Obama Appeals to Libertarians

From the Wall Street Journal [via David Boaz]: Barack Obama, campaigning in Wyoming, appeals to libertarians:

“Tailoring his message to the state’s antigovernment streak, Sen. Obama put new emphasis on his criticisms of the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretaps and other heightened law-enforcement activities implemented as antiterror measures. ‘You can be liberal and a libertarian, or a conservative libertarian,’ Sen. Obama told a crowd of about 1,200 at a recreation center here. But ‘there’s nothing conservative’ about President Bush’s antiterror policies. ‘There’s nothing Republican about that. Everybody should be outraged by that,’ he added.”

Boaz, a bigwig over at the ostensibly libertarian Cato Institute, qualifies his bouquet with a brickbat, claiming that Obama also said he wants to “undermine trade agreements” (i.e. NAFTA), but as the late Murray Rothbard and Paul pointed out, NAFTA isn’t “free trade,” it’s an exemplar of managed trade. As for all those “goodies from the Treasury” he says Obama wants to hand out — well, as I pointed out in my column, this morning, Obama is no Ron Paul. But, then again, Paul didn’t measure up to Boaz’s stratospheric standards, either ….

Paul’s Missed McCain Knockout?

John McCain survived the New Hampshire primary thanks to receiving the support of the bulk of Republicans opposed to the Iraq war. McCain also did much better with the antiwar voters than other GOP candidates in the crucial Florida primary.

Ron Paul, who announced he was dropping out of the race last night, never made his opposition to the Iraq War the key theme of his own campaign. (He did superbly when asked about this issue in debates or interviews, but most voters never saw the debates or interviews).

After McCain had emerged as a near-frontrunner before the Florida primary, a single 30-second ad highlighting his warmongering could have had a huge impact. Even if the Paul campaign only paid to have it broadcst a single time, it would likely have gotten picked up and frequently rebroadcast as a new story (the same tactic other candidates used).

Stressing an antiwar message probably would not have allowed Ron Paul to capture the GOP presidential nomination. But educating voters about McCain’s record could have made all the difference.

Losing the antiwar vote to McCain is like losing the chastity vote to Bill Clinton.

It is perplexing that a candidate who voted so courageously against the war in Congress would siderail this issue in his presidential campaign – and thereby possibly miss a chance to block the biggest GOP Senate warmonger from the nomination.

Taki’s Rising Star

The new, completely re-designed, and re-named Taki’s Top Drawer — now known as Taki’s Magazine — is looking real good, and reading even better. New editor Richard Spencer, is not only a great writer and a good fellow, he’s as handsome as a movie star.

He’s also turning out to be star-quality editor. You’ll see what I mean when you go check out Tom Piatek’s great piece on the uses and misuses of the “fascist” designation,  W. James Antle III on why I’m wrong on the Ron Paul third party question, and the always interesting Nikolas Gvosdev on “Kosovo, Russia, and the Last Gasps of American Unipolarity.”

And while you’re over there, check out my own recent postings on the upcoming AIPAC espionage trial, Catherine the Great’s reputation as an equestrienne, and more.

Somali Sources: US Missile Missed al Qaeda Suspect

For some reason this story has not yet made the news in the U.S.:

On Monday, March 3, the U.S. Navy fired a Tomahawk missile at a house in Somalia where they claimed an al Qaeda member, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, wanted for questioning by the FBI for involvement in the African embassy bombings in 1998, was hiding out.

CNN reported that 6 people, 3 women and 3 children, were killed and another 20 were injured. Two houses were destroyed.

Now the Daily Nation out of Nairobi, Kenya, is reporting that Nabhan was not at the site at the time of the attack:

A US missile strike against the Somali town of Dobley may have missed its target – Kenyan terror suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. …

The Tomahawk missile fired from the sea may have hit when the suspect, born in 1968 in Mombasa, had already left the location, the sources added.

But the police are not ruling out that Mr Nabhan may be among the 20 people wounded in the attack.

Mr Nabhan is a close ally of another wanted terrorist suspect Harun Fazul, and are believed to be always together.

Other sources close to Mr Nabhan said they did not believe he was killed. “I think it’s just propaganda to try and find out where he actually is,” said one source.

The current war in Somalia, a greater humanitarian catastrophe than even the crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan, was started by the United States back in December, 2006, in the name of catching 3 al Qaeda suspects.

Congress Defends Gaza Assault 404-1

Today Congress passed a resolution (HR 951) condemning Palestinian rocket attacks that include a strident defense of recent Israeli tactics in the Gaza Strip. The resolution also condemned Iran and Syria for “sponsoring terror attacks,” and demanded that Saudi Arabia publicly condemn Palestinian actions.

The resolution was originally introduced in January, but contains new language including a passage saying that that “those responsible for launching rocket attacks against Israel routinely embed their production facilities and launch sites amongst the Palestinian civilian population, utilizing them as human shields” and “the inadvertent inflicting of civilian casualties as a result of defensive military operations aimed at military targets, while deeply regrettable, is not at all morally equivalent to the deliberate targeting of civilian populations as practiced by Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups.”

Although 23 Congressman abstained or voted “present,” only one bravely voted no: Rep. Ron Paul.