Showing posts with label obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obama. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Did Rahmbo bring down Blago?




Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008 14:20 EST


Think Progress notes that at least one Chicago reporter thinks that future White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel might have had something to do with the arrest of his fellow Democrat, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. And no, not because he's been caught up in the investigation, but because he may have gone to the feds and told them about the governor's alleged attempts to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.

The reporter, Jack Conaty, said Tuesday:

We did receive a tip this morning that perhaps all of this came together so quickly because the Governor may have reached out to Rahm Emanuel, the president-elect's chief of staff, in attempting to leverage filling the Senate seat. And it may have been Rahm Emanuel who tipped the scale and made this move as quickly as it did.





http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/12/09/rahm_blago/index.html


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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Robert Gibbs will be White House Press Secretary

gibbsplaneweb.jpgPolitico’s Mike Allen reports today that Robert Gibbs, communications director in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and a key strategist who “helped plan and package” his “rapid move to the national stage,” will be named as the Obama administration’s White House Press Secretary. Allen adds that the “announcement is likely to be viewed favorably by reporters because Gibbs has unquestioned authority, access and institutional memory.”

'Robert Gibbs, Press Secretary -- Gibbs, a native of Auburn, Alabama and a graduate of North Carolina State University, began working with President-Elect Obama in April 2004 serving as Communications Director for his United States Senate race and later as his Senate Communications Director. Gibbs held the position of Communications Director for Obama's presidential campaign until becoming Senior Strategist for Communications and Message during the general election. Earlier in his career, Gibbs served as Communications Director for Senator Fritz Hollings and worked on Senator Debbie Stabenow's 2000 Senate campaign. He also served as press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and worked for Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign. Gibbs lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife, Mary Catherine, and their five-year-old son, Ethan.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Do the Alledgedly Altered Documents from Obama's Past Bother You? Vote in our poll........
















There have been numerous revelations about discrepancies in Barack Obama's birth certificate and his selective service registration. Both appeared altered and raise questions as to their validity. Does this knowledge cause you to: (you may choose 2)

Feel it is much ado about nothing and probably a rightwing smear.
Be deeply troubled about this man's past and wonder what else he is hiding.
Be somewhat curious, this whole political thing is a circus anyway.
Think if it was important the media would have ferreted it out by now.

Vote on the poll at upper right >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Nutty Bidenisms: Paying Higher Taxes is Patriotic




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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Media Picking up on Obama's Dubious Donations



By SCOTT W. JOHNSON


Obama: Failing to put up basic blocks against fraudulent giving.

Posted: 3:36 amOctober 27, 2008



Barack Obama has proved the greatest fund-raiser of all time by a long shot. His campaign has raised more than $600 million - $150 million in September alone. But the campaign has also failed to adopt standard protections against fraudulent giving.


The average contribution to Obama in September was just under $86. And federal law only requires the disclosure of identifying information for contributions in excess of $200. Campaigns must keep running totals for each donor and report them once they exceed $200.


The Federal Election Commission says the Obama campaign has reported well over $200 million as coming from contributions of $200 or less. Only a small portion of that sum is attributable to donors the Obama campaign has disclosed.


No presidential campaign has ever before received such a gargantuan sum of money from unidentified contributors.


The campaign's records reveal big contributors with names like "Doodad Pro" (employer: "Loving," profession: "You") and "Good Will" (same employer and profession). Both donated via credit card. Other reports have suggested that some donations come from overseas - raising the question of whether Obama is accepting donations from foreigners, another violation of federal law.
All of which prompted an enterprising citizen to test the controls put in place to enforce compliance with federal campaign law by the Obama and McCain campaigns. Last Thursday, he decided to conduct an experiment.


He went to the Obama campaign Web site and made a donation under the name "John Galt" (the hero of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged"). He provided the equally fictitious address "1957 Ayn Rand Lane, Galts Gulch, CO 99999."
He checked the box next to $15 and entered his actual credit-card number and expiration date. He was then taken to the next page and notified that his donation had been processed.


He then tried the same experiment on the McCain site, which rejected the transaction. He returned to the Obama site and made three more donations using the names Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers, all with different addresses but the same credit card. The transactions all went through. By Saturday, he'd reported that the transactions had all posted to his credit-card account.

VIEW FULL ARTICLE >PAGE 1 2 CONTINUE READING



And now CBS Coverage by Katie Couric

Now if someone would just look into his "former" Finance Manager now living in Martinique........



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Saturday, October 11, 2008

McCain's Letter in 2006 Could Have Prevented the Present Financial Crisis!!!

McCain Letter Demanded 2006 Action on Fannie and Freddie
by Human Events
10/10/2008

Sen. John McCain's 2006 demand for regulatory action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could have prevented current financial crisis, as HUMAN EVENTS learned from the letter shown in full text below.

McCain's letter -- signed by nineteen other senators -- said that it was "...vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]...operate in a safe and sound manner.[and]..More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either...should fail."

Sen. Obama did not sign the letter, nor did any other Democrat.

View the Letter Here:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28973#continueA



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Obama Says ACORN and Other Community Organizing Groups Would Help Shape Presidential Agenda.

Here is Obama stating at a forum in December 2007 exclusively for community organizing groups like ACORN, that they would be called in to help shape his agenda even before he would be inaugurated. Let's see to it he is watching the inauguration on television like the rest of us. :-)




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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

$845 Billion More Expenditure Planned by Obama

AMERICANS WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!



ELECTION 2008 Obama bill: $845 billion more for global poverty Democrat sponsors act OK'd by Senate panel that would cost 0.7% of gross national product

Posted: February 14, 2008
3:53 pm Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily


Sen. Barack Obama, perhaps giving America a preview of priorities he would pursue if elected president, is rejoicing over the Senate committee passage of a plan that could end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars in an attempt to reduce poverty in other nations.

The bill, called the Global Poverty Act, is the type of legislation, "We can – and must – make … a priority," said Obama, a co-sponsor.

It would demand that the president develop "and implement" a policy to "cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade, debt relief" and other programs.

When word about what appears to be a massive new spending program started getting out, the reaction was immediate.

"It's not our job to cut global poverty," said one commenter on a Yahoo news forum. "These people need to learn how to fish themselves. If we keep throwing them fish, the fish will rot."

Many Americans were alerted to the legislation by a report from Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media. He published a critique asserting that while the Global Poverty Act sounds nice, the adoption could "result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States" and would make levels "of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations."

He said the legislation, if approved, dedicates 0.7 percent of the U.S. gross national product to foreign aid, which over 13 years he said would amount to $845 billion "over and above what the U.S. already spends."

The plan passed the House in 2007 "because most members didn't realize what was in it," Kincaid reported. "Congressional sponsors have been careful not to calculate the amount of foreign aid spending that it would require."
A statement from Obama's office this week noted the support offered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"With billions of people living on just dollars a day around the world, global poverty remains one of the greatest challenges and tragedies the international community faces," Obama said. "It must be a priority of American foreign policy to commit to eliminating extreme poverty and ensuring every child has food, shelter, and clean drinking water. As we strive to rebuild America's standing in the world, this important bill will demonstrate our promise and commitment to those in the developing world.

"Our commitment to the global economy must extend beyond trade agreements that are more about increasing profits than about helping workers and small farmers everywhere," he continued.

The bill institutes the United Nations Millennium Summit goals as the benchmarks for U.S. spending.

"It is time the United States makes it a priority of our foreign policy to meet this goal and help those who are struggling day to day," a statement issued by supporters, including Obama, said.

Specifically, it would "declare" that the official U.S. policy is to eliminate global poverty, that the president is "required" to "develop and implement" a strategy to reach that goal and requires that the U.S. efforts be "specific and measurable."

Kincaid said that after cutting through all of the honorable-sounding goals in the plan, the bottom line is that the legislation would mandate the 0.7 percent of the U.S. GNP as "official development assistance."

"In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that (U.N.) declaration commits nations to banning 'small arms and light weapons' and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention of Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention of the Rights of the Child," he said.

Those U.N. protocols would make U.S. law on issues ranging from the 2nd Amendment to energy usage and parental rights all subservient to United Nations whims.

Kincaid also reported Jeffrey Sachs, who runs the "Millennium Project," confirms a U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of GNP would add about $65 billion a year to what the U.S. already donates overseas.

And the only way to raise that funding, Sachs confirms, "is through a global tax, preferably on carbon-emitting fossil fuels," Kincaid writes.

On the forum run by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, one writer reported estimates of taxes from 35 cents to $1 dollar a gallon on gasoline would be needed.

"This is disgusting, sickening and angers me to the depths of my soul," the forum author wrote. "Obama wants us to support the world. I wonder how they intend to eliminate poverty. Most of the money always winds up in some dictator hands and in the U.N. coffers."

WND calls to Obama's office, as well as the offices of others who supported the plan, were not successful in obtaining a comment.

Another forum participant said, "Yes, and we should also eliminate sickness of any kind and get rid of poverty as well. Then, too, we should make certain that everyone in the world has equal assets, equal money, a college education, etc… After that, or maybe while we are solving all of the world's little problems, we can take care of the polar bears, eliminate the internal combustion engine, and, and, and… Oh dear, if only we would just go ahead and do all the things the dreamers want us to do. Let's stop using oil and burning coal while we're at it. Then we can make it illegal to be overweight and then we can. ..."

One forum contributor said since the legislation doesn't specifically demand "taxes," but instead leaves the mandatory "implementation" up to the president, "maybe the tooth fairy will leave [this new money] under the president's pillow."
Kincaid reported several more budget-minded senators have put a hold on the legislation "in order to prevent it from being rushed to the floor for a full Senate vote."

The legislation requires the president to do whatever is required to fulfill a strategy that would result in "the elimination of extreme global poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide … who live on less than $1 per day."

It further requires the president not only to accomplish that goal but, "not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this act," to submit a report on "the contributions provided by the United States" toward poverty reduction.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56405

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Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Obama-Ayers Education Story: Funding Left-Wing Radicalism In Education

The Obama campaign has cried foul when Bill Ayers comes up, claiming "guilt by association." Yet the issue here isn't guilt by association; it's guilt by participation. As CAC chairman, Mr. Obama was lending moral and financial support to Mr. Ayers and his radical circle.

The Obama-Ayers Education Story: Funding Left-Wing Radicalism In Education

Read It All; This Matters

Posted by: Dan McLaughlin
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 11:39AM
20 Comments

Today's must-read: after months of investigation, in which he had to weather all manner of stonewalling and intimidation by the Obama camp, Stanley Kurtz finally has the story, in today's Wall Street Journal, of Barack Obama's involvement in unrepentant former terrorist Bill Ayers' project to spread left-wing politics under the guise of 'education' in Chicago schools. Here's a flavor of Ayers' project:

CAC translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice. Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with "external partners," which actually got the money. Proposals from groups focused on math/science achievement were turned down. Instead CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or Acorn).

Mr. Obama once conducted "leadership training" seminars with Acorn, and Acorn members also served as volunteers in Mr. Obama's early campaigns. External partners like the South Shore African Village Collaborative and the Dual Language Exchange focused more on political consciousness, Afrocentricity and bilingualism than traditional education. CAC's in-house evaluators comprehensively studied the effects of its grants on the test scores of Chicago public-school students. They found no evidence of educational improvement.

CAC also funded programs designed to promote "leadership" among parents. Ostensibly this was to enable parents to advocate on behalf of their children's education. In practice, it meant funding Mr. Obama's alma mater, the Developing Communities Project, to recruit parents to its overall political agenda. CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents "organized" by community groups might be viewed by school principals "as a political threat." Mr. Obama arranged meetings with the Collaborative to smooth out Mr. Weber's objections.

And of Obama's involvement in the activities of a group whose board he chaired:

Mr. Ayers founded CAC and was its guiding spirit....Mr. Ayers sat as an ex-officio member of the board Mr. Obama chaired through CAC's first year. He also served on the board's governance committee with Mr. Obama, and worked with him to craft CAC bylaws. Mr. Ayers made presentations to board meetings chaired by Mr. Obama. Mr. Ayers spoke for the Collaborative before the board. Likewise, Mr. Obama periodically spoke for the board at meetings of the Collaborative.


Kurtz's conclusion:


The Obama campaign has cried foul when Bill Ayers comes up, claiming "guilt by association." Yet the issue here isn't guilt by association; it's guilt by participation. As CAC chairman, Mr. Obama was lending moral and financial support to Mr. Ayers and his radical circle.

Kurtz makes some references in the article to the Obama camp's pushback, and discusses it (including reprinting the Obama campaign's full response) here, including completing the connection of the dots in Obama's involvement in setting up and funding Ayers' activities:

In the first year, 1995, Obama headed the board, which made fiscal decisions, and Ayers co-chaired the Collaborative, which set education policy. During that first year, Obama's formal responsibilities mandated close cooperation and coordination with the Collaborative. As board chair and president of the CAC corporation, Obama was authorized to "delegate to the Collaborative the development of collaborative projects and programs . . . to obtain assistance of the Collaborative in the development of requests for proposals . . . and to seek advice from the Collaborative regarding the programmatic aspects of grant proposals." All this clearly involves significant consultation between the board, headed by Obama, and the Collaborative, co-chaired by Ayers.

Bear in mind the timeline - this is precisely the time at which Obama was launching his political career (including a meeting at Ayers' home), signing a contract to support the platform of the Marxist New Party, representing ACORN as its lawyer, and receiving the support and active participation, in return, of ACORN and similar of left-wing groups as ground troops in his campaigns. Tom Maguire looks at how far back Obama's relationship with Ayers goes. I continue to be amazed that any civilized person could associate with this terrorist, much less allocate money to give him a role in educating children. But then, recall the words of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, writing in 2000:

Barak Obama is serving only his second term in the Illinois State Senate so he might be fairly charged with ambition, but the same might have be said of Bobby Rush when he ran against Congressman Charles Hayes. Obama also has put in time at the grass roots, working for five years as a community organizer in Harlem and in Chicago. When Obama participated in a 1996 UofC YDS Townhall Meeting on Economic Insecurity, much of what he had to say was well within the mainstream of European social democracy.

And of course, besides funding Ayers, Obama once in office was essentially letting groups like Planned Parenthood essentially write sex education bills* - not a group as overtly outside the mainstream as Ayers, but consistent with Obama's overall Illinois record as a hard-core left-wing culture warrior looking to empower the whole menagerie of left-wing interest groups (headed by other "community organizers" just like Obama himself) with funding and sway over government. Kurtz, who has followed similar stories for years, explains how all of this is symptomatic of the broader left-wing cultural and educational program:


*Those who have seen the blatantly explicit material now being presented by Planned Parenthood directed toward Jr.High kids on the Internet will realize they do not want their kindergarten children seeing this pornography. JC

Thursday, October 2, 2008

New Poll Shows McCain Leading in Va.

Arizona Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) holds a narrow lead over Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) in Virginia, according to a new poll by Mason-Dixon Research Inc. for several state newspapers, including the Richmond Times Dispatch.

The poll has McCain getting 48 percent of the vote compared to Obama's 45 percent. But McCain's lead is within the 4 point margin of error. According to the Times Dispatch, McCain leads among men, whites and military voters. MCain also leads in rural areas and in Richmond.

The two candidates are running even in the Hampton Roads but Obama has a big lead in Northern Virginia. He is also ahead among blacks, younger voters -- those 18 to 34 -- as well as women, according to the Times Dispatch.

On Wednesday, CNN/Time published a poll that showed Obama ahead of McCain, 53 to 44 percent, in Virginia. A Washington Post published last Monday showed Obama with a 3 point lead over McCain.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2008/10/mccain_holds_narrow_lead_in_va.html


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Monday, September 29, 2008

Busted!... Video of Fannie Mae CEO in 2005 Explaining the "FAMILY" Connection with Dems & Obama

Maybe now Barack Obama will show his patriotism by returning the $126,349. he received from Fannie Mae. Yeah, right...........


Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Busted!... Video of Fannie Mae CEO in 2005 Explaining the "FAMILY" Connection with Dems & Obama

In 2005-- Senator John McCain partnered with three other Senate Republicans to reform the government’s involvement in lending, after an attempt by the Bush administration died in Congress two years earlier.
Democrats blocked the reform.

In 2005-- Barack Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus met with Fannie Mae for a "family" event. In 2005 Democrats also blocked reform of Fannie Mae:




This was before Fannie Mae started filling the pockets of Barack Obama with political donations.
The junior Illinois senator collected more money from Fannie Mae than any other Washington politician except Senator Dodd in the last decade.
Obama was able to accomplish this feat in just 3 years.

This video shows Fannie Mae CEO talking to "family" members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 2005.

The Democrats have been taking PAYOFFS from Fannie and Freddie and have looked the other way FOR DECADES!
They've blocked reform several times.

Now this NEW VIDEO of the CEO of Fannie Mae in 2005 shows him explaining the "FAMILY" connection with Democrats and specifically Barack Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus. It looks like Michelle Obama was at the event, too.
This was before Barack Obama started collecting tens of thousands from the failed lender.

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/busted-ceo-of-fannie-mae-in-2005.html

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Operation Country First: The Campaign Theme

by J.B. White
Rattler Gator Blog


Through corresponding with friends, it's clear the McCain campaign has hit upon a winner with its theme of Country First. It raises so many compare and contrast questions with his opponent, Barack Obama (e.g., citizen of the world?), that it works on multiple levels for many different individuals. Briefly, it invokes a winning presidential campaign by a Republican Senator (Warren G. Harding) who garnered 404 electoral votes, and it (via a below-the-radar benefit) importantly aligns itself with the traditional patriotism of country music. As a neoconservative, it also directs some fire at me with its theme serving as cautionary reminder of the need for American restraint in advancing the cause of freedom and democracy. Message received (with some caveats, of course). There are many more but I will necessarily limit my focus.

Country First

For my purposes, therefore, Country First as a political theme is first aimed at the base of the Republican Party. McCain's theme reminds the base that he is one of them. More importantly for the national election, though, the theme serves as a psychological mirror intended to force Independent voters or Reagan Democrats and any skeptical Republican recipients of the message to engage an unavoidably inward-directed contemplation in response to the theme.

Contemplation of what? The theme invites individuals to look back on the dissonance in America today and further invites individual voters, in response to that dissonance, to ponder first things. If that invitation is genuinely accepted, the clear bet by the McCain campaign is this: their candidate wins.

Why should that be? Well, when one considers the essential nature of things, one tends to eschew finding a needle in the haystack of life and remaining fixated on that one narrow point (coalitions of the willing, ladies and gentlemen). Yes, you may bring a particular special interest to the discussion. Country First, however, seeks to return the recipient (and, thus, the national political discussion) to an unabashedly American discourse designed to inform our public philosophy vis-a-vis political debate. This is a decidedly nonpartisan approach with a very partisan effect given the near total abdication by Democrat's of any comprehension of putting the American national interest first.

Instead, any embrace of a national interest issue is almost always linked with some global effort that ultimately demonizes some facet of pure Americana.

Boxing Them In

So, as a primary goal, Country First seeks to contrast the other side in this election by putting them in a bad light while extolling the legitimate war heroism and maverick status of John McCain. No one will ever confuse or fault McCain for forever utilizing an unabashedly European approach to politics. No, sir! Barack Obama? Well, let us simply say that he engages in a political discourse that (even when fronted by a plain vanilla metrosexual proxy with exotic melanin) remains antithetical to the American way.

The McCain campaign knows the elaborate and pervasive trickeration that is the Obama campaign and they know it has to be stopped. What kind of trickeration, you ask? The kind that allows a black man to play the presidential election game by a different set of rules that protect him from national review. Wasn't it Jesse Jackson who said (and I paraphrase), we just want America to play the game by the same set of rules?
Wasn't it?

Country First is a thematic approach designed to accomplish the task of snapping America out of a hypnotic and guilt-induced trance imposed in an environment where the media and other national myth-makers are completely aligned against you. This means you have to go over the heads of the media and the polling myth-maker's, etc. Any hope for success in this endeavor dictates that, while looking firmly and resolutely forward, one must first go back to the primary myth being utilized by Barack Obama to superficially mainstream his cause.

Sinful by nature, modern psychology has verified the sheer difficulty we human beings encounter when attempting to look within. Can we ever really see ourselves as we are? Not likely. Additionally, if internal insight is supremely difficult for an individual to achieve, is it more difficult still for a national polity?

Relatively speaking, I think not – and herein lies the genius of the Country First theme for me.

Service

Although far more quiet than the self-evident panic that set in after the naming of Sarah Palin as Republican nominee for Vice President, I have to believe knowledgeable operatives among the Democrat's are hoping against hope the nation will not stop to dwell on this Country First theme of the McCain campaign. We've seen, since the awful 9/11 attacks on America, calls from certain quarters to require all Americans to engage the good fight and bear some burdens in response to those attacks. Some of those calls have certainly been disingenuous but service in this environment is a powerful and winning theme.

This comment sent into William Katz at
Urgent Agenda on September 3rd from a man identified as Howard J. Klein explains why:

Seems to me the slogan “Country First” is a shorthand way of saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” The Dems have slipped so far to the left that JFK is now a Nazi in their eyes.
Kennedy, a man Obama has studiously attempted to copy and whose family machine has clearly worked in concert with Obama's Chicago machine, made that famous statement with the full knowledge that America was going to continue forcefully challenging the scourge of communism around the globe. Through the Peace Corps, through the military, through diplomacy, through a wide range of American initiatives.


Just as few people around the nation can wrap their hands around the fact that the Republican Party is the historical party for African Americans, few Democrat's today can grasp the political reality of John F. Kennedy. No, no, no. Set aside, of course, the private reality of John F. Kennedy, what they truly love – since they gave birth to it – is the Hollywood myth of John F. Kennedy. The essence of Kennedy has been falsely modified: we've moved from Kennedy the signifier (ask not what your country can do for you or Ich bin ein Berliner) to Kennedy the signified (Camelot) to Kennedy the sign (as presently utilized by Barack Obama).

If you haven't seen the
Prayer, God and War video recently produced by Newt Gingrich please do yourself the favor and take a good look at it now. It is quite relevant to this discussion and also illustrative of why Country First works so well.

http://rattlergator.typepad.com/rattlergator/2008/09/operation-country-first-the-campaign-theme.html

O Stumps John Trumps

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN McGANN
Posted: 4:08 am
September 25, 2008

FACING a postconvention fall in the polls, John McCain once again reshaped the dimensions of the race by suspending his campaign and calling for postponement of tomorrow's debate.

This bold move could have an impact on the race akin to McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Defensively, McCain had to act to stop the fall in his poll numbers.

Offensively, he has placed himself at the epicenter of the only issue on the national agenda - proactive action to stop a total international financial collapse.

Obama's response to McCain's initiative is lame. As with his initial reaction to Sarah Palin, Obama has miscalculated. While he tries to spin McCain's move as a mere response to his initiative, it was the Republican who first issued the call for a suspension of the campaigns.

Both McCain and Obama will now go to Washington. McCain on his own initiative. Obama as a result of the president's call for an economic summit.

But it is McCain who will play the proactive role. Obama will come to Washington, but will keep one foot outside the Beltway.

Even though the president has called both candidates to Washington to save the country, Obama continues to campaign. Politics as usual.

He doesn't want to cancel the debate. He would debate while the markets burn.

McCain is going to work while Obama is phoning it in.

Oddly, McCain and Obama agree on the bailout package. But it is only McCain who can pass the bill. Only McCain can deliver the administration and the Republicans.

McCain will be at the center of the process, managing it through to success while Obama lingers on the outskirts, irrelevant and uninvolved.

McCain will pass Barack Obama's bill (which parallels his own proposals), and will get the credit for it.

There are compelling reasons why McCain may be saving his campaign by this bold move.

McCain's entry into the legislative foray personalizes the economy issue.

As long as McCain stayed away from Washington, it was the Democrats against the Republicans. Polls give the Democrats the edge. But voters trust McCain personally more than they trust Obama to manage his way out of a crisis.

By showing up in Washington, McCain makes the issue personal, not partisan.

And the rescue legislation will pass. Washington has no alternative but to act. And it probably will work. The markets will calm down. The bailout legislation will have done it.

Including the Democratic amendments, it will become a fairly popular piece of legislation and it will have been McCain's bill. Obama can claim authorship, but it will have been McCain who will have brought the Administration into line.

Once the bill is passed, McCain will have the credentials to go on the offensive and warn of the impact of Obama's tax increases on the recovery.

Had McCain not acted, Republican opposition to big government might have doomed the economy and destroyed Republican hopes.

By going to Washington, McCain makes it imperative that the Republicans pass the legislation. His presence makes it an issue of party survival in a way that lame duck Bush could never do.

As Woody Allen said "half of life is just showing up."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09252008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/o_stumps_as_john_trumps_130637.htm

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Biden Dropping Out? Rumor Thrives on Internet


Sept. 24, 2008: Joe Biden addresses a campaign rally in Jeffersonville, Ind. (AP)

It’s almost certainly just a case of the telephone game gone high-tech, but there’s an Internet rumor surging through inboxes and discussion boards that Joe Biden will drop out as Barack Obama’s running mate after his Oct. 2 debate with Sarah Palin — and that he’ll be replaced by Hillary Clinton on the Democratic presidential ticket.

The story line goes as follows: John McCain’s selection of Palin has generated so much interest in the Republican ticket that Obama needs to make a radical move to regain momentum. So in the days after the vice presidential candidates debate in Missouri, Biden will bow out, citing “health problems” (Biden underwent surgery in 1988 to repair two brain aneurysms). Enter Clinton.

Furthermore, the story goes, any damage the gaffe-prone Biden does during the debate will be erased by his abrupt exit.

It sounds like a job for Fight the Smears, the Web site the Obama campaign set up to quash damaging Internet rumors. But Fight the Smears hasn’t touched this one, perhaps out of fear that it would only further a wild rumor. The Obama campaign has not commented on it, other than to say that Biden’s medical records will be released soon.

Snopes.com, a site devoted to picking apart online rumors and urban legends, has labeled the status of the claim “undetermined.” Several online discussion boards have been loaded up with denials.

Biden has caused a few hiccups for the Obama campaign. On Monday, he had to issue a clarification after he called one of his own campaign ads “terrible” in an interview with CBS News. He also faced a rebuke from Obama after he spoke out against the government bailout of American International Group last week before Obama was ready to take a position.

On Tuesday, he said that President Franklin Roosevelt had gone on television in 1929 to discuss the Wall Street crash (Herbert Hoover was president in 1929 and the TV hadn’t been invented yet).

At one point, he even said Hillary Clinton might have been a better pick for Obama’s No. 2.

The Republican National Committee has gleefully set up a Biden “gaffe clock” to monitor his rhetorical flubs on the campaign trail.

Nonetheless, Democratic supporters dismiss outright any speculation that he might be dropped from the ticket.

“It’s crazy. … It’s just not gonna happen,” Democratic strategist Bob Beckel said.

Dropping Biden from the ticket would be a throwback to George McGovern’s shocker in 1972, when he replaced running mate Thomas Eagleton after it was learned that Eagleton had undergone electro-shock therapy for depression.

McGovern lost to President Nixon in a landslide, suggesting that seventh-inning lineup changes are not the best strategy for presidential candidates who want to shake things up.

Speaking hypothetically, Beckel said that, if it were to happen, the Democratic National Committee could feasibly call a mini-convention of sorts to confirm a new running mate. He also said “it would be so disruptive” that it would make no sense for Obama to pursue such a change.

Deadlines have passed in some states to send absentee ballots to military personnel and civilian voters overseas — meaning they would have received a ballot already with Biden (and Palin) on their parties’ tickets.

“I doubt it,” said Christopher Hull, presidential scholar and adjunct government professor at Georgetown University, when told of the Biden rumor. “Joe Biden is not that big a liability. Joe Biden was arguably the most experienced candidate in the [Democratic primary] race.”

“Joe Biden, of course, has shot off his mouth and gotten himself in trouble,” he added. “It’s Joe Biden we’re talking about.”

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/24/biden-dropping-out-rumor-thrives-on-internet/

McCain To Work and Obama To Debate ? Obama, You’re Fired!

I think Donald Trump would have NO problem firing Barack Obama.

He doesn’t know when to go back to work. This is a crisis. Does he understand? I don’t think so and neither do others. Country First!

A Cause Greater Than Self…McCain is a man of his word.

Obama, the ignorant is arrogant beyond belief. He said he is multitasking? He does not see the urgency in doing his work. He is STILL a paid Senator. Did he forget?

http://mcnorman.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/mccain-to-work-and-obama-to-debate-obama-youre-fire

John McCain's Remarks on the Economy


Statement From John McCain's Website



"It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem. We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night's debates until we have taken action to address this crisis."

America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns. This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward. I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’s proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem. We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.


McCain Says Economic Crisis Top Priority

2008 Campaign

McCain Seeks to Delay First Debate
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
McCain Seeks to Delay First Debate

John McCain, seen at an event in New York on Wednesday, said that he wanted to delay Friday’s debate and suspend campaigning because of the economic crisis.

Should the candidates give top priority to the economic crisis?

Leave a comment or read comments:

Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper

Political Punch

Jake Tapper is ABC News' Senior National Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.

Independent Group Running TV Ad in Colorado Accusing Obama of Attacking McCain's War Wounds
September 24, 2008 12:36 PM

A new independent group called Citizens for Open and Responsive Government says it's running a TV ad on cable in Colorado that goes after Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for knowingly attacking Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for not being able to use a computer because of his war wounds.

This is in response to Obama running a TV ad hitting McCain for being out of touch because he doesn't email or use a computer, which as we discussed a few days ago actually has less to do with him being an anachronism and more to do with the wounds he sustained in Vietnam. Small tasks make his shoulders ache, so he tries to avoid any repetitive exercise.

Other than running mate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. -- who condemned this ad, then seemed to kinda, sorta retract his condemnation -- the Obama campaign's response when asked about this has been to ignore the notion that McCain doesn't type because of his war wounds.

So, the opening thus provided by Mr. Obama's hope-mongers, CORG's ad features Lt. Colonel Mike Fairhead (ret.) of Rogers, AR, a disabled Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient.

In the ad, after Fairhead introduces himself, the script is as follows:

Narrator: What do Mike Fairhead and John McCain have in common? They are both wounded veterans and neither of them are able use a computer or type an email because of war injuries. Apparently, Barack Obama's believes John McCain's war injuries disqualify him from being commander-in-chief. This attack is so shameful that even Obama's own running-mate, Joe Biden, described the attack as "terrible". Saying, "... [I'd] never have done it."

Fairhead: Mr. Obama, why do you attack Sen. McCain because of his disability?

- jpt

videos here:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/independent-gro.html