Moose Blarney [Mark Steyn]
Our pal Jay Nordlinger was on Irish radio yesterday, and several callers objected to Sarah Palin on the following grounds:
The woman shoots moose, as did Teddy Roosevelt, a long time ago. Only in TR’s day, there were many more moose — Sarah endangers a species.
Absolutely backwards, but an interesting example of how the progressive mind prefers to obsess on entirely fictional crises. There were far fewer moose in Teddy's day. Today there are more moose than a century ago, in Alaska, Canada, New England. In New Hampshire in the mid-19th century there were fewer than 15 in the whole state. Now NH sees more than 250 killed every year just in highway collisions - before Sarah even has a chance to load. We are awash in moose. We have a moose surplus.
And as you'd expect me to add, being NR's in-house demography bore, on present population trends the Italians, Germans and Spaniards will be extinct long before the moose. But no Irish radio listeners seem to be worried about them.
(I wonder if there's a Bog Trotters 4 Bog Trotters* lobby group over there.)
(*Don't bother with the "Racist!" emails. I'm Irish.)
O'Bama Watch [Mark Steyn]
Re the moose blarney, several readers from the Emerald Isle have weighed in:
I'm a political consultant based here in Ireland, and I can tell you that this country is absolutely brainwashed. I don't think Americans have any idea how much the European media is in the tank for Obama, and nor do I think they realise how much this has to do with a rancid anti-Americanism that pervades all Mainstream coverage of international affairs in Europe.
I had high hopes at one stage that John McCain might get a fair shake here in Ireland - he's visited a few times, and been well received - but once he got the nomination, and once he nominated Palin, our media started to paint him as satan. When Obama says he'll "restore America's reputation" what it really means is that people who hate America will be delighted by his election. Why so many Americans don't see it that way astounds me.
And on an etymological note:
As an Irishman myself I can tell you that the word "moose" over here is a colloquialism generally used to refer to women who are not particularly gifted in the beauty department. On that basis the moose population of Ireland is thriving......
In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so ...moosey?
RF,
So, I would gather that with the elevation of Gov. Sarah Palin to the office of the VPOTUS we are successfully widening our strategic advantage by choosing a leader from Alaska.
In other words we are bringing down a new “Cold War” from Alaska. The liberals are screaming bloody murder because, Mrs.Palin threatens to end “world pizza” by expanding “The Moosile Gap”
DrMike