Click on it to zoom.
Idea first seen at: Gateway Pundit and Jawa Report.
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Sunday, August 31, 2008
Yes, let's compare the record of Obama with that of Palin!
Who is the real reformer? Who brings real change? Review their respective careers and you quickly arrive at a single irrefutable answer.
In 2003, Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski appointed her to the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Bear in mind that Mr. Murkowski had already served as junior U.S. Senator from Alaska for 22 years. Mr. Murkowski was junior senator for so long because Senator Ted Stevens (who was recently indicted for corruption) had lifetime tenure in the senior post.Shortly [thereafter], Mrs. Palin commenced an ethics probe of the state's Republican party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, involving conflicts of interest with oil companies. The probe resulted in a $12,000 fine for the party chair.
She crossed party lines in 2004 to join a Democratic representative's ethics complaint over an international trade deal against the Republican Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who had ties to the Murkowski machine. Mr. Renkes resigned.
In late 2005, Mrs. Palin announced her run for Governor before then-Governor Murkowski had announced his intention to stand for re-election. In a three-way primary, Mrs. Palin got 51% to Mr. Murkowski's 19%. At the center of this campaign was a debate over competing proposals to build a natural gas pipeline across Alaska.
These columns wrote about Gov. Murkowski's smashing defeat by Mrs. Palin, noting that his pipeline proposal had been tainted by reports of sweetheart deals with energy companies. The editorial ended: "If Republicans are run out of Congress in November, one big reason will be that, like Mr. Murkowski, they have become far more comfortable running the government than reforming it." That is what happened, as disgusted GOP voters turned away from their own party and ceded control of Congress to the Democrats.Against the odds, Mrs. Palin won that 2006 election against the state's former Democratic governor Tony Knowles. Most recently, she promoted the effort of her GOP lieutenant governor to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young, who with Senator Stevens created the earmark that sank the GOP, the notorious "bridge to nowhere."
Experience?
...Governor Palin's credentials as an agent of reform exceed Barack Obama's. Mr. Obama rose through the Chicago Democratic machine without a peep of push-back. Alaska's politics are deeply inbred and backed by energy-industry money. Mr. Obama slid past the kind of forces that Mrs. Palin took head on. This is one reason her selection -- despite its campaign risks -- seems to have been so well received by Republicans yesterday. They are looking for a new generation of leaders.
Looking for a "tale of the tape"? Red State lines 'em up for easy comparison purposes.
Update: Not Ready '08 has the must-see video board.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Palin Reaction o' the Day
Vanderleun spotted the best Palin reaction yet.
Another of his commenters adds:
With her selection she reminds us that the American political system was set up by our founders to be run by ordinary citizens who aren't necessarily professional politicians.
Pree-cisely.
Another Obama Seal appears!
In a noteworthy attempt to suppress free speech, the Obama campaign issued an "action wire" earlier this week. It asked recipients to bombard WGN with complaints for airing an interview with Dr. Stanley Kurtz. Kurtz discussed his research into the candidate's work with unrepentant terrorist William Ayers when the pair served together on the board of Chicago's Annenberg Challenge.
In the interest of preserving history (since pages on Obama's website tend to *ahem* disappear from time to time), the following screencap represents how the "action wire" appeared earlier today.
Note the logo: a winged seal that resembles an Obamafied version of the Great Seal of the United States.
The Democratic candidate's symbolism is presumptuous at best and disturbingly ominous when one considers the effort that has been expended branding Obama "a loyal American."Linked by: Sondrak. Thanks!
Obama's Brownshirts
John Fund:
Team Obama has launched an offensive against WGN, the Chicago Tribune's radio station, for interviewing Stanley Kurtz. Mr. Kurtz is a conservative writer who this week forced the University of Illinois to finally open its records on Sen. Obama's association with William Ayers, the unrepentant 1970s Weather Underground terrorist.An Obama campaign email to supporters called Mr. Kurtz a "slimy character assassin" whose "divisive, destructive ranting" should be confronted. WGN producer Zack Christenson says the outpouring of negative calls and emails is "unprecedented." He also notes that it is curious -- because "we wanted the Obama campaign's take" on Mr. Kurtz's findings, but the campaign declined to put anyone on air.
The university released more than 1,000 files relating to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC). A cursory review of the files reveals that Obama and Ayers "attended board meetings, retreats and at least one news conference together," which contradicts Obama's statement on April 16, 2008 during a Democratic debate.
This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.
Actually, Obama and Ayers were very close. This is evidenced by not only their leadership of the CAC, but also their collaboration as directors of the Woods Fund and its numerous troubling relationships.
Working together as the heads of the Annenberg Challenge, Ayers and Obama facilitated a handout of more than $160 million in and around the Chicago school system. These funds went to groups that purportedly were going to improve student achievement.The effort failed miserably by every measure.
Kurtz began his review of the CAC's papers and was invited on Milt Rosenberg's long-running Chicago radio show to discuss his initial findings. Though Obama's campaign declined an invitation to appear on the show, it did broadcast an "Obama Action Wire" requesting that supporters phone the show and interrupt Kurtz' appearance.
The station, WGN, has made a stream of the broadcast available online, here, and it has to be heard to be believed. Obama’s robotic legions dutifully jammed the station’s phone lines and inundated the program with emails, attacking Kurtz personally. Pressed by Rosenberg to specify what inaccuracies Kurtz was guilty of, caller after caller demurred, mulishly railing that “we just want it to stop,” and that criticism of Obama was “just not what we want to hear as Americans.”
Steve Diamond, writing at the left-leaning Global Labor blog, decried the tactics:
Caller after caller to WGN read off talking points provided them by the Obama campaign alleging that Dr. Kurtz, and by implication and sometimes directly, Milt Rosenberg, was "smearing" Barack Obama and finding Obama "guilty by association." They also accused Kurtz of lying.Yet, when pressed for specifics, these callers had none.
This gang of callers and emailers reminded me of the "turbas" - the street thugs organized by the Nicaraguan Sandinistas who would be deployed on a moment's notice to harass independent trade unionists, human rights activists and government critics during the Sandinistas' rule over Nicaragua in the 1980's. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela - a favorite haunt of Bill Ayers and other "Progressives for Obama" - uses similar bodies in Caracas neighborhoods.
Ostensibly, Obama's campaign embraces post-partisan "change." Yet its use of brown-shirts to disrupt a radio program -- rather than offer a reasoned debate -- smacks of neanderthal tactics.
It is an ominous glimpse into the future should the "Fairness Doctrine" Democrats take control of government.
Related: MP3 -- Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg Unabridged - 720 WGN - 8-27-08 Stanley Kurtz, Guest.
Hat tips: Fausta, National Review. Linked by: Newsbusters and Parkway Rest Stop. Thanks!
'Jihad at Sunset'
Eagle-eyed Brian at Snapped Shot spotted this AFP advertisement for terrorism. Its helpful title? Jihad at Sunset.
He suggests another title for this masterpiece: Future IDF Target. If AFP doesn't like that one, how about Let's go kill some civilians!
The Palin Pick: Reaction from the Left
• Daily Kos: "There are quite a number of extremely troubling links between Sarah Palin and neopentecostal dominionists."
Won't you please donate $25, $10 or even $5 to help defeat the neopentecostal dominionists?
• Mudflats: "[Palin] is also sueing [sic] the federal government over listing the polar bears as a threatened species. The science was even compelling enough to convince the Secretery [sic] of the Interior that the bears needed to be listed."
The science was not compelling enough, however, to convince Mudflats to consult a book on diction.• Crooks & Liars: "She’s sorta McCain’s ultra-conservative version of Obama. She’s Change he can tout against Obama’s. Maybe not so much change Alaskans fully believe in, though - her share of the vote dropped by 7.6% in 2006."
The aptly named Crooks & Liars somehow omits the fact that Palin dropped from 90% to 82.4%... hehe!
• Crooks & Liars (reprise): "Watch out, Cindy - you know from experience your man has a wandering eye."
Classy.
• The Associated Press: "She has more experience catching fish than dealing with foreign policy or national affairs."
As opposed to the "community organizer" who spent nearly all of his short time in Washington running for President.
• New Republic: "Could Sarah Palin conceivably manage [the Presidency]? Her tenure as a small-town mayor and Alaska governor has given her no foreign policy experience whatsoever. True, Obama has little foreign policy experience either, as McCain and others have pointed out again and again. But during his time in national office he has demonstrated a clear commitment to the most pressing issues in American foreign policy."
Like supporting the "General Betray-us" gang, choosing the wrong course in Iraq and giving speeches to adoring throngs in Berlin.• Andrew Sullivan in the Atlantic: "Yes, Obama is inexperienced in foreign policy. But at least he has thought seriously about it. Do you really believe that Sarah Palin understands the distinctions between Shia and Sunni, has an opinion about the future of Pakistan, has a view of how to exploit rifts within Tehran's leadership, knows about the tricky task of securing loose nuclear weapons?"
Because over the last two years, while Barack Obama was busily running for president, he was also secretly exploiting rifts in Tehran's leadership and running a covert nuclear cleanup program.
• Ben Smith at Politico: "Barack Obama seemed to distance himself from his campaign's first, harshly critical response to the Palin pick... 'I think that...campaigns start getting these hair triggers and the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments,' he said... apparently criticizing his staff for going overboard, as he did occasionally in the primary."
Obama seems to have trouble getting good help: those pesky aides keep causing him no end of problems.
Best comment so far (Mark 5.56 on CSmonitor):
First off, anyone that thinks Sarah was chosen to capture the lost Hillary vote, please raise your hand so we can all laugh at you
We now have a GOP ticket, which has more executive experience on the bottom than the top of the DNC ticket,
Anyone wonder why she was chosen?
For starters, want to take bets that Bill Burton is looking for a job quietly in a few weeks, he left Obama high and dry on this one, they did not even have a contingency plan, left the whole team scrambling, Obama has proven that not only can he not compose a text message, but that strategy and waging campaigns are also above his pay grade. do we relay want to put someone that missed this one so badly at the table with Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
...After months of planning, millions spent, 87,000 people standing in a 2 mile long line to see Osama in a Greek temple with fireworks, a star studded cast, and on the anniversary of the inspirational “I have a dream” speech, and 16 hours later, if you do a google news search, you get a full page of “Sarah Palin” all Obama can say, with a glazed look in his eyes while stuttering was, “she is like George Bush.”
If you are pro Obama, study up on “live birth abortion” (an issue that even makes pro-choicers squeamish) because his votes on the issue are going to be right in his face before he has even shaken off this last blow, guess who is uniquely qualified to bring this one to the forefront?
Far beyond all that, what she has done is to fire up the base, I was just voting against Obama but now I am now excited about voting McCain/Palin!
Update:
• Richard Baehr: "...let Obama and his minions say she is not qualified, with no experience. She has run a state and Obama has run nothing (but he has run very hard for office)."
• Ed Lasky: "She ran a business successfully; she has run a state successfully; she can play up the energy issue and become the czar... She even has a kind of national security credibility, governing next to Russia."
Linked by: A Blog for All. Thanks!
Friday, August 29, 2008
How to Start Your Day
Papa B, responding to a moonbat via email:
I have a better idea for someone seeking answers to start their day...
Go to your closet...
Pick out your nicest suit... the navy blue pinstripe would be good.
Pick out your nicest tie (the red foulard would be good)...
Select your light blue all cotton pin-point shirt...
Your black wing-tip shoes...
And take all of these accoutrements.
Place them on your valet.
And say:
1. "Senator Obama; please tell me about everything that you have managed, run, organized and your organizational skills -- with specifics!"
(Inexplicably, the empty suit says nothing)
2. "Senator Obama, please give me examples of your good judgment (not including William Ayers, Reverend Wright, voting "present" on over 100 votes, making deals with Tony Rezko, chairing the Senate Committee on European Affairs and never calling a meeting, etc., etc.)...
(Inexplicably, the empty suit says nothing)
Since, you still have no answers to start your day... ask these same questions of Senator Biden, substituting for question #2: Senator Biden, since you have been in the Senate for 36 years and never, ever, ever, held a real job, how do you present yourself as a "man of the working-class"?
(Senator Biden will blather on for 3 days insulting everyone while gently massaging his implanted hair plugs.)
Then, go vote for McCain/Palin who have integrity, character, a work ethic, a history of accomplishment, and besides... she is hot!
No one ever said Papa B was politically correct!
Top Eight Reasons Democrats Might Win in '08
1. Ask about our "Crack-for-Votes" program!
2. $5 Rielle Hunter lap-dances during Happy Hour
3. All the benefits of Trade Unions, now for Doctors!
4. Same-day dead voter registration
5. Tax-Cut Lotto
6. Free Healthcare services at the BMV
7. $500 Tax Deduction for each bong
8. Screw Iraq, Invade Pakistan!
Economic fairness: $80 parking to see the Messiah at Invesco
$80 parking at Invesco?
What, you thought it'd be free to see the Messiah appear in his temple?The anointed one likes to talk about economic "fairness", but when it comes to the realities of making money, he's just as capitalistic as the rest of the corporate bigwigs.
Zombie's Kafka-esque report was filed last night from outside the stadium.
Linked by: The Anchoress. Thanks!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Exclusive souvenir Obama gear from Denver
I just bought this coaster for only $24. Whatcha think?
Update: Rick has his own primo souvenir!
Update II: Copious Dissent gently critiques Al Gore's speech.
Rub yourself in bacon and throw yourself in the wolf-pen
I thought the use of ActiveX had been banned in most civilized countries.
[This] Novell story is sad bad tale of You Can't Teach Some Dogs Anything At All. I quote:Secunia, which reported the bugs to Novell, counted at least eight vulnerabilities in the ActiveX control included with the Windows Vista version of the iPrint client, as well as several other flaws in another Windows Vista iPrint component...iPrint is Novell's implementation of the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), and lets users use, install and manage printers through the browser.
First of all, iPrint sounds like Apple, but it is some kind of Frankensteinian CUPS mutation. But that's a minor nit compared to using ActiveX in a printer client. Do these people feed and dress themselves competently? Is there anyone on the planet who doesn't know that ActiveX is a finely-engineered pestilence that cannot be trusted under any circumstances? ActiveX has one purpose in life: allowing the installation and execution of remote code on a Windows system via Internet Explorer.ActiveX controls have unfettered access to the entire operating system. Using ActiveX is like rubbing yourself with bacon and flinging yourself into a hyena pack. There is no safe way to use ActiveX. Why it is even necessary for a printer client? The CUPS Web interface for Linux doesn't need ActiveX and it's worked fine for years. There is one for Mac too, which also doesn't need ActiveX, and both of them work in pretty much any Web browser. You don't need the match+flame duo of ActiveX and IE. In fact smart people avoid them like the toxins that they are.
Lest anyone think I am being too mean to poor old defenseless Novell and Microsoft, I recall ActiveX security advisories almost from its inception back in 1996 or so. What has changed since then, twelve years later? Nothing, as this random recent security bulletin shows:Microsoft has released Security Advisory (955179) to describe attacks on a vulnerability in the Microsoft Office Snapshot Viewer ActiveX control. Because no fix is currently available for this vulnerability, please see the Security Advisory and US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#837785 for workarounds.
So we need to revise the popular "fool me once" saying:
Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me
Fool me thousands of times over many years...let's get married!"
Now why is it again that corporate participation is important to FOSS?
Reading between the lines: Bill Clinton's speech at the DNC
Jerry analyzes Bill Clinton's speech at the DNC.
CLINTON: Middle-class and low-income Americans are hurting, with incomes declining, job losses, poverty, and inequality rising, mortgage foreclosures and credit card debt increasing, health care coverage disappearing, and a very big spike in the cost of food, utilities, and gasoline.Obama’s solution: raise taxes and take more money from those with declining incomes and from the companies employing the middle-class and low-income Americans.
CLINTON: And our position in the world has been weakened by... a perilous dependence on imported oil...
Obama’s solution: Drill Here, Drill Now? Nope.
CLINTON: He has shown -- he has shown a clear grasp of foreign policy and national security challenges and a firm commitment to rebuild our badly strained military.
Obama’s position: "Iran doesn’t pose a serious threat" 05/18/08; He plans to universally disarm our nation.
CLINTON: Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Obama’s position: He is currently attempting to squelch free speech.
Thank you, Bill, for enlightening us.
The American Thinker's Richard Baehr: Live and In Concert
I recently attended a speech by the American Thinker's Richard Baehr on the topic of the Presidential race. First reaction: few commentators I've heard combine such an amazing political acumen with an equally incredible sense of humor. I've cleaned up the notes that were captured on-the-fly and -- hopefully -- they reflect the 90 minutes Baehr spent with a mesmerized audience.
I was in Denver Monday for a panel discussion... I invoked the mandatory three-shower rule after being in Denver.
Tonight, I'll discuss the state of race, where it's going, what's happening in the next two weeks, and then the debates. If McCain's a little ahead before the debates, it's his to lose. If he does well in the debates, it could be over.
This is very surprising because of the Democratic spending advantage. The Democrats had a huge setback with the Joe Biden pick... it is the first time in history that a VP pick didn't result in a bump... Obama actually dropped three points in the polls after Biden was named.
There are a lot of angry women in Denver... a lot of disappointed women. McCain has an opening. We're very lucky to have Obama as the candidate.
Hillary would have been much stronger in OH, WV, AR, etc.
I feel much better about the election than I have in the last six months. Every day, go to RCP site to see two polls, Gallup and Rasmussen. Three days into the Democratic convention and we're basically even.
After the DNC finishes, Obama will be up by 5 points or more, but that's expected. The GOP convention follows immediately, which is unique. The GOP should also get a VP selection that results in a bump.
The general reaction to Biden: Hillary got snubbed. And adding Biden for his "foreign policy expertise" (which is the President's call anyhow), accentuates the fact that Obama's weak on foreign policy.
Also: Biden doesn't wear well. The most dangerous place to be is between a camera and Joe Biden.
The Democratic convention's flames won't work: painting McCain as Bush is a non-starter. Everyone knows McCain has disagreed with Bush on substantive issues... "maverick" is a legitimate label. A lot of GOP folks didn't like McCain, but that's a good thing for this election. McCain has a lot of strength among independents.
There is a racial undercurrent to this election that's important to talk about. Obama's campaign has been behind this. You may have seen the Jacob Weisberg column in Slate... it's an outrageous column that argues "If Obama Loses... Racism is the only reason McCain might beat him."
But it's Obama's that keeps emphasizing, "I know I have a funny name... not a face you see on the dollar bills..." These are psychological operations trying to make you feel guilty for not being in his camp.
That's why Obama did better in caucus states. In states with a secret ballot, Hillary won 7 of 8 largest states. When you have to vote in public, no one wanted to be painted as the "racist". And lots of people aren't talking to pollsters... the number of undecideds is double those in 2004 at the same stage of the race.
The National Journal has Obama zero-rated for most liberal, Biden at three.
Why are there so many undecideds? It's likely because there's a pretty good vote lurking for McCain. People are concerned about perceptions... the media tells us we are voting for racial harmony. But that's not true, we're voting for a president.
The Electoral College... between 2000 and 2004 the red/blue maps of the states were nearly identical with only three states shifting. In each of these elections, four states were decided by 10,000 or fewer votes.
A tie in the Electoral College will be a loss for us this year, because the election then goes to the House and each state has one vote. Obama wins in the House if there is a tie.
Thus, the GOP needs 270, but the Democrats only need 269. Interestingly, you can find many combinations to get to 269.
My main concern until about a month ago was that more red states were in play, but that's changed. Some states that looked competitive are now leaning GOP: FL, NC, IN. If the Democrats had picked Bayh, IN would have been in play. Remember, Obama has never run anything, and neither has Biden (except his mouth)
The leading GOP VP choices are Pawlenty or Romney, both governors. Romney ran the Olympics, a very successful business, and a state (MA). Pawlenty helps in MN. And maybe in WI. I would guess Pawlenty... especially since the Democrats bagged their pick with Biden. The Republicans have a free pick. Romney would help in MI, NH and NV... there are a lot of Mormons in NV.
Obama's got an army trying to register voters. But people can get annoyed being harrassed. Recall that Obama outspent Hillary 3:1 in PA, but beyond a certain point people don't want to hear it.
And regarding William Ayers and Rev. Wright... Wright's coming out with a book in October... thank you, Lord. I think he's angry at Obama for being dissed after 18 years of counseling the younger man.
Which states should the GOP worry about?
IA: Only one red state in Obama camp.
NM: Obama has small lead, but McCain is a very friendly candidate for Hispanics.
NV: all Unions endorsed Obama, but Hillary won the caucus. Las Vegas and Atlanta have the two fastest growing Jewish populations.
FL: there's a significant shift in the Jewish vote (they have a high propensity to vote and because of that they represent 3% of the vote nationally and 6-7% of the vote in Florida!). In that state, the old Democrat 80 - GOP 20 shifts to 60-40 among the Jewish vote. Note that McCain is up 4-7 in FL in various surveys and Obama stopped running ads in Florida this week.
Jewish Democrats are panicked... Florida most of all... they see the Jewish vote dropping off. There is potential for a sea-change in the Jewish community. But it doesn't necessarily mean any permanent changes.
Most Jews will continue to vote Democratic until Eleanor Roosevelt dies.
CO - Tough state
VA - Voted GOP since '64, but becoming bluer. More comfortable about VA than CO. Polls a show small edge for McCain.
OH - could be a tough state for Obama; could be close, Dems will have huge push; the instant registration/vote scam could hurt, but Obama will have major issues. One Democratic insider told me that Obama is "underperforming in all areas, including the elderly." Let 'em keep dissing McCain as too old.
MI - real opportunity; it's basically a third-world state because the economy is hurting bad. There are boarded up buildings all over the place, 8.5% unemployment. Kwame has a few problems; and the Governor has lower approval rating than Bush. Also Union guys normally vote Democrat, but I'm not sure that's going to happen this year. It's 17 electoral votes, so it's big. Note that the Dem pundits are writing about how to win without OH... but if the GOP picks up MI...
On the Jewish vote, which will be critical: in 2004, it was 75%-24% for Kerry. The biggest concerns for Jews are separation of church and state, having a pro-life candidate, and being pro-Israel. Very liberal orientation.
Among Democratic Jews in Denver, the top three issues were: abortion, reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade.
But Iran is the real issue. Do you really think that Obama would allow Israel to overfly Iraq? Jews should have learned by now to take seriously the words of madmen.
Any sensible person knows that Roe vs. Wade is safe because Democrats will still control the Judiciary. You're dreaming if you think abortion rights are in danger. What is in danger is Israel.
In Illinois [Baehr is from Chicago], we have a little background on Obama. On Israel, he has an odd record...
His close friends included Rashid Khalidi (who said that suicide bombers are legitimate)... Ali Abuminah... Edward Said... Bill Ayers (unremittingly hostile to Israel - six black kids grew up without fathers because of a Weather Underground armored car robbery). Ayers' father was head of Commonwealth Edison... and he got off on basically a procedural issue.
Now Ayers is an academic and stresses less math and reading, more social justice.
Obama and Ayers served on boards together. I know one of Obama's neighbors, he got into a discussion with Obama about the Middle East before he ran for the Senate in 2004. He said he argued his case, and Obama argued his. Obama was sympathetic to the Palestinian.
Remember, Obama grew up in a Communist household, and always favors the weak over the strong. In that mindset, Israel's the strong party; the Palestinians are the weak party.
In 2004, when Israel responded to suicide bombers from West Bank with a security barrier, Obama gave a speech to tear down walls, not build them up. This year in Iowa, he said no one had suffered more from Palestinians... How about Darfur? If the Israelis are such despots, why has the Palestinian population quintupled? Not that Obama doesn't talk about Darfur.
Obama also said that being pro-Israel doesn't mean being pro-Likkud. Doesn't Israel get to choose its own party? What if Bibi Netanyahu wins the election? Why would Obama interfere? It's revealing... would a President Obama not work with Bibi?
One story and one comparison:
Iraq's a big issue. McCain said he'd rather win a war than lose an election... turns out he was right and Obama was wrong. And Joe Biden was with McCain a few years ago calling for more troops.
If we'd followed Obama's guidance, Iran and Al-Qaeda would control Iraq.
Last month there were 5 combat deaths in Iraq. There more among our troops serving in Germany and Korea.
When MoveOn.org ran that outrageous "General Betray-us" ad, over 95 senators voted to condemn it. A few abstained and Obama was one that did abstain! With Obama, politics always come higher than decency. How will Obama be able to look any serviceman or woman in the eye -- and pretend to be a commander-in-chief -- when he did that?
Conversely, McCain is respected by the military more than anyone since Ike. He has had three kids in the military and one in Iraq. His kids are the fourth family generation in the US Naval Academy.
[At this point Baehr concluded his speech to rousing applause and then took questions]
Q: The two polls that you use (Gallup/Rasmussen): are they really accurate?
A: They use very different methods... it's a very difficult year to poll. Americans' use of phones is so different. Cellphones are becoming very common... two groups are becoming cell-phone only (African-Americans and Americans under 30). There's a possibility for a bias there, so companies that do surveys are therefore changing percentages of the pool to compensate.
Q: Your evaluation of Hillary's speech vis a vis Obama?
A: I turned to MSNBC and they said it was a "Home Run"; turned to Fox and Chris Wallace said she did okay. Others thought she did the minimum she could do. She said nothing about Obama as commander-in-chief; nothing about the break-through represented by an African-American candidate... and a tepid comment about Biden. If she were in a tossup state, she'd be voting for McCain. She is much more disciplined than Bill... a much harder worker than Obama. Clearly if Obama doesn't win, she's back in 2012 and she'd tell the party "don't blow it again." If Obama loses, he'll be back too, he's a young man.
Q: Given Obama's money, how about concern around voter fraud?
A: Interesting story this week, Obama's campaign corrected a filing regarding ACORN, which has had voter fraud issues. ACORN was paid $800K for "advance work" for a few campaign events. But if you examine 1250 campaign events, you'll find the average expenditure to be $450. What the heck was the near $100K per event for ACORN events? Obama has already signalled that there will be walking-around money. But I'm more concerned about Wisconsin-type registration scams.
Linked by: American Thinker. Thanks!
Nobel Prize Loser
Amy sent this one.
There recently was a death of a 98 year old lady named Irena.
During WWII, Iliana, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.
She had an ulterior motive...She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German).
Iliana smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids).
She also had a dog in the back, that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in, and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, and arms, and beat her severely.
Iliana kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out, and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it, and reunited the family.
Most of course had been gassed.
Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes, or adopted.
Last year Iliana was up for the Nobel Peace Prize....
She LOST.
Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.
http://irenasendler.org/
And, before you ask, Snopes verified it.
Rick Moran: Obama 'a liar of the first magnitude'
The National Review:
An organization called the American Issues Project, backed by Dallas investor Harold Simmons, is running a campaign ad which highlights Obama’s troubling relationship with William Ayers. Ayers is a former member of the Weathermen terrorist organization that bombed the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, various police headquarters, and other targets in the early 1970s.
The Obama campaign’s rejoinder is three-pronged: The first shot was an Obama response ad, which fails to offer any substantive explanation of why Obama maintains ties to Ayers. Obama’s second move was to launch a heavy-handed effort to pressure television stations into rejecting the ad by promising financial retaliation against the stations and their advertisers — which effort has apparently succeeded in intimidating Fox and CNN. The capper is a desperate call for the Justice Department to muzzle political speech through the prospect of a criminal investigation — a demand that provides a disturbing sneak peak into what life would be like under an Obama Justice Department.
Michelle Malkin notes the pattern associated with the Democrats' attempt to suppress free speech (can you say 'fairness doctrine'?):
Obama’s attempt to bully TV stations airing the ad and stop scrutiny of his radical ties is part and parcel of a larger campaign to chill the free speech of conservative political activists and donors...
AIP has violated no provision of law. The donor(s) to AIP have violated no provision of law. However, if the Department of Justice decides to initiate investigations of donors to AIP and other conservative political and policy organizations, as well as the activities of citizens groups such as AIP, we will be prepared to counter such efforts with our list of targets and entities with which we disagree politically and philosophically for the Department to also investigate and prosecute.
Rick Moran:
As we wait for the press and others to go through the thousands of documents related to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge where Barack Obama served as President of the Board and terrorist William Ayers headed up the operations arm, we can say for certain that Obama is a liar of the first magnitude.
Barack Obama made it appear in public statements that he barely knew Ayers. Here is what he said at the Philadelphia debate in April about his relationship with the terrorist:This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense, George.
[But] here's what the Annenberg docs show so far:
The UIC records show that Obama and Ayers attended board meetings, retreats and at least one news conference together as the education program got under way. The two continued to attend meetings together during the 1995-2001 operation of the program, records show.
"Not someone I exchange ideas with on a regular basis?" Assuming he had private meetings with Ayers in addition to the public ones, one could easily conclude that Obama did indeed "exchange ideas with Ayers on a regular basis."
I'd like to know when the last time he talked to Ayers, the last time he saw him. Does he have a role - even an unofficial one - in the campaign?
Obama is going to have a lot of explaining to do - if he ever has a press conference.
If he has his way, though, he may not have to answer the question. The DC Examiner's op-ed asks 'Does Obama support free speech or not?':
The Obama campaign describes the [AIP] ad as “false, despicable and outrageous,” according to The Associated Press. If the ad is false, the Obama campaign should have no trouble refuting it, which would likely be sufficient to persuade stations to decline the ad. Yet we’ve seen no such refutation.
More worrisome is Obama’s claim in his letter seeking Justice Department intervention that the American Issues Project is willfully violating campaign finance laws. The reality is that the AIP appears to have satisfied all applicable federal regulations.
Any request by any political campaign that federal officials intervene to stop the airing of legitimate political opinion ought to throw up red flags to everybody who cares about protecting the First Amendment...
...Obama would do well to provide credible answers to the questions raised by the AIP ad. And he should make it unequivocally clear that he supports freedom of speech for everybody, including his critics.
Don't hold your breath. These are the same fascists who support the ill-named "Fairness Doctrine".
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
"Obama: Dangerously unprepared to be President"
John McCain's ads continue to hammer Barack Obama on his inexperience and verbal gaffes. This particular ad is called "Tiny", representing Obama's description of the threat posed by a nuclear Iran.
McCain's campaign didn't take my suggestion that they target ACORN with an ad entitled "Ask about our 'Crack-for-Votes' program!"Hat tip: Powerline
Snapped Shot identifies a new trend
Race-based produce.
These signs appeared within a few feet of each other where Brian shops in DC.Can we expect similar aisles for other groups ("Caucasian favorites!")?
What Hillary did NOT say
Lone Star Times:
Hillary Clinton began her speech to the Democratic National Convention this evening by declaring that she was a "proud"...
* Mother
* Democrat
* American
* Supporter of Barack Obama
Hmmm...
...is there any other role in Hillary’s life that most "normal" people would express pride in fulfilling that Hillary skipped?
Exit Question: Can you blame her?
Note that her pride in America comes after that of being a Democrat... and Barack Obama comes in last.
Other useful comments:
"The funny thing is she’d be a nobody without Bill. That man deserves a cigar"
"I hope she at least took the time and effort to school Michelle Obama on the duties of a First Lady:
* Pushing socialist policies
* Lying for your cheating husband
* Hiding incriminating files
* Firing White House employees and replacing them with your old cronies
* Claiming your share of the Presidency (”We are the President!”)"
"I can’t listen to her at all. Her voice loosens my fillings."
"I thought Michelle was going to explode. She tried to look happy, but the dislike was apparent."
"Michelle always has that look on her face. It looks like she bit a bitter lemon."
Hat tip: Jerry
The towering intellect that is Nancy Pelosi
Excerpt of Tom Brokaw’s interview with Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on "Meet the Press":
REP. PELOSI: You can have a transition with natural gas. That, that is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels. So, so there is a way to transition this instead of doing more of the same.
...REP. PELOSI: I'm, I'm, I'm investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.
From Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary:
Main Entry: fossil fuel
: a fuel (as coal, oil, or natural gas) formed in the earth from plant or animal remains
How is natural gas an alternative to fossil fuels when it is a fossil fuel?
When you're Nancy Pelosi, by gum!
It's comforting to think that this mental midget stands second in line to the presidency, isn't it?
Hat tip: Jerry
Jack Torry's bogus analysis: the MSM covers for Obama
Jack Torry of the Columbus-Dispatch has done his level best to obfuscate Obama's connection to William Ayers. In an analysis of the "Know enough?" 527 ad regarding the Obama-Ayers connection, Torry deliberately misleads readers.
Obama's association with Ayers was raised by ABC's George Stephanopoulos in April at the Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia. During that debate, Democrat Hillary Clinton criticized Ayers' comments and said he would be "an issue that people will be asking about."
But during that debate, Obama criticized "this kind of game, in which anybody who I know, regardless of how flimsy the relationship is . . . somehow their ideas could be attributed to me..."
Torry rates the ad a 1 out of 10 for accuracy.
Unbelievably, Torry omits any reference to the boards upon which Ayers and Obama served together.
On the board of Woods fund, for instance, they funded the group ACORN, infamous for its vote fraud crimes, and the Arab-American Action Network, founded by a PLO member named Rashid Khalidi.
Furthermore, Dan Riehl reports that the newly released Annenberg Challenge records will prove highly problematic for Obama and apologists like Jack Torry.
Continuing to follow up on what can be learned of Barack Obama's tenure as the Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), evaluations of the program during his tenure available on line demonstrate that in his only real executive test, Barack Obama was a dismal failure squandering millions of dollars on education programs which had basically no real effect. They also strongly suggest Obama's claim that un-repentant terrorist Bill Ayers is just a teacher who lived down the block is an outright lie. The structure and tone of the CAC, addressed in the documents, leave a strong impression the two men had to work together closely over a number of years...
Torry's article is pathetic; it is symptomatic of a mainstream media that has gone off the deep end.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
What Michelle Obama didn't say: "my country"
Jerry noticed an interesting pattern: in her rehearsed speeches, Ms. Obama never, ever says "my country."
For example, in her speech last night, Michelle Obama told fellow Democrats 'why I love this country':"The same conviction that drives the men and women I've met all across this country."
"The servicemen and -women who love this country so much, they leave those they love most to defend it..."
"And you see, that is why I love this country."
"I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much."
"...fighting to ensure the men and women who serve this country are welcomed home..."
"...how this time, in this great country..."
Consider these excerpts of Michelle Obama's speech at a Women for Obama Luncheon in 2007:
"...I’ve had an opportunity to take a few trips around the country..."
"...He sees it in the eyes of women he meets throughout the country..."
"...We can be a part of changing the way women are viewed in this country..."
"...I want that for your daughters. I want that for this country..."
"...I need you to get people to write... checks... to build a movement that is going to change this country..."
Or these lines from a depressing stump speech in My 2008:
...and had contacts throughout the country.
...the sad irony is that that’s exactly what’s happening to most Americans in this country.
...And like every single child in this room, in this country...
...in 2008, with all the struggle that we’ve had, in this country...
...See, and the beauty of this country is that most Americans are like my father...
...There are millions of them all over this country...
...No Child Left Behind is not doing what it needs to do for children in this country.
They exist all over this country.
...the only person in this race who I believe has a chance of uniting this country...
...for all these kids around the country...
To be fair, I did find one instance where Ms. Obama called the U.S. "my country":
"People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics, and ... for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."
It's depressing, that. It truly is.
Pure Economics
A president's pension currently is $191,300 per year, until he is 80 years old.
Assuming the next president lives to age 80. Sen. McCain would receive ZERO pension as he would reach 80 at the end of two terms as president.
Sen. Obama would be retired for 26 years after two terms and would receive $4,973,800 in pension.
Therefore it would certainly make economic sense to elect McCain in November.
How's that for non-partisan thinking?
Sent by: Jerry. Thanks!
Update: Snopes calls bull on this piece, so I'm going to have to throw Jerry under the bus!
Did you hear that thump?
Obama responds to McCain's Ayers ad, features his friend the terrorist
Oh, goodie, Obama's handlers have decided to continue the publicity around his relationship with unrepentant terrorist and communist Bill Ayers.
The gist of Obama's message:
He once denounced Ayers, whose crimes were committed when Obama was only eight.
Fact: Ayers was a well-known communist crackpot whose views were widely known. On September 11, 2001, Ayers stated that he was proud of bombing the Pentagon, saying "We didn't do enough."
Fact: Obama had no problem serving with Ayers on the boards of both the Annenberg Challenge and The Woods Fund.
Fact: These boards dispensed funds to groups like ACORN, a group with a sordid record of vote fraud including paying for votes with crack cocaine.
And the Arab American Action Network, founded by Rashid Khalidi, a member of the terrorist group PLO.
By all means. Senator Obama, let's explore the troubling relationship between you and Bill Ayers. After all, it's about judgment, isn't it?
Welcome to Denver!
Gateway Pundit reports that the National Black Republican Association orchestrated quite a greeting for Barack Obama in Denver:
Fifty billboards scattered throughout the city along with a red carpet.
Forty-five years ago, on August 28, 1963, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a Republican and embraced the traditional values that made this country great delivered his inspirational civil rights "I Have a Dream" speech.
Today, Senator Barack Obama, with the most liberal voting record in the US Senate, is delivering his political acceptance speech, in an apparent attempt to assume for himself the mantle of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Dr. King did not embrace the type of secularist agenda promoted by Obama and the Democratic Party of today, which includes fostering dependency on welfare that breaks up families, supporting same-sex marriage and partial-birth abortion, and banning God from the public square.
Obama is no MLK!
I guess they didn't get the memo.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Dick Morris: Biden a mistake; ticket needs a woman
Morris forgets that Joe Biden is a political chameleon.
Joe Biden can help.
Barack Obama's half-brother lives on $1/mo. in a Kenyan slum
You want class warfare? You want mansions? How about a cardboard box in a shanty-town on the outskirts of Nairobi? Andrew Breitbart (via Charles Johnson) has a crushing summary of a story I mentioned last Thursday -- "An Inconvenient Obama":
Sen. Barack Obama has a problem. And it lives in a hut.
His name is George Hussein Onyango Obama, and he is the 26-year-old half brother of Mr. Obama, the multimillionaire autobiographer who neglected to write that his paternal sibling lives on less than a dollar a month in the outer slums of Nairobi, Kenya.
They have met twice.
Unearthed by Italian Vanity Fair and virtually ignored by the American press, the inconvenient George Obama could emerge as a compelling character in the freshman senator's carefully edited road-to-the-White-House narrative - especially now that his campaign has unleashed a personal attack on Sen. John McCain's station in life......[Speaking of class warfare,] Michelle Obama is on leave from her $317,000-a-year job at the University of Chicago Medical Center, which is now under scrutiny - along with Obama campaign chief David Axelrod and two other staffers - for a scheme that, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "steers patients who don't have private insurance - primarily poor, black people - to other health care facilities."
"The medical professionals who have come to me are accusing the university of dumping patients on its neighboring institutions," Toni Preckwinkle, alderman for the 4th Ward, told the paper.
...Does anyone think if Mr. McCain had a sibling living in a trailer park making minimum wage (892 times more than Mr. Obama's half brother's yearly income) that the mainstream media and the Obama campaign wouldn't notice?
Yup. Read the whole thing. And all that jazz.
Photos: Telegraph and NPR.
Obama's 10 Point Plan to 'Update' The Second Amendment
What does the campaign of Barack Obama mean for the Constitution's Second Amendment?
One thing is sure: the ultra-liberal senator will be no friend of gun owners and strict Constitutionalists.
NRA-ILA has the must-read story of the day.
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