OK, after ground operations successfully ousted Saddam Hussein from power, President Bush visited an American aircraft carrier and delivered a speech with a banner behind him that read, “Mission Accomplished.” And indeed, the mission to depose the Butcher of Baghdad WAS accomplished. So the banner was accurate.

But that didn’t stop the media and those suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome from mocking the banner and the president.

Fast forward to 2010.

The president now is one Barack Obama….whose middle name we’ll leave out of this item….who famously declared last week the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq, though without using the exact words “mission accomplished.” Then, just one week later, “an Iraqi soldier sprayed gunfire at U.S. troops guarding a U.S. commander as he visited an Iraqi military base and killed two of them.”

And with the exception of Steven Colbert last night, where is the media’s mocking of Obama’s claim that combat operations are over?

Why is it OK for the President of the United States to go into the home state of the Republican leader of the United States House of Representatives and attack him, but the Republican leader of the United States Senate won’t come to Nevada to campaign on behalf of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle just because she’s running against the Democrat leader of the United States Senate?

Here’s another riddle-me-this: Why is it OK for Muslims to decapitate people in the name of Islam but it’s not OK to burn a Koran in the name of Christianity?

BTW, the headline over a new column by Clarence Page in the Las Vegas Sun today reads: “Terrorists are our enemies, not Muslims.” Problem is, most of the terrorists are Muslims. So how do you square that circle?

The new head of government-owned General Motors, Daniel Akerson, told employees in a webcast this week “that the automaker needs to make cars and trucks that are better than those of competitors such as BMW.” To which free-market capitalists everywhere responded, “Duh!”

First, let me wish everyone who miraculously still has a job a happy Labor Day.

Secondly, let me remind those of you who do not have a job that it’s Harry Reid’s fault.

Thirdly, allow me to point out that labor unions suck; they don’t create jobs, they kill them.

The latest Rasmussen Poll, released Fridday, shows Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle tied with Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at 45-45 percent. This is the fifth straight poll showing Angle within the margin of error….which assures her fundraising spigot will remain open.

The longer it goes without Reid pulling away, the better Angle’s chances in November. And the deluge of anti-Angle negative ads during the dog days of summer may have diluted the Reid campaign’s ability to shock people into fearing Angle later this fall. People will reach a point of info-overload and start tuning out.

I’ve been a skeptic of Angle’s chances since she won the nomination back on June 8. I’m starting to become a believer.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that “U.S. employers cut 54,000 jobs in August” and that the “unemployment rate….edged up to 9.6% from 9.5% as more job seekers entered the labor force.”

Yep, that Obama-Reid-Pelosi “stimulus” thingy is working like a charm, ain’t it? Seems the only thing their billions and trillions of debt have stimulated is more people out of work. Remember in November.

Pinal County (Ariz.)Sheriff Paul Babeu said requests by Arizona law enforcement personnel and elected official for 3,000 National Guard troops to be deployed along the border have been answered with just 1 percent of that number: “We have a whopping 30 [National Guard troops] this week that are showing up,” Babeu told CNSNews.com.

I’m betting Obama’s Justice Department has more than 30 lawyers just working on that lawsuit it filed against Arizona.

CNS News also reports that Christina Romer, the departing chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, said the “only surefire ways” to boost the economy are for “the government to spend more and tax less.”

What an idiot. And some wonder why this country is in the shape it’s in today under what passes for Democratic leadership?

In an interview with Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform counsels Republicans to focus on spending, spending, and spending….and not get distracted by “shiny things” – side issues such as Arizona’s immigration law, the Ground Zero mosque and rehabilitating George W. Bush’s reputation.

Sounds like good advice. It’s the spending, stupid.

If, as opponents are now saying, birthright citizenship is a teensy-tiny, miniscule occurrence, then why not just end it since so few people would be affected?

Then again, the AP is reporting today that 340,000 babies were born to illegal aliens in the year 2008 alone. That doesn’t sound like a teensy-tiny miniscule occurrence to me.

Rep. Mike Castle (RINO-Delaware) is the most liberal Republican in the United States House of Representatives who is now running to permanently fill Vice President Joe Biden’s old U.S. Senate seat. And when he got into the race, conventional wisdom held he would easily defeat the Democrat candidate – thus adding another member to the northeast GOP Turncoat Caucus featuring the likes of Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and, alas, all too often, Scott Brown.

Not so fast.

Castle still has to win his primary coming up in less than two weeks….and his opponent, conservative activist Christine O’Donnell, has just gotten the Good Housekeeping seal of approval from the Tea Party Express (along with a commitment of some $250,000 in support!). Combined with the fact that there are only expected to be about 25,000 primary voters and hot off the heels of a major tea party-backed win over another establishment candidate in Alaska last week….don’t be surprised to see yet another stunning upset.

By the way, one knock against nominating conservative candidates in GOP primaries over the years has been that they can’t win in the general election against the Democrat. And that argument has held sway over many a practical Republican primary voter. But don’t bet on that argument holding sway over many tea party voters. They don’t care. In their minds, a bad Republican is just as bad as a bad Democrat.

They have a point.

The Asian Journal reports that Nevada Republican Sen. John “Pants on the Ground” Ensign told the audience at a forum in Korea Town in Las Vegas last week that “A cut in taxes and a decrease in government regulation will result in a quick recovery in the nation financial system and the economy of Nevada.” He added that “Cutting taxes, decreasing regulation, and decreasing litigation will see the economy recover on its own.”

How, oh how, could Nevada ever afford to lose having such a deep-thinker represent us in Washington? I’m fairly certain that no other Republican in the Silver State, especially one not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, could possibly state the obvious and articulate the fiscal conservative message as well as Sen. Ensign.

(Yes, kids, that was Grade-A sarcasm)

The Hill reports today that “a recent Obama administration rule would expand medical benefits for Vietnam veterans and cost $42 billion over the next decade. The rule calls for disability awards for veterans exposed to Agent Orange and suffering from heart disease.”

OK, fine. Now enter former Sen. Alan Simpson, a member of the White House’s “Fiscal Commission,” who suggested yesterday that America’s veterans were adding to the country’s debt problem. “The irony [is] that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess.”

Them’s fightin’ words….and a left-leaning veterans organization, VoteVets.org, has called for President Obama to fire Simpson. And we heartily agree. Simpson is a Republican, but he’s a liberal Republican who thinks we need to raise taxes in order to pay down the debt.

In the immortal words of the Queen of Hearts: “Off with his head!”

“The Murkowski dynasty came to an end in Alaska (Tuesday) night as Senator Lisa Murkowski conceded she had lost her GOP primary” to Joe Miller, reports John Fund of Political Diary. But it’s what possibly drove the final nail into the coffin that constitutional conservatives should be absolutely thrilled about.

“In their only debate last week,” Mr. Fund writes. “Mr. Miller pounded home his view that Senator Murkowski had voted for bills that lacked any Constitutional justification. She lamely responded that it would be a far different country if she only voted for things explicitly authorized by the Constitution.”

Hoo-hah!!! If the notion that Congress should only pass legislation that is constitutionally permissible has taken hold in a state that is bathed in federal pork, imagine what that could portend for the rest of the nation. Why, a true Second American Revolution might truly be under way without a single shot being fired.

We can only hope.

Popping skank-ho Paris Hilton’s boyfriend for driving under the influence in Las Vegas – whether it was booze or pot – is one thing; but to bust the 29-year-old has-been heiress simply for possession of a small amount of blow, whether it was hers or not, is the latest example of the absurdity of our ongoing war on drugs. How much is this court trial/circus going to cost the taxpayers of Nevada?

In response to our robo-calls to Elko County Commissioner and GOP assembly candidate John Ellison yesterday, the guy is having a veritable cow. He called a local reporter and is threatening to sue us for daring to make it easy for people to contact him and ask about his position on Minority Leader Pete “Tax-My-Meat” Goicoechea’s grocery tax.

I’ve also heard he’s contacted the police, the FBI, the CIA, the FDA, the FCC, the FEC, the IRS, Homeland Security, the Consumer Protection Agency, Hawaii Five-O and Scotland Yard to file a complaint. Reportedly the guy is throwing a hissy fit because our calls yesterday allegedly shut his business down and cost him money.

And just how many calls from voters of his district was this public official “flooded” with? Well, according to the reporter who contacted me following up on Mr. Ellison’s ranting and raving….

Eight.

Eight short calls from concerned voters he wants to vote for him….and this guy has his tights in a twist? And he wants to go to Carson City? Talk about not ready for prime time.