Politics and Government in America

Today Bill Burton, Barack Obama’s spokesman said “today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.” That’s funny, since last night the Democrat Party put a community orginizer with ties to an anti-American preacher and a terrorist and no foreign policy or leadership experience on the path to be the president. Yet somehow it is okay to be president with no experience, but not vice-president.

This is the same man who said that you only attack your opponent if you don’t have anything to run on. That must meant that Bill Burton doesn’t think that Obama has anything to run on. They must also be scared that Palin will draw the Hillary vote from Obama to McCain. The fact of the matter is that this simply comes off as Obama and Biden tring to fill in the 18 million cracks Hillary put in the glass ceiling. Every the Obama campaign is going to say that every attack against Obama is racist, then they should be prepared for every attack against Palin being portrayed as sexist. Well played John McCain.

The Democrats have begun their attack on Sarah Palin, even though she has just barely been announced. The topic that the Democrat leadership has decided to go after her on is experience. Pot, have you met kettle yet?

To say that Sarah Palin is too inexperienced to be president is saying that Obama is too inexperienced to be president. Sarah palin has twice as much executive experience as Obama has and she has shown that she does have what it takes to run a government and cut both taxes and spending. She sold the governer’s airplane on e-bay after all to help cut expenses and raise capital.

The real fear of the Obama campaign is that Palin takes some of the historic wind out of Obama’s sails. They are already seeing a negative bounce from the convention and Obama’s national poll numbers dropped two points following his address to the faithful outside the Temple of Barack last night. Now McCain comes along and nominates Palin, which treatens to draw disgruntled Hillary supporters in to McCain’s camp. Let the battle begin.

Watching Barack Obama’s acceptance speech tonight, one line stood out to me.  He said “if you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.” This stood out, in part because Obama had used much of the early part of his speech to make the point that McCain was someone to run from.

For months now, Sen. Obama has been on the attack. Clear back in April he said, refering to the housing concerns, ”I’m glad he finally offered a plan. Better late than never. Don’t expect it to actually help struggling families. Because Senator McCain’s solution to the housing crisis seems like a lot like George Bush’s solution to the housing crisis, which is to sit by and hope it passes by while families are facing foreclosure and watching their home values decline.” No comment on what Sen. Obama would do, just an attempt to drive people away from Sen. McCain.

Earlier this month he said:

“I guess if you think that being rich means you’ve got to make $5 million and if you don’t know how many houses you have, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy was fundamentally strong. But if you’re like me, and you’ve got one house, or you are like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so they don’t lose their home, you might have a different perspective.” Again no plan or record, just a reason to run away from McCain. And this time he wasn’t even honest, since we know he has at least three houses, one in Chicago, one in St. Louis, and one in D.C.

In May, Sen. Obama attacked John McCain’s age. In July he attacked Sen. McCain on immigration. “John McCain says he’s different, but when you look at his policies he’s got no agenda for you, how to make you a little more successful,”  he said in April. And he added this just tonight.

“Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn’t know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people’s benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

“It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.

“For over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy — give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is, you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own. ” Is this really the types of things someone says when they are out preaching “if you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from?”

Barack H. Obama has been running as the candidate of change. Yet the spectical that has been the Democrat convention has yet to show any thing other than buisness as usual. For those of us who are watching this closely, we are left wondering, “where’s the change?”

Look at the line up of speakers at the Democrat convention. Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry; the speakers have been a who’s who of the old left rather than an inspiring crop of new and exciting faces. Is this what Barack Obama means by change? We would be replacing the “failed policies” of the Republicans with the failed and discredited policies of the liberal left.

We have already seen some of the change that Obama promises. Change means more unemployment as companies are forced to pay higher taxes and higher wages. Change means higher gas prices and windfall profits taxes. Change means a return of stagflation and the misery index. In short, Obama’s vision of change means returning to the policies and principles of Jimmy Carter.

Do we want a return to gas lines and souring inflation? Do we want a return to “peace in our time” diplomacy and abandoning our allies? Do we want a return of the cold war and an imperialist Russia? Do we want another president that will do what is best for “the world” even if it is not good for America? Remember that to the Democrats who have been the voice of change at the convention, the Carter era was their glory years. If you liked that, you’ll want to see Jimmy Carter II: The Rise of Obama

If you remember, about two weeks ago I told you about the San Francisco Chronicle editorial that accused the McCain campaign of manipulating events in Georgia to give him an advantage. Once again America’s enemies have listened to Democrat talking points and are now parroting them. Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, ”… The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of U.S. president.”

Why is it that the enemies of the United States sound like elements of the Democrat party? Because they share a philosophical view with those elements, that America is the focus of evil in the world. They believe that the world will be safer if the United States was knocked down a peg or two. Remember when Madeline  Albright said that it wasn’t fair that America was the only superpower?

This election we have a choice. We can elect a candidate who loves this country and was willing to die to see it’s ideals supported or we can elect a president who has supporters that echo and support people who hate this country. It’s time for us to step up and make a choice. 

When John McCain said that he could not remember how many houses he had the Democrat party had a field day. Yet it turns out that Barack Obama can’t even remember if he’s in his house. Following his wife’s speech on Monday, Obama made a televised apperance at the Democrat National Convention and exclaimed how he was glad that he could watch it at their home in St. Louis, since he could not be there in person. The problem was he was not at their home in St. Louis but in a hotel room in Kansas City.

Why is this a problem? Because Obama’s campaign made memory an issue with McCain. How can we trust Barack Obama with the White House if he can’t even remember if he is in his own house? Not to mention that this make the count of homes that Barack H. Obama owns four, that we know of. It also proves that the Democrat machine have a double standard. Remember when John F. Kerry was discussing having to sell one of his houses to finance his campaign. Even after selling that house, Kerry still has more houses than McCain does. Wealth and success have become negatives to the modern Democrat leadership. Yet at the same time, they spend their tim consorting with some of the wealthiest people in America.

The other thing that this proves is just how in the tank for Obama the mainstream media really is. Had John McCain said this we would hear stories about how he must be suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. However, when it’s Obama saying it, then it’s understandable with all the traveling he does. If Obama can’t remember where he is, how can we trust him to remember which side he’s supposed to be on.

The announcement of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate says a lot about where Sen. Obama thinks his campaign is headed. There will not be a lot of talk about this in the media because they will be mesmerized by the convention next week.  So here is my take on the matter.

1) Obama’s pick of Biden shows that he is much more of a conventional politician than he wants us to believe. Biden is the fourth most senior member of the Senate and is the very model of a career politician. He was actually elected before he turned thirty and was eligible to serve. This does not exactly scream “change” now does it?

2) Biden is the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and that is an area where Obama has been accused of being weak. Biden will shore up Obama’s credentials in this area and allow Obama to focus on his domestic plans, where he is much more comfortable. 

3) Biden was a pro-war Democrat who has not renounced his vote on the war. He did not support the surge, but he is also not a member of the defeatist wing of the Democrat Party. He shores up Obama with those who support the war but will also support Obama’s domestic agenda. This was the group that Joe Liberman was supposed to draw for McCain, so that potential advantage has been nullified. This means that Lieberman has been removed from play as an asset for McCain.

4) Obama’s pick signals that he either thinks he already has the south wrapped up because of his race, or he can win without it. Biden, as a Northerner  has no draw for Southerners. Democrats have only won over the  last 60 years when they have a Southerner on the ticket.

The Obama campaign is finally showing it’s true colors. Obama has gone so negative even the media has commented on it. He thumbed his nose at the media by picking a candidate other than Hillary Clinton, and he picked a running mate who is infamous for his arrogance and his temper.  One can only hope that McCain makes a rational, Conservative choice, like Mitt Romney.

When Barack Obama began running for the White House, he said he was running for change.  Today, he named Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential nominee, which completely negates his “Change” mantra. The reason is that Joe Biden has been in the Senate longer than most Obama voters have been alive.

There are other problems with Biden as well. Biden said about his new running mate, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” That hurt him a lot with voters in the early primaries.

Who can forget this Biden golden nugget? “In Delaware, the largest growth population is Indian-Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.” Imagine how the Daily Kos media would be spinning this if Biden were McCain’s pick for veep?

There are also these Biden statements. “I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off.” He said during the primaries. He also said about Barack Obama’s readiness to serve, “right now, I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” John McCain is already running ads with these words and the announcement is not even twelve hours old.

Remember the Biden plagiarism scandal? This is going to come back and haunt Obama for sure, since his Democrat rivals have also accused him of stealing people’s words in speeches. Biden has also padded his resume over the years. He managed to avoid a plagiarism scandal at Syracuse after he directly copied five pages from a law review for a paper he was writing. In 1987 he was forced to admit that he had lied about his academic performance, including graduating in the top half of his law school class.

I can’t help but wonder if the media will start talking about Biden bringing gravitas to Obama’s campaign. They did when Bush nominated Cheney back in 2000. Then it was an inexperienced but likable governor from Texas nominating one of the elder statesmen of his party to balance out the ticket. Now that is being viewed as a good thing, even as Biden’s pick seems to signal and admission that Obama does not know much about military and foreign policy matters.

Today’s announcement shows just one more reason why John McCain should pick Mitt Romney as his running mate. There are no suprises with Romney, what you see is what you get. His is the opposite of Biden on so many issues and is not the talker that Biden is. He also doesn’t have the legendary temper that Biden does. There are also many Democrats who have looked at Joe Biden and have decided that he would be another neocon like Dick Cheney. The Wall Street Journal even ran an editorial entitled “The Bush-Biden Doctrine” in 2006. Now having a neocon vicepresident would not be bad, but having a conservative vice-president and a moderately conservative president would be better.

Barack Obama is currently making a big issue over the fact that John McCain had trouble remembering how many houses his family owns. Meanwhile, the circumstances under which Obama purchased his own house is one of the things that we are not allowed to discuss because they are “attacks,” and “manufactured issues.” Wouldn’t the fact that McCain can’t remember how many houses he owns be a manufactured issue?The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama used his ties with a land developer who is now a convicted felon to be able to buy his home in Chicago at a discounted rate. He then bought part of the land next to his for an even more deeply discounted rate. However mentioning this is considered off-limits by the Obama campaign.One reason that Obama is doing this is because he cannot debate McCain on the issues. His vote against the Born Alive Infant Protection was exposed recently. Despite attempts to categorize his opponents statements as lies , audio has come forth of Obama stating his position as being exactly what he said it was. This has been Obama’s problem as of late, he says one thing, then changes his position, and then calls his opponents liars when tthey point out the shifting viewpoints. It didn’t help Obama that he was vacationing at his private beach during the first week of the Georgia crisis. He also had a poor showing at the Saddleback fourm where he said the we should confront evil, but not defeat it, and that we should be more charitable by giving the government more of our money. In order to try and win, Obama has trotted out the old Democrat playbook of class warfare and is running those plays one more time. As his numbers slip even further look for more of this to happen.

Edward McClelland of Salon.com has written that the reason that Democrats lost their monopoly on political power is because of air conditioning. His reasoning is that air conditioning has allowed the population to shift southward, and people who live in the south are more conservative. That is about like saying that conservatives eat more hamburgers, so eating hamburgers makes you conservative.

However, the larger issue is the subtext of the article. The author is really saying that people in the south are less educated and therefore unable to understand the nuances of being Democrat. He is also saying that because the surge of Republicanism coresponds with the rise of the south, Republicans are racist.

Does it suprise anyone that this article appears a few days after McCain drew ahead in the polls and shortly after Obama made a statement that we should all learn to live without air conditioning? The whole point of the article is to run down people who vote Republican. That should come as no suprise, since this is Salon.com after all. However, it is instructive to read because it drives home the point that Democrats disdain the average person and cannot accept that  anything other than our stupidity prevents them from getting power. Remember that to them, the problem is always with the other person.