Inside the Beltway

NEWS AND OPINION:

HOPEIUM

No peace for proverbial “Peace Mom” activist Cindy Sheehan. She has taken umbrage against White House spokesman Robert Gibbs after he faulted the “professional left” and their criticisms of President Obama. The newly feisty press wrangler suggested that liberal White House critics were disturbed and could use a drug test.

“I am not a hypocrite, and any criticisms I have made of Obama are the exact same things I said when George W. Bush was president, because the same foreign policies have continued, if not worsened during the tenure of the Obama administration,” Ms. Sheehan says.

“I will put my urine up against Gibbs’ any day, and in fact, will travel to Washington to give him a fresh and warm sample. I actually think supporters of Obama should be tested for ’Hopium’ in their urine, myself,” she continues. “Since Gibbs is a liar and a jerk, I will challenge him to a pee-off.”

Uh-oh.

“I have remained consistent and ideologically pure in my activism and am highly offended that Gibbs would want to use such divisive language. Is he trying to distract us from his boss’s dismal performance on just about every issue he has faced, not to mention the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf?” Ms. Sheehan demands. “I have no drugs in my system and nothing to be ashamed of. It’s Gibbs and the Obama regime that should be ashamed.”

JUST THE NUMBERS

“An estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 were the offspring of unauthorized immigrants,” say demographer Jeffrey S. Passel and Paul Taylor, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, who analyzed Census Bureau statistics.

“Unauthorized immigrants comprise slightly more than 4 percent of the adult population of the U.S., but because they are relatively young and have high birthrates, their children make up a much larger share of both the newborn population (8 percent) and the child population (7 percent of those younger than age 18) in this country.”

The researchers continue, “Nearly four-in-five (79 percent) of the 5.1 million children younger than age 18 of unauthorized immigrants were born in this country and therefore are U.S. citizens. In total, 4 million U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrant parents resided in this country in 2009, alongside 1.1 million foreign-born children of unauthorized immigrant parents.”

THE NAKED TRUTH

“It is a little early to declare. Usually most wait until the year the seat is up,” says Verne Rupright - a Vietnam veteran, lawyer and the current mayor of Wasilla, Alaska - in the wake of Levi Johnston’s announcement that he will run for mayor of that pristine town, population 7,028. The office was once held by Mr. Johnston’s almost-mother-in-law, Sarah Palin.

Hopefully, the former Playgirl pinup and father of Bristol Palin’s toddler son knows he can’t even file his papers and nominating petition until July 18, 2011, and he’ll have to live in Wasilla - not Hollywood - until then. But gee, that should be just enough time to star in a reality TV show about the process, among other things.

“Since I am nearly old enough to be Levi’s grandfather, I think it would be wise for him to get a high school diploma and keep his clothes on,” Mr. Rupright counsels. “The voters like that.”

THANKS, GUYS

“If elected in November, Ken Buck and Linda McMahon will increase the members of the small-government constitutional caucus in the U.S. Senate,” muses Richard Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, in praise of the Republican Senate primary election winners in Colorado and Connecticut, respectively, and noting that both are “unfettered” by insider machinations on Capitol Hill.

“Republican primary voters are continuing to move the Republican Party significantly to the right. The 2011-12 Congress is likely to be the most conservative ever. Thanks to President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the conservative movement has been relaunched stronger than even in the Reagan years,” Mr. Viguerie adds.

GORE-Y DETAILS

U.S. Senate, U.S. House, the federal government, “the government as a whole,” polluters, the fossil-fuel industry, climate skeptics, reality, global warming, “professional deniers,” “biased right-wing media” and the Wall Street Journal.

(Al Gore’s list of those to blame that a climate bill is not likely to pass this year, according to “Green Hell” author Steven Milloy, who somehow managed to be privy to Mr. Gore’s private conference call with National Wildlife Federation supporters on Tuesday evening.)

POLL DU JOUR

• 57 percent of U.S. voters say President Obama’s campaign promise to repeal the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” law is “motivated more by politics than principle.”
• 55 percent are opposed to Defense Department modification of training programs to promote acceptance of openly gay persons in military educational facilities.
• 52 percent are opposed to career penalties against military personnel or chaplains who do not support gays in the military.
• 48 percent say it would be best for Congress to keep the 1993 law “as it is.”
• 67 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of active-duty military agree.
• 45 percent overall favor overturning the law.
• 65 percent of Democrats and 34 percent of military members agree.

Source: Center for Military Readiness survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted July 14-18 and released Tuesday.

• Ballyhoo and dull details to jharper@washingtontimes.com