On the Political Front

Did you read Bob Beckel today? Heartening to learn he felt the need to warn his party, “Beware of Michael Steele.” Then Peggy Noonan said, “One senses in a new way the disaster that is Nancy Pelosi.” And Rich Lowry went after the prez with, “On the stimulus, when Obama says, “I won,” he’s out of better arguments.”

Not only was it a good morning on the editorial front but the president had a very calm hissy fit calling it “inexcusable and irresponsible” that the stimulus bill has been delayed despite the overwhelming opinion of the American people that the bill is the most pork-laden disaster in our history. Maybe people really are listening. With those “500 million Americans” out of jobs each month (Hey, I didn’t make that up – Pelosi did!), there are plenty of folks with tons of time to participate in the latest polls. They can see what’s what and they aren’t falling for the rhetoric. Go team!

More:

The Anchoress: Anchoress stimulus plan a hit! – UPDATED

Power Line: President Obama — diminishing himself to serve Speaker Pelosi

The Next Right/Patrick Ruffini: What Can Republicans Do? Win.

The Washington Times/Stephen Dinan: CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul

 

Obama, Rush, and What Dems Can Expect

From Jennifer Rubin at Commentary.com…

But insulting the Republicans at the White House with a Rush Limbaugh jibe isn’t the way to win adherents. It is noteworthy that the insult  leaked, suggesting the Republicans are getting ready to burst the bipartisan façade. For a fellow who is supposed to respect his opponents Barack Obama sure has a habit of demeaning their legitimate policy concerns. (”What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.”)

At this stage of things, Obama likely has amassed all the adherents he ever will. Certainly gaining more in Congress is unlikely. Being dismissive of or insulting to Republicans is more likely to feed ego or thrill the faithful. However, it reflects poorly on the source more than the target and is just part of the strategy to marginalize the opposition. So develop a thick skin, make a flap over it if you must, and move on. There are larger issues at hand.

It is wishful thinking to see this era as anything but partisan. Lofty concepts like post-partisan or bi-partisan will be given lip-service at best. There is very little Republicans can do except hold firm to what makes them different and remind voters at every turn.

Whatever failures accrue to the Democrats must be clear and unequivocally their responsibility. For each one they must be held accountable. Democrats did nothing less during the last administration and should expect nothing less in return.

 

Media Bias Starts At The Top

This is a must read: “Media’s Presidential Bias and Decline,” a column by Michael S. Malone for ABC News. There is a lot of truth to what he writes but it misses how high in the industry the problem goes. In addition to the guilty editors Malone blames, publishers and boards of directors are also responsible for the media’s betrayal of the public trust. Without their awareness and consent if not approval, the media could not have pursued the agenda of promoting Obama’s candidacy.

 

Obama Accepts Bogus Donos But Not McCain

With full coffers does Obama really need to accept donations from John Galt, Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers? A Powerline reader reveals his “suspicious” credit card donations were accepted by the Obama campaign but not at McCain’s site.

Patrick Ruffini conducted his own test and discovered

The Obama campaign has turned its security settings for accepting online contributions down to the bare minimum — possibly to juice the numbers, and turning a blind eye towards the potential for fraud not just against the FEC, but against unsuspecting victims of credit card fraud.

Voter fraud (ACORN) and illegal donations should be a death knell for any campaign. But the ‘O’ faithful including the media are so mesmerized that they are willing to excuse such activities as either “no big deal” or Republican lies. This is surely a tainted election with unethical actions both accepted and excused. It is creating a culture of “the end justifies the means” along with making personal integrity a convenience rather than a creed.

Therein lies the real divide in this country, a difference in morals that transcends race, religion, and gender. The absence of leadership in this vital area means it must start at the bottom and work its way up. That leaves it to voters to demand better from the governing class or suffer the consequences.

More at CommentaryMagazine/Jennifer Rubin: Plenty To Worry About

 

Boss Daley Claims Obama and Ayers are Friends

Chicago’s Mayor Daley attempted to make nothing of Barack Obama’s relationship with William Ayers back in August according to John Kass at the Chicago Tribune.

Obama says he was 8 years old when the bombs went off. But he was a grown man when he sought Ayers’ political blessing, and when they worked on the same education projects.

“They’re friends. So what?” Mayor Daley said in August.

From Daley, who should know the truth, that’s a flat-out admission that Obama and Ayers are friends. Not were friends back at the beginning of time or just neighbors who nod as they pass each other in their luxury cars but are friends or at least were in August, 2008. That was reported in the Chicago Tribune today. So much for Obama disassociating himself from Ayers.

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Kass has more on Obama’s Chicago connections specifically crony Marilyn Katz, security chief for the radical Students for a Democratic Society during the 1960’s, who is currently raking in the bucks from the city of Chicago.

One friend of Obama and Ayers is former ’60s radical Marilyn Katz, now an Obama fundraiser, strategist and public relations maven…

Now, as Daley prepares to lay off more than 1,000 city workers, he’s given Katz and other public relations firms five-year contracts that could pay them as much as $5 million each for consulting, advertising and promotion.

There is more data in the Trib story but the interconnectedness of the players is remarkable. Mayor Daley’s father and William Ayers’ father were friends. William Ayers and Marilyn Katz were in the SDS together. Obama, Ayers, and Katz are friends. Katz is now an Obama fundraiser and strategist. Katz is on the Daley payroll and Daley is running interference for Obama.

Imagine how government will function under an Obama administration and what kind of scorecard it will take to keep track of all the players.

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Don’t miss the must-read opinion piece at the D.C. Examiner titled “Guilty by Participation: Barack Obama’s radical associations and what they mean.”

 

The Obama Camp, Election Fraud and Socialism

This report from Grizzly Groundswell shows the Obama campaign voter tampering charges are more significant than previously thought. In addition the efforts appear to be more closely connected to Obama than the “arms-length transaction” he would like us to believe.

There is no place in the American electoral process for the types of voter suppression, intimidation and harassment systematically engaged in by the Obama campaign, its allies and supporters. ~ Lyn Utrecht, Counsel, Hillary Clinton for President

Combine that with the suppression of the First Amendment and outright embrace of socialist principles by the Obama/Pelosi/Reid triumvirate, and we will have a brand new world as of January 20, 2009. Our system of checks and balances never looked so important as it does today.

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Don’t miss the must-read opinion piece at the D.C. Examiner titled “Guilty by Participation: Barack Obama’s radical associations and what they mean.”

 

McCain or Obama – Which candidate will deliver?

There have been a lot of promises and proposals made during this election cycle, some good, some questionable, some trivial. With less than a month to go, Senators McCain and Obama have probably made the bulk of their promises and proposals. Voters and pundits can examine them down to the most minute detail and decide which proposals have merit, are based in reality and will lead to a better future whatever that means to any individual. None of that matters though if the candidate making the promise will not also make it a reality.

Don’t waste your vote on a candidate who lacks the wherewithal to make your expectations come to fruition. Think about it. Will your candidate stand and deliver? Look to his history, character and trustworthiness for clues to his actions in the future. Will his campaign promises become a distant memory or a future reality? Will he lead or will he acquiesce to party leaders, special interest groups and Members of Congress? Despite all demands and invitations to do otherwise, will he represent the people who elected him?

If you remain undecided, consider this. Character and toughness are always important but never more so than during harsh times. What counts is who will deliver. That is the candidate who deserves your vote. Rhetoric is inspiring but results will determine our future.

 

A Winner, a Loser and Two Runners-up

Results of the October 7th presidential debate (insert drumroll)

Winner: Belmont University for providing a terrific venue

Loser: Tom Brokaw for over-scripting a usually spontaneous format

First Runner-up: John McCain for one new idea, the mortgage rate reset proposal

Second Runner-up: Barack Obama for best teflon suit (nothing stuck to him)

More: The Anchoress – Final Thought: Brokaw hurt both men

 

If Democrats Win, We All Lose

Rasmussen’s October 5th poll results show that

• 75% of voters think their representatives do not understand legislation before they vote on it.

• 59% of voters would like to fire all of their representatives and elect new ones.

• More than 90% of Congress is likely to be elected in November due to a system that benefits incumbents.

If voters are disgusted with Congress, why would they want their representatives to have carte blanche to enact whatever they like? If Obama wins the election, whatever Congress wants, Congress will get. Given the state of the economy, the health care system, the war on terror, etc., can voters trust a group of people, 75% of whom voters believe don’t even understand the legislation on which they vote?

Do Americans really want an unfettered President Obama? If you think our rights were trampled by Bush, wait till you see what Obama will do with his newer, bigger, better brand of government. A Democtratic Congress would make it so and give him whatever he wants just as he would do the same for Congress. Checks and balances would be moot just as it was for the first six years of the Bush presidency. Add to that the extent to which Obama could reshape the Supreme Court and we would be reduced to a one-party government.

There is a vast difference between the Bush presidency and an Obama presidency. Voters need to be warned that electing only Democratic candidates may transform the United States into a social democracy, “a political movement advocating a gradual and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism by democratic means.” This threat, with all the burdens and restrictions that are inherent in that form of government, needs to be hammered home to Republicans, independents, and undecideds alike.

This election is far more than a rejection of Bush and his failed policies or Congress and its poor leadership, pork barrel greed and ignorance. It is tantamount to a referendum on our freedoms and our future. If Democrats across the boards win,  America will become the planet’s newest social democracy. This election is that important.

Update: More at TheNextRight.com.

 

Obama rakes in foreign donations – FEC unconcerned

(Make your view known at Poll: Should the FEC and the MSM investigate Obama’s foreign donations before the election?)

Newsmax reported the questionable donations story on September 29th but it has to date gained little traction. The MSM can always ignore any inglorious story about Barack Obama so that is predictable. Maybe the new media was too preoccupied with the troubled economy and the VP debate to cover it. Now that we have a quiet weekend though, it’s time to take a hard look at something the Obama camp wants buried.

And then there are the overseas donations — at least, the ones that we know about.

The FEC has compiled a separate database of potentially questionable overseas donations that contains more than 11,500 contributions totaling $33.8 million. More than 520 listed their “state” as “IR,” often an abbreviation for Iran. Another 63 listed it as “UK,” the United Kingdom.

More than 1,400 of the overseas entries clearly were U.S. diplomats or military personnel, who gave an APO address overseas. Their total contributions came to just $201,680.

But others came from places as far afield as Abu Dhabi, Addis Ababa, Beijing, Fallujah, Florence, Italy, and a wide selection of towns and cities in France.

There’s more at The American Spectator in a piece by The Prowler called Obama’s Fishy $200 Million.

An auditor for the Federal Election Commission is attempting to have his bosses seek a formal investigation into the collection by the Obama for President campaign of more than $200 million in potentially illegal political donations, including millions of dollars of illegal, foreign donations, and has sought a request for assistance from the Department of Justice or Federal Bureau of Investigation. But the analyst’s requests have largely been ignored.

This looks like a juicy story but not one investigative reporter has tackled it. How hard can it be when a Google search turned up 297,000 results for the search terms “Obama foreign donations” in 0.42 seconds? The lack of coverage despite the wealth of data shouts “hot potato” loud and clear.

American Thinker’s Pamela Geller has written about the questionable donations since July 19th and has a comprehensive rundown at Atlas Shrugs.

So here an intrepid blogger finds a keg of dynamite of dirty dollar donations to Obama and what does the media do? They ignore it.

Indeed!

 

We are “One Nation”

The current financial situation is explained very well by Gordon Chang at Commentary.com in his post, “The Real Reason the World Financial System Is Collapsing.” He concludes with

Yet one thing is obvious: we’re not going to get where we need to be if we let the presidential candidates avoid the real issues by blaming the greed of Wall Street’s financial intermediaries.

Indeed. The list could be expanded to include Paulson, Cox, Reid, Pelosi and others. Any discussion would serve us all better if done in a non-partisan way. Blaming either the left or the right perverts the truth and that compounds the misunderstandings and the mistrust that permeate current political discourse. We are “ONE NATION.” McCain, Obama and the others have forgotten this fact and we are all the worse for it.

 

Obama, the First Amendment and Censorship

There is great cause for concern about the future of the First Amendment under an Obama presidency. Powerline has the facts on Obama’s efforts to intimidate Missouri television stations by threatening criminal prosecution if they run anti-Obama ads.

Add to that strong-arm tactic MSM censorship in the blogosphere. Darke Blog and Gateway Pundit have evidence that ABC News on its Political Punch blog is removing anti-Obama posts.

Then there is Partisan Pelosi’s intention to revive the Fairness Doctrine limiting free speech for “radio talk show hosts and much of the new alternative media.”

This is chilling and telling evidence that dissenting opinions are at risk and that we are at the precipice of a very, very slippery slope.

Update: Little Green Footballs is on the case, too.

More: Bloomberg.com/Ann Woolner: Silencing Critics Using the Barack Obama Method

 

McCain, Obama and Governing Styles

McCain took action. Obama took phone calls. It’s that simple.

This has nothing to do with who is right or wrong or who had the best ideas regarding the Wall Street bailout. The events of the last few days just make it more obvious what we can expect from the candidates’ different approaches. Acting/negotiating vs. talking/thinking.

Even in the debate two days ago, the different approaches were plain. McCain reminds us of what he did and Obama reminds us of what he said. McCain is a man of action. Obama is a man of words. No wonder the Dems fear a McCain presidency for surely it means things will get done and not just discussed.

 

Kissinger not happy with Obama

Henry Kissinger wasted no time in declaring Barack Obama misstated during the debate tonight the former Secretary of State’s views on dealing with U.S. adversaries. Weekly Standard has the scoop. More at The Next Right and Publius’ Forum.

 

Source of Palin’s Smear Campaign Uncovered

From The Jawa Report…

Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign.

The Obama camp hired a PR firm to concoct those tall tales? Say it ain’t so! It is so disappointing to learn the “left wing fringe” isn’t to blame, er, responsible. Have those folks just been twiddling their thumbs waiting for nice juicy bits to fall in their laps? Are they too lazy and unimaginative to come with with smears themselves? Well, be that as it may, at least give them credit for spreading those rumors. They’ve done a bang up job of that.

Anyway, kudos to Rusty at The Jawa Report for intrepid and thorough investigative reporting, just the way it ought to be done.

More > The Anchoress: Astroturfing Palin & Race-baiting, etc.

and more > Power Line/Scott Johnson: Deep Secrets of Campaign 2008, part 2

 

Obama Stoops to Lying to Elderly Voters

File this one under “despicable.” Obama thinks he can win Florida and begins by lying to retirees and elderly voters.

More: The Real Barack Obama/Procrustes > Liar! Liar! Obama Ad “Promise”

And more: Hot Air/Ed Morrissey > Obama’s Lie on Social Security: a cover for a retreat?

And more: Powerline/John Hinderacker > The Politics of Fear

 

Obama’s Meeting with al-Maliki

There was some discussion here about Senator Obama’s meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in July and whether Obama tried to undermine the Bush administration’s negotiations with the Iraqi government. Allahpundit has the latest developments and raises some interesting questions.

Key here is that previous reports failed to mention that the meeting was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the Baghdad embassy’s Legislative Affairs advisor Rich Haughton, as well as Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. This was hardly a private meeting in the presence of so many representatives of the administration. In other words, if there had been a blatant situation, it would have been a big deal already.

Still Allahpundit raises an issue over the Senate’s advise and consent power, “heavy hints” and Bush’s executive authority. More here.

 

Obama Advocates Intimidation

These remarks by Senator Obama made on September 17 rank as stupid and divisive.

In Elko, Obama tried to anticipate his critics and called on the crowd of about 1,500 to sharpen their elbows, too.

“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,” he said.

Where can things be headed if the man who wants to be leader of the free world advocates intimidation rather than persuasion to convert new followers? Does this mean undecideds, independents and Republicans need to keep a low profile? Will bumper stickers and lawn signs become red flags to Obamaniacs?

With certainty post-partisan politics is dead for this election cycle and Obama needs to be held accountable for its demise.

 

McCain needs to attack Obama on Fannie Mae

David Frum has sorted this out but McCain needs to hammer it home. Here’s a simple approach for a commercial that ought to be running now.

Since 2002 John McCain has fought the forces that led to the troubles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. By contrast Barack Obama asked its former CEO to help him find a Vice Presidential nominee.

John McCain fought them. Barack Obama cozied up to them. Which candidate has done more to protect the American people?

 

More on the “McCain doesn’t use email” non-issue

Comment #4 to the “McCain’s injuries limit computer use” post claims “it’s a republican lie” and linked to HuffPo as proof. Then claimed McCain could “type an email on his blackberry.” Well, let’s take a look at how this plays out.

1. If it’s on HuffPo, that makes it questionable “data” at best. Consider the source.

2. Typing on a Blackberry can be slow and grueling for someone who has hand or arm problems. Senator McCain’s injuries may or may not “prohibit” use of such a tiny keyboard but it may not be worth the effort especially when he has supportive people around him who can do it faster and better.

3. What difference does it make whether or not he sends email? Is this relevant to being President of the United States?

4. Can Senator Obama really afford to alienate the 1 in 5 voters who are disabled and have found a true advocate in Governor Palin? Is he just writing them off?

This whole brouhaha just looks like a trumped up issue that has zero bearing on anything save to ridicule someone with a disability. The Obama camp showed poor judgment and supporters are trying to justify it. Dollars to doughnuts Senator Obama would like to see this non-issue die before it does him even more damage. But if the left wants to keep it alive, so be it. Tiger4Truth will be happy to oblige.

9/15/08 Update: Allahpundit posted a video today in which Obama spokesman, Bill Burton, admitted they knew McCain didn’t use a keyboard due to the effects of his war injuries. Kudos to Bill Hemmer who pressed the issue for nearly 2 1/2 minutes to get an answer.

So for Obama this attack is fair and ethical. Hey, just remember Obama people, what goes around comes around…