wake up call

The big buzz today has been the change in the GOP Presidential field. Essentially we are now looking at three candidates. Here they are in this screenshot from the HuffPo:

So the three we have to watch out for are Romney, Perry and Bachmann. All three of them are scary and can pose a possible challenge to President Obama, but one really stands out. This is one that I have warned of before - Michele Bachmann (see here, here and here). Still, I hear countless on the left saying there is no way Bachmann will get the nomination, let alone win. I have to disagree with these people and our changing political landscape is all the evidence I need.

First off there were dozens of races last year the pundits and politicians thought a fringe candidate wouldn't win, yet we ended up with a lot of "Tea Party" candidates in Congress. This should have been a wake up call to people on the right and left, but it wasn't. Instead they still look at candidates like Bachmann and feel there is no way she can win.

So how can this all go against the left? Let's start with the primary. First off we have Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, both of which don't have the best records in terms of conservative values. Bachmann places a lot better and her lack of actual leadership can actually prove to be a plus against these two.

From USA Today:

Oil spill could sink Obama's offshore drilling plan

If there was ever a silver lining to something so horrible, this is it. But at what costs?

A third leak has been discovered, and a fire-fighting expert said the disaster may become the biggest oil spill ever.

[SNIP]

Some 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day were now thought to be gushing into the sea 50 miles off Louisiana's coast, said the US Coastguard's Rear Admiral Mary Landry.

Already people are saying this is going to trump Exxon-Valdez and could be the worst disaster in U.S. history. We really don’t need to increase the chances for this to happen by increasing offshore drilling and hopefully it is providing a serious wake up call to the White House.

Specter just asked Gonzalez if when they do go to the FISA court for a
warrant if they disclose that their information for the warrant was obtained by
warrantless taps. Gonzalez would not answer because he didn't feel comfortable
going in to it. This was a very important question. If FISA is denying warrants
because the information on the warrant was obtained via a warrantless tap then
it provides a serious legal blow to Bush's warrantless program.

Gonzalez just said in order for a wiretap to be initiated that a member of
the security team at the NSA has to identify that one person in the call is an
agent or official of al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations. This really
should be a wake up call. First off, they have made employees of NSA act as
judges. Second, and most important is the "other terrorist organizations" line
in there. So who are these other terrorist organizations? Are they the same ones
the FBI and Pentagon have coined "terrorist organizations"? Did the Attorney
General just admit that this program would allow for the warrantless taps of
groups like Quakers and PETA, which are organizations they have treated as
terrorist organizations?

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the world has been ignoring
the threats of terrorism since the “wake-up call” of 9/11.

"September 11 for me was a wake up call. Do you know what I
think the problem is? That a lot of the world woke up for a short time and then
turned over and went back to sleep again," Blair said in an article on
CNN. I feel he is misled to some extent.

There are plenty of reminders of terror in the world. One
has to look no further than Iraq, where suicide bombings are an almost daily
occurrence. The problem is, when they get reported, then the right calls out
that the liberal media is being biased and not showing everything happening in
Iraq. Perhaps they want this “reminder” of terrorism to be ignored. That in its
self would contribute to the worlds “lazy” approach to terrorism.

The truth of the matter is, our leaders ignored terrorism.
They took their sites of off our true enemy in order to invade Iraq. This would
explain why Tony Blair refuses to admit a connection between the London bombings
and their presence in Iraq, even though al Qaeda has said that is the reasoning
and promised more attacks on Europe if they don’t withdrawal from Iraq by August
15.