FLDS raid; Democratic debate

The Nightly Build...

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The Midland Front on the War on Terror

Betsy Simnacher posts a photo of an armored personnel carrier on The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog. The vehicle was used in the assault on the ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Midland, Texas.

I wonder who paid for that armored personnel carrier? Did the Midland city council fund it out of local property taxes? Or did it come out of the pork barrel grabfest of funding for homeland security after 9/11 that is supposed to keep us safe from radical Islamo-fascism? If so, it's working. There's been no sign of Osama bin Laden in Midland since.

Could this be an example of how good intentions go wrong? We seek to protect ourselves from one threat only to see our defenses turned on a different target altogether. The armored personnel carrier justified as part of our war on terror gets used against Mormon girls in gingham dresses in west Texas. It's ironic that Texans, the firmest defenders of the second amendment right to bear arms as a free citizenry's last defense against government despotism, have willingly armed the local government with an armored personnel carrier. Try defending your liberties against that.

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The Democratic Debate (aka, ABC's Ambush of Obama)

The Dallas Morning News' Sharon Grigsby says she caught only the second half of last night's Presidential debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but asks, "Where was Barack?" Grigsby's co-worker, Michael Landauer, answers:

"I only saw the last third or so of the debate, but I thought Obama looked terrible. And here's the thing, let's say the moderators were horrible and that he was beaten down by the line of questioning. Don't we know there will be days like that, situations like that, for anyone who becomes president?"

I, too, think Clinton did better in the last third of the debate. I, too, think the moderators were "horrible". I, too, think there will be days like that. So be it.

Where I differ from Landauer is that I think Obama held up fairly well despite the five-on-one attacks during the first half of the debate (two moderators, Clinton, Hannity, even a video-tape from John McCain). No, he didn't shine. But he didn't succumb to the attacks, either. Clinton won the debate, but the terms were so in her favor that Obama won't suffer from "losing" this particular exchange.