Don Surber invented the game, and Glenn Reynolds and Scott Johnson want to play, too.

ABC News:

An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama’s, D-Ill., lapels.

“You don’t have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?” the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. “Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001.”

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, “My patriotism speaks for itself.”

But Obama didn’t say that.

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

“You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Obama said. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.

Instead,” he said, “I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.”

Obama could also have just said that he thought politicians wearing US flag lapel pins had become a cliche, but he did not.

However diplomatically he puts it, stating publicly that he isn’t wearing the US flag because he does not support the war in Iraq is an extremely striking gesture of anti-patriotism.

There really ought to be an alternative lapel pin Obama could substitute, something featuring an emblem identifying the wearer’s membership in what Thomas Sowell likes to refer to as “the elect.” Perhaps a blue background pin with a gold halo on it would do the trick.

Henry Waxman

Today’s attempt by the left (Atrios and TPM to whip up something to cry about concerns Rep. Darrell Issa noting the impracticality of Congressional democrats trying to take over the functions of the Executive Branch, by pointing out that democrat Inquisitor Henry Waxman would require Blackwater’s protection in Iraq to pursue his witchhunt against Blackwater.

Issa’s comment:

If Henry Waxman today wants to go to Iraq and do an investigation, Blackwater will be his support team. His protection team. Do you think he really wants to investigate directly?

0:41 video

The Zogby Poll finds George W. Bush is a trifle unpopular with a mere approval rating of 29%, but Congress is doing so much worse at 11% that one almost expects to see angry peasants with torches and pitchforks attacking the Capitol.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad probably has a higher public approval rating in the United States than the Reid/Pelosi Congress.

Fred Thompson on HillaryCare.

1:24 video

The democrat crazies in the California legislature strike again.

San Diego Union Tribune:

The Assembly sent the governor a bill yesterday requiring that the next generation of semiautomatic handguns stamp identifying serial numbers on spent shell casings.

The legislation that would establish the first law of its kind in the nation could have a lasting impact on the war on crime, according to backers. But the limited application of the bill does not figure to be felt for several years.

The bill covers only new models or brands of semiautomatic handguns approved for sale in the state after Jan. 1, 2010. That excludes nearly 1,300 different semiautomatics already sold in the state. Revolvers, which do not discharge shell casings, also are not covered.

Nonetheless, supporters said tagging microscopic codes on ammunition fired from the guns of choice for gang members and violent criminals could prove invaluable to law enforcement.

“Chiefs of police from Stockton to San Diego, from Fresno to National City, 65 of them standing together in support of this bill because they see the potential to solve gun crime,” said Assemblyman Mike Feuer, a Los Angeles Democrat who carried the measure, AB 1471. …

But in a passionate debate between gun-control Democrats and gun-rights Republicans, critics dismissed the technology as unreliable, expensive and easily thwarted. They warned that it would drive up the price of guns and drive manufacturers out of the state.

“There is nothing like this is any other state, and no other state is seriously considering this because they know it doesn’t work,” said Lawrence Keane, general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Council, an industry trade association.

The Assembly approved the bill on a 43-29 vote that fell largely along party lines. The Senate narrowly passed the bill last week. All involved are now closely watching for a signal from Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has taken no position on the bill.

Oh yes, California’s gang violence over drug distribution turf invariably takes the form of an Agatha Christie-style country house murder, in which Sherlock Holmes needs an assist from Rube Goldberg in determining if it was Colonel Mustard who shot Professor Plum in the library by identifying the true owner of the still-smoking Webley found smack in the middle of the oriental rug.

And no one less wily than Professor Moriarity himself would ever think of taking a file to their proposed-stamping mechanism in order to thwart those cunning legislators. Right!

Doug Patton thinks he’s identified one.

..the core, the heart, the base of the Democratic Party has become a loony gaggle of special interest groups on the fringes of American civilization.

They are driven by far-left ideology, and they are represented by the likes of paranoid billionaire George Soros and the organizations he supports. MoveOn.org, a web site originally founded to defend Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, has morphed into a collection of political crazies, as has the Daily Kos, the Huffington Post and a number of others.

These hateful organizations represent the views of the hardcore voters who participate in Democrat primaries, and many of them are not happy with today’s crop of Democrats. Hillary Clinton, who has spent the last forty years of her life devoted to a left-wing ideology, is not liberal enough for many of these people. Her realization that she cannot win a general election without offending them has given some in her campaign heartburn.

Barrack Obama is too militaristic for them after his threat to invade Pakistan. Recently, even the traditional idols of the left, the Kennedys, have run afoul of some in the blogosphere’s hate machine. It seems that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and his Uncle Ted are opposed to the construction of a wind farm on Nantucket Sound because it would be visible from the area where they sail their yachts.

So who can a leftist wacko really love these days? It has to be someone who, first and foremost, hates George Bush. That’s a given. Then there is the requirement that the United States surrender to al-Qaida and leave Iraq immediately.

Of course, this person has to view America as a blight on the rest of the world, especially on all the wonderful, peaceful people of the planet, from Native Americans to the North Vietnamese to the Iraqis. Blaming America first for virtually everything is an absolute requirement. Environmental extremism is an important part of the agenda, so this political savior would have to spout the PC line on global warming. And, of course, capitalism must be regarded as a bane that has brought misery to all who have ever suffered under it.

But what leader could possibly fill the bill for American lefties? Why, Osama bin Laden, of course. The world’s most famous terrorist has delivered a new message, via videotape, much of it to the American people.

Bin Laden rambles through his latest screed reciting the same kind of nonsense made famous by America haters across the Internet and even in public life. He blathers on about how Donald Rumsfeld was somehow responsible for killing two million people in Vietnam. He tells us how concerned he is about America’s sub-prime mortgage “crisis.” He blames the U.S. for global warming. He criticizes congressional Democrats for continuing the war in Iraq and warns that America will lose. He invites us all to embrace Islam. And most important, he excoriates the American people for electing George W. Bush to a second term, telling us that we are “not innocent.”

Osama bin Laden embodies everything liberal Democrats love in a leader. In fact, if he were standing on the stage at one of their presidential debates, spouting the same ideas he put forth in his latest video, he would be a bona fide hit among their base.

Norman Hsu, a bankrupt Hong Kong business, seems to have come to America and set up a shell corporation solely for the purpose of funneling large sums of money to democrat candidates, particularly Hillary.

New York Times story.

Gosh! Who do you suppose was supplying Mr. Hsu’s corporation with cash? Remember the Johnny Chung campaign contributions of the 1990s?

Gateway Pundit links a 5:48 video of John Gibson from Fox News comparing Osama’s recent speech to some statements by Keith Olbermann. “There’s an echo in the room.” Hilarious.

Allahpundit is probably making too much out of all this. Rather than showing anything really substantive about democrats, this Zogby Poll probably merely demonstrates the insufficiently-often-recognized ability of the people commissioning polls to produce the results they desire by how they frame the questions.

Michelle Malkin isn’t happy that Larry Craig is reconsidering that resignation.

Think about it, Michelle. We can’t afford to operate this way.

Democrats don’t resign over sex scandals. They only use them to force Republicans out of office.

Do you remember Bob Livingstone? The slimy pimp Larry Flynt hired private detectives to hunt for Republican pecadillos he could use to avenge the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton for perjury, and Rep. Livingstone immediately resigned, giving up the Speakership of the House, as soon as news of his marital infidelity was released.

Politicians are human, alzumenschlich commonly in fact. Are only democrat adulterers, only democrats who spend time in the company of prostitutes, only leftwing and democrat homosexuals to be allowed to remain in public office?

If only sinners in private life who are democrats get to survive in office, we are probably conceding a permanent democrat majority.

IdahoStatesman.com:

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig says he might reconsider his decision to resign if he clears his name in his arrest for disorderly conduct in a restroom sex scandal.

Earlier posting: LARRY CRAIG SHOULD NOT RESIGN

The press is full of nonsense this morning about the imaginary negative impact of all this upon Republican political prospects. Even if Senator Craig were guilty of soliciting sex in men’s rooms (which is far from proven), what do the private actions of a single individual have to do with the overall standing of a national political party?

Members of the democrat party in Congress include Senator Edward Kennedy who has served almost four decades in the Senate after being convicted of the considerably more serious offense of leaving the scene of a fatal automobile accident, and House Members Alcee Hastings, removed from the federal bench for bribery and perjury; William Jefferson, currently under federal indictment for corruption; John Murtha, who survived being named an unindicted conspirator in the Abscam scandal; and Barney Frank, who hired a gay prostitute and then allowed him to operate a prostitution service out of his Washington apartment.

What would a democrat party member of Congress do if he found himself the subject of a scandal? What would Bill Clinton do?

The answer is: they would fight back.

Bill Clinton would turn the tables on his accusers, claiming to be the victim of an unfair and highly partisan attack.

And Larry Craig is certainly in an excellent position to make the same claim. It was no accident that the Minneapolis June arrest report reached the desk of Roll Call on August 27th. Senator Craig has been the victim of an organized effort at political assassination.