Totten in Tbilisi

Michael Totten has filed a Report from Tbilisi at City Journal.

Senator John McCain may have overstated things a bit when, shortly after the war started, he said, “We are all Georgians now.” But apparently even rank-and-file Russian soldiers view the Georgians and Americans as allies. Likewise, these simple Georgian country women seem to understand who their friends and enemies are. “I am very thankful to the West,” Maya said as her eyes welled up with tears. “They support us so much. We thought we were alone. I am so thankful for the support we have from the United States and from the West. The support is very important for us.” She tried hard to maintain her dignity and not cry in front of me, a foreign reporter in fresh clothes and carrying an expensive camera. “The West saved the capital. They were moving to Tbilisi. There was one night that was very dangerous. The Russian tanks were very close to the capital. I don’t know what happened, but they moved the tanks back.” And my translator, whose husband works for Georgia’s ministry of foreign affairs, made a similar guess that the West helped save the capital. “The night they came close to Tbilisi,” she said, “Bush and McCain made their strongest speeches yet. The Russians seemed to back down. Bush and McCain have been very good for us.”

(Hat Tip:Charles the Fraud)

New Anti-Obama Ad Targets Ayers Relationship

You know the Obama campaign will try to call this one a “smear,” but every assertion in it is factual.

(Hat tip:Charles the jerk)

ABC: McCain Backing Away from Abortion Pledge

ABC News says John McCain is backing away from a pledge to moderate the GOP’s platform position on abortion, as extreme social conservatives rattle their sabres.

McCain is on record stating that he’d like the platform to include exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother, and the social cons are vehemently opposed.

“There’s a process in place for the delegates to work on the platform and we are going to let that process work itself out,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told ABC News. …

“If he were to change the party platform,” to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life, “I think that would be political suicide,” Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, told ABC News in May. “I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble.”

While leaving the platform untouched would please many in the GOP’s socially conservative base, it could alienate some of the more moderate voters that McCain is hoping to attract.

“If he doesn’t change the platform, then he’s being the same kind of hypocrite that he accused Bush of being in 2000,” Jennifer Blei Stockman, the co-chairwoman of Republican Majority for Choice, told ABC News in May. “Many people think of him as a moderate,” she added. “But when it comes out that he doesn’t want to change this extreme, right-wing Republican platform, the word ‘moderate’ is going to disappear from any description of McCain.”

(Hat tip: Our #1 Researcher Charles!)

Obama: We’re Not Setting a Good Example for Russia

Barack Obama’s naïve, almost schoolyard-level attitude toward international politics is on display again today, as he says the US needs to set a better example for Russia: Obama: Russia, U.S. should not ‘charge into’ other countries.

“We’ve got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies,” Obama told a crowd of supporters in Virginia. “They can’t charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.”

This is normal “progressive” thinking, and you find these bizarre assumptions everywhere in leftist circles: if we just achieve some noble ideal of behavior, that alone will be enough to usher in a new era of peace and global good will — and in the meantime, it’s important to let our adversaries know that we’re not perfect and we understand their feelings.

But not even Jimmy Carter was this starry-eyed.

Also see:
Hot Air – Obama: We should probably stop setting examples for Russian aggression

(Hat tip: Charles the wannabe Neocon)

RoP Kills 59 in Pakistan

Suicide bombers struck at a weapons complex in Pakistan that some think may be engaged in nuclear weapons development: Suicide bombing at Pakistan arms complex kills 59.

WAH, Pakistan – Twin Taliban suicide bombings at Pakistan’s largest weapons complex killed at least 59 people Thursday, heightening the turmoil following Pervez Musharraf’s ouster as president.

The bombers struck two different gates of the government weapons complex just as workers were leaving. The complex, comprising 12 factories, is located in Wah, a garrison city 20 miles west of the capital, Islamabad.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the perimeter is guarded by a dedicated paramilitary force. Experts have suggested that facilities related to Pakistan’s secretive nuclear weapons program are located in the Wah area, possibly including a uranium enrichment plant. Abbas insisted the complex attacked on Thursday was producing only conventional weapons.

And just to make things even more interesting, the Islamist ruling coalition that drove Pervez Musharraf out of power is now collapsing.

The ruling coalition, made up of traditional rivals who were united primarily in their determination to force Musharraf from office, meanwhile appeared to be veering toward collapse. The two main parties have been unable to bridge key differences such as whether judges fired by Musharraf should be quickly reinstated and who should succeed him as president.

Pakistanis have urged the civilian government to stop bickering and turn quickly to tackling the country’s problems from an economic downturn to extremist violence in the volatile northwest, where fighting between security forces and Islamic militants has escalated in recent weeks.

(Hat tip:Charles the washed up musician)

Giuliani to Give Keynote at GOP Convention

Featured keynote speaker at the Republican Convention: Rudy Giuliani.

Former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani will be the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday, September 1st. His Tuesday night address will follow primetime speeches from Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who are seen as two of the most likely candidates to become John McCain’s running mate, were not granted primetime speaking slots. Romney is currently slated to speak on Wednesday, Sept 3rd, while Pawlenty is scheduled to join Charlie Crist, Sam Brownback and Mel Martinez to address the convention on Thursday, Sept. 4th, before McCain’s convention-closing address.(The schedule could change.)

Whomever McCain selects as his running mate will give an address in primetime on Wednesday, along with Cindy McCain and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindel.

Former Democrat Joe Lieberman and Vice President Dick Cheney will speak on the convention’s first day. They will be followed in primetime by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.

(Hat tip: The Stalinist@LGF)