Obama's Pessimistic Informercial

I don't know why it took me this long to have the election crystallize in my mind - but it hit me when watching Obama's infomercial last night. Obama only wins if he can convince people that things are horrible in this country. I know he has been calling for change this whole time, and I always thought it was based on an idea that people seem to think the country is headed on the wrong track.

But watching the infomercial, I realized that he's not just trying to tap into the national mood. he is actively trying to convince people that things in this country are horrible.

Look at all of the clips he had of Americans and the struggles they were facing. It was one long ad for how bad things are.

But I can't believe that things are as bad as Obama wants us to believe they are. First, if they were, Obama wouldn't have to sell it so hard. Second, if they were, Apple wouldn't have sold 11 million iPods and six million iPhones in the last quarter, the GDP wouldn't be up 3.3% in the last quarter and home sales in California, for example, wouldn't be up 60% in the last year.

In truth, the economy isn't as bad as Obama would have us believe. But he loses if he can't convince more than half of America that things are downright horrible and we need significant and lasting change in this country.

The fact that he spent $4 million dollars selling the fact that all Americans face such difficult times is evidence of his goal. It only really worked in the last month when the economy "tanked" and everyone became focused on the bailout and the state of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

But those worries are now easing - the Dow seems to have hit bottom and rebounded a bit, the credit freeze is lifting, and things are, by-and-large, getting back to normal. So the only way Obama maintains his lead is to continue to tell people how bad things are. This will probably work for people who are struggling right now. The question is how much it will work with people who aren't. Five days to go, with a tightening race means we won't know how well Obama has succeeded until the last minute.

Great Joe Biden Interview

Barbara West of WFTV in Florida interviewed Joe Biden a couple of days ago. if you haven't watched it, you must - it's hilarious

My favorite part is probably when he claims, "The only person spreading the wealth around is George W. Bush. Obama doesn't want to spread the wealth around."

Hey Joe - you are aware the "spread the wealth around" were Obama's own words, correct?

Obama's Mask Completely Removed

New audio has surfaced during which Barack Obama specifically advocates for wealth distribution as well as a fundamental change to the very fabric of our nation - the limited power of the Federal Government.

An article by Bill Whittle at National Review carefully dissects what Obama has said and it is quite striking.

If this audio clip had come out six months ago, there is little doubt that Obama would not be planning his victory celebration right now. The question remains - how much damage can this audio clip do in a week? The fact that Obama's campaign has completely lambasted the clip probably says a lot about it's damaging potential.

If The Economy Turned Around and No One Reported it...

would it still make a sound?

It's a great question raised by Dennis Byrne, writing about an apparent recovery in the housing market.

As he says, the main stream media will bury this story until after the election, so as to avoid giving Republicans or Bush any benefit of the doubt. Then, it will be reported as evidence that Obama really can heal all wounds.

The only way to avoid such a thing is to spread the story to as many places as possible. Make sure the information is out there!

Voter Fraud in Ohio

Actual Voter Fraud has been found in Ohio

It's funny, because when conservatives would complain about ACORN's registration fraud scheme, liberals would reply with lame excuses like: "Registration fraud is not the same as voting fraud - do you really think Mickey Mouse is going to show up on election day and try to vote?"

Well, now there are 18 proven cases of voter fraud in Ohio - all votes cast in support of Barack Obama. 13 were from campaign staffers from out of state who registered and voted illegally in Ohio. Another 5 were from a college group who were also from out of state.

Now, 18 votes is not very many. But the problem is twofold. First, we don't know how many fraudulent votes have been cast. Second, the 13 campaign staffers withdrew their own votes - they were not detected by election officials. Which makes one wonder how many staffers are not withdrawing their votes and taking a risk.

This is a problem - maybe it is only 18 votes; maybe it is the tip of the iceberg. Liberals will continue to minimize the issue instead of saying that voter fraud should not happen. We'll see if there is more in the next few days.

Dispicable

The story of the woman who lied and said she was attacked by an Obama supporter and had a letter B carved into her cheek is just pathetic.

That kind of intentional deception has no place in our society. It is things like this (on all sides of the political spectrum) that exacerbate the social rift we now face. And the fact that she stated the man who attacked her was African-American does nothing to quell the charges of racism with which Democrats like Senator Murtha love to bombard Republicans.

Moreover, there are plenty of true stories of desperate and destructive acts against Republicans that get no coverage while this hoax gets a lot.

The woman who made this story up does nothing to help the Republican cause; in truth, she does harm. And she deserves whatever punishment she gets for making a false police report.

A Storm is Coming

After eight years of suffering Bush Derangement Syndrome and two months of Palin Derangement Syndrome, liberals are on the verge of losing their minds.

First, the Minn. Senator Norm Coleman and five other members of Congress had their houses vandalized with the apparent threat "resign or else" spray painted on garage doors or walls.

Then, the home of a Republican Headquarters manager in Florida was shot at - apparently because he placed McCain signs in his front lawn. He claims that many McCain signs in the area have been vandalized or stolen.

What is the world coming to? I have a feeling that these won't be the last vicious acts against Republicans before the election.

And just imagine what will happen if Obama loses the election. Liberals in this country will be in such a state of rage that I can only imagine the violent storm that will be brought down on Republicans.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not pulling a Biden here and giving you a reason to vote against McCain. I am just saying that we live in very strange times.

Now, let's see how much the media covers these events. Remember, we have heard for the last two weeks about someone allegedly saying "kill him" about Obama at a Palin rally. The story has never been substantiated - in fact, the Secret Service has stated that they found no evidence that it actually happened. But the media (and Obama himself) went after the story for two weeks.

But we now have three instances in two days of politically motivated hate crimes. The media has mainly ignored these stories - and so far McCain has avoided imputing Obama for the acts of these lunatics (Obama gave McCain no such credit).

If these acts continue for the next 11 days, you really have to wonder if it will have a negative impact on Obama.

Obama Continues to Refine Tax Swindle

The message finally got through to John McCain to question Obama's math on 95% of Americans getting tax returns when 40% don't pay income taxes at all.

So, Obama came up with quite an interesting response - those people still pay payroll and Medicare taxes. So they will get a cut (read entire refund, plus some) on those taxes that they pay.

The problem is that instead of being able to give a refund based on income taxes, which they don't pay, Obama is instead planning on taking the money out of the Social Security Fund. Now, we all know social security will be bankrupt in the next 15 years or so. Obama wants to speed that up drastically - he's giving people who aren't elligible for social security money from the Social Security Fund. Does this sound like a good idea to anyone? Apparently, the increase in payroll taxes on the "rich" will fund these tax "cuts". he still hasn't said how high he will increase the payroll tax. In addition, he will increase the payroll tax for families making $150,000 or less, not $250,000 or less like the income tax increase.

In addition, Joe the Plumber is starting to cause Obama to change tactics too. The threat of small business tax increases seems to be taking hold in the minds of voters. So, Obama is coming up with intersting new spin.

For example, he claims that 95% of small businesses don't make $250,000, so they will not be effected by the tax increase. Sounds good, right? Here's the problem. 95% of small business employment comes from that 5% that does get hit by Obama's tax increases. Obama can spin the numbers anyway he wants to fool voters (there are lies, damn lies, and statistics) but the fact of the matter is that his plan will kill jobs.

But wait, he recently came up with an answer for that. You can get a $3000 tax credit if you hire someone. Of course, that's fine and good for companies whole tax burden only goes up $3000 a year. But do you really think that a business would have to cut jobs based on a $3000 tax increase? No! Obama's tax plan is going to hit businesses much harder than a $3000 tax credit can solve.

Obama is going to put this country into a depression if he becomes President. He is going to kill jobs.

Oh yeah - one more way he is going to kill jobs. He supports the Employee Free Choice Act... which does not give employees free choice at all. Essentially, it blocks employees from voting to unionize by secret ballot. Currently, you can vote against unionization by secret ballot without risking alienation or intimidation at work. But if Obama is President, those secret ballots go away. Anyone think unionization won't increase during Obama's term.

So, how do employers deal with the increase in union membership? They cut jobs. They ship jobs overseas where there are no unions. That's going to be great for the economy, right?

Labor unions once had their place in the American workforce. I was once a union steward. But they have outlived their own usefulness. Look no further than the automobile industry - the cost of doing business has grown far to high. Look at the movie industry. Films are the number 2 export in America. But more films are made in Canada (where there are no unions) than in Hollywood. Do we really need more unionization.

So, Obama is going to kill jobs and tax the "rich" into oblivion. Is that change any of us can believe in?

The Latest on Global Warming (or Lack Thereof)

A great article in the National Post raises new questions about the myth of man-made global warming.

My thought has always been this - if global warming was man-made, how did the Earth get out of the Ice Age?

Now, this doesn't mean that we shouldn't take care of the environment. Lowering carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and other harmful substances in the atmosphere is important to public health and safety. But the idea that harming businesses by capping emissions in an effort to half global warming is ridiculous since it won't help do anything but harm businesses.

General Colin Powell's Succession

Colin Powell didn't endorse Barack Obama for President on Meet the Press yesterday as he left the Republican Party.

While he praised Obama for being a transformational figure, the crux of his reason to endorse him was a repudiation of the Republican party.

He complained that the GOP is shifting to the right. He cited the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as proof of this shift - basically Republicans are becoming more conservative than he is comfortable with.

More telling even, was his statement that McCain nominating two more "conservative" justices to the United States Supreme Court was not something he wanted to see. Apparently he prefers judicial activists over those like Samuel Alito and John Roberts who do the job they were created to do - interpret the Constitution.

The Powell endorsement was not much of a surprise. He has leaned left for years and openly criticized the Bush Administration for the war in Iraq. What was surprising was that he railed against the Republican Party and conservatives as a whole. The funny thing is that so many conservatives saw the party lurching leftward with the nomination of McCain. Powell sees things exactly the opposite.

Joe Biden Gives a Good Reason to Not Vote for Obama

Joe Biden told donors in Seattle yesterday that he guaranteed that within the first six months of Barack Obama taking office, he would be tested by a "generated crisis" to test Obama's mettle. Biden "guaranteed" that this would happen.

Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like a good time to me. I don't know if he is talking about an attack or an economic crisis or what.

A good way to avoid such a "crisis" (attack) is to not elect Obama as President. See, Biden thinks that Obama's youth and inexperience are basically inviting attack. So, let's not invite an attack. Let's not elect someone as young ans inexperienced as Obama.

Problem solved.

Final Debate is Another Draw

Once again, it appears that Barack Obama won by not losing. He looked credible, he looked calm and cool. He ably deflected almost everything McCain sent his way. This will probably play well with people that aren't sure about voting for him because of his lack of experience.

McCain, on the other hand, came out a little feisty, showed a little passion, and was constantly on the attack against Obama. This might play well with people who are really angry about the economy, angry about government, and want the next President to really empathize with them. Obama claims to empathize, but McCain finally looked like he got it.

If this had been the first debate instead of the last, McCain might be ahead in the polls right now.

McCain also seemed to set himself up for the final two and a half weeks by invoking Joe the Plumber - a man who wants to buy the plumbing business he has been working for, but will face such higher taxes under Obama that it won't be cost-effective. Most people don't think an average plumber is "rich" and by Obama telling Joe that he makes so much money he needs to spread the wealth around to help out other plumbers like him isn't going to go over well with the electorate. McCain needs to continue to hammer the point in the next 19 days.

McCain still let Obama get away with a lot - for example that 95% of Americans would see a tax cut when 40% of Americans don't pay income tax. McCain really needed to respond to that ridiculous claim and he still let it go.

McCain also needed to have some facts to parry Obama's outright lies. Now, the fact that Obama can stare into the camera and tell a bald-faced lie with such aplomb (and in such a way that most Americans will believe him) is probably going to get him elected. McCain needed to be ready for some of these lies by specifically answering with facts.

For example, when Obama made the outrageous charge that Fox News disputed that Obama had voted to raise taxes on people making $42,000 - McCain could have pointed out that the Associated Press and factcheck.org both admitted that Obama had done such a thing. The dispute was instead over whether Obama had voted to raise taxes on families making $42,000 - McCain had claimed that in the first debate, was proven wrong, ans had since corrected his attack.

In addition, when Obama accused McCain's campaign of running 100% negative ads, McCain should have been ready to discuss some positive ads he had run, as well as point out that at one point in the campaign that Obama had run 74% negative ads while McCain was at 58%. Unfortunately, as Obama pointed out - he has perception on his side. But McCain should have stated that perception is not fact and been ready with the facts.

McCain did have a great comeback when Obama said he would "look at" offshore drilling. That was one of the highlights of the debate for me. But he continues to give Obama a pass on nuclear energy. McCain explains why he is for it and Obama says he doesn't have a problem with nuclear. But when Obama goes through his litany of energy alternatives his presidency will include, he never mentions nuclear power. Ever. McCain needed to make this point. McCain also needed to point out that Obama's plan calls for $15 billion a year for 10 years to "develop" new energy technologies. That is insufficient to truly increase American energy supplies. In contrast, McCain has specific plans - increased domestic oil and natural gas production, 45 nuclear power plants, clean coal, etc.

McCain also had another moment when he said, "I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against him, you should have run four years ago." But when Obama pointed out that their economic policies are basically the same, McCain didn't do enough to distinguish himself. He said they disagreed on torture, environmental protection and other non-economic issues. He should have made the argument that while he now supports the Bush tax cuts, he always opposed the increases in spending that Bush presided over. He could have made that point pretty well and did not. In addition, he mentioned, but did not go into detail, that Democrats have been in control of Congress for two years and the economy did not go south until recently. If he could have pointed to specific acts (or inaction) by the Democrats in Congress during the last two years, he could have scored a major point. But he just let it go.

And that is probably McCain's biggest weakness. He makes a point, Obama has a prepared come-back, and McCain lets the point drop - content with only raising the issue instead of winning the issue.

And the problem with that is that the tie really does go to Obama, since he is ahead. McCain needed to do more. He came the closest out of the three debates to a victory, but he didn't do enough. And time is running out for him to make up the gap. It's still possible, but his campaign must have razor-sharp precision on hitting the issues he can win in the next two and a half weeks. He hasn't been able to be that sharp to this date, so it remains to be seen whether he can pull it off. But, in a year that should be going heavily for Democrats, Obama has not yet sealed the deal. And that alone means McCain still has a chance.

More Evidence of Obama's Support for Ayers' Radical Education Views

In a new article, Stanley Kurtz lays out more evidence of a link between Barack Obama and the radical and dangerous educational views espoused by William Ayers. Again, this is much more important to us as voters than the fact that Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist.

It's pretty scary to think that anyone who supports or even partially shares these views could be President of the United States.

Hopefully, John McCain will raise these questions in the last debate and actually force Obama to answer (or squirm) in front of all of America.

For All Who Love a Good Conspiracy Theory

I guess I should stay true to my blog's title. Here are a couple interesting pieces:

The first is a blog post about Barack Obama's alleged ties to a Socialist party in the 90's

The second is an article by a literary researcher who has come to the conclusion that Barack Obama's first autobiography Dreams From My Father was written by no other than... William Ayers. Eesh!

Both may be false, both may mean nothing, but both are interesting reads anyway.

More on ACORN

Here is an article in the Investor's Business Daily about the ACORN controversy. It is a very wide-spread problem

Scary stuff

Obama Campaign Cannot Answer a Simple Question About Ayers

Here's a video where an Obama campaign staffer flails around for five minutes without being able to answer a simple question: Does Obama think it is OK to have professional associations with people who have committed terrorist acts?

http://thepage.time.com/video-halperin-chats-with-gibbs-in-nashville/

My favorite response is probably: We feel comfortable with where we are right now that we want to talk about the big issues.

Translation: We feel that we have enough of a lead that we can stall talking about this without it affecting poll numbers too much.

Wouldn't it be great if Obama won on November 5th, all of the information came out, and electors decided to vote for McCain after all?

ACORN Madness

Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now

There has been some talk about this group lately. Obama has worked for the group, and the group supports far-left ideals and cadidates. In addition, there have been questions about ACORN's voter registration practices raised over the years. Michelle Malkin wrote a great article about ACORN and Obama (which I posted a link to a couple of weeks ago).

But now, the sky seems to be falling on the group.

Several weeks ago, the Michigan Secretary of State told the Detroit Free Press that the group had engaged in significant voter fraud in the state.

Two days ago, Nevada state officials raided the office of ACORN after a two month invenstigation into voter fraud.

Today, Missouri officials are investigating ACORN for voter fraud.

Also today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer has reported that ACORN has admitted to voter fraud in Ohio.

Strange that all of the instances of votre fraud this year have been in swing states.

Now, maybe Obama has no connection to these activities (he probably doesn't), but these activities have certainly been undertaken to support Obama. And that very fact might hurt Obama - if the media will report it.

Everyone's Missing the Boat on Ayers

Forget about Barack Obama's ties to William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist. It's not going to be enough to sway voters away from Obama to show that they worked together (even though Obama was lying when he said he's just a "guy from the neighborhood" and Obama's campaign manager denied Obama new him).

However, it is imperative to tie Obama to Ayers' radical views on school reform.

Obama and Ayers worked on a board together to distribute money to schools (money which they got from the Annenburg Foundation). Ayers created the foundation and named a 33-year-old Obama as Chairman (and something tells me you don't name people to chair your foundation that you don't know). Their main job was to distribute $50 million dollars to schools. Obama has cited time and time again their work together to reform schools.

So, most people would probably be interested to know what Ayers' school reform agenda is.

Ayers' biggest agenda is teaching and advocating for "social justice". He claims that the goals of schools shouldn't be to teach children to read and write, but to teach them to be radials. I know from experience that social justice programs discuss such topics as "white privilege", racism, the fact that the United States deserved 9/11, the fact that George W. Bush is worse than Hilter, and a bunch of other garbage. This is what Ayers wants to teach children (especially "disadvantaged" children).

As recently as 2006, Ayers went to Venezuela and praised Hugo Chavez for the school reforms they have undertaken. He said that Venezuela can be a model for the rest of the world. We all know that Chavez is an avowed enemy of the United States.

So these are the questions we should be asking Obama. Does he agree with Ayers' education reform agenda? If he does, how can he be elected to President? If he claims not to, why would he work on a board with Ayers and help Ayers hand out $50 million dollars to schools that are teaching "social justice?"

And how does that play into the bigger picture of his relationship with Reverend Wright, who also preaches many of the same things taught in "social justice" programs. If Obama does not support these disgusting ideas, why does he so easily associate with people who do for such a long time?

These are the questions McCain must start asking in the next 26 days.

McCain (Almost) Takes Gloves Off

John McCain told a supporter last week that he was planning to take the gloves off against Obama in last night's Townhall Debate. He came close at the beginning.

He hit Obama with the double whammy right off the bat: McCain called for regulation of Fannie and Freddie and Senate Democrats defeated it.Oh, and by the way, Obama has gotten more money in his three years in the Senate from Fannie Mae than anyone else ever, except for Chris Dodd.

It was a great start.

But then it fizzled.

That isn't to say that McCain did poorly. He answered some questions well and got into more substantive details than he has at any time to this point. He finally asserted that he's not in favor of lowering taxes on the rich - he just wants to leave tax rates where they are. He hit Obama on the notion that raising taxes on anyone making $250,000 or more will affect a lot of small business and kill jobs. He mentioned looking at Obama's record, which is noticiably thin or the exact opposite of the things he says he will do now.

But other than that, it was pretty standard stump speech material on both sides (well other than McCain's bomb shell announcement that he wants to let the government buy troubled mortgages and renegotiate the payment based on current home values - I think a lot of people will suddenly find themselves with a "troubled mortgage" to get in on that deal).

So, in essence, McCain passed up on a lot of chances to hit Obama.

When Obama mentioned education reform as his third highest priority (skipping social security reform, which was specifically posed in the question), McCain should have hit him on the William Ayers association (more on Ayers in my next blog post).

When Obama said he is in favor of more oil, but we have to explore more first, or in favor of nuclear power, as long as we develop safe methods of storage, or in favor of clean coal, as soon as we develop the technology, McCain should have slammed him as hedging. We already have ALL of those technologies. Obama just wants a way out of actually promising to persue any of those energy methods. In his standard speech, he mentions only wind, solar, and biofuels. McCain should have jumped all over it.

When Obama claimed that he was going to cut taxes for 95% of Americans, McCain should have questioned his math - 40% of Americans don't pay ANY income tax. You can't give them a tax reduction; you are just giving them free cash. When Obama said taxing the rich more is just simple fairness, McCain should have expopsed him for the socialist he is. The rich already pay more in taxes. Even with a flat tax, the rich would pay more because they make more. That's fair! The wealthiest 5% of Americans pay 80% of the Federal Government's tax revenue. That's more than fair enough as it is. Why should they pay more?

When Obama claimed McCain was proposing to give corporate CEO's a $700,000 tax break, McCain should have slammed him on attempting to mislead people - Obama wants to take that much money away from them, McCain just wants them to keep it. He's not in favor of raising taxes - that isn't the same as giving them money (which Obama wants to do), it's just letting them keep more.

When someone in the audience (in section F, I believe - whatever that means) asked if we should wait for UN Security Council approval to protect Israel, McCain should have slammed Obama's response to Russia's invasion of Georgia. Obama said we should see how the UN Security Council responds - perhaps he forgets that RUSSIA has veto power in the Security Council.

When Obama kept harping about taking our eye off of Afghanistan, McCain should have question why, as head of a committee with oversight into Afghanistan, Obama never held hearings about the situation in that country. He has not been interested in Afghanistan until he began running for President and saw an opportunity to question the Bush administration.

So, McCain (once again) dropped the ball. He started off so promising, and then just dissapointed yet again. I think anyone else could probably win this election over Barack Obama (too late to nominate Romney and his economic experience?). This should be a Democrat's year, but the Democrats managed to put up the worst candidate possible. Well, maybe the second worst candidate possible.

She's Back

The Sarah Palin that so many people fell in love with after the Republican National Convention was back on display last night at the Vice Presidential debate. She was clear, articulate, genuine, and a little bit feisty (she could have been more feisty in my opinion).

She said a lot of good things, but missed a couple opportunities to really ding Joe Biden and Barack Obama. For example, at one point Biden said Obama was going to "end the war". Palin did well by saying that Obama's plan was a white flag of surrender, but it would have been great if she had said something like: "There is the fundamental difference between Obama and McCain - Obama wants to end the war at any cost. McCain will WIN the war. Obama has never once displayed a desire to win the war."

In addition, I would have preferred her to defend McCain (and Republicans in general) on the myth that Obama has been spreading ad nauseum lately: deregulation caused the financial crisis. The current problem started with overregulation of mortgage companies - requiring them to give loans to people that couldn't really afford them. That is what caused the current financial crisis - not some vague deregulation. And McCain did call for more regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005, which Senate Democrats blocked. We need McCain and Palin to start hammering this point. Deregulation isn't bad and not all regulation is helpful.

Otherwise, Palin was masterful. Twisting the knife by "respecting" Biden for speaking out against Obama on the war, among other things.

Unfortunately for McCain, Biden generally did well too. He largely ignored Palin and went right after McCain. He stuck to his talking points and didn't have a single gaffe.

All in all, Palin did enough to restore confidence in her candidacy. She won the debate, but it wasn't a complete trashing. McCain might get a little boost in the polls, but it is not going to be enough to stem the tide of voters flowing to Obama right now. Only when the discussion moves on from the financial crisis and the bailout will McCain have a chance of getting back in this race.

Palin was great, but she alone isn't going to be able to save McCain's campaign - he is going to have to do that himself, which is something he has been completely unable to do so far.

And They Say Sarah Palin Doesn't Know What She is Talking About...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTBZHf6WyG0