I've tried to put together a post on Obama's stark turnarounds, but sometimes you find a jewel that just does such a good job of illustrating Obama's willingness to not just go to the center for the general, but to flip so fast to the right I'm surprised he hasn't broken something:
To earn the Democratic nomination, as Fred Thompson points out, Obama ran as George McGovern without the experience, a left-of-center politician who would meet unconditionally with Iran, pull us precipitously out of Iraq, prohibit new drilling for oil, and grow big government in Washington by all but a trillion dollars. In his general election TV ad debut, however, Obama pirouetted like Baryshnikov. With a commercial Mike Huckabee could have run in a Republican primary, Obama now emphasizes his commitment to strong families and heartland values, “Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses.” In this yet unwritten chapter of his next autobiography, Obama tells us he is the candidate of “welfare to work” who supports our troops and “cut taxes for working families.” The shift in his political personae has been startling. Obama has moved right so far and so fast, he could end up McCain’s Vice-Presidential pick.
General-election Obama now billboards his doubts about affirmative action. He has embraced the Bush Doctrine of pre-emption saying, “I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon…everything.” He tells his party “Democrats are not for a bigger government.” Oil drilling is a consideration. His FISA vote and abandonment of public campaign finance introduce us to an Obama of recent invention. And as he abandons his old identity for the new, breeding disenchantment among his formerly passionate left-of-center supporters and, equally, doubts among the center he courts, he risks becoming nothing at all, a candidate who is everything and nothing in the same moment.
The "McCain's V.P. pick" line is just hilarious.
More:
In the defining moment of his life, McCain was willing to give everything for one thing, and that one thing was his country. Contrast that with Obama, who has told America that he is “a proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world.” Obama is the talented salesman who seduced one state after another saying “Iowa, this is our moment,” “Virginia, this is our moment,” “Texas, this is our moment,” and then tells Europe, “people of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment.” How many times can Barack Obama sell the same moment to everyone, before he becomes Mel Brooks in “The Producers”? Who is Barack Obama? His campaign, as it reupholsters him before our eyes, says we can never know—perhaps because Barack Obama does not know himself.
There seems to be no doubt that Obama is trying to be all things to all people. As I think about it, I don't think this is a dishonest thing on Obama's part. In fact, I don't think Obama is dishonest at all. I think Obama is trying to find his way and he has a a lot of people helping him get there. Not long ago he never imagined he would be in this place. I think he is evaluating what he believes. He was against drilling for example, but now he sees it as part of what needs to be done. This may be the most likable thing about Obama to people like me. Are some of his changes due to the electability factor? Of course. This is politics after all.
What Obama knows is that he will not lose his supporters. He can say, "drill in ANWR!" and "unborn children DO deserve the right to life!" and he will not lose his core support. They are in love with an image and nothing he does will change that now.
It really is the only danger I see. That middle of the road people will believe in the hawkish, pro-drilling, pro-cutting taxes Obama and not look at his votes and his past statements and his past associations.
Obama is selling all of us "a moment." Will we buy it?
via Right Wing Nuthouse
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Obama and flip/flops
Whoa...
Ben Stein gets ticked at Paris Hilton and it isn't pretty.
via HotAir
I will say this about the original ad that showed Obama and then Paris and Britney. I talk to a lot of people and most of them, like most Americans, aren't really paying much attention yet. None of them were familiar with the things we political junkies are. But they knew about that ad and they all thought it was pretty clever.
It made a big point in a short amount of time.
Score One for McCain
The energy fight heats up.
Obama on McCain:
"Remember that when George Bush took office, he had an energy policy, he turned to Dick Cheney and he told Cheney, 'Go take care of this.' " Obama told a crowd at a gym in Youngstown, Ohio. "John McCain's taking a page out of the Bush-Cheney playbook."
But McCain reminded us:
"I think he might be a little bit confused, because when the energy bill came to the floor of the Senate full of goodies and breaks for the oil companies, I voted against it; Senator Obama voted for it," he said. "People care not only what you say, but how you vote."
Isn't that the truth? Obama loves to say what people want to hear, but sometimes your past tells us who you really are.
The Tax Man
From the moment we wake up we are taxed.
Let's start the day. You wake up on a bed, sheets, and a pillow that have all been taxed. Is your air conditioning or heat on? Taxed. You go to take a shower. The water is taxed. Then you grab your toothpaste and toothbrush to brush your teeth. Taxed. You get dressed. Your underwear, pants, shirts, socks, shoes, all taxed. The deodorant, lotion, hair gel, hair dryer, brush, all taxed. You go to eat breakfast. Your cereal and the bowl and spoon you are eating it with, all taxed. You climb into your car, which was taxed, including the license plate and inspection sticker and insurance. You drive to get gas, which is taxed and you grab a cup of coffee, which is also taxed.
I could go on all day, but I think you get my point and it isn't even 8:00 in the morning yet.
I remember the first time I was affected by taxes. I was 23 or 24 and although I had worked and been disturbed by the taxes taken out of my paycheck, like most Americans, I just accepted it. But this time my husband was getting a bonus check for the first time at Christmas. We had no furniture and I had carefully calculated what we needed, shopped for bargains, and was ready to go. Then we got the check. I remember staring at it. In my mind I had known it would be taxed, but what was left was a little over half of what the check was for. Almost half had been taken. I couldn't get the furniture we needed. At first I cried and then I got mad. I vowed I would never vote for anyone who didn't promise to lower taxes and I never have.
Which brings me to McCain. McCain has promised to send Congress a reform to increase exemptions, with the goal of doubling it from 3,500 to 7,000 dollars for every dependent in every family in America. McCain has promised to ELIMINATE the alternative minimum tax entirely. He has promised to send to Congress a middle class tax cut that will save hardworking families more than 2,000 dollars a year. For small businesses he has promised to send to Congress a proposal to cut the taxes employers pay from a rate of 35 to 25 percent. He has promised to change the student loan program to make college more affordable.
How will he pay for it? He will freeze non-military and veteran discretionary spending and review the budgets of every federal program, department, and agency (long overdue!). McCain says that that alone will save $100 billion a year. He has promised to reform Medicare RX drug benefit by charging more to wealthier patients.
McCain will form a Bipartisan commission on reforming social security and medicare and says all options including privatization are on the table. McCain will not let the Bush tax cuts expire as Obama will. If what Obama wants happens it would amount to the biggest tax hike since the Great Depression.
Pork barrel spending is and has been out of control for as long as I can remember. The Democrats have it down to a fine art, but the Republicans of late should be ashamed of themselves in that regard as well. It it time for it to end. No one is more qualified to lead that revolt than McCain. He has fought against pork barrel spending his entire career and has never received one dime of pork barrel spending himself for his state. ZERO. So if you, as a taxpayer, want to keep funding things like the study of cow farts and bridges to no where and be taxed more to pay for it, then vote for Obama.
Most politicians will promise you tax cuts or something like it to get elected, but with McCain you know he means it.
McCain says he will make those who abuse our tax dollars famous. He will make their names public. He will use the veto pen. I believe him, don't you?
To the Democrats, the government is the answer to many of our problems. But in reality, it is the root of many of our problems. We have politicians on both sides who only care about self-interest and power. Increasing the power of the government over our lives gives them more power. It's time for us to stop this. Because when has the government EVER increased the quality and reduced the cost of anything? Never.
The tax man will never go away. But he should be a much much smaller part of our lives and the government should stop wasting on our tax dollars.
I've blogged about McCain for 2 years. Unlike many fellow Republicans who were mad at McCain over issues such as immigration and campaign finance reform, I wasn't. I have long admired this man for many many reasons. It's time for me to remind you of why.
This is just the beginning.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Obama no longer biggest celebrity running for President
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As Allah says:
She’s got a sense of humor, a thoughtful energy policy, and nearly as much federal legislative experience as Barry O. If grotesque overexposure and grandiose ego are now prerequisites for the presidency, then the choice is … actually, the choice still isn’t clear, is it?
The left are clueless...
Which brought this comment in the post below:
I see you didn't get a chance to post it yet, but I can't wait to hear your reaction to McCain's appearance today at the debauched Sturgis motorcycle festival - with all the public nudity and drunkenness and drug use. Republican hypocrisy heaven.It was an especially nice touch that the "honorable" McCain offered up his wife for the striptease beauty pageant that is the highlight of the day - they call the winner Miss Buffalo Chip. Such RESPECT for women from the right wing hypocrites. But no worry. I'm sure all the Christians will get over it. Without hypocrisy how could they ever have allied themselves with such an intrinsically anti-Christian party in the first place?Sean 08.05.08 - 11:50 am #
Has this guy even heard of Ted Nugent? Does he know that Kid Rock is a Republican that performs for our troops? Does he know that one of the most popular sites on the right blogosphere is Ace, where "scantily clad women" are the subject of about every other post? Does he know that Ace and Allah of Hotair are atheists?
Does the left really believe that the Republican party consists of religious conservatives and nothing else? Good grief. Get a clue guy. We have atheists, libertarians, Librarians, gay, straight, and bi-political. We ARE THE BIG TENT. We don't require people to think one way, be one way, and march in lock step like your party.
Get a clue.
When McCain made his way to the stage, he was accompanied by U.S. Sen. John Thune and Gov. Mike Rounds (who wore a black leather vest). The motorcyclists revved their engines in approval and cheered wildly for the Arizona senator.“Thank you, I thank you all very much for that unique Sturgis welcome,” McCain yelled. “As you may know, not long ago a couple a hundred thousand Berliners made a lot of noise for my opponent. I’ll take the roar of 50,000 Harleys any day! Any day, my friend!” The rowdy crowd went wild, cheering their support for the candidate. McCain spoke briefly and then left the stage, making way for musicians Kid Rock and Kellie Pickler.
Pelosi: "Just lie."
First Read:
Drilling a divide: Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that the drilling debate is starting to divide Democrats -- and not just Obama, who on Friday signaled a willingness for the first time to accept offshore drilling as part of a compromise for a larger energy package. Politico reports that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is encouraging vulnerable House Dems to back offshore drilling if it helps their political prospects, even though she’s opposed to the action. “Pelosi’s gambit rests on one big assumption: that Democrats will own Washington after the election and will be able to craft a sweeping energy policy that is heavy on conservation and fuel alternatives while allowing for some new oil drilling. Democrats see no need to make major concessions on energy policy with a party poised to lose seats in both chambers in just three months — even if recess-averse Republicans continue to pound away on the issue.” This is the type of compromise that the base isn't going to like, and it'll be interesting to watch the liberal blogosphere respond to this dilemma: Is it more important for Pelosi to WIN the drilling debate or SURVIVE it? Looks like she and Obama want to do both. It may be the political expedient thing to do, but it goes against what they've been promising.
Don't you love that? Who cares about "principles" and truth? Pelosi is telling Democrats to go ahead and say they are for drilling to get re-elected because since Democrats will be in charge, they can stop it anyway.
God, I hope the American people are paying attention to this blatant attempt to lie to them in order to win and then do the opposite of what they promised to get elected.
Politicians in general are not the most honest people, but the Democratic leadership (including Obama) right now give new meaning to the word dishonest.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Robert Novak retires.
Things aren't looking too good with his diagnosis of a brain tumor. I enjoyed meeting him a few weeks ago at the RightOnline blogger summit. My prayers go out to him.
"You're a Racist!"
Looks Rick Moran over at Right Wing Nut House has enough enough of it:
If my blog attracted only those who usually agreed with me and thought I was the bee’s knees when it came to commentary, blogging would be a marvelous daily exercise. But there is another side to blogging that most of us never talk about; the relentless, daily pounding of negativism, hurtful epithets, and outright spewing hatred that arrives in the form of comments and emails from the other side as well as other blogs linking and posting on something I’ve written.
.......
Allah at Hot Air has been all over the issue of the left deliberately twisting the intent and meaning of criticism of Obama to arrive at a pre-determined conclusion that the attack is racially motivated and, by extension, the attackers are racists.
Goldstein has written a book on his blog over the years in intentionalism and the deliberate rebranding and redefinition of terms and language in order to either cut off debate entirely or redefine the debate by surrendering logic and reason and buying into a false narrative created by the left that gives them the advantage. Goldstein shows how this is especially true in identity politics and how the rank dishonesty of deconstructionism has poisoned political debate.
There is little original thought I can add to either of those excellent critiques so I would like to explore this phenomena on a more personal level. Every anti-Obama post I’ve written on this site or anywhere else has elicited several comments alluding to me as a racist or implying that my criticism is racially motivated. All conservative bloggers have gotten this treatment to one degree or another so I am not alone in experiencing this. It doesn’t matter whether I am serious in my criticism or not. The de facto conclusion reached by these commenters is that the very act of criticizing Obama and that I don’t want him to be president can only mean one thing; it is the candidate’s race that is my primary motivation for opposing him.
I have also received such hateful attacks in comments (which I delete) and e-mails (which I also delete). When I first started blogging malicious comments did bother me, but then I realized that they were just hateful people trying to get to me and why should I let them? So now I happily delete before I even finish reading the first sentence. Their words don't bother me because I know who I am and where I came from. Calling me a racist is laughable to anyone who knows me.
We on the right have serious reservations with Obama, but his being black is not one of them. I think it is a testament to how far we have come on race that there really has been no serious derogatory mentions about Obama, that I am aware of, in the MSM or the political blogosphere. Especially given the Rev. Wright controversy.
Moran points out that recently David Gergen made the charge that McCain's "Moses" ad was code for Obama being "uppity" (which is absurd) and McCain's "celebrity" ad was filled with codes regarding Obama's race. It is beyond ridiculous that referring to Obama being a celebrity like that of Paris Hilton was really about "secretly" fueling redneck's fears about black men and white women.
Given the fact that mixed race couples are now commonplace, I don't think that charge holds much water.
It seems to me that Obama has been the only one bringing race into this. At a fund raiser in June, Mr. Obama predicted, "They're going to try to make you afraid of me: 'He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. ... Oh, and did I mention he's black?'" And then again, last week, Obama again warned of the Republican's impending racial attack: "The only strategy they've got in this election is to try to scare you about me -- 'He doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills." Which Obama had to finally admit that he was referring to race among other things.
It may make the left feel better that charges against Obama has to do with race rather than ability, but the truth of the matter is that his inexperience and policies are the problem. In that regard, Obama is being treated exactly the same way he would be if he were white.
And that says a great deal to me about how far we have come in this country on race.
V.P. Vetting
Rep. Eric Cantor, the Virginia Congressman is being vetted as a possible V.P. for McCain.
At first glance you think he doesn't have enough experience and is too young, then you realize that he is chief deputy minority whip in the House and has been in Congress four years longer than the guy at the top of the ticket on the other side.
via HotAir
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Obama is the candidate of change alright..
He says, "Please. I'll do anything to be President."
Except this.
The Fight Goes On
House Republicans go back on the floor Monday to talk gas prices
Continuing with their guerilla tactics from last week, House Republicans will be back on the floor Monday to talk gas prices, even though Congress is in recess, and they may stay there all week.
More than a dozen Republicans have already committed to make appearances, according to House GOP leadership aide, including National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.).
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who lead Friday's five-hour talkathon after the House shut down for the August recess, are also expected to be there, according to this aide.
Memo for Boehner's office:
Washington, Aug 3 - House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward energy independence.
Sweet.
via HotAir
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Get ready for it..
It's conservative, it's funny, and it's....HOLLYWOOD!
Zucker's latest movie, An American Carol, is unlike anything that has ever come out of Hollywood. It is a frontal attack on the excesses of the American left from several prominent members of a growing class of Hollywood conservatives. Until now, conservatives in Hollywood have always been too few and too worried about a backlash to do anything serious to challenge the left-wing status quo.
David Zucker believes we are in a "new McCarthy era." Time magazine film writer Richard Corliss recently joked that conservative films are "almost illegal in Hollywood." Tom O'Malley, president of Vivendi Entertainment, though, dismisses claims that Hollywood is hostile to conservative ideas and suggests that conservatives simply haven't been as interested in making movies. "How come there aren't more socialists on Wall Street?"
But Zucker's film, together with a spike in attendance at events put on by "The Friends of Abe" (Lincoln, not Vigoda)--a group of right-leaning Hollywood types that has been meeting regularly for the past four years--is once again reviving hope that conservatives will have a battalion in this exceedingly influential battleground of the broader culture war.
You gotta love it with scenes like this;
The set jumps to life. Two young men--both terrorists--enter the station. They are surprised to see a security checkpoint manned by two NYPD officers. "I'll need to see your bag, please," says one of the officers. The lead terrorist glances nervously at his friend and swings his backpack down from his shoulder to present it to the cops. Just as the officer pulls on the zipper, however, a small army of ACLU lawyers marches up to the policemen with a stop-search order. The cops look at each other and shrug their shoulders. "This says we can't search their bags."
The young men are relieved. They smile fiendishly as they walk toward the crowded platform. As the lead terrorist once again slips the backpack over his shoulder, he mutters his appreciation.
"Thank Allah for the ACLU."
.......
The holiday in An American Carol is not Christmas and the antagonist is not Ebenezer Scrooge. Instead, the film follows the exploits of a slovenly, anti-American filmmaker named Michael Malone, who has joined with a left-wing activist group (Moovealong.org) to ban the Fourth of July. Along the way, Malone is visited by the ghosts of three American heroes--George Washington, George S. Patton, and John F. Kennedy--who try to convince him he's got it all wrong. When terrorists from Afghanistan realize that they need to recruit more operatives to make up for the ever-diminishing supply of suicide bombers, they begin a search for just the right person to help produce a new propaganda video. "This will not be hard to find in Hollywood," says one. "They all hate America." When they settle on Malone, who is in need of work after his last film (Die You American Pigs) bombed at the box office, he unwittingly helps them with their plans to launch another attack on American soil.
The entire film is an extended rebuttal to the vacuous antiwar slogan that "War Is Not the Answer." Zucker's response, in effect: "It Depends on the Question."
Should be interesting. Can't wait.
h/t BigDog
Happy Anniversary Rush!
Now, this should send the left into a snarling, gnashing of the teeth, pulling hair out, complete breakdown.
Wrap that up with a pretty bow and you have the perfect anniversary gift for Rush!
Heh.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Are Republicans getting their MoJo back???
By God, I think so.
From NRO:
I just heard that the House G.O.P. wrapped up their protest session at 5:05 by singing "God Bless America" and left the chamber with the crowd chanting, "USA! USA!" Unbelievable.
Also, I there's this little tidbit — after the Democrats shut off the microphones, Rep. John Shaedegg ran out to turn them on. In an update to the post I linked to earlier, the Politico reports:
Apparently, the fiesty Arizona conservative started typing random codes into the chamber's public address system and accidentally typed the correct code, allowing Republicans brief access to the microphone before it was turned off again.
"I love this," Shadegg told reporters up in the press gallery afterward. "Congress can be so boring. ... This is a kick."
John Culberson of Texas has been twittering the whole thing and it has been a hoot to read. Twitters like this:
This is a huge peprally to give America a vote - just let us vote - to drill here drill now to get us through the next 10 to 15 years
House floor and gallery are full of Americans who came to the Capitol to see Congress work yet Speaker Pelosi sent us all home
And she turned off the lights on her way out apparently.
More:
Cong Mike Rogers says every day Pelosi wastes America sends 50 million to Putin 200 million to Saudi Arabia 180 million to Hugo Chavez
I just told the House chamber We the People can take back the Capitol with these new media tools by networking and shining sunlight everywhere
Go twitter and the Internet. Shine the light into the darkness that is the operation of Congress!
John Culberson is the Congressman that gets the new media. Check him out! (Follow me on twitter too!)
It gets even sweeter:
In total, 48 Republicans spoke on the floor Friday, offering remarks ranging from the impassioned to the plainly partisan. Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter declared, “This is the People’s House. This is not Pelosi’s Politburo.” He later pretended to be a Democrat, walking to their side of the floor to announce all the votes they had prevented.
Let's combine this with McCain not letting Obama get away with his snarky barely hidden remarks on race and I would almost think that Republicans are remembering where they put those thing that Jesse Jackson wanted to cut off Obama!
;-)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
How about no one play the race card
It's beyond ridiculous for anyone to believe that Obama was not referring to race when he said this:
They are going to say he "doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency, he’s a got a funny name.”
The obama campaign is saying:
"He was referring to the fact that he didn’t come into the race with the history of others. It is not about race."
Right. Give us all a frickin break. We all know what he was talking about. Flash back to June 21.
Obama: “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid."
“They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”
At the time I thought, "Excuse me? who mentioned that you are black?"
The truth of the matter is that Obama is the only one who brings up race. The Democrats from Hillary to Rev. Wright brings up race.
But McCain and the Republicans never bring it up. Why? Because it honestly doesn't matter to us. At all. Only his beliefs and his policy, and his vision concerns us. We don't care what color Obama is, except for the fact that he is green.
That is his biggest problem.
Honestly, I don't think Obama himself wants to play the race card. I think his campaign is pushing it. It's a mistake. Don't accuse people of looking at race, when that is not what they do. That backfires.
Nothing Really Changes
When I blogged about volunteering at two River Oaks fundraisers for McCain, I have to admit I was feeling a bit of the elitism of the rich surrounding me.
I know campaigns need money and this is how to raise it, but it's disconcerting nonetheless when homes of wealthy trial lawyers energy company chiefs are the venue.
Wait, those two I mentioned above weren't McCain fundraisers in River Oaks. they were Obama fundraisers.
I guess Obama hopes for money from the same place all politicians get it. I guess the change there isn't a change at all.
So much for the "different" kind of politician.
Polls
Polls at this point don't mean a lot, but they are fun to look at when things are looking good for your side:
30% of conservative Democrats are voting for McCain. This sides with my super scientific polling of white Democrat men. I haven't "polled"one yet that said they would vote for Obama. Many I spoke to said they had never voted Republican their whole life, but they were this time.
I have a feeling that when you mix in the new youth vote all hyped up on Obamania with the disdain many independents are feeling over the celebrity aspect of Obama, we are going to have a very very close race.
Coming Home
Good news.
President Bush announced this morning that beginning tomorrow, US troop tours in Iraq will be reduced from 15 months to 12 months.
"The progress in Iraq has allowed us to continue our policy of return on success," the President said from the Colonnade outside the Oval Office, "We have now brought home all five of the combat brigades and the three Marine units that were sent to Iraq as part of the surge. The last of these surge brigades returned home this month."
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Is Obama the Paris Hilton of politics?
Like Paris, he looks good, but there isn't much underneath.
I don't know how effective this ad is. But it is true that "celebrity" is what Obama is all about now.
No more pork!
Obama received $1 million dollars a DAY in pork while in the Senate.
McCain received how much pork in his 2 decades in the Senate? That would be ZERO.
McCain promises to veto every single pork barral project bill that comes across his desk and make those responsible "famous."
This is what we need. Stop wasteful spending of our hard earned tax dollars.
via The Partisan Report
Can They Admit They Were Wrong?
Rumor has it that Republicans are trying to get McCain to go to ANWR to see for himself the small environmental impact drilling there would have and to see what a big impact it would have on our production of oil.
Obama went to Iraq and still couldn't admit he was wrong about the surge. I wonder if McCain will go to ANWR and admit that he was wrong about drilling there.
It would be nice. We shall see.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Texas Democratic Convention
From The Texas Democratic Convention @ The Houston Chronicle. I will let this brief video stand without comment. I'll just give you a quote from it: "Why are you here? You're not black."
Funny stuff
Below is a cartoon Gary Varvel, who does great work at National Review. He didn't get to print this one because he held a caption contest for what Obama is saying and the whole Obama speech in Germany was off the newscycle by the time they got some some good ones like, " "I'm embarrassed to be speaking to you in English today," and "I'm not president, but I've played one on TV." Give me some of your own.
This made me laugh...
I'm glad MoveOn.org claimed responsibility at the end or I would have thought it was a spoof making fun of Obama.
You can't tell the reality from goofiness in this campaign season.
Sweet
Monday, July 28, 2008
Obama's Wailing wall prayer was pre-approved for publication.
If this is true, then any respect that I had for Obama (and yes, I had some) and his campaign is gone:
From the Israeli Insider:
What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel, was roundly criticized for publishing the note Obama left in the Kotel. But now a Maariv spokesperson says that publication of the note was pre-approved for international publication by the Obama campaign, leading to the conclusion that the "private" prayer was intentionally leaked for public consumption.
.......
A Ma'ariv spokesman was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying that "Barack Obama's note was approved for publication in the international media even before he put in the Kotel, a short time after he wrote it at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem." The paper added that is was "pleased" with its "journalistic accomplishment." It appears that Obama made Maariv an instrument of his will. The paper, of course, was a most willing tool.
A prayer as a campaign prop.
Color me not surprised.
Jesse Ventura
I'm reading his book. He is so clever and funny. So macho.
I just saw him on Hannity and Colmes.
He makes me want to puke.
Can we please stop electing frickin wrestlers to public office. They are worst than lawyers. And that is saying a lot.
Obama: the Ex-Colored Man?
I read a piece in National Review by Jay Nordlinger about the jazz singer Renee Marie who substituted the national anthem with what is known as "the Negro national hymn" at a ceremony in Denver where the mayor gives a 'State of the City" speech.
Let's get the obvious out of the way first. No matter what Renee Marie chose to sing, it was beyond rude to switch the song that she was suppose to sing. It simply wasn't her call. But everyone seemed to make a big deal out of it in a patriotic way. At the time I looked at the words of the song she sang that day, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," and thought it a beautiful song. I was sort of bewildered at what kind point Renee Marie was trying to make because the song spoke of such a love of this country, so it wasn't some dig at America.
Reading Renee Marie's bio on her website, it seems she does have mixed feelings. In a 2007 interview with a Russian newspaper she said she almost felt compelled to tell them she wasn't American. She said she didn't feel American. She basically says that the injustice that was a part of the black experience for her growing up under the Jim Crow laws made her question the words of all the patriotic songs that she sang in church growing up. I guess she had never been proud of her country until now. That seems familiar to me, but I just can't place it...;-)
In the National Review piece, Nordlinger researches the history the song "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." It was written 108 years ago by James Weldon Johnson (music was written by his brother) for a Lincoln birthday celebration. Whatever injustices that Renee Marie experienced growing up (and I don't want to minimize them, they were indeed harsh) one can safely say that as a black man who lived between 1871-1938, injustice was even more profound in a society that had barely left slavery behind. Johnson was a part of the Harlem Renaissance. He was a lawyer, politician, song writer, and an educator among other things. But it is obvious to me in his lyrics that he deeply loved this country. I don't think that he would have questioned whether he was American or not.
I have always been fascinated by the Harlem Renaissance in the early 1900's. Blacks asserted their independence with their own enclave of literature, drama, music, visual art, and dance. Years ago I watched a documentary of it with actual film footage of the time. It seemed to me the black community knew they weren't allowed to compete in the white world, so they made their own world. And it really was quite a wonderful world.
Now, I'm going to connect a few seemingly unrelated things here because I just find them interesting. After the brouhaha of the Renee Marie thing, Obama was asked about this Negro anthem and he said, "We have only one national anthem." Obama wouldn't even utter the words, "The Negro National Anthem." Not long after that, as you might recall, Jesse Jackson had some pretty harsh things to say about how Obama "talked down to N***gers"
Well, it just so happens that this same man who wrote the Negro anthem, James Weldon Johnson, also wrote a book called "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man." According to Wikipedia this book "is the fictional telling of the story of a young biracial man, referred to only as the “Ex-Colored Man." "The Ex-Colored Man was forced to choose between embracing his black heritage and culture by expressing himself through the African-American musical genre ragtime, or by "passing" and living obscurely as a mediocre middle-class white man."
Reading through the plot it seems the Ex-Colored man is torn between his two heritiages, white and black. He is raised in a different environment than most other blacks. After seeing a lynching, the Ex-Colored man decides that when it comes to his race he simply wishes to remain neutral. The Ex-Colored Man declares that he “would neither disclaim the black race nor claim the white race.”
The book is about a black man "passing" as a white man. Which is certaintly not what Obama is doing. But the part about neither disclaiming the black race nor claiming the white race struck me.
Obama never seems to embrace his black heritage to me. And he never mentions or looks at himself as being white in any way other than to reference his mother's family.
And this may be what made Jesse Jackson so angry. Does it anger a "Colored man" to look at an "Ex-Colored man" doing so well? Maybe only if one thinks of themselves like that? Because clearly black men in general don't feel that way.
Who do we trust on the WOT?
Everyone is talking about Obama's and McCain's "timetables" or "horizons" of our troops getting out of Iraq. Obama says McCain has come closer to his position of 16 months and McCain says that Obama has changed his position to deciding factors on the ground.
Obama said this: "Iraq force will be 'entirely conditions-based. It's hard to anticipate where we may be six months from now."
McCain said this when asked why McCain thought Maliki said that 16 months was pretty good timetable: "He said it's a pretty good timetable based on conditions on the ground. I think it's a pretty good timetable, as we should -- or horizons for withdrawal. But they have to be based on conditions on the ground."
So basically McCain and Obama are saying the same thing. They will get the troops out as soon as possible, but everything hinges on conditions on the ground.
Now, this has always been what McCain position. I don't think any of us think McCain will pull our troops out if commanders say they are still needed. We know this.
What we don't know about Obama is if he saying these things for political purposes only. Given that things are still not perfect in Iraq, we need someone who understands this.
But to me, it puts the Iraq situation off the table for now as far as the candidates go. They seem to agree. It may make the base of the Democratic party angry with Obama, but they aren't going anywhere and he knows it. He can afford to look all hawkish now.
So given that the two candidates are basically saying the same thing there, the only questions are who would we trust to move forward in the war on terror? Who would we trust to handle ongoing violence? Who would we trust if another terrorist attack occurred? Who was right on what to do to bring Iraq to this successful conclusion?
Who would you trust to know what to do?
There is simply no question to who that is. John McCain.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
10 Things I Love About The South
1) The world can be falling down around them, death, destruction, even nuclear holocaust, and Southern women will have their hair and makeup done. Just because your miserable doesn't mean you can't look good.
2) When you ask someone in the South, "how are you?", they don't say "I'm fine." They usually answer with a wildly entertaining story.
3) You can buy boiled salty wonderful peanuts off just about any road in the South.
4) Trees. Trees. Trees.
5) Southerners love their animals. They love their horses, dogs, and cats. They also love to eat whatever animal isn't one of those.
6) While many Americans drink because they want to forget life, Southerners drink to enjoy life. And they do. Drink. Alot.
7) Blue Dog Democrats. Yes, these are Democrats I actually like because when asked about Obama over in Europe they say things like, "Well, I hope everyone in Germany votes for him."
8) Everybody knows everybody's business. The Internet still does not compare to the gossip grapevine of the South.
9) When driving through neighborhoods or slow streets in town, everyone waves at you. And then they turn to each other say, "Who is that and why is she driving Bobby's truck?" And in about 30 minutes everyone knows you're in town. Even the ones who don't know you.
10) Restaurants tend to be family owned and the food melts in your mouth. When you ask for tea, they ask, "Regular or sweet?" If you say sweet they know you are from here.
Still more of a Jewish problem with Obama
As for the campaign-financed (not official) Israel leg of Obama's trip, the visuals were fine, at first. But Jews the world over gagged on their breakfasts this morning seeing the newspaper and Drudge Report photos of multiple Obama campaign banners and posters tactlessly defiling the area of Jerusalem's Western Wall. This shameless usurpation of Judaism's holiest site for use as a cheap political prop is embarrassing, and not going to go over well. If God already endorsed Obama - which Obama may believe - I must have missed it. One can only imagine how such a stunt would have gone over at the Vatican. Or in Mecca.
Obama's Israel sound-bites were solid. When he stuck to his scripted remarks, he sounded decent. But McCain has been visiting Israel for 30 years; he knows the area and the issues without consulting his briefing book.
Obama's trip is merely a calculated campaign photo-op designed to make him appear experienced. His image-enhancement was devoid of any real substance-actually, not a bad metaphor for his entire campaign for amorphous "change." Even his visit with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which his campaign preposterously claims "one-ups" McCain, was just a campaign-financed meeting, not an official visit.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Obama's Jewish Problem
Kathyrn Jean Lopez over at NRO interviewed Caroline B. Glick, who is the deputy managing editor of the Jerusalem Post and the senior fellow for Middle East Affairs at the Center for Security Policy.
Read the whole thing, but two things Glick said stood out to me:
Glick: Obama acts like a European leader in his treatment of Israel. On the one hand, he professes this profound respect for Israel and the Jews, and goes on and on about how our security is important to him. On the other hand, he espouses policies that undermine Israeli security and threaten its survival, and demands that the Jewish state become the only state that turns its other cheek towards our enemies as they try to kill us. This is the same sort of message that we hear from all Europeans leaders. And it is tiresome and insulting.
.......
Lopez: Does Obama have it? (a commitment to Israel)
Glick: No, Obama doesn’t have it. His statements about Iraq being a “diversion” alone are proof that he fundamentally refuses to acknowledge that there is a global jihad raging, that Israel is a frontline state in the jihad and that the U.S. cannot allow jihadists to gain control of any territory and particularly territory as strategically vital as Iraq or Jerusalem and the West Bank. Obama is a quintessential leftist who thinks that war can be wished away by blaming the U.S. for its enemies’ hatred and malicious designs. This is the type of person who will push very hard not only for America to stand down from the war and ask the Iranians for forgiveness while enabling them to get the bomb, but will blame Israel for the Arab world’s refusal to accept its right to exist.
Obama's prayer that he stuck in the wailing wall was taken and given to the press, which is wrong and disturbing. But almost as disturbing to me is the fact that the prayer was obviously written with the intent of it being given to the press. You can read the prayer at the link. I don't feel that comfortable publishing here myself.
It doesn't get any funnier than this...
The right person just has to write it. Here is a taste:
And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
The Dark Knight and the WOT
As I was watching it, I kept trying to keep out of my head that the movie was swimming in metaphors about the war on terror. I tell myself that I am obsessed with world events and I can't keep seeing things through that prism. I tell myself to just enjoy the frickin movie.
Well, I am not the only one who saw the Dark Knight as a metaphor for Bush and his courage to fight the war on terror despite being hated for it.
Andrew Klavan of the WSJ says this:
There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.
That seemed obvious with wall of computer screens at Bruce Wayne's home that were "spying on every one in Gotham City" through their cell phone or some sort of sonar. The character of the scientist played Morgan Freedman says he will do it this once during this crisis and then resign, and as he does the screens blow up.
Message to Bush: When we have defeated these monsters, the wiretapping thing has to go.
Then there is The Joker telling Batman that his problem is that has "rules" and the Joker has "no rules." Yeah. Guess who else doesn't have any "rules?" The terrorists. The movie even used the word "terrorists" a few times.
Not too get too deep here (I know, I know..it's just a movie!) But I have to write about my favorite part of the movie. If you haven't seen it, this won't give anything away and if you have, then you will know what I am talking about.
It's when the prisoner tells the policeman on the ferry to give him the device and he will do what the policeman should have done 10 minutes earlier. Which turns out to be the right thing.
Omg....I love it when people do the right thing.
The movie is just full of scenes that stir in us thoughts of what is good and evil and how we define it. Are we all susceptible to it? When do we become as bad as what we are fighting? Do the ends justify the means? At one point The Joker says, "everyone says I'm crazy, but I'm just ahead of the curve."
When I was young I read William Golding's "Lord of the Flies." I cried and cried at towards the end at this line:
"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."
It was the first time in my life that I thought about how easy it could be for us to lose our sense of morality and become animals. Since then I have learned a great deal about the darkness of man's heart, but I have also learned that in all of our history, man has also managed to bring the light out of the darkness. Even in the blackness that was the Holocaust, good people stood steadfast in the goodness of man's heart.
Yeah, it's just a movie. It's just a comic book movie, but it's a dang good one if it makes contemplate such things.
h/t BigDog
Funny
I am currently at home in Mississippi, so I found it amusing that I find this on boing boing while here. This is part of a series of short films created by Mississippi Public Broadcasting on how to use the library. The funny part is the idea that they are in a post-apocalyptic world roaming the earth in a bookmobile. Imagine my surprise when I recognized the girl playing Margaret (orange jumpsuit) as a girl I did a play with in college. I'm guessing these were made around 1977.
Where in the world is Hillary Clinton?
On the plane Wednesday I read a Vanity Fair piece about the Hillary primary campaign. Basically it was infighting and Bill that brought things down. It was all pretty brutal.
Last we heard Hillary said she would work hard for Obama. So where the heck is she?
I did actually get to feeling sorry for Hillary at the end there. It seemed everyone she counted on abandoned her. Now things are even worse. Her biggest fan and backer, Terry McAuliffe suggested to a crowd of Virginia Democrats this week that Gov. Tim Kaine would be the best choice for Obama's V.P. pick.
Ouch.
Last I heard she was speaking to the American Federation of Teachers in Chicago on July 12th. Has anyone seen her lately? In addition to that, the big donors to the Hillary campaign aren't exactly rushing with their cash to Obama .
According to BizJournal, fewer than 3 percent of Clinton's top donors have given any money to the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Also, this interesting tidbit:
Lynn, Lady de Rothschild, one of Clinton's biggest supporters, has started a web site that aims to place Clinton's name into the nominating process at the convention. Lady de Rothschild, like many Hillraisers, is reluctant to support Obama.
Where is Hillary? I don't know. Maybe plotting?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The before picture
For those of you who were wondering what the Obama plane with the American flag looked like before they changed it to the "O" symbol, here ya go.
Please...
Obama implies to Fox News reporter that Bush directs the TV's on Armed Forces television to be on Fox News
I just love it when Gretchen Carlson gets all indignant. She does it so well.
Forget the troops...
A Dying Endorsement
(CNN) — Support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to extend to death row Wednesday.
According to The Jackson Clarion Ledger, a Mississippi newspaper, death row inmate Dale Leo Bishop's final words before being executed Wednesday night included an appeal to Americans to vote for the Illinois senator.
"For those who oppose the death penalty and want to see it end, our best bet is to vote for Barack Obama because his supporters have been working behind the scenes to end this practice," Bishop said, according to the paper.
Really? Obama's supporters are working behind the scenes while Obama says this in front of the cameras?
"I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes,"
You mean they are saying one thing to our face and advocating another behind our back?
Just another day in Obamaland.
Zu viel zu früh
Obama isn't getting to speak in Germany at Brandenburg Gate to make a dramatic speech as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan did. I guess he couldn't "speak that into being."
But since symbolism is everything, Obama is doing the next best thing. He is speaking in front of "the Siegess'e (victory column) monument — or "Goldelse" ("Goldlizzie"), as Berliners affectionately dub it because of a golden statue of the goddess of victory that crowns the monument."
I really do believe that this over the top thing that Obama and the media is participating in, is going to backfire. I don't think it's just Jesus that is rolling his eyes at all this.
First political ad on MTV and it's against Obama
There is some sweet irony there. Imo political ads on MTV are a waste of time. Unless Tila Tequila is running for President, this generation doesn't much care. Oh, they may swoon for Obama for now, but they will be too hung over to vote on election day.
Did any of you watch Jay Leno's interviews on the street last night? He interviewed the MTV generation and as funny as it was, it was also embarrassing. No one knew who the Vice President was. One didn't even know who the President was. The funniest/saddest was one who thought Nancy Pelosi was someone in prison for embezzlement and another thought she was a porn star. Heh.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Obama: Speak It Into Being
Once I was speaking with a black friend of mine who had been interviewed to be a manager at a company that day. I asked him about it. He said, "I am the manager." I said, "Oh, you already heard from them?" He said," No, but I am speaking it into being."
After *cough/laughing* about this and saying, "Say what?", I found that this was a belief practiced at his Church and it was a common way of thinking and believing in the black church in general. The idea is to speak to what you want in your life and make it real, make it happen. Speak it into being.
It occurred to me today that that is perhaps exactly what Obama is doing. From his "presidential seal" to his trip to the Middle East it seems Obama is telling us that he is already President. He is speaking it.
As the Politico reports:
From the saturated media coverage to the one-on-one meetings with heads of state, the trip already had a White House feel. The scope of the traveling staff simply adds to an aura of a president-in-waiting. On Tuesday, aides attempted to invoke White House rules and traditions by requiring reporters to withhold the names of senior advisers who brief the press. But they were reminded twice by reporters that they were not in the White House and that Obama was not the president.
It explains alot of the seeming arrogance of this campaign. It explains the staging of everything Obama does. It isn't that they want him to look Presidential. He is Presidential. He is the President.
The truth of the matter is Obama's experience in no way compares to McCain's. What Obama knows he has, that McCain doesn't, is star power. He is using it effectively. But in the end I don't believe that the future of this country will be put in the hands of a political star that is good with words, but bad at policy. Who speaks in platitudes and compromises that are the opposite of everything that he has actually promoted in his life.
Let Obama try to speak it into being.
Let's vote it into not being.
Drill some sense into Democrats
When it comes to drilling (and I know a bit about it), I couldn't figure out lately whether Democrats were liars or just ignorant. I think it's a little of the latter and a lot of the former.
If I hear one more Democrat whine about the leased land that isn't being used to drill I will scream. Ask yourself this basic simple question. If an oil company has a lease on land with oil there, why wouldn't they have already drilled there? Does that make any sense?
The reasons could be that there may not be enough oil and gas to make it worth the enormous cost or there isn't any at all. It may be regulations a mile long that make it impossible. Don't even get me started on lawsuits over whales and cows. Drilling is always a gamble. There isn't a stick you can put into the ground that tells you that there is oil there. It's a complicated and expensive process just to see if there is oil there. There is a reason Petroleum engineers make good money. They are paid to figure it out.
There has never been a better time to fight for more drilling. The Democrats are faced with a public that is demanding it. Politico reports on a "gang of 10," five Republicans and five Democrats trying to hash out a plan.
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) predicted Tuesday that 12 Democratic senators would join Republicans in voting to lift the offshore drilling ban if given the opportunity to do so.
But Democratic leaders are doing all they can to prevent a vote on drilling before members leave town in two weeks.
No one is working harder than John Boehner:
Republican House Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio returned Monday night from a trip to Colorado and Alaska, where he and a group of freshman GOP lawmakers traveled to show support for alternative energy approaches as well as oil drilling in ANWR.
He's hitting the news shows and he is making the case and he's doing a great job at it.
I laugh when I hear people whine about "Big Oil." Big oil is what keeps us warm in the winter, cool in the summer. It runs our factories, it runs our towns, it runs our cars, it runs our planes. Stop using those things if you don't like "Big Oil."
Oil has come a long way as far as environmental concerns go and they environmentalists know it. There is minimal environmental impact with drilling now.
We all know we have to look at alternative energy sources. T. Boone Pickens says we can't drill our way out of this problem. Maybe not, but we drill our way out of suffering while we develop what we need.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Edward's Love Child?
At first glance the John Edwards/Mistress/Love child story seems too tabloid to be true (and it was the National Inquirer that broke the story a year ago and everyone ignored it), but it looks pretty bad from here.
Imagine if Edwards had gotten the nomination? Wow. A presidential candidate whose wife has cancer and encouraged him to run anyway for the good of the country (because we need men like this, don't you know), and he gets his mistress pregnant in the middle of it all. Now he is caught visiting his love child.
Gee, it's like we're France or something.
Now, nothing surprises me any more. Especially when it comes to power and sex.
You have to feel sorry for Elizabeth on this one. A sorry tale. A sorry husband.
"The Obama Effect"
The Trailer.
From Politico:
Right-wing provocateur and well-known Clinton antagonist David Bossie says he will premiere a documentary critical of presidential candidate Barack Obama in Denver on the Sunday before the Democratic National Convention.
Expected to recycle the “greatest hits” of cable TV clips that damaged Obama’s candidacy, from the wailing of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to Michelle Obama’s “proud of my country” gaffe, the project from Bossie’s group Citizens United released an online trailer over the weekend and is being advertised on Fox News this week. It will be released on DVD nationwide Sept. 1.
I don't know how effective these things are. It seems too contrived with the flipping screens and all that. I am so sick of Obama at this point that I don't even want to see anything about him, critical or not.
It seems to me just a straight forward review of Obama's past record, flip/flops, and questionable ties is all we need.
Follow me on twitter..
I've just started getting into it. I'm Rightwingsparkl there, without the "e." I guess they only allow 15 characters. Anyway, I'll see you on twitter!
Kewl...
I was picked up by the Chicago Sun Times last week and missed it!
Picked up by Rueters too. It's so cool to see that.
Check out this photo..
Even those across the pond call this a circus
AFP photo
Meanwhile even the left leaning media is concerned about the nice tightly wrapped package that is the Obama tour in the Middle East. There is simply no way the campaign was going to allow a mistake. They were not going to allow the free flow style of McCain:
MITCHELL: Let me just say something about the message management. He didn’t have reporters with him, he didn’t have a press pool, he didn’t do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you’re seeing is not reporters brought in. You’re seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they’re not interviews from a journalist. So, there’s a real press issue here. Politically it’s smart as can be. But we’ve not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before.
***
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about access to the troops, Andrea. A lot of African-American faces over there, very happy, delighted faces. Is that a representation of the percentage of servicepeople who are African-American, or did they all choose to join someone they like, apparently? What’s the story?
MITCHELL: I can’t really say that. Being a reporter who was not present in any of those situations, I just cannot report on what was edited out, what was, you know, on the sidelines. That’s my issue. We don’t know what we are seeing.
via PW and Newsbusters
I also noted, as did others, that the volunteer greets in Afghanistan for Obama seemed to lack "diversity." Most of the faces were black. Why was that? I found it curious. After those initial meetings I suppose someone in the campaign noticed this and Obama started meeting with unit formations. Because it is all about the presentation here folks.
Obama thinks he is already the President
Or at least his advisors think so. Good grief.
At a morning background briefing, reporters parried with senior advisers on the characterization of Obama’s speech Thursday in Berlin as a campaign rally. The outdoor speech at the Victory Column could draw thousands of people, similar to the size of Obama events in the United States.
“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.
“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser.
“He is going to talk about the issues as an individual … not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator,” the adviser added.
The ego of this campaign is starting to get on my last nerve.
