Newy Gingrich stepped back into politics today when he appeared with congressional republicans who are in the fourth day of their revolt against Speaker Pelosi. Why did he do this? Is it working? Lets consider a few things.

They’re getting their message out. There are 851 articles archived today in Google. Gingrich brought in more press. Here’s the Atlanta Journal Constitution, CBS and Fox. CNN had something 2 hours ago. Nancy Pelosi, off on what she assumed would be a triumphant book tour, is having to answer questions everyday about it. Republicans have been able to make Pelosi the villan. And its clear that Gingrich has rock star status and knows the new media. His successful Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less sign up has been a huge success.

Second, it may be helping in congressional races. This from Matt Lewis about Illinois races:

Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-6) just released a poll conducted July 20-22 by Public Opinion Strategies (POS), showing him ahead of his Democratic opponent by 30 points. Roskam’s election two years ago was a squeaker.

Rep. Mark Kirk (IL-10) released a June poll shows him 21 points ahead. You can read about it here.

Roskam increased his lead by five points since April. At the same time Obama opened up an 8 point lead against John McCain.

Similarly, Kirk’s polling shows a similar willingness of voters to split tickets in his district:

“In a district that is 33 percent Republican and 35 percent Democrat, the answer to this question will be decided by ‘independents’ and ‘ticket splitters,’” the polling memo stated. “Currently, these likely Obama voters are breaking for Kirk by a 2-to-1 margin and have a significantly highly favorable opinion of Mark Kirk.”

People are finding out the Republican plan, The American Energy Act, has a focus on more than drilling. This helps rid another Dem mantra. It just contains drilling - something that Pelosi will not allow.

Gingrich’s appearance at Congress today to join revolting republicans at Congress was astonishing. He’s clearly passionate about the issue, and he’s never really left public life. But its been as a political commentator. The former speaker still wields considerable clout and sense of politics might be prompting him in such a public way. In a year that once was generally thought to post major Dem gains in the House and Senate, Gingrich might see the opportunity to help his old party by nationalizing elections in the fall as he did with Contract With America.

Look for a move in the near future to bring republican candidates to Washington to sign a pledge to support the American Energy Act.

Cool.

The Washington Post spelled out the reason why increased demonization of “Big Oil” by calling for a windfall profits taxes are wrong:

Making Exxon surrender money that is now falling into its lap would not necessarily affect its longer-term plans or incentives. Indeed, some of Big Oil’s “windfall” already will go to the government: The more profit the companies earn, the more corporate income tax they pay. But to add a five-year tax increase on top of that to pay for a one-year gift to voters would, indeed, increase the cost of doing business. That cost would be passed along in forgone investment in new production, lower dividends for pension funds and other shareholders, and higher prices at the pump — thus socking it to the consumers whom the plan is supposed to help. If oil prices fall, there might be no windfall profits to tax. Then the Obama rebate would have to be paid for through spending cuts, taxes on something else or borrowing.

The Post does a wonderful job of telling its readers why increasing taxes on oil companies will backfire on everyone. Dems continued use of “Big Oil” as a demonizing mantra is archaic. The Post editorial writers seemed to even mock its use.

So the Dems are attempting to demonize their way out of this with a an outdated populist message that is falling on more deaf ears all the time. Speaker Pelosi’s line in the sand on drilling continues to be a drag on Dem credibility on energy as Republican’s in Congress stayed in Washington to grandstand in a way thats kept the issue burning. They’ve lost a reliable ally in the Post, too.

Michelle demonstrates why she’s hated so much by the left this morning. But the Speaker is standing in the way of both the health of the American economy and its security. Here’s some of her take:

With congressional approval ratings at an all-time low and the Democratic Congress under fire for taking a five-week vacation instead of working on energy policy, perhaps this wasn’t the best time to send Nancy Pelosi jetting from coast to coast to tell our daughters how to save the planet, manage our households and run our government.

From NY SportsDay:

It’s with a heavy heart that I mention the passing of Shore Line Times executive sports editor Hal Levy–who died last week of liver cancer at the age of 61. Few journalists have supported/promoted high school sports in CT like Levy did; his numerous awards–too many to mention in this medium–were evidence of a man who was highly respected by his peers. I’ll truly miss seeing Hal at the many sporting venues throughout the state, and our monthly Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance luncheons won’t be the same without Mr. Levy gracing the table. He’ll be remembered for his high level of devotion to CT sports and the seriousness with which he tackled his craft. You’ll surely be missed, Hal……….TRIVIA QUESTION: Over the last 20 years, FOUR different members of the Boston Red Sox have led the American League in doubles. Can you name these four players? Answer to follow……….Nice to see former UCONN basketball player Kevin Ollie honored by the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce last week–a journeyman who’s played with TEN different NBA teams. While speaking to the audience, Ollie truly relayed how difficult a journey it’s been for him–from his struggling days in the CBA to having to move his family all around the country these past few years. He summed up his perseverance perfectly by offering this: “My ship NEVER came in. In fact, I had to SWIM to the ship.”……….The other day, I saw a picture of my favorite Red Sox fan, Christie Brinkley, after she bought a pretzel from a street vendor in NYC. I immediately thought that, hey, the newly-single beauty may be a cheap date–you know, maybe a movie and a pretzel afterwards. However, I then gazed at the watch on her left wrist–which probably costs more than my car, my laptop, and my entire wardrobe COMBINED……….This week in sports history, August 4, 1985: On the same day, 40-year-old Tom Seaver of the White Sox and 39-year-old Rod Carew of the Angels reach career milestones–Seaver earning his 300th victory while Carew garners his 3,000th career hit. Seaver beat the Yankees 4-1 in New York to become the 17th pitcher to join the 300-win club. Carew became the 16th member of the 3,000-hit club when he singled off the Twins’ Frank Viola in a game played at Anaheim Stadium……….Mets P Mike Pelfrey recently told the New York Post that his three preferred dinner guests would be Roger Clemens, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods. I’m not sure who picks up the check, but my guess is that Clemens lies and says he left his wallet back in his hotel room……….Can you imagine if LPGA golfer Young Kim married political commentator Al Franken, divorced, then married former major league infielder Bill Stein? Fans of old Mel Brooks movies would then surely delight in her full married name of Young Franken Stein……….Great line by WFAN’s Mike Francesa last week while discussing the aforementioned Tom Seaver’s absence from the recent All-Star festivities in NYC–possibly due to “Tom Terrific” being too busy with his winemaking business in California: “Are you gonna tell me that he couldn’t get someone to look after the GRAPES for a week?”……….How ’bout the pitching line on Royals hurler Jimmy Gobble, who recently pitched ONE inning vs. Detroit–giving up seven hits, four walks, and TEN earned runs while throwing a ridiculous 45 pitches? I haven’t seen a performance THAT bad since I witnessed Carl Lewis butchering the National Anthem at a Nets-Bulls game back in the 90’s……….Answer to trivia question: WADE BOGGS (1988 and ‘89), JODY REED (1990), JOHN VALENTIN (1997), and NOMAR GARCIAPARRA (2002)……….Happy birthday wishes go out to former big league pitcher Dave Rozema–who blows out 52 candles on August 5th. The Michigan native made a huge splash as a rookie with the Tigers in 1977–going 15-7 while walking just 1.4 batters per nine innings–the best mark in the AL. However, he never matched his early-on success as he won just 60 games in a 10-year career spent with Detroit and Texas between ‘77 and ‘86. The brother-in-law of Kirk Gibson, Rozema threw seven shutouts and 36 complete games as a member of the Tigers; best wishes, Dave………. Finally, condolences go out to the family of former major league catcher/coach Dave Ricketts–who passed away recently after a battle with cancer; he died a day after his 73rd birthday. Ricketts was a reserve catcher who played for the Cardinals in 1963, ‘65 and ‘67-69; he also caught one season for the Pirates in 1970. He later became a coach with Pittsburgh and St. Louis and also spent time as a minor league instructor. From a good athletic family, Ricketts teamed with his older brother, Dick, to play basketball for Duquesne University in the 1950’s; Dick went on to play three years in the NBA and one in the big leagues–also with the Cardinals. Those who knew Dave Ricketts often talked about his passion for life and his terrific teaching ability; may he rest in peace.

Randy Niemann (an old drinking buddy who like me knows where the bodies are buried) and PT Chris Correnti reported on Garcia. Talk about lightening in a bottle. If Niemann says he can he can go, get him in there.

At any rate, I’ve told Mets folks - not that my opinion matters - that Niemann is a manager and needs to be given a job doing that one day. I can hear him cursing me, but I’m holding my position. Niemo, youre a leader. Do it.

Shrewd:

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement in response to an article in today’s Politico that suggests Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has secretly signaled to rank-and-file House Democratic lawmakers that they should feel free to portray themselves publicly as pro-drilling if it helps them politically:
“My message to Democratic lawmakers is this: if you’re really for increased American energy production, then prove it by putting it in writing. Sign the discharge petitions House Republicans are circulating that will force votes on energy legislation Speaker Pelosi refuses to bring to the floor. And sign onto the American Energy Act, our ‘all of the above’ plan to increase conservation, innovation, and American energy production, instead of doing the Speaker’s bidding by voting against bringing it to a vote. If you aren’t willing to put it in writing, you’re fooling no one. You’re siding with the Speaker of the Drill-Nothing Congress and radical special interests that favor higher gas prices, at the expense of energy-strapped American families.”
“This cynical strategy is disgustingly dishonest. Without any real solutions to help Americans who are struggling with record-high gas prices, it appears the Democratic leadership has hit on a new plan: deceive. Deceive the press, deceive its members, and deceive the American people. Democratic members have a ‘pass’ from their leaders to talk about drilling at home, while the liberal Democratic leadership – which is beholden to special interests that want higher gas prices – plays ‘rope-a-dope’ back in Washington, ensuring there is no vote to help the American people before November. It’s cynical, dishonest, and wrong – and it won’t work.”

Allahpundit in HotAir responds swiftly:

I honestly don’t see what Pelosi has to lose by letting a vote come to the floor — or rather, I don’t see how she loses more by letting the vote happen now than by suppressing all attempts and letting the GOP bludgeon the Democrats with this issue all the way to November. If they agree to expand drilling, they can always undo it (at least in part) next year by sneaking the rollback into a more comprehensive energy package. The GOP will scream but the election will be long over and Obama, assuming he wins, will be enjoying a honeymoon period which the Dems can use to blunt Republican criticism. Making a stand now, when this is really the only weapon conservatives have to wield against them, seems stupid, unless the Dems expect the price of oil will drop sufficiently by next year that public pressure for drilling will dissipate and they won’t have to act at all. I’ll leave it to economists to determine whether that’s a reasonable expectation or not, but there are extraordinary yet plausible reasons to believe the price might actually skyrocket. In which case, I guess Pelosi figures they’ll jump off that bridge when they come to i

H/T Lucianne.

- Texas defied the World Court and executed a Mexican national by lethal injection on Tuesday over the objections of the international judicial body and neighboring Mexico.

Jose Medellin, 33, was pronounced dead at 9:57 p.m. CDT in the state’s death chamber in Huntsville, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.

He had been condemned for the 1993 rape and murder of 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena in Houston and lost his bid late Tuesday for a last-minute stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The World Court last month ordered the U.S. government to “take all measures necessary” to halt the upcoming executions of five Mexicans including Medellin’s on the grounds that they had been deprived of their right to consular services after their arrests.

Medellin’s execution is sure to anger neighboring Mexico and analysts have said it could make life rough for Americans arrested abroad if other countries decide to evoke the U.S. example and deprive them of their right to consular services.

This typically means diplomats will visit and provide legal advice to their nationals being held by authorities.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had recommended that the state’s Republican governor Rick Perry not grant a temporary reprieve, paving the way for Medellin’s execution.

Texas, which executes far more convicts than any other U.S. state, had taken the view that the brutal nature of Medellin’s crimes rendered him unfit for a reprieve or lesser sentence.

The World Court’s jurisdiction also does not reach Texas, a state where authorities generally don’t like outsiders telling them what to do.

The political fall-out from the Medellin and related cases has reached the White House and the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. President George W. Bush directed his native Texas to comply with a World Court ruling in 2004 mandating review of the cases of Medellin and other Mexicans in U.S. prisons awaiting execution. The U.S. Supreme Court said in March Bush’s action had exceeded his authority.

The government of Mexico sent the U.S. State Department a diplomatic note of protest, expressing “its concern for the precedent” that the case “may create for the rights of Mexican nationals who may be detained in that country.”

CHILLING CRIME

The June 1993 crime for which Medellin was condemned was chilling. According to the Texas Attorney General’s office, Pena and her 14-year-old companion, Jennifer Ertman, were walking home when they encountered a gang initiation.

Medellin and his fellow gang members sexually assaulted, beat and strangled the two girls. When their badly decomposed bodies were finally recovered, they could only be identified by dental records. Medellin was only convicted of Pena’s murder.

Speaking to Reuters in the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, Medellin’s aunt Reyna Armendariz, 45, said:

“He was a normal, happy kid … They don’t have the right to take his life away, we acknowledged that he committed a crime but make him pay with a life sentence,” she said.

In his last statement Medellin said: “I am sorry my actions caused pain.” He had no last meal request, which is a ritual of U.S. executions.

Medellin was the fifth inmate executed in Texas so far this year and the 410th put to death since 1982, when the state resumed executions six years after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment.

Texas currently has 14 more executions scheduled for this year and one early in 2009.

Seventeen executions have now been carried out in the United States since the Supreme Court in April lifted an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty when it rejected a challenge to the three-drug cocktail used in most lethal injections.

Bob Myer writes from the great state of Texas in The Mind of FlapJack. Here is what he shares on the Pelosi/Reid lie they are purpetuating on the American people about their own ecomomic suvival:

But crises are only of political value when something can be made from them, when they deliver a product to someone. In an election year, the beneficiaries of crises are easy to detect: those who hope to gain or maintain office through manipulation of real or imagined crises. I realize that the previous statement is a bit circular. Let me provide an example.

Speaker Pelosi has stated that her goal is to save the planet from destruction due to our dependence on oil. She has to date given no specific solutions for this crisis, which is shocking, seeing as the planet may be destroyed without a solution. Reasonable thought indicates that her refusal (and the refusal of her Senatorial cohort, Sen. Reid) to allow any debate or vote on off-shore drilling is really a sandbag tactic. Her hope is that the 111th Congress will coincide with a Democrat in the White House. The end goal is the power to push her agenda. The means to this end is perpetuating the oil crunch until November (and shifting all blame onto Republicans).

It seems quite clear to me as I sit and write, yet I feel a sort of fatigue. The constant roll of crisis on top of crisis can be overwhelming. However it is, in the end, somewhat more mental than actual (so I shan’t whine!). We would do well for ourselves to examine these “crises”, to look for their simple causes, to seek out reasonable short term solutions, and to plan ahead for the long term. But we must also look for those who would manipulate “crises” – indeed, manufacture them – for personal gain. Speaker Pelosi is the poster girl for the self-perpetuated and self-serving crisis.

Rock on for American families, Bob. Continue to say no to the Environmentalsit Left that funds Reid and Pelosi’s campaigns

That poor kid. But we won and Hielman came out to greet his mates after they picked him up. Great job by Mike Pelfrey to get into a jam and get out with a double play in the seventh. Jose Feliciano did great getting two lefties in Giles and Gonzalez before turning it over to Joe Smith. Save poor Heilman’s long ball the pen performed remarkably. Kuntz would have been there in the event Schoenweis faltered. Kuntz needs to see Gonzalez, Giles and/or Gerut tomorrow to see just how heavy that sinker is.

Two big doubles by the LF platoon of Evans and Murphy were very big. The club needed some extra base hits and the two delivered. Good night for the rookies as they contributed late with well struck extra base hits that helped produce runs. It looks like they can hit big league pitching. If the miracle of Fernando Tatis keeps on giving like it did tonight, we can be ok. Its only seven weeks.

If Kunz can get a save opportunity and deliver it could make dreams come true.

Manuel got Pelfrey to get own jam in the seventh signaling that starters will going further. Mex has been calling for this and I agree. You have some starters who can in Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez. The Mets can win this thing but the things that happened tonight need to keep on happening. I believe that they really can

I believe that Omar Minaya will get another player. Maybe Freddie Garcia. Maybe Livan Hernandez. One or both could enable Pedro’s move to the bullpen to shut down an inning and even get the last three. Pedro wants to come back and his effectiveness in this role can help.