, say, Ohio, where any independent run is virtually doomed from the start. I believe that Lieberman running as an Independent in November will win, as did Lowell Weicker in 1990 as a former Republican Gubernatorial Primary loser turned Independent.
• Lamont’s antiwar base came out for the primary, as they will for the general. But I believe very few antiwar folks DIDN’T vote, i.e., Lamont will have to move beyond the intense antiwar rhetoric to have a chance, or you can almost copy-paste his vote total tonight into November. Previous attempts by Lamont to move beyond antiwar stump speeches during the primary (e.g., harshly criticizing Wal-Mart while owning its stock [HT David Drake], and clearly knowing of their “objectionable” business practices; and Halliburton [!] before that) were nearly catastrophic during the primary.
• From here, it appears that Lieberman is the one with JoeMentum. He was 13 points down (some believe it was even more) a week ago, narrowed it to less than 4 in the final result, and committed no blunders. Lamont didn’t seem as cute and cuddly tonight as he did just a short time ago. In fact, throw in a couple more missteps like the Wal-Mart/Halliburton hypocrisies and some improvement in conditions in the Middle East, and he could end up doing a shocking fade. If Lamont is polling poorly in mid-October, watch out — the recriminations will be nasty.
• Like Schmidt-Hackett here in Ohio’s Second District last year, where the focused antiwar left almost pulled off the upset, the entire country was watching only one race tonight. The pro-Lamont crowd will not be able to replicate the energy of the past 2 months. Paul Hackett wasn’t able to replicate it in Ohio in his abortive Senate run, which is why the party establishment, with the acquiescence of his so-called “friends” in the lefty blogosphere brutally threw him under the bus.
• Democrat politicians in competitive districts who take tonight’s result as a signal to run on an immediate-withdrawal plank in November will be walking straight into a Karl Rove rat trap. Most who try it will regret it.
• This is too much to hope for, but to drive the left absolutely crazy, Connecticut’s Republican Senatorial primary winner or nominee (who? That’s my point) ought to withdraw. If that happens, it’s Lieberman by at least 60-40 in the general. Y’know, if the Dems can pull stunts like 2002’s Torricelli/Lautenberg switch in New Jersey and the widow Carnahan gambit in 2000, why not?

Of course, we’ll just have to see, won’t we? That’s why they hold the elections.

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UPDATE, Aug. 9: I’m not inclined to look around for the reax right now because of site admin issues, but it’s going to be interesting to see the lefty blogosphere claim credit for Lamont’s victory when Lamont (falsely) claimed to have little association with or knowledge of blogs or bloggers after the “Lieberman in Blackface” controversy last week.