When watching baseball, live in the stadium, things are not always what they appear. Oftentimes, a pop-fly to deep short will look just like a home run to someone sitting in the upper deck, causing half the crowd (in Atlanta, anyway) to jump out of their seats and spill their beer, only to sit down again in humiliation when the shortstop catches it.

People who know how to watch baseball never judge a ball by the crack of the bat, or the appearance of its arc: They watch the outfielders. If the outfields turn around and start high-tailing for the fences, you just might have a homerun on your hands, stand up and scream. Otherwise, if they just start scratching themselves and looking into the crowd while the ball's still sailing, just play it cool, because it's a pop-up.

That's why I refer to the various cranks, commies, and dictators of the world collectively as The Outfielders. If I'm unsure how I should feel about a certain event, I judge their reaction to it, and relativize. If they lose their shit and start foaming at the mouth about something Bush or the USA in general does, it's a pretty fair bet that it's just what the doctor ordered. On the other hand, there's this:

Chavez applauds Rumsfeld's resignation

CARACAS (VENEZUELA): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez applauded the resignation of US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and suggested President George W. Bush should quit as well. Chavez pointed to the strong gains by Democrats in US congressional elections and called it a "reprisal vote" against Bush's policies and the Iraq war. The leftist leader beamed as he read aloud a news report of Rumsfeld's resignation.

Not only liberal Americans but peace-loving people all over the world must feel relieved by Democrats’ landslide victory Tuesday. But few would feel more pleased with the election results than North Korea’s Kim Jong-il

Plebiscite on an Outlaw Empire The wave - and make no mistake, it's a global one - has just crashed on America's shores, soaking our imperial masters. It's a sight for sore eyes.

"The US government of Republicans and neo-conservatives, which is a reckless government of idiots, will be reined in with the Democrats taking over the House," Oraib Rintawi, President of the Al Quds Centre for Political Studies in Amman...

LANDSLIDE! ...a big thanks from Michael Moore

You did it! We did it! The impossible has happened: A majority of Americans have soundly and forcefully removed Bush's party from control of the House of Representatives and the Republicans have also, miraculously, been tossed out of running our United States Senate.

TUESDAY WAS GOOD NEWS FOR .... WHO?[sic]

Those who want a weaker America

(Accepting the award will be Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin, sometimes known as Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister of France. Dominique was the leader of the Axis of Weasels before he became Prime Minister.)

A poll earlier this year said that something like 58% of Europeans wanted a weaker America. They got their wish on Tuesday. Who is going to be there to pull their candied asses out of the oven when they finally wake up and realize the great strides that have been made in the Islamification of Europe? Hello Eurabia.

The first blow to be struck in the weakening of America will be for the Democrats to get rid of John Bolton as the Ambassador to the United Nations. They'll replace him with someone who will not stand up to UN corruption and the forces who want to weaken us.

The leftist media.

(Accepting the award for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, The Boston Globe, Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine and too many more to mention will be Dan Rather)

Ninety percent or more of these people vote Democrat. They engaged in a six-year campaign of demonization of George Bush. It worked.

"Thank you, Ms. Speaker, may I have another!"

Technorati Tags: 2006 election, pelosi, politics, cleveland steamer

Friday night, while riding on the tram. It was well after midnight, and my sweetie and I were on the way home from a friend's birthday party. While we were waiting for the train to get rolling, some drunk guy got on board and started harassing the driver for no obvious reason.

Apparently sensing danger, the driver called the police to have the man removed from the train. The cops arrived and, after some muss, fuss, and pepper-spray, wrestled said drunk guy to the ground.

Here you can see them giving him the German version of the Rodney King treatment.

What I don't really get is this: See that guy with the blond hair looking at the camera? The one who's got his knee stuck in the drunk guy's kidneys? He wasn't a cop. He was just some other drunk guy. I'm not sure why the cops would let some random drunk guy join in on the police brutality here, seeing as that's sort of their job.

So, does that mean if I see someone getting arrested, I can run up and give him the elbow?

Man, the Dems haven't even been handed the keys to the executive toilets yet, and already people are declaring war on us.

That didn't take long.

Apparently, the bullshit detector is not standard equipment for Democrats:

Republicans are so afraid to run on their merits that they continue to resort to dirty tricks.

Listen to this robocall (.WAV) being sent to Virginia voters:

Tim Daly from Clarendon got a call saying that if he votes Tuesday, he will be arrested. A recording of his voicemail can be found online at: www.webbforsenate.com/media/phone_message.wav

The transcript from his voicemail reads:

"This message is for Timothy Daly. This is the Virginia Elections Commission. We've determined you are registered in New York to vote. Therefore, you will not be allowed to cast your vote on Tuesday. If you do show up, you will be charged criminally."

Daly has been registered to vote in Virginia since 1998, and he has voted for the last several cycles with no problem. He has filed a criminal complaint with the Commonwealth's attorney in Arlington.

What they're actually charging here is that Republicans are calling voters and threatening them with arrest if they vote Democrat. Now, I'm pretty jaded to the shrill whining that passes for Progressive political discussion, so I usually just scroll past such news stories as so much humbug. But what does that do for our general political alertness level? Who's actually going to notice if some sort of diabolically crooked electioneering really does subvert the American political process? I don't think that Diebold is really on the side of Republicans, guys. At least not to the point that they'd rat out a Democratic administration in y'all's favor.

The Democrats are going to get trounced in this election, at least if they get what they deserve. I'm so fed up with their mock outrage, I'm almost wishing I hadn't thrown my vote away on Libertarians. Get out there; vote Republican; and let's see if we can make that vein pop out on Kos's forehead again.

Technorati Tags: 2006 election, kos, politics, electioneering

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