Is a combination of this must-see YouTube video (opens in new window; HT to an e-mailer) …..

(UPDATE, August 29, 2008: The original YouTube was taken down. Here’s a replacement, which is the full Tucker Carlson interview with Virginia Buckingham of the Boston Herald in February 2007 just after Romney announced his candidacy. This replacement vid made up about 50% of the vid that was taken down.)

….. which makes him a conservative pretender….

….. and all of this …..

…..

…..

…..

….. which, collectively, makes him objectively unfit to serve as President.

Any questions?

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UPDATE 2, August 29, 2008: Here’s a useful saved-at-host link to a Democrat compendium of Romney’s weaknesses. The most notable element here is their listing of the money Romney threw at various conservative organizations to (how else do you describe it?) buy their support. What is shocking is how small the amounts of money involved were to generate sudden changes of heart on the part of people who should have known better.

From the “I Don’t Think So” Department:

(Hillary Clinton) is in danger of losing all four early contests, including Nevada and South Carolina – probably to Sen. Barack Obama, who is now, in momentum terms, the Democratic frontrunner.

Drudge yesterday linked to another article about Mrs. Clinton asking “Is It the End?” That’s an alltime record for premature e-celebration or premature e-desolation, depending on your point of view.

It’s possible that it really looks that bad for her. But given Fineman’s and his magazine’s bootlick-level support of the Clintons over the years, I believe this is an orchestrated attempt at expectations management (yes, with a dash of desperation) — to be (she hopes) followed by “The Comeback Kid,” Part II.

Interestingly, and contrary to popular folklore, the PBS “Comeback Kid” link does NOT give any credit to Hillary for coming up with Part I.

Update: More expectations management — Bill Clinton told Charlie Rose Friday night that “It’s a miracle she even has a chance” to win in Iowa.

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Having said that, Hillary definitely did not have a comeback for this (a YouTube vid with just the exchange below is here. A NewsBusters link to longer vid is in third para at this post, where the sequence below is near the very end. The rest of the NB clip is worth watching, just to see Mrs. Alan Greenspan [Andrea Mitchell] and Tim Russert piling on the Clinton campaign):

Carolyn Washburn (Worst debate moderator — ever — twice): Senator Obama, you have Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser, State Department policy director, and Navy Secretary, among others, advising you. With relatively little foreign policy experience of your own, how will you rely on so many Clinton advisers and still deliver the kind of break from the past that you’re promising voters?

BOOHOO (Barack O-Bomba Overseas Hussein “Obambi” Obama): Well, the uh, you know, I am …..

(interrupted by extremely loud and sustained Hillary Clinton-patented “ooh, she got him with that one” cackle)

Hillary Clinton (with taunting “going in for the kill” tone): I want to hear that!

(followed by extremely loud and even longer-sustained Hillary Clinton-patented “ooh, now we’ve got him by the short ones” cackle)

BOOHOO: Well, Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me as well.

(sustained laughter and applause)

BOOHOO: I, I, I want to gather up talent from everywhere.

This may be BOOHOO’s “Where’s the beef?” moment.

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The same New York Times that did its part for fauxtography is now propping up a faux spokesperson (HT Instapundit).

In totally related news, NYT stock, which closed at $26.55 on June 8, closed Friday at $16.53. That’s a loss of over $1.4 billion in market value in five months. Roughly 5-1/2 years of Bush Derangement Syndrome has exacted a terrible price.

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Though I can’t find a link (typically annoying — the CNNMoney April 16 original isn’t there), I thought Alan Greenspan promised, after the last go-round, to lay low on offering what are now no more than the observations of an educated but well-informed outsider whose influence is beyond what is justified. But he didn’t.

Alan, have you ever asked yourself how YOUR predecessor, Paul Volcker, managed to zip it during and after that 508-point market plunge (a one-day, 22.7% decline) on October 19, 1987 during your watch? And, more importantly, why he zipped it?

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I never knew Triticale, and he never knew me. I just looked it up; he posted 47 comments here over two-plus years. He passed away on Thursday (HT Jay via Instapundit). I will miss his “rye” style, and offer prayers for the repose of his soul, and his family.

From San Jose, California via Vietnam:

Article Launched: 12/10/2007 01:30:42 AM PST

It has been part of Hoa Tran’s head since she was born, a tumor that grew ever bigger but somehow never killed her. She tucked it under a scarf or baseball cap and covered it with toilet paper because her family could not afford cotton gauze.
Year after year, whenever foreign doctors came to the Kim Long Charity Clinic in central Vietnam, her father would bring her there to see if they could help.

The answer always was no - until he met Sister Linh Dao in May.

The soft-spoken nun, an emergency room nurse at O’Connor Hospital in San Jose who had come to Vietnam on a medical mission, gravely examined the massive tumor spilling from the back of Tran’s head and wondered: Could her hospital help? Would local doctors donate their time? Could enough money be raised to bring Tran and her father to San Jose?

With a great deal of persistence and the help of an O’Connor administrator, Dao turned doubt into assurances.

Decisions were made with surprising speed, considering that Tran’s care and travel could cost up to $330,000: The hospital would cover her surgeries, without knowing the final price tag. Kiet Ha, the O’Connor executive, recruited a local plastic surgeon and a neurosurgeon willing to donate their services. Dao’s family would host Tran and her father at their San Jose home. Community donors would help finance airfare.

Now, in a matter of weeks, Tran will be rid of the bu’óu’ that has dominated her life for 20 years.

Go here for the rest of the story.