Let's start with last Friday. I prepared myself for a weekend of media types gushing over Obama's acceptance speech. I gritted my teeth waiting for McCain to announce Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge as his V.P. It wasn't going to be a good weekend. On top of all that my son had to evacuate from Baton Rouge. I was stressed.
Then this beautiful thing happened. Like a unexpected present with a big sparkly bow, McCain picked Sarah Palin to be V.P. It was too good to be true.
Suddenly no one was talking about Obama's speech the night before.
The angry buzz you heard came from the left. Like a swarm of hornets they went after Sarah Palin as if she had sprayed their nest. They tried to attack and sting. They repeated false stories saying Palin was a Buchananite, hinting at “Nazi sympathizer.” They claimed she cut funding for pregnant teens. They said she was once a member of the Alaska Independence Party which wanted succession for the U.S. But the most disgusting smear was that somehow her Down Syndrome baby, Trig Palin , was really her daughter’s. All lies, but that didn't stop most of the leftwing sites on the net from repeating them over and over. Even the MSM (MSNBC being the most egregious) jumped on the gossip bandwagon and then had the nerve to question whether Sarah could be V.P. and be a good mother at the same time. Finally, and the most repugnant, was the attacks on her 17 year old daughter who was pregnant.
Never before had the media gone after the children of candidates like this. It made all of us out here in middle America sick. Then came what we like to call......backlash.
Because the left didn't know who they were dealing with. This was a woman who took on the corruption in her own party. She stood up to big oil and special interests. This was a fighter, and the left never saw her coming.
While they were snarling and pounding the table, Sarah Palin stepped to a podium at the Republican National Convention and cut them all off at the knees. Over 40 million viewers tuned in to see our Vice Presidential nominee. More than tuned in to see Obama's historic Presidential nominee acceptance speech. And certainly more than the 24 million that tuned into Sen. Joe Biden's Vice Presidential acceptance speech. Given that 4 networks that covered Obama didn't even cover the Palin speech, I'd say she had a good day.
Sarah "Barracuda" Palin blew everyone away. Everyone is still talking about her.
Last night McCain gave a moving and telling speech. It told us who was ready to lead. We thought we knew McCain. We have loved him when he was with us and we have been angered when he chose a different path than we would have liked. But we always knew he would be honest with us.
But McCain wasn't as exciting as Obama. Obama was new and different and made everyone stand up and take notice. Obama was like the new pretty girl in school. No one could take their eyes off of him.
But McCain has always known how to draw America's attention back to what is important.
Sarah was his gamechanger.
Because of Sarah, America was able to focus on the man that McCain is when it was time to tell that story this week.
It worked.
"Presidential candidate John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention drew more television viewers than his rival Barack Obama attracted at the Democratic party's event last week, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research."
Now it's Friday again and I'm feeling no stress. No one in political life has shared my values and my beliefs more than Sarah Palin.
I'm walking on sunshine here.
*Now, on a personal note, I am going to a family wedding this weekend and I intend to celebrate this week there. So don't be looking for me here.
See ya Monday.
Friday, September 05, 2008
What a week......
Thursday, September 04, 2008
McCain
After his time as a POW McCain said:
"I was not my own man anymore. I was my country's."
That was the line of the night. It illustrates why McCain should be our President. He belongs to us. He fought for us. He suffered for us. He was, as he puts it, an imperfect servant.
Everyone who has read this blog knows that I have loved and admired McCain for years. If you read his biography, Faith of Our Fathers, you will never look at McCain the same way again. The stories you have heard at this convention about McCain's sacrifice and bravery are only a small part of all that he went through.
My father taught me that a person is not judged by his mistakes, but how he learns from them.
John McCain was a party guy when he was young. He was cocky. He thought he was invincible. But he quickly found out in a place called the Hanoi Hilton that he was not. To say that McCain went to hell and returned would not be an overstatement.
He came home and he healed and he grew up.
I have lived long enough to understand that sometimes marriages don't work and sometimes we fail and we move on. Who of us can judge that?
I have met John McCain twice at fundraisers. I stood back and watched him. This is what I came away with.
When I was 19 I was thrown from a horse and landed on my back. To this day my back aches when I wake up. McCain had bones broken all over his body. They were never set properly. He was left for dead.
I watched him. I was looking for the grimace of an aching leg or a sore arm. I watched for a quick word to a staff member that he was ready to go because he was tired. But that never happened. He met, shook hands, took pictures, and spoke to everyone who wanted to for hours. I never saw him show the least bit of discomfort or weariness.
I wondered how could this be? After all his body had gone through. How? And then it occurred to me. After 5 1/2 years of torture and the kind of pain that he endured that you and I cannot imagine in our nightmares, he doesn't even notice a pang or an ache that might put you or I to bed for days.
Do you see what I am saying? He measures discomfort in a completely different way than we do. Every day that his broken arms and shoulders are not roped and pulled up behind his back and he isn't beaten in the face, is a day without pain.
They don't make men like this anymore.
There is a reason why this convention theme was "Country First." John McCain has always put his country first. He will always put us first. Because as he said,"my country saved me."
McCain has never forgotten that. He has lived his life returning that favor.
Obama is a good man. And his time will come. But for now, we need John McCain.
We need a hero.
Obama Whines
Here is what Obama had to say about jabs at him at the RNC:
This is what they do. They do not have an agenda to run on. They have not offered a single concrete idea so far in two nights about how they would make the lives of middle-class Americans better. They spent the entire two nights attacking me or extolling John McCain's biography, which is fine. They can use their convention time anyway they want, but you cannot expect that I would be surprised about attacks from Republicans. And by the way, I have been called worse on the basketball court. It's not that big of a deal.
I wonder what he thinks he was doing here in his acceptance speech?
But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.
Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but, really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time?
I don't know about you, but I am not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.
The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives -- on health care, and education, and the economy -- Senator McCain has been anything but independent.
He said that our economy has made great progress under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.
And when one of his chief advisers, the man who wrote his economic plan, was talking about the anxieties that Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a mental recession and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
....................
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?
OBAMA: 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 -- 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.
And this was after Obama spent a great deal of time.....on his biography.
It's just ridiculous to call any criticism an "attack" when Obama does the exact same thing. It's what politicians do. It is Obama that is whining about the very thing he does himself.
McCain said that they would distort his comment about the 5 million at the time he said it. And they have done just that. McCain doesn't want to tax ANYONE any more. Not those making $10,000 a year and not those making 5 million a year.
They distort. We distort. That is how things are done. Stop whining Obama.
Joe Biden did the same thing in his speech.
The only difference was that Sarah Palin was funny. She was able to be critical while poking fun. Obama may be a gifted speaker, but he isn't funny. Ever. Neither is Biden. Which is the real reason they whine.
"Why They Hate Her"
One does have to wonder why the left has gone completely off the deep end about Sarah Palin.
Jonathan V. at First Things explains it perfectly.
via NRO
Speeches
The Democrat talking point today is that Sarah Palin used a George Bush speech writer. Not sure what that matters. Politicans use the same speech writers all the time. But Andy McCarthy reminds us that Obama used Deval Patricks's speech writer and Hillary accused Obama of plagiarizing Patrick because Obama used essentially the exact same words in several speeches.
Remember when Hillary said this?
"Lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox."
Well, I figure what can they say about Sarah Palin's speech? They know, as well as we do, that it was a brilliant speech. They are grasping for straws at this point.
As I read around the blogosphere today, I am pleased to know that like me, conservatives around the country are still on a "Sarah high."
The Palin video they will air tonight
They couldn't air it last night because Rudy went too long. That's ok, he did great. Here it is via HotAir.
Best of Palin's speech
via RWN
You know that pack of rabid dogs going after Palin in the cartoon I posted earlier? She just power hosed them.
Code Pink is crazy
We all know that. Remember the one who ran up to Condi Rice with "bloody hands?" They are certifiable. They almost got to Palin last night:
. A pair of Code Pink activists just got to the very edge of the stage and were a moment away from apparently running on stage, right by the Kentucky slot on the floor next to a host of McCain's most senior staffers.
Secret Service men grabbed them at last minute and literally dragged them out.
Actually that might have been fun to watch. I think Sarah would have done to them what she has done to moose's her whole life.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Sarah Palin Is Amazing...
Yesterday I created a web page for people to write letters or notes in support of Gov. Palin. After all the attacks and smears she had experienced in the last five day, I thought she might need to read about the support she has across America.
Go read some of the letters. They are wonderful and touching.
But I realize now that Sarah Palin didn't need support. This lady rocked the house, she rocked the T.V., She rocked the country.
She hit Obama hard on the things where he is weak.
She proved that she is MORE than able and experienced to be the Vice President.
She was a breath of fresh air. She was like a cool breeze in a hot humid room.
She represents all of us who are sick of Washington politics, high taxes, wasteful spending, and elitist thinking.
She's perfect for us. She said the right things. She didn't hold back...and let's face it... She kicked ass.
She just did.
I'm thinking the Obama camp is scrambling. They thought they could scare us into letting her go.
But this woman is a fighter on our side. A fighter who isn't afraid of a fight. She isn't afraid of their smears. She isn't afraid of the powerful. She isn't afraid to speak the truth.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you watched Sarah Palin's speech tonight, then you got a good first look at our next Vice President.
History will be made, just not the way the Democrats thought it would.
Transcript of the speech here.
Michael Williams will be speaking tonight!
Due to the schedule changes at the Republican National Convention from Hurricane Gustav, Chairman Williams will now be speaking tonight (Wednesday) instead of Thursday night.
For uninterrupted coverage of Chairman Williams’ remarks tune to C-SPAN tonight.
Williams will be speaking shortly after 7pm (central) tonight from the floor. At 10pm tonight, Chairman Williams will be making the formal Motion to Nominate Senator John McCain as the Republican nominee for President of the United States.
Williams, if you remember, is the Railroad commissioner of Texas that I interviewed for Texas Magazine. So be sure and check him out! He WILL NOT disappoint you. He rocks!
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Keep sending those letters!
Letters to Palin!!!
I've contacted the Governors office and I am hoping they will send the url to her so she can read them on her blackberry before the speech tonight!
Show Your Support for Palin!!
I've created a webpage to show support for Gov. Palin. Write you brief letter in the comments and I will publish them. I'll find a way to send them on to her.
GO! Now!
The Issue That Haunts Us
Once again abortion raises it's ugly head in an election. Make no mistake about it, the main reason the left is snarling mad over Sarah Palin is not because of experience or vetting or anything like that. It's all about her stance on life.
We on the pro-life side were thrilled with the choice of Palin. To finally have a truly conservative woman on the ticket was a wonderful thing. But to the left, where abortion matters more than anything else, it was an unacceptable choice. Even though it's our party, our ticket, and our choice, they on the left will not have it.
There is something seriously wrong when many people get so upset over a politician who thinks that an unborn child deserves the right to live, but doesn't blink an eye when the Democratic nominee doesn't even think a baby born alive from a botched late term abortion should be kept alive.
Such is what the culture of death has brought us.
It has brought us a Democratic party that cannot break free of it's dedication to destroying unborn life. It has brought us a party who will not even listen to the other side.
Obama has now put together an ad touting his abortion rights position and slamming McCain for his pro-life stance.
In 1973 nine men in robes decided that the unborn child had no right to live. We as a people were never able to have a national debate on this issue. It was never decided by the people. 35 years later, with technology that tells us much more about when a baby's heart begins to beat and brainwaves are detected, we still ignore the reality of unborn life and what it means to end that life. We have never studied what abortion does to women physically or emotionally. Abortion was our demented Uncle in the attic. We pretended he wasn't there. But he bellows from the dark place he lives and he never gives us peace.
This entire disgraceful and disgusting attack on Palin is rooted in abortion. The distaste that so many feel for Obama is based on his deeply rooted belief that a child is a "punishment" for those who are in crisis pregnancies.
It is past time for our country to have a true national debate on this issue. It's time for Americans to face the truth of abortion. We need to see it. We need to hear from women on both sides. We need to hear from Doctors on both sides. We need to finally let the people decide what we really want and what is really right.
Because if we don't, this issue will continue to be the divisive, hurtful, hateful thing that it is.
Overturning Roe v. Wade, that was based on lie after lie, will not outlaw abortion as many on the left would like you to believe. It will only allow us to have this important debate and decide for ourselves whether this is what we want for our future.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Sen.Joe Lieberman's speech
Because it's just that good:
Thank you for that warm welcome. I am honored to be here.
We meet tonight in the wake of a terrible storm that has hit the Gulf Coast but that hurts all of us, because we are all members of our larger American family.
At times like this, we set aside all that divides us, and we come together to help our fellow citizens in need.
What matters is certainly not whether we are Democrats or Republicans, but that we are all Americans.
The truth is, it shouldn't take a hurricane to bring us together like this.
Every day, across our country, millions of our fellow citizens are facing huge problems.
They are worried about their homes, their jobs, and their businesses; they are worried about the outrageous cost of gas and of health insurance; and they are worried about the threats from our enemies abroad.
But when they look to Washington, all too often they do not see their leaders coming together to tackle these problems.
Instead they see Democrats and Republicans fighting each other, rather than fighting for the American people.
Our Founding Fathers foresaw the danger of this kind of senseless partisanship. George Washington himself — in his farewell address to our country — warned that the "spirit of party" is "the worst enemy" of our democracy and "enfeebles" our government's ability to do its job.
George Washington was absolutely right. The sad truth is — today we are living through his worst nightmare, in the capital city that bears his name.
And that brings me directly to why I am here tonight. What, after all, is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this?
The answer is simple.
I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.
I'm here tonight because John McCain is the best choice to bring our country together and lead our country forward.
I'm here because John McCain's whole life testifies to a great truth: being a Democrat or a Republican is important.
But it is not more important than being an American.
Both presidential candidates this year talk about changing the culture of Washington, about breaking through the partisan gridlock and special interests that are poisoning our politics.
But only one of them has actually done it.
Only one leader has shown the courage and the capability to rise above the smallness of our politics to get big things done for our country and our people.
And that leader is John McCain.
John understands that it shouldn't take a natural disaster like Hurricane Gustav to get us to take off our partisan blinders and work together to get things done.
It shouldn't take a natural disaster to teach us that the American people don't care much if you have an "R" or a "D" after your name.
What they care about is, are we solving the problems they are up against every day?
What you can expect from John McCain as president is precisely what he has done this week: which is to put country first. That is the code by which he has lived his entire life, and that is the code he will carry with him into the White House.
I have personally seen John, over and over again, bring people together from both parties to tackle our toughest problems we face —to reform our campaign finance, lobbying and ethics laws, to create the 9/11 Commission and pass its critical national security reforms, and to end the partisan paralysis over judicial confirmations.
My Democratic friends know all about John's record of independence and accomplishment.
Maybe that's why some of them are spending so much time and so much money trying to convince voters that John McCain is someone else.
I'm here, as a Democrat myself, to tell you: Don't be fooled.
God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man.
If John McCain was just another go-along partisan politician, he never would have taken on corrupt Republican lobbyists, or big corporations that were cheating the American people, or powerful colleagues in Congress who were wasting taxpayer money.
But he did.
If John McCain was just another go-along partisan politician, he never would have led the fight to fix our broken immigration system or to do something about global warming.
But he did.
As a matter of fact, if John McCain is just another partisan Republican, then I'm Michael Moore's favorite Democrat.
And I'm not.
Sen. Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But eloquence is no substitute for a record — not in these tough times.
In the Senate he has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party.
Contrast that to John McCain's record, or the record of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups and worked with Republicans to get important things done like welfare reform, free-trade agreements, and a balanced budget.
Gov. Sarah Palin, like John McCain, is a reformer who has taken on the special interests and reached across party lines. She is a leader we can count on to help John shake up Washington.
That's why the McCain-Palin ticket is the real ticket for change this year.
The Washington bureaucrats and power brokers can't build a pen strong enough to hold these two mavericks.
And together, you can count on John McCain and Sarah Palin to fight for America and to fight for you! And that's what our country needs most right now.
What we need most is not more party unity in America but more national unity.
Especially at a time of war, we need a president we can count on to fight for what's right for our country — not only when it is easy, but when it is hard.
When others were silent, John McCain had the judgment to sound the alarm about the mistakes we were making in Iraq. When others wanted to retreat in defeat from the field of battle, when Barack Obama was voting to cut off funding for our troops on the ground, John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion and support the surge, and because of that, today, our troops are at last beginning to come home, not in failure, but in honor.
Before I conclude, I ask the indulgence of those in this hall tonight, as I want to speak directly to my fellow Democrats and independents who are watching.
I know many of you are angry and frustrated by our government and our politics and for good reason.
You may be thinking of voting for John McCain, but you're not sure. Some of you have never voted for a Republican before and in an ordinary election, you probably wouldn't.
But this is no ordinary election, because these are not ordinary times, and John McCain is no ordinary candidate. You may not agree with John McCain on every issue.
But you can always count on him to be straight with you about where he stands, and to stand for what he thinks is right regardless of politics.
As president, you can count on John McCain to be a restless reformer, who will clean up Washington and get our government working again for you.
So tonight, I ask you whether you are an independent, a Reagan Democrat or a Clinton Democrat, or just a Democrat: This year, when you vote for president, vote for the person you believe is best for the country, not for the party you happen to belong to.
Vote for the leader who, since the age of 17, when he raised his hand and took an oath to defend and protect our Constitution, has always put our country first.
So, let's come together to make a great American patriot our next great president.
Get Ready for the Blowback from attacks on Palin
The left and the MSM thought they could smear Gov. Palin on an issue that affects millions of American parents. They thought they could call her a "bad mother" and they actually thought that the mothers across America would think that was ok?
They thought they could question her ability to do a job with children at home and not imagine that people could ask the same of Obama? They couldn't see how sexist that was?
They misjudged this one. Fred Thompson is getting ready to set these people straight tonight in his speech. I look forward to it. I have never seen the base so fired up. They were fired up on Friday when she was announced, but now they are fired and ANGRY at the way the left has tried to smear her. We are going to be sending a message to Sarah that we stand behind her 100%. We are going to fight every attack and every smear they throw at her.
We are ready. Bring it on.
I have a feeling that when Sarah Palin speaks there will be no doubt that she is up for the challenge. This woman rocks. She represents the millions and millions of women who are strong, but know how hard it is to raise a family in this culture. She represents all of us who knows what it takes to work and get kids to practice and plan the week for everyone. She represents all of us who went to work with swollen ankles and a bad hair day. She represents all of us who never let the obstacles get us down. She represents all of us who face our problems head on and keep moving forward because so many people depend on us.
The left made a big mistake in attacking her on a personal level. Sarah will stand up to all the vile things said about her and she will make us all proud to be women, proud to be Americans, and proud to break through that glass ceiling, not with anger or bitterness, but with hard work and determination.
Now go show some $$ love for Sarah!
Thank God There Are Still Democrats Like This Left
Big Tent Democrat at Talkleft is so disgusted with the behavior of the leftwing blogs, he isn't going to blog for a while:
A personal note --I am not comfortable with writing about this election right now. I am not comfortable with the behavior of some Democrats and Left blogs regarding Sarah Palin. Of course everyone is entitled to their own views on this and I respect that. But I am entitled to mine as well. I am going to take a break and see how I feel next week.
Those on the leftwing blogs should be ashamed of themselves. Truly.
Here a few comments from that post:
by JAB on Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 06:43:48 AM EST
I'm with you BTD - after reading some of the posts and comments here this week, I find its so-called "progressives" who are much worse than anything the Republicans have thrown out. Some of these comments have been down right disgusting and cheap. I thought we were better than that, but I guess I was wrong - there is no difference.
by Serene1 on Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 07:03:34 AM EST
They have accused Palin of literally everything. The kind of accusations that were hurled at her family by leftist bloggers to justify their rumour mongering was something altogether. It is as if nothing is sacred anymore.
by Serene1 on Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 06:48:58 AM EST
Thanks BTD for being one of the saner voices of the left. The biggest disappointment this election season was witnessing the transformation of many liberals into the Bush cheney republicans (during their heydays). Karl Rove has become their personal guru as they go about tearing down their opponents like rabid dogs with no regard to decency, humanity or anything.
by cawaltz on Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 06:55:48 AM EST
Kudos for speaking up BTD. "All that evil needs to triumph is for good men to sit idly by and do nothing" seems appropos. Actually this kind of behavior is going to make my job in November that much easier. The blurring of the lines makes it clear to me that the Democratic party I knew and believed in is gone.
The Democrats who comment here might do well to heed these warnings from fellow Democrats. The nasty mean vile attacks on Palin these past two days do nothing but turn off the independents you wish to be on your side. The right stands by our V.P. pick and no amount of malicious rumors and nasty conspiracy theories is going to change that. So take note. You keep attacking someone for the kind of failings that people in America deal with every day and you will almost certainly lose.
Meghan McCain
She has some great pics from St. Louis. She also talks about her support of Bistol Palin. Go check it out.
Palin is exactly what we need.
Nancy Pfotenhauer from the McCain campaign writes about Palin at WSJ and does an excellent job of describing Palin as the maverick with plenty of the kind of experience we need. What we need is reform and McCain and Palin know all about that:
Ms. Palin, like Mr. McCain, has a strong record of battling the status quo, restoring accountability and effectiveness to government, and working to secure energy independence, root out corruption and curb wasteful spending.
As the chief executive of the nation's largest state, Ms. Palin oversees some of the country's largest energy reserves. She came into office at a critical time in Alaska politics, facing a system plagued by corruption. Her response was to immediately begin cleaning it up. The results of her leadership today speak for themselves: Ms. Palin's approval ratings top 80% -- more than 60% higher than that of the Democratic Congress.
Ms. Palin has a tangible, impressive record of achievement and executive experience. She is head of the Alaska National Guard and the chairman of two multistate agencies that make energy decisions that affect all Americans. While Barack Obama spent almost all of the past two years running for president, Ms. Palin has been running a state.
More:
But Ms. Palin knows that real change doesn't come from rigid adherence to party lines. She has transformed her state's government from what she called a "good ol' boys network" to an accountable, successful system. Like Mr. McCain, Ms. Palin realizes that the problem isn't a Republican administration or a Democratic Congress. It's business as usual in Washington.
Ms. Palin's experience in reforming Alaskan government shows she's ready to lead on the national stage. She stood up to members of her own party who abused their power, risking her political career by protesting ethics violations. Ms. Palin went on to pass ethics reform. She has put the people's interests ahead of her own -- like Mr. McCain.
A McCain-Palin administration will not tolerate pork-barrel spending. In Washington, Mr. McCain spoke out against the "Bridge to Nowhere," a $400 million waste of the taxpayers' money that led to an island with a few dozen residents. In Juneau, Alaska, Ms. Palin made sure the bridge went nowhere, canceling the earmark. She wasn't afraid to use her veto pen, and Mr. McCain won't be either.
Read the whole thing.
The more I read about her, the more I like her. And you know we have the right pick by the off the chart insane conspiracy theories the left is diving down into the slime for. I haven't seen the left in this much of froth since Cheney shot his friend. Those at Kos are snarling like rabid dogs over Palin.
I think we'll keep her. She must be doing something right to make those hate filled Koskids go as crazy as they have in the last few days.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Wonderful News
Between Hurricanes and pregnancies let's not miss this:
Anbar province is now under the control of the Iraqi Army. From Amit Paley in the Washington Post:
The U.S. military on Monday handed the Iraqi government responsibility for security in Anbar province, the former stronghold of the Sunni insurgency that has now become one of the safest areas in country.
from The Atlantic.com
Geeze.....
Gov. Palin's 17 yr old daughter is five months pregnant. McCain knew and it didn't change his decision. McCain just isn't afraid of anything politically or otherwise, is he? Any other politician would have run in the other direction. Could this election take any more drama? Between John Edwards and this, I feel like I am watching "As The World of Politicians Turn."
Bristol Palin will keep the baby and marry the father. Here is the statement:
The left will have a field day with this and let them. It just shows that the "party of tolerance" doesn't have much tolerance or compassion.“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.
“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”
Update: Ed at HotAir has an even better post up. He and his wife went throught the exact same thing with their son. Excellent post. Here is the money quote:
What does this mean politically? I think AP has done a good job in addressing this, but really I don't think politics will enter into it. The Palins all chose life and lived their values.
It's true. Abortion would have been the easy way out and no one would have had a clue, but that would have been the hypocrisy of a lifetime. Sometimes we have disabled children and sometimes we have unexpected pregnancies. It is how we deal with those issues that define us. The Palins chose life every time because that was what they believed.
Update II: Obama shows some real class (maybe his supporters could show some?) and reminds us of where he came from:
"I have said before and I will repeat again: People's families are off limits," Obama said. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18 and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics."
Unity and the Hurricane
I knew a pick like Sarah Palin would wake up and excite the evangelicals, but as I surf around the blogs I see that even the hadcore Libertarians are sitting up and taking notice. Meet Adam Bernay:
Adam Bernay is a longtime Libertarian Republican activist, dating back to the mid-1990s. He has been involved with the Republican Liberty Caucus, particularly in California, in numerous capacities, since about that time. He also serves as a GOP Precinct Committeeman in Fresno. Mr. Bernay is also a certified practicing Rabbi of the Messianic Jewish Faith.
Adam had this to say about the Republican party yesterday:
I was just getting ready to leave politics. My hand was on doorknob, it was starting to turn. I had felt in my gut, it was time to go. time to make like a newborn and head out, as my brother (the paramedic and Army medic) would say.
I have grown more and more disgusted with the Republican Party over the past four to six years. I was all for them in 2001 and 2002; I saw a group of national and state Republicans who really seemed ready to lead us away from big government, towards energy independence, and more generally in a self-reliant direction. Sure, George W. Bush has campaigned on a taxpayer-funded prescription plan for Medicare, but there was a lot of good stuff he’d campaigned on as well.
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So, in this election cycle, as I saw the circular firing squad take out decent candidates, bad candidates, and party unity; as I saw Bob Barr become The Guy and then The Nominee in the Libertarian Party; and I saw more and more big government rhetoric coming out of party leaders like Mike Huckabee… well, I was about to quote Reagan: “I didn’t leave the party; the party left me.” I was about to re-register Libertarian Party; I had already been openly declaring support for Bob Barr.
And I know I am not alone. I have spoken to many disaffected Republicans and former Republicans who have been saying the exact same things, these past few weeks and months.
Then came the news last Friday morning that liberartarian-leaning Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was going to become McCain’s vice presidential nominee, and I stopped. And I watched. Their speeches that morning, and the speeches that followed, first in Pennsylvania, and then yesterday in Missouri, were brilliant, and they made me pause in my planned bolt out the door to the Libertarian Party. Pause, mind you. Not stop. The Republican Party basically has one week to stop me and bring me back. Though, So far, so good.
I am just amazed that we have a Vice Presidential nominee that is appealing to the evangelical wing of the party AND the Libertarian wing. I never saw that one coming.
I've seen a lot gloating and hateful comments from Democrats regarding the Hurricane and the convention. But I think this may turn out to be a blessing as well.
There was no way we could compete with the the over the top bells and whistles show the Democrats put on last week. Now we don't have to. We have the opportunity to show leadership in the face of a crisis. McCain did exactly right thing. Here is his first statement:
“We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans. We’ll change our program and I’ll be announcing details of it in the next few hours. But there’s very little doubt that we have to go from a party event to a call to the nation for action, action to help our fellow citizens in this time of tragedy and disaster, action in the form of volunteering, donations, reaching out our hands and our hearts and our wallets to the people who are under such great threat from this great natural disaster. I pledge that tomorrow night, and if necessary, throughout our convention if necessary, to act as Americans not Republians, because America needs us now no matter whether we are Republican or Democrat.’’
I think the American people would rather see "a call for action" to help Americans in this disaster than a big party anyway. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part but to me it illustrates which party is more ready to lead.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Mission Accomplished
The McCain pick of Gov. Palin wiped out any Obama bounce from the Democratic National Convention.
Sweet.
It's a Hurricane. Do you know where your kids are?
The most horrible thing about having grown children is they insist on making their own decisions.
I have a Senior at LSU and as of last night he just hadn't decided whether to leave Baton Rouge yet. I find it is very difficult to strangle someone over the phone.
He has a Grandmother 2 and half hours north in Jackson, Ms. But he was thinking of going with a friend of his to a small town outside of Shreveport. Why? Because he wouldn't have to drive.
When I tried to call him last night a voice would say "you have reached a non-working number." What?? Maybe it was because of so many people using their cell phones. He finally calls me at 10:00 pm. He says they may leave in a bit. (Remember it's 10:00pm!!!) Since it isn't possible to knock him over the head through the phone, I tell him to call me when he leaves and to call me or text me at least twice during the day today so I will know where he is.
And, of course, he does not do any of those things. Because he enjoys torturing me. He still hasn't forgiven me for not buying him the first big game system Sega Genesis that came out the Christmas he was two or the fact that I made him brush his teeth twice a day his entire life. Some kids hold grudges, ya know?
I just now called him and it went straight to voicemail. Which means either he forgot to charge his phone (a big possibility because planning ahead has never been his strong suit) or he turned it off in some sort of sick scientific experiment to measure the amount of worry an average mother can endure before descending into madness.
