1. Barack Obama spent 20 years sitting in church while his preacher and others bad-mouthed the United States of America. Navy pilot John McCain spent five years being tortured in the Hanoi Hilton, and refused a chance to walk out ahead of fellow POWs with more seniority.
2. Obama wants to cut and run from Iraq regardless of conditions on the ground or future consequences. McCain took on the president and secretary of defense in demanding more troops for Iraq, a policy that is inarguably winning the war. He also has two sons who fought in Iraq.
3. McCain supports nuclear power. Obama backs wind energy.
4. Obama wants restrictive gun control because only economically depressed middle-Americans “cling to God and guns.” McCain unwaveringly supports the Second Amendment.
5. McCain has deviated from his party’s conservative base on several occasions (McCain-Feingold Bill, Gang of 14, McCain-Kennedy Bill, opposition to torture). Obama has voted the left-wing line every single time, and been designated the most liberal Senator in Congress.
6. Obama is willing to meet with hostile state leaders like Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez without preconditions. McCain will set conditions first, talk later — maybe.
7. Obama is married to a bitter, angry lawyer who became “proud” of her country for the first time this year. McCain’s wife is a beer heiress who founded an organization to provide MASH-style units to disaster-torn world regions. Did I mention that she’s a beer heiress?
8. Obama supports higher taxes for a government-run nanny state that will coddle all Americans like babies. McCain trusts people to spend their less-taxed money however they wish.
9. The name John McCain sounds like “John McClain,” the action hero played by Bruce Willis in the manly Die Hard series. “Barack Obama” sounds like the kind of elitist villain John McClain has to outwit and defeat.
10. McCain is endorsed by Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Obama gets support from Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, and every weenie in Hollywood. Plus, Susan Sarandon has vowed to leave the country if McCain gets elected. Case closed.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
The United States Military
Sailors and soldiers come in all shapes, shades, weights, sizes, states of sobriety, misery, and confusion. They are sly as a fox, have the nerve of a dope addict, the sincerity of a politician, and the subtly of Mt. Saint Helen. They are extremely irresistible, totally irrational and completely indestructible.
A sailor/soldier is a warrior all his life even if only for a few years of that life. He is a magical creature. You can kick him out of your house but not out of your heart. You can take him off your mailing list but not off your mind.
Sailors and soldiers are found everywhere... in love...in battle... in lust... in trouble...in debt...in bars and ... behind them. No one can write so seldom and yet think so much of you. No one else can get so much enjoyment out of a letter or clean clothes or a six pack.
A sailor/soldier is a genius with a deck of cards. A millionaire without a cent and brave without a grain of sense. HE IS THE PROTECTOR OF AMERICA! When he wants something, it's usually 30 days leave, music that hurts the ears, a five dollar bill...or a woman he can count on.
Girls love them, mothers tolerate them, fathers brag about them,the government pays them, the police watch out for them and somehow they all work together.
You can beat their bodies, but not their minds. You can tame their hearts, but not their souls.
He likes girls, chow, females, guns, women, alcohol, ladies, did I say alcohol?, and the opposite sex.
Sailors and soldiers dislike small checks, working weekends, answering letters, waking up, maintaining a uniform, and the day before payday.
You may as well give in. A sailor/soldier is your long distance lover... they are your steely-eyed, warm-smiling, blank-minded, hyper-active, over-reacting, curious, passionate, talented, spontaneous, physically fit, good for nothing bundle of worry.....
And he will always be there for you, regardless of how long its been since you've last talked.
Take time and say a prayer for the men and women of our great military today.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Day Off
If John McCain wants to take the day off from campaigning then I guess I'll take the day off from posting any political related posts.
Yesterday our youngest daughter, Danielle, was the recipient of a Proud Principal Phone Call Home Award at school. Danielle and the principal of her school, Barb, called Dawn on her cell. Danielle got the award because last week her teacher was out sick for a few days and Danielle helped the subsitute teachers out. She helped them with the order of class and where to find things in the class. Two of the subs made mention to Barb what a great help Danielle was. Danielle received a nice certificate, a gift certificate for a free pizza buffet at Cici's and will have her picture up on the schools in-school TV channel "screen-saver" for the next month. So needless to say, Dawn and I are VERY proud of her.
.
Yesterday our youngest daughter, Danielle, was the recipient of a Proud Principal Phone Call Home Award at school. Danielle and the principal of her school, Barb, called Dawn on her cell. Danielle got the award because last week her teacher was out sick for a few days and Danielle helped the subsitute teachers out. She helped them with the order of class and where to find things in the class. Two of the subs made mention to Barb what a great help Danielle was. Danielle received a nice certificate, a gift certificate for a free pizza buffet at Cici's and will have her picture up on the schools in-school TV channel "screen-saver" for the next month. So needless to say, Dawn and I are VERY proud of her.
.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday, Monday
I have always said Mondays were Fundays. (insert sarcastic tone here)
I am truly getting tired of the Dems bashing and continuing to lie about the Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, I think what is ticking me off the most is that she is soul focus of the Dems attacks and she is the VP candidate...not the President candidate.
I really think they are going after her to keep that lack of experience problems off of Obama. One question I have yet to have answered by a Obama supporter is,"What experience does Obama have that qualifies him to be President of the United States?" I have NEVER gotten one answer from any of them...I always get THIS question back,"What experience does Sarah Palin have to be President of the United States?" I reply,"She is not running for President!!!" Focus on the TWO candidates that are running. If the Dems were to focus on Obama vs. McCain I think they know they will get their butts kicked, but little do they realize....Sarah Palin will prevail because the cream always rises to the top.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Obama Releases his "in your face" Hounds
By Michelle Malkin
• September 19, 2008 11:16 AM
My second syndicated column of the week looks at Barack Obama’s Call to Strong Arms. Looks like the “in-your-face” brigade has already struck — and vandalized GOP offices in Indiana and Florida. Expect more. We’ve been here before.
***
Obama releases his “in-your-face” houndsby Michelle MalkinCreators SyndicateCopyright 2008
Warning: If your neighbor’s got an “Obama ‘08″ bumper sticker or lawn sign, you might want to double-check your door locks at night. The One has commanded his Purveyors of Change to go forth and proselytize to the unbelievers. And they’re not going to be knocking gently like Avon Ladies.
Barack Obama, you see, is done fixing souls. It’s time to crack heads. Prodded by panicked Democrats to take off his white gloves, he issued a Call to Strong-Arms to his legions of angry followers on Wednesday. Hope is out. Hellfire is in. Now, the same analysts who tut-tutted Sarah Palin’s mild use of sarcasm at the GOP convention are heralding — in the words of the Obama water-carriers at the Associated Press — Obama’s “feistier, more sarcastic tone” and his push for Democrat activists “to sharpen their elbows, too.”
When Republicans get aggressive, it’s “dirty.” When Obama gets aggressive, it’s “feisty.” Exorteth the One: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”
Team Obama is so committed to this “face-to-face” shock troop campaign that it is now busing activists from state to state (“Drive for Change!”) to target undecided voters – and offering subsidies to volunteers. In advance of Obama’s rally in Nevada, California field director Mary Jane Stevenson organized a pilgrimage to boost the crowd numbers with housing incentives:
“Face-to-face contact with undecided voters is the single most effective way to grow this movement. No experience is required, and we’ll help you make the trip as easily as possible with either housing in Nevada or discounted group rates at an area hotel.”
Yep, a bunch of angry Obama cultists and left-wing ACORN drifters are coming to your neighborhoods to accuse you of racism, call you unpatriotic for not bowing down and forking over more taxes to keep the Mother Ship afloat, and check your tire pressure and thermostats while they’re at it. Feel the power of positive change.
The in-your-face directive comes as Team Obama Chicago-fies its tactics by:
*Stepping up sleazy ads. The latest one twisted the words of radio talk giant Rush Limbaugh in a laughable attempt to paint John McCain as an immigration hardliner and stir fear among Hispanic voters;
*Doubling down on the race card. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius shamelessly baited supporters with this line: “Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American? (Republicans) are not going to go lightly into the darkness;”
*And suppressing dissent. Rebuffed by the Justice Department in their efforts to prosecute conservatives for running ads critical of Obama’s ties to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, the campaign is using an army of supporters to mob radio and television stations daring to air investigations of the relationship. The foot soldiers receive their marching orders through “Obama Action Wires” and bombard critics with disruptive phone calls.
Meanwhile, the Left’s Sarah Palin hatred has been encouraged by the in-your-face comments of Michelle Obama, who derided the Alaska governor’s intellect (”What you learn about Barack from his choice is that he’s not afraid of smart people”) and looks (don’t cast a vote because “she’s cute”) on the campaign trail. And Team Obama’s goons on the Internet – led by Gawker Media and the Huffington Post – are reveling in the hacking of Palin’s private e-mail account, the publication of private, family photos of her children stolen from her account, and the abuse of daughter Bristol’s cell phone number stolen from the account. For countless friends of Obama, “in your face” is code for “anything goes.”
• September 19, 2008 11:16 AM
My second syndicated column of the week looks at Barack Obama’s Call to Strong Arms. Looks like the “in-your-face” brigade has already struck — and vandalized GOP offices in Indiana and Florida. Expect more. We’ve been here before.
***
Obama releases his “in-your-face” houndsby Michelle MalkinCreators SyndicateCopyright 2008
Warning: If your neighbor’s got an “Obama ‘08″ bumper sticker or lawn sign, you might want to double-check your door locks at night. The One has commanded his Purveyors of Change to go forth and proselytize to the unbelievers. And they’re not going to be knocking gently like Avon Ladies.
Barack Obama, you see, is done fixing souls. It’s time to crack heads. Prodded by panicked Democrats to take off his white gloves, he issued a Call to Strong-Arms to his legions of angry followers on Wednesday. Hope is out. Hellfire is in. Now, the same analysts who tut-tutted Sarah Palin’s mild use of sarcasm at the GOP convention are heralding — in the words of the Obama water-carriers at the Associated Press — Obama’s “feistier, more sarcastic tone” and his push for Democrat activists “to sharpen their elbows, too.”
When Republicans get aggressive, it’s “dirty.” When Obama gets aggressive, it’s “feisty.” Exorteth the One: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”
Team Obama is so committed to this “face-to-face” shock troop campaign that it is now busing activists from state to state (“Drive for Change!”) to target undecided voters – and offering subsidies to volunteers. In advance of Obama’s rally in Nevada, California field director Mary Jane Stevenson organized a pilgrimage to boost the crowd numbers with housing incentives:
“Face-to-face contact with undecided voters is the single most effective way to grow this movement. No experience is required, and we’ll help you make the trip as easily as possible with either housing in Nevada or discounted group rates at an area hotel.”
Yep, a bunch of angry Obama cultists and left-wing ACORN drifters are coming to your neighborhoods to accuse you of racism, call you unpatriotic for not bowing down and forking over more taxes to keep the Mother Ship afloat, and check your tire pressure and thermostats while they’re at it. Feel the power of positive change.
The in-your-face directive comes as Team Obama Chicago-fies its tactics by:
*Stepping up sleazy ads. The latest one twisted the words of radio talk giant Rush Limbaugh in a laughable attempt to paint John McCain as an immigration hardliner and stir fear among Hispanic voters;
*Doubling down on the race card. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius shamelessly baited supporters with this line: “Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American? (Republicans) are not going to go lightly into the darkness;”
*And suppressing dissent. Rebuffed by the Justice Department in their efforts to prosecute conservatives for running ads critical of Obama’s ties to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, the campaign is using an army of supporters to mob radio and television stations daring to air investigations of the relationship. The foot soldiers receive their marching orders through “Obama Action Wires” and bombard critics with disruptive phone calls.
Meanwhile, the Left’s Sarah Palin hatred has been encouraged by the in-your-face comments of Michelle Obama, who derided the Alaska governor’s intellect (”What you learn about Barack from his choice is that he’s not afraid of smart people”) and looks (don’t cast a vote because “she’s cute”) on the campaign trail. And Team Obama’s goons on the Internet – led by Gawker Media and the Huffington Post – are reveling in the hacking of Palin’s private e-mail account, the publication of private, family photos of her children stolen from her account, and the abuse of daughter Bristol’s cell phone number stolen from the account. For countless friends of Obama, “in your face” is code for “anything goes.”
Friday, September 19, 2008
Sarah Palin's Involvement in Troopergate
Sarah has a sister
Sister was married to a State Trooper
State Trooper is just a world class a-hole (there's a theme here)
Did I mention that State Trooper husband is an a-hole? He tasered their 11 year old son (his step-son). Nice man.
Palin's husband and basically everyone that knew about what an a-hole Mr. State Trooper was, told the Commissioner to fire the Trooper*
Commissioner decided that there was nothing wrong with State Trooper being an egotistical a-hole, tasering 11 year old boys and carrying around a gun while being an a-hole
So the A-hole Trooper was investigated further
This was during the term of the Governor BEFORE Sarah Palin
A-face Trooper was suspended for ten days (which was shortened to five days after the Union complained, apparently they think it's a good idea for troopers to be assholes, taser 11 year old boys and carry guns while under the influence of a-hole)
This was also done prior to Palin's election (two months)
Time passes and finally in July of 2008 Palin removes the Commissioner from office after a performance review and offers him a job in another part of Government (which he declines)
The allegations of impropriety come from the person that Palin defeated in her successful election. Of course the media has pounced upon these allegations as truth and will sensationalize, as much as they possibly can, any allegation against Palin.
I'd like to go on record as being under the impression that what Sarah Palin did was not only the right thing to do, it was done in an honorable manner. Police who abuse their position of power MUST be removed. The commissioners, unions and others that seek to protect abusive police men and women are wrong.
They should be reminded that they are here to protect the populace, not promote the intimidation of the citizenry by police force.Not that it will matter one bit to the nutroot moonbats that can't think for themselves... they just see a Conservative woman, therefore, she must be wrong!*
Something about how a jerk like him with a gun and a taser and a propensity for using said taser against 11 year old boys didn't need to be a State Trooper...
Sister was married to a State Trooper
State Trooper is just a world class a-hole (there's a theme here)
Did I mention that State Trooper husband is an a-hole? He tasered their 11 year old son (his step-son). Nice man.
Palin's husband and basically everyone that knew about what an a-hole Mr. State Trooper was, told the Commissioner to fire the Trooper*
Commissioner decided that there was nothing wrong with State Trooper being an egotistical a-hole, tasering 11 year old boys and carrying around a gun while being an a-hole
So the A-hole Trooper was investigated further
This was during the term of the Governor BEFORE Sarah Palin
A-face Trooper was suspended for ten days (which was shortened to five days after the Union complained, apparently they think it's a good idea for troopers to be assholes, taser 11 year old boys and carry guns while under the influence of a-hole)
This was also done prior to Palin's election (two months)
Time passes and finally in July of 2008 Palin removes the Commissioner from office after a performance review and offers him a job in another part of Government (which he declines)
The allegations of impropriety come from the person that Palin defeated in her successful election. Of course the media has pounced upon these allegations as truth and will sensationalize, as much as they possibly can, any allegation against Palin.
I'd like to go on record as being under the impression that what Sarah Palin did was not only the right thing to do, it was done in an honorable manner. Police who abuse their position of power MUST be removed. The commissioners, unions and others that seek to protect abusive police men and women are wrong.
They should be reminded that they are here to protect the populace, not promote the intimidation of the citizenry by police force.Not that it will matter one bit to the nutroot moonbats that can't think for themselves... they just see a Conservative woman, therefore, she must be wrong!*
Something about how a jerk like him with a gun and a taser and a propensity for using said taser against 11 year old boys didn't need to be a State Trooper...
A Email from One of the Best Senators
Yes, Palin Did Stop That Bridge
By JIM DEMINT
September 10, 2008
"But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up." -- Barack Obama, Sept. 6, 2008
In politics, words are cheap. What really counts are actions. Democrats and Republicans have talked about fiscal responsibility for years. In reality, both parties have a shameful record of wasting hundreds of billions of tax dollars on pork-barrel projects.
My Senate colleague Barack Obama is now attacking Gov. Sarah Palin over earmarks. Having worked with both John McCain and Mr. Obama on earmarks, and as a recovering earmarker myself, I can tell you that Mrs. Palin's leadership and record of reform stands well above that of Mr. Obama
.
Let's compare.
Mrs. Palin used her veto pen to slash more local projects than any other governor in the state's history. She cut nearly 10% of Alaska's budget this year, saving state residents $268 million. This included vetoing a $30,000 van for Campfire USA and $200,000 for a tennis court irrigation system. She succinctly justified these cuts by saying they were "not a state responsibility."
Meanwhile in Washington, Mr. Obama voted for numerous wasteful earmarks last year, including: $12 million for bicycle paths, $450,000 for the International Peace Museum, $500,000 for a baseball stadium and $392,000 for a visitor's center in Louisiana.
Mrs. Palin cut Alaska's federal earmark requests in half last year, one of the strongest moves against earmarks by any governor. It took real leadership to buck Alaska's decades-long earmark addiction.
Mr. Obama delivered over $100 million in earmarks to Illinois last year and has requested nearly a billion dollars in pet projects since 2005. His running mate, Joe Biden, is still indulging in earmarks, securing over $90 million worth this year.
Mrs. Palin also killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in her own state. Yes, she once supported the project: But after witnessing the problems created by earmarks for her state and for the nation's budget, she did what others like me have done: She changed her position and saved taxpayers millions. Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.
When the Senate had its chance to stop the Bridge to Nowhere and transfer the money to Katrina rebuilding, Messrs. Obama and Biden voted for the $223 million earmark, siding with the old boys' club in the Senate. And to date, they still have not publicly renounced their support for the infamous earmark.
Mrs. Palin has proven courageous by taking on big spenders in her own party. In March of this year, the Anchorage Daily News reported that, "Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is aggravated about what he sees as Gov. Sarah Palin's antagonism toward the earmarks he uses to steer federal money to the state."
Mr. Obama had a chance to take on his party when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a sham ethics bill, which was widely criticized by watchdog groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste for shielding earmarks from public scrutiny. But instead of standing with taxpayers, Mr. Obama voted for the bill. Today, he claims he helped write the bill that failed to clean up Washington.
Mr. Obama has shown little restraint on earmarks until this year, when he decided to co-sponsor an earmark moratorium authored by Mr. McCain and myself. Mr. Obama is vulnerable on this issue, and he knows it. That is why he is lashing out at Mrs. Palin and trying to hide his own record.
Mrs. Palin is one of the strongest antiearmark governors in America. If more governors around the country would do what she has done, we would be much closer to fixing our nation's fiscal problems than we are.
Mrs. Palin's record here is solid and inspiring. She will help Mr. McCain shut down the congressional favor factory, and she has a record to prove it. Actions mean something. You can't just make stuff up.
Mr. DeMint, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from South Carolina.
By JIM DEMINT
September 10, 2008
"But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up." -- Barack Obama, Sept. 6, 2008
In politics, words are cheap. What really counts are actions. Democrats and Republicans have talked about fiscal responsibility for years. In reality, both parties have a shameful record of wasting hundreds of billions of tax dollars on pork-barrel projects.
My Senate colleague Barack Obama is now attacking Gov. Sarah Palin over earmarks. Having worked with both John McCain and Mr. Obama on earmarks, and as a recovering earmarker myself, I can tell you that Mrs. Palin's leadership and record of reform stands well above that of Mr. Obama
.
Let's compare.
Mrs. Palin used her veto pen to slash more local projects than any other governor in the state's history. She cut nearly 10% of Alaska's budget this year, saving state residents $268 million. This included vetoing a $30,000 van for Campfire USA and $200,000 for a tennis court irrigation system. She succinctly justified these cuts by saying they were "not a state responsibility."
Meanwhile in Washington, Mr. Obama voted for numerous wasteful earmarks last year, including: $12 million for bicycle paths, $450,000 for the International Peace Museum, $500,000 for a baseball stadium and $392,000 for a visitor's center in Louisiana.
Mrs. Palin cut Alaska's federal earmark requests in half last year, one of the strongest moves against earmarks by any governor. It took real leadership to buck Alaska's decades-long earmark addiction.
Mr. Obama delivered over $100 million in earmarks to Illinois last year and has requested nearly a billion dollars in pet projects since 2005. His running mate, Joe Biden, is still indulging in earmarks, securing over $90 million worth this year.
Mrs. Palin also killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in her own state. Yes, she once supported the project: But after witnessing the problems created by earmarks for her state and for the nation's budget, she did what others like me have done: She changed her position and saved taxpayers millions. Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.
When the Senate had its chance to stop the Bridge to Nowhere and transfer the money to Katrina rebuilding, Messrs. Obama and Biden voted for the $223 million earmark, siding with the old boys' club in the Senate. And to date, they still have not publicly renounced their support for the infamous earmark.
Mrs. Palin has proven courageous by taking on big spenders in her own party. In March of this year, the Anchorage Daily News reported that, "Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is aggravated about what he sees as Gov. Sarah Palin's antagonism toward the earmarks he uses to steer federal money to the state."
Mr. Obama had a chance to take on his party when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a sham ethics bill, which was widely criticized by watchdog groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste for shielding earmarks from public scrutiny. But instead of standing with taxpayers, Mr. Obama voted for the bill. Today, he claims he helped write the bill that failed to clean up Washington.
Mr. Obama has shown little restraint on earmarks until this year, when he decided to co-sponsor an earmark moratorium authored by Mr. McCain and myself. Mr. Obama is vulnerable on this issue, and he knows it. That is why he is lashing out at Mrs. Palin and trying to hide his own record.
Mrs. Palin is one of the strongest antiearmark governors in America. If more governors around the country would do what she has done, we would be much closer to fixing our nation's fiscal problems than we are.
Mrs. Palin's record here is solid and inspiring. She will help Mr. McCain shut down the congressional favor factory, and she has a record to prove it. Actions mean something. You can't just make stuff up.
Mr. DeMint, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from South Carolina.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sarah Palin killed. And more than killed.
DECLARATIONS
By PEGGY NOONAN
The Wall Street Journel'A Servant's Heart'
September 6, 2008 4:48 p.m.; Page A11
Much has been said about her speech, but a few points. "The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick" is pure American and goes straight into Bartlett's. This is the authentic sound of the American mama, of every mother you know at school who joins the board, reads the books, heads the committee, and gets the show on the road. These women make large portions of America work.
She has the power of the normal. Hillary Clinton is grim, stentorian, was born to politics and its connivances. Nancy Pelosi, another mother of five, often seems dazed and ad hoc. But this state governor and mother of a big family is a woman in a good mood. There is something so normal about her, so "You've met this person before and you like her," that she broke through in a new way, as a character vividly herself, and vividly genuine.
Her flaws accentuated her virtues. Now and then this happens in politics, but it's rare. An example: The very averageness of her voice, the not-wonderfulness of it, highlighted her normality: most people don't have great voices. That normality in turn highlighted the courage she showed in being there, on that stage for the first time in her life and under trying circumstances. Her averageness accentuated her specialness. Her commonality highlighted her uniqueness.
She seemed wholly different from, and in fact seemed a refutation to, all the men of Washington at their great desks who make rules others have to live by but they don't have to live by themselves, who mandate work rules from which they exempt Congress, for instance. They don't live by the rules they espouse. She has lived her expressed values. She said yes to a Down Syndrome child. This too is powerful.
What she did in terms of the campaign itself was important. No one has ever really laid a glove on Obama before, not in this campaign and maybe not in his life. But Palin really damaged him. She took him square on, fearlessly, by which I mean in part that she showed no awkwardness connected to race, or racial history. A small town mayor is kind of like a community organizer only you have actual responsibilities. He wrote two memoirs but never authored a major bill. They've hauled the Styrofoam pillars back to the Hollywood lot.
This was powerful coming from Baberaham Lincoln, as she's been called.
By the end, Democrats knew they had been dinged, and badly. After the speech they descended on cable news en masse with the dart-eyed, moist-browed look of the operative who doesn't believe his talking points. They seemed like they were thinking, "I've seen this movie before and it doesn't end well." Actually they haven't seen it before in that Palin is something new, but they have seen it before in terms of what she said.
Which gets me to the most important element of the speech, and that is the startlingness of the content. It was not modern conservatism, or split the difference Conservative-ish-ism. It was not a conservatism that assumes the America of 2008 is very different from the America of 1980.
It was the old-time conservatism. Government is too big, Obama will "grow it", Congress spends too much and he'll spend "more." It was for low taxes, for small business, for the private sector, for less regulation, for governing with "a servant's heart"; it was pro-small town values, and implicitly but strongly pro-life.
This was so old it seemed new, and startling. The speech was, in its way, a call so tender it made grown-ups weep on the floor. The things she spoke of were the beating heart of the old America. But as I watched I thought, I know where the people in that room are, I know their heart, for it is my heart. But this election is a wild card, because America is a wild card. It is not as it was in '80. I know where the Republican base is, but we do not know where this country that never stops changing is.
It all left me wondering if this campaign is about to take on a new shape, with the old time conservatism on one side, and a smoother, evolved form of the old style liberalism on the other.
It doesn't get more dramatic, or dramatically drawn, than that.
I don't like the new media war. I don't like what it has the potential to do to the election, and the country.
The media overstepped. The Republican party resented it. GOP strategists saw a unifying force rising: anger in the base. They too had seen this movie before. They slammed the media. The media shot back: "You're attacking us for doing our job!"
How did the media overstep? By offending people by going so immediately and so personally into issues surrounding Mrs. Palin's family. They did not overstep by digging, by deep reporting, by investigating Palin's professional record.
Campbell Brown of CNN did nothing wrong for instance in pressing a campaign spokesman on Palin's foreign policy credentials. She was unjustly criticized for following an appropriate and necessary line of inquiry. But endless front page stories connected to Mrs. Palin's 17-year-old daughter? Cable news shows that had people insinuating Palin, whom America had not yet even met, was a bad mother, and that used her daughter's circumstances to examine Republican views on abstinence education? That was ugly.
In the end it made Palin the underdog, and gave her the perfect platform for the perfect dive she made Wednesday night.
We have had these old press fights in the past – they were a source of constant tension when I was a child, when Barry Goldwater came forward as a conservative and the press scorned him as a flake, and later when Ronald Reagan came up and the press dismissed him as Bonzo.
But this latest fight commences on a new and wilder battlefield. The old combatants were old school gentlemen, Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite; the new combatants are half-crazy cable anchors, the lower lurkers of the Internet, and the anonymous posters on the comment thread on the radical website.
This new war on new turf is not good, and carries the potential of great harm. Everyone really ought to stop, breathe deep, and think.
I am worried they won't. A friend IM'd the day after Palin's speech, and I told him of an inexplicable sense of foreboding. He surprised me by saying he shared it. "Calling all underworlds reporting for duty!," he wrote. "The bed is about to fly around the room, the puke is about to come out." He meant: this campaign is going to engage unseen powers and forces. He meant: this campaign, this beautiful golden thing with two admirable men at the top and two admirable vice presidential candidates, is going to turn dark.
It is starting to look to me like a nation-defining election. And in this it seems almost old-fashioned. 1992 for instance didn't seem or feel nation-defining, not as I remember it, nor did 2000. 1964 did, and '80 did, but they both ended in landslides. Landslide is not what I'm seeing here.
Where are the Democrats going to go? I suspect to foreign policy. In politics it used to be called Tolstoy: war and peace. McCain-Palin will mean more war, Obama-Biden will mean peace.
This campaign is about to become: epic.
By PEGGY NOONAN
The Wall Street Journel'A Servant's Heart'
September 6, 2008 4:48 p.m.; Page A11
Much has been said about her speech, but a few points. "The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick" is pure American and goes straight into Bartlett's. This is the authentic sound of the American mama, of every mother you know at school who joins the board, reads the books, heads the committee, and gets the show on the road. These women make large portions of America work.
She has the power of the normal. Hillary Clinton is grim, stentorian, was born to politics and its connivances. Nancy Pelosi, another mother of five, often seems dazed and ad hoc. But this state governor and mother of a big family is a woman in a good mood. There is something so normal about her, so "You've met this person before and you like her," that she broke through in a new way, as a character vividly herself, and vividly genuine.
Her flaws accentuated her virtues. Now and then this happens in politics, but it's rare. An example: The very averageness of her voice, the not-wonderfulness of it, highlighted her normality: most people don't have great voices. That normality in turn highlighted the courage she showed in being there, on that stage for the first time in her life and under trying circumstances. Her averageness accentuated her specialness. Her commonality highlighted her uniqueness.
She seemed wholly different from, and in fact seemed a refutation to, all the men of Washington at their great desks who make rules others have to live by but they don't have to live by themselves, who mandate work rules from which they exempt Congress, for instance. They don't live by the rules they espouse. She has lived her expressed values. She said yes to a Down Syndrome child. This too is powerful.
What she did in terms of the campaign itself was important. No one has ever really laid a glove on Obama before, not in this campaign and maybe not in his life. But Palin really damaged him. She took him square on, fearlessly, by which I mean in part that she showed no awkwardness connected to race, or racial history. A small town mayor is kind of like a community organizer only you have actual responsibilities. He wrote two memoirs but never authored a major bill. They've hauled the Styrofoam pillars back to the Hollywood lot.
This was powerful coming from Baberaham Lincoln, as she's been called.
By the end, Democrats knew they had been dinged, and badly. After the speech they descended on cable news en masse with the dart-eyed, moist-browed look of the operative who doesn't believe his talking points. They seemed like they were thinking, "I've seen this movie before and it doesn't end well." Actually they haven't seen it before in that Palin is something new, but they have seen it before in terms of what she said.
Which gets me to the most important element of the speech, and that is the startlingness of the content. It was not modern conservatism, or split the difference Conservative-ish-ism. It was not a conservatism that assumes the America of 2008 is very different from the America of 1980.
It was the old-time conservatism. Government is too big, Obama will "grow it", Congress spends too much and he'll spend "more." It was for low taxes, for small business, for the private sector, for less regulation, for governing with "a servant's heart"; it was pro-small town values, and implicitly but strongly pro-life.
This was so old it seemed new, and startling. The speech was, in its way, a call so tender it made grown-ups weep on the floor. The things she spoke of were the beating heart of the old America. But as I watched I thought, I know where the people in that room are, I know their heart, for it is my heart. But this election is a wild card, because America is a wild card. It is not as it was in '80. I know where the Republican base is, but we do not know where this country that never stops changing is.
It all left me wondering if this campaign is about to take on a new shape, with the old time conservatism on one side, and a smoother, evolved form of the old style liberalism on the other.
It doesn't get more dramatic, or dramatically drawn, than that.
I don't like the new media war. I don't like what it has the potential to do to the election, and the country.
The media overstepped. The Republican party resented it. GOP strategists saw a unifying force rising: anger in the base. They too had seen this movie before. They slammed the media. The media shot back: "You're attacking us for doing our job!"
How did the media overstep? By offending people by going so immediately and so personally into issues surrounding Mrs. Palin's family. They did not overstep by digging, by deep reporting, by investigating Palin's professional record.
Campbell Brown of CNN did nothing wrong for instance in pressing a campaign spokesman on Palin's foreign policy credentials. She was unjustly criticized for following an appropriate and necessary line of inquiry. But endless front page stories connected to Mrs. Palin's 17-year-old daughter? Cable news shows that had people insinuating Palin, whom America had not yet even met, was a bad mother, and that used her daughter's circumstances to examine Republican views on abstinence education? That was ugly.
In the end it made Palin the underdog, and gave her the perfect platform for the perfect dive she made Wednesday night.
We have had these old press fights in the past – they were a source of constant tension when I was a child, when Barry Goldwater came forward as a conservative and the press scorned him as a flake, and later when Ronald Reagan came up and the press dismissed him as Bonzo.
But this latest fight commences on a new and wilder battlefield. The old combatants were old school gentlemen, Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite; the new combatants are half-crazy cable anchors, the lower lurkers of the Internet, and the anonymous posters on the comment thread on the radical website.
This new war on new turf is not good, and carries the potential of great harm. Everyone really ought to stop, breathe deep, and think.
I am worried they won't. A friend IM'd the day after Palin's speech, and I told him of an inexplicable sense of foreboding. He surprised me by saying he shared it. "Calling all underworlds reporting for duty!," he wrote. "The bed is about to fly around the room, the puke is about to come out." He meant: this campaign is going to engage unseen powers and forces. He meant: this campaign, this beautiful golden thing with two admirable men at the top and two admirable vice presidential candidates, is going to turn dark.
It is starting to look to me like a nation-defining election. And in this it seems almost old-fashioned. 1992 for instance didn't seem or feel nation-defining, not as I remember it, nor did 2000. 1964 did, and '80 did, but they both ended in landslides. Landslide is not what I'm seeing here.
Where are the Democrats going to go? I suspect to foreign policy. In politics it used to be called Tolstoy: war and peace. McCain-Palin will mean more war, Obama-Biden will mean peace.
This campaign is about to become: epic.
Obama a Muslim???
A verbal slip by Barack Obama, in which he made a reference to "my Muslim faith," unleashed a barrage of Internet attacks Sunday.
The Democratic presidential candidate appeared on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, which aired Sunday morning.
Obama was -- ironically -- addressing the false rumors that he is Muslim. He suggested that Republican rival John McCain was behind them, according to ABC News.
Obama was reminded that McCain denied spreading the rumors.
"You're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith," Obama said, before being corrected by Stephanopoulos.
Obama pointed the finger at "the Republican camp."
The quote became a magnet for comments on the YouTube.com video site and by bloggers as the day went on. Some seized on it as confirmation of their suspicions and some ridiculed it as a gaffe.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton bristled. "Printing a blogger suspecting that Obama is a Muslim is pretty irresponsible and below the standards that we're used to out of the Sun-Times," he wrote in an e-mail.
A simple gaffe or truth coming out???
The Democratic presidential candidate appeared on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, which aired Sunday morning.
Obama was -- ironically -- addressing the false rumors that he is Muslim. He suggested that Republican rival John McCain was behind them, according to ABC News.
Obama was reminded that McCain denied spreading the rumors.
"You're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith," Obama said, before being corrected by Stephanopoulos.
Obama pointed the finger at "the Republican camp."
The quote became a magnet for comments on the YouTube.com video site and by bloggers as the day went on. Some seized on it as confirmation of their suspicions and some ridiculed it as a gaffe.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton bristled. "Printing a blogger suspecting that Obama is a Muslim is pretty irresponsible and below the standards that we're used to out of the Sun-Times," he wrote in an e-mail.
A simple gaffe or truth coming out???
Someone Please Explain
I really just don't get somethings that have taken place over the last couple of weeks.
I do understand politics and everyone has to "attack" their opponents, but do they have to go after their kids. I have actually talked with people who said,"Well if Palin has her kids on stage with her, then they are open season." Since when is hunting humans/children legal???
I love how the liberal main stream media has reported that Sarah and Todd Palin's youngest son, Trig, is really their eldest daughters child. How US Weekly magazine has a wonderful love story and cover for Barak and Michelle....
And then publish this one a week later.....
Lies and Scandal??? What a joke!!! In the article it mentions Todd Palin's DUI arrest, but does not say it was 22 years ago!!! It states that Sarah was at one time a member of the Alaska Independent Party, which the McCain camp AND the Alaska Voting Commission has said is NOT true. Please try and continue to paint this great American and her family in a negative light...because the American people are NOT stupid...they will see the light.
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