SURPRISE: NO OCTOBER SURPRISE

October Surprise Turns Out To Be No Surprise

Left: Philip J. Berg

U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick had denied Berg's request for a temporary restraining order on Aug. 22, 2008, but had not ruled on the merits of the suit until yesterday.

Obama and the Democratic National Committee had asked Surrick to dismiss Berg's complaint in a court filing on Sept. 24, 2008.

They said that Berg's claims were "ridiculous" and "patently false," that Berg had "no standing" to challenge the qualifications of a candidate for president because he had not shown the requisite harm to himself. Judge Surrick agreed.

In a 34-page memorandum and opinion, the judge said Berg's allegations of harm were "too vague and too attenuated" to confer standing on him or any other voters.

Surrick ruled that Berg's attempts to use certain laws to gain standing to pursue his claim that Obama was not a natural-born citizen were "frivolous and not worthy of discussion."

The judge also said the harm Berg alleged did "not constitute an injury in fact" and Berg's arguments to the contrary "ventured into the unreasonable."

For example, Berg had claimed that Obama's nomination deprived citizens of voting for Sen. Hillary Clinton in November. (Berg backed Clinton in the primaries.)

Berg could not be reached for comment last night.

The alien/natural-born saga ends however, the litany of other charges hurled at senator Obama may eventually, produce a winner yet. Senator Barack Obama has been able to withstand and stand up to the slander of Republican and attack dogs with more austere political views. Whether it be the socialist charge, the Ayers link, Acorn, fraudulent fund raising, etc., they have all been nullified by Obama's steadfastness. Nevertheless, if all else fails senator Joe Biden is ripe for attack. I suggest a routine rummage through Biden's political closet to pull out a few skeletons, for example the Biden Plagiarism charges of the past.

Left:Senator Joseph Biden and his wife Jill

Joseph R. Biden Jr., a U.S. senator from Delaware, was driven from the nomination battle after delivering, without attribution, passages from a speech by British Labor party leader Neil Kinnock. A barrage of subsidiary revelations by the press also contributed to Biden's withdrawal: a serious plagiarism incident involving Biden during his law school years; the senator's boastful exaggerations of his academic record at a New Hampshire campaign event; and the discovery of other quotations in Biden's speeches pilfered from past Democratic politicians.

Still, these types of wild [man]hunt accounts and recounts are the most entertaining stories in the blogosphere. I am sullen that only a week or so is left in the campaign. I don't have cable and am unable to access FOX-News. Therefore, these fishing expeditions serve as my link to Joe [Budweiser] six-pack and small town America. Please keep up the dilligent work and keep me entertained - thanks in advance for your consideration in this matter. Go get 'em boys!