Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Something is wrong with this picture...

A trend it seems. And this guy might end up being the one to occupy the office of the President of the United States of America? Not to worry... just have another swig of the kool-aid.

Last refuge of a scoundrel?



Michael Ramirez of IBD sums up the attitude of the Obama campaign, it's surrogates, and much of the mainstream media (sorry to be redundant again...). More and more just about any kind of criticism of Obama by Republicans on any issue is being sloughed off and rebuffed with accusations of racism. Click on the cartoon to enlarge it.

As the race tightens this tactic of crying racism by the Obama campaign is becoming more and more frequent. Are they getting a little worried?

The Race keeps tightening....



Rasmussen has Obama up by 3 points. But as you get into the internals of the poll it really looks even tighter:

Among those who “always” vote in general elections, Obama leads by just a single point.

As for those who have not yet voted but are “certain” they will do so, the race is tied at 48%. Two percent (2%) of these “certain” voters plan to vote for a third party option while 2% say they are undecided.


It is still an uphill battle for McCain/Palin and, with less than a week, unlikely that they'll squeeze out a victory. But it is getting interesting.

So I have gone from... "it's over" to "it ain't over till it's over" to now... "wouldn't it be sweet if John and Sarah pull out a last minute victory over the one."

If Obama were to lose, the shock and outrage on the left and in the MSM (sorry to be redundant) would register off the Richter scale... that would be something to behold.

Friday, October 17, 2008

As Yogi Berra said...


"It ain't over till it's over..."

Did I call this for Obama too early? As we enter the last two and a half weeks of the campaign it appears that the race is tightening up.

According to a couple of the latest polls-

Gallup: 49% Obama 47% McCain among likely voters.
AP/Yahoo: 44% Obama 42% McCain based on poll of 873 Democrats and 650 Republicans.

Monday, October 13, 2008

And why are you voting for Obama?

Ignorance on the part of some of the electorate (more than one cares to know) is always to be expected in varying degrees. Here it is laughingly and shockingly highlighted by this Howard Stern video... an unlikely source for me to post (hat tip Newsbusters blog).

It wold be nice to imagine that those voting for either candidate had some idea of what policies each stood for, what each one's past record is, and (by all means) who their Vice Presidential running mate is!

A new low in voter IQ?

Friday, October 10, 2008

Investing? It's all relative...



If one year ago you invested a thousand dollars in Delta Airlines, or AIG, or Lehman Brothers... this is what you would have today to show for your market savy:

Delta.......... $49
AIG............ $33
Lehman......... 0

But if you had purchased $1000 worth of beer and drank all of it, then you would have:

Aluminum beer cans recycled...... $241

Obviously in these dire and stressful financial times drinking beer may be both the best therapeutic and investment choice.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

... Or is this it?!



George Will writing today in a column entitled, McCain In A Bear Market, conjures up the words of the former Baltimore Orioles' manager Earl Weaver, "Are you going to get any better or is this
it?"


Will gets to the heart of McCain's problematic approach to the ongoing economic Wall Street and Main Street downturn:

Recently Obama noted -- perhaps to torment and provoke conservatives -- that McCain's rhetoric about Wall Street's "greed" and "casino culture" amounted to "talking like Jesse Jackson." What fun: one African American Chicago politician distancing himself from another African American Chicago politician by associating McCain with him.

Read the whole thing.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Best Case for McCain Yet!

Well, I'm still of the mind that McCain is not making the case against Obama and for himself in this campaign. I was wavering a bit yesterday... then the debate. The gloom returned... it's over.

McCain ignored the issues that would damage Obama (his radical connections, his extreme liberal positions on issues like abortion and judicial nominations, the voter fraud-laden ACORN which he has long standing ties to...). No going for the jugular on McCain's part, and that even goes for his attempted scores on Obama's dangerous naivete concerning our war against Islamo-facist terrorism.

McCain's prescriptions for the current economic crisis (as well as his explanations how it developed) are closer to mainstream liberalism than conservatism, would inflate spending, and would increase government involvement and control in the private sector (that's us... people's financial and business affairs). Obama's ideas are out-in-out on the road to socialism. No clear contrast.

So... I'm getting ready for at least a cold four year winter.

But this video is the best case I have seen for casting a vote for McCain/Palin. I hope a lot of people see it. I still hope I am wrong and McCain wins. Enjoy:

Monday, October 6, 2008

Prediction: It's All Over for McCain...

Throwing in the towel too early? Well, I hope I'm wrong but I see no signs that anything but an Obama victory is what to expect on November 4th. Factors leading me to this not-too-early conclusion:

1. The overall anti-Bush sentiment in much of the electorate.
2. The downturn in the markets and economy which always reflects negatively on the party that has the White House.
3. The In-The-Tank Media wants Obama. They have the microphone.
4. McCain has been unwilling to go after Obama on his vulnerabilities (Fannie Mae connections, Ayers connection, Rev. Wright connection, Democrat fingerprints all over the Sub-prime crisis... the list goes on) and doing so now (if he does) will be too little too late.
5. McCain mishandled the Economic Crisis message by framing it as Wall Street greed and corruption which is not the cause and plays right into the Democrat playbook.
6. Too little, too late. Undecideds have been breaking to Obama in the absence of a compelling reason to vote for McCain. Once people make the decision for a candidate it is less than likely they'll reconsider even in the light of new information.
7. The mishandling of Governor Palin in the three weeks following the Republican convention. Her strengths were squandered and support lost as the McCain campaign chose to sacrifice her in order to play nice with the mainstream media... even as the MSM was ramping up their advocacy reporting for Obama.
8. A muddled, watered down conservative message by McCain with no over-arching compelling theme. Obama is the most liberal candidate ever to run for president. McCain has not adequately contrasted himself with Obama in terms of economic policy, judicial nominations (3 probable Supreme Court nominations in the next 4 years), and governing philosophy (conservative vs. liberal).

Maybe more reasons later on...

Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Obama-Ayers Connection... finally




McCain needs to get on the stick and take it to Obama on the very things the media isn't willing to report on... or report on honestly (NY Times). One of those things is the long term relationship between Barack Obama and William Ayers, domestic terrorist. Today Governor Sarah Palin weighed in at a campaign rally. Here is a Powerline Blog report. Be sure to read Stanley Kurtz's remarks (the last section). Next the McCain campaign needs to go on the offensive on the Mortgage/Credit/Financial Crisis and its genesis as explained in a couple of the videos below... no, not the comedic one ;)


NO MORE MR. NICE GUY from Powerline:
The McCain camp says it is going to get tough on Barack Obama during the last month of the campaign. Well, I certainly hope so: if they've been waiting for someone else to do it--reporters, say--that hasn't worked out so well. Realistically, the only ones who can bring public attention to Obama's weaknesses are John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Which is why Palin told a group in Colorado today that Obama doesn't view America the same way they do:

Our opponent, though, is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would rather target their own country. Americans need to know this. ... We gotta start telling people what the other side represents.
That is, I think, a harsh but fair assessment. You can see the Fox News report here.

The Associated Press ran interference for Obama, as usual:

Obama, who was a child when the group was active, has denounced Ayers' radical views and activities.
While it is known that Obama and Ayers live in the same Chicago neighborhood, served on a charity board together and had a fleeting political connection, it's a stretch of any reading of the public record to say the pair ever palled around. And it's simply wrong to suggest that they were associated while Ayers was committing terrorist acts
.

Those aren't facts, those are the Obama campaign's talking points. But no one is going to hear anything else unless McCain and Palin start taking their message straight to the American people.


Some background from today's discussion at The Corner at NRO:


Close Shmose [Jonah Goldberg]
I trust Stan entirely that Obama and Ayers were in fact close. But look: even if they weren't that close it would hardly mean Ayers is insignificant. Anyone who understands politics understands that who a president listens to is relevant. Who will the commander-in-chief let in the room? From what direction will he take advice? Who is on his "team" and who isn't? What's a reasonable argument and what isn't?

Even if Obama personally disliked Ayers and disagreed with his politics in meaningful ways, Obama still found Ayers to be someone worth listening to and working with. Ditto Jeremiah Wright. They were in his tent, not outside it. Ayers and Wright may be more extreme than Obama. Indeed, they surely are. But there is very little evidence in the record that Obama's ideological compass doesn't point in their direction. I don't think Americans should be single issue voters on the Ayers stuff. But I think it is absurd to argue — as the NY Times implicitly does — that this is all meaningless because Obama and Ayers were allegedly less than soulmates.

Again imagine a similar relationship between McCain and an abortion clinic bomber and the Times running a story a month before the election reassuring that it's no big deal because McCain and Mr. Planned Parenthood Bomber weren't "close."


CNN/NYT Bias Contest [Stanley Kurtz]
A CNN article on Sarah Palin’s criticism of Barack Obama’s relationship to unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers actually cites National Review as one of the publications supposedly debunking Palin’s point. How CNN can cite National Review this way is a mystery to me. Maybe we’ll have to set up an NR "truth squad."

I was very briefly on CNN immediately after the McCain campaign called for me to be given access to UIC library. A CNN reporter interviewed me, and almost every question was an attempt to challenge the significance of the Obama-Ayers link. I answered every query in detail. When the report finally aired, my points about the significance of the Obama-Ayers connection were cut. And now, CNN is actually claiming NR as an ally in its effort to undercut Palin. Incredible.


Re: NYT’s Ayers-Obama Whitewash [Ed Whelan]
A quick follow-up to Stanley’s post: Isn’t it about time that campaign reporters demand live answers from Obama himself, rather than from uninformed campaign aides, about the basics of his relationship with Bill Ayers?

For starters: When did you first meet Bill Ayers? When did you first meet Bernardine Dohrn? When did you first learn that they were unrepentant terrorists? Did you ever tell either of them that you condemned their terrorist activities? Did you ever express reservations to anyone about serving on boards with Ayers? About funding his radical educational initiatives? About having him host a political reception for you? About accepting a campaign contribution from him? How many times have you or your wife been in his home? How many times have he or Dohrn been in yours? Did you meet with Ayers before becoming chair of the CAC board? When did you last have any communication with Ayers or Dohrn?

And so on. Get to work.



NYT's Ayers-Obama Whitewash [Stanley Kurtz]
As others have noted, today’s New York Times carries a story on the relationship between Barack Obama and unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist, Bill Ayers. The piece serves as a platform for the Obama campaign and Obama’s friends and allies. Obama’s spokesman and supporters’ names are named and their versions of events are presented in detail, with quotes. Yet the article makes no serious attempt to present the views of Obama critics who have worked to uncover the true nature of the relationship. That makes this piece irresponsible journalism, and an obvious effort by the former paper of record to protect Obama from the coming McCain onslaught.

The title of the article when it first appeared on the web last night was, "Obama Had Met Ayers, but the Two Are Not Close." That was quickly changed to, "Obama and the ‘60's Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths." Perhaps the first headline made the paper’s agenda a bit too obvious. Even so, the new title simply parrots the line of Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt that the two first met through an early "education project" and since have simply "encountered each other occasionally in public life or in the neighborhood." Or, as New York Times reporter Scott Shane puts it at the head of his article, since an initial lunchtime meeting in 1995, "their paths have crossed sporadically...at a coffee Mr. Ayers hosted for Mr. Obama’s first run for office, on the schools project (i.e. the Chicago Annenberg Challenge) and a charitable board, and in casual encounters as Hyde Park neighbors."

There is nothing "sporadic" about Barack Obama delivering hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of many years to fund Bill Ayers’ radical education projects, not to mention many millions more to benefit Ayers’ radical education allies. We are talking about a substantial and lengthy working relationship here, one that does not depend on the quality of personal friendship or number of hours spent in the same room together (although the article greatly underestimates that as well).

Shane’s article buys the spin on Ayers’ supposed rehabilitation offered by the Obama campaign and Ayers’ supporters in Chicago. In this view, whatever Ayers did in the 1960's has somehow been redeemed by Ayers’ later turn to education work. As the Times quotes Mayor Daley saying, "People make mistakes. You judge a person by his whole life." The trouble with this is that Ayers doesn’t view his terrorism as a mistake. How can he be forgiven when he’s not repentant? Nor does Ayers see his education work as a repudiation of his early radicalism. On the contrary, Ayers sees his education work as carrying on his radicalism in a new guise. The point of Ayers’ education theory is that the United States is a fundamentally racist and oppressive nation. Students, Ayers believes, ought to be encouraged to resist this oppression. Obama was funding Ayers’ "small schools" project, built around this philosophy. Ayers’ radicalism isn’t something in the past. It’s something to which Obama gave moral and financial support as an adult. So when Shane says that Obama has never expressed sympathy for Ayers’ radicalism, he’s flat wrong. Obama’s funded it.

Obama was perfectly aware of Ayers’ radical views, since he read and publically endorsed, without qualification, Ayers’ book on juvenile crime. That book is quite radical, expressing doubts about whether we ought to have a prison system at all, comparing America to South Africa’s apartheid system, and contemptuously dismissing the idea of the United States as a kind or just country. Shane mentions the book endorsement, yet says nothing about the book’s actual content. Nor does Shane mention the panel about Ayers’ book, on which Obama spoke as part of a joint Ayers-Obama effort to sink the 1998 Illinois juvenile crime bill. Again, we have unmistakable evidence of a substantial political working relationship. (I’ve described it in detail here in "Barack Obama’s Lost Years."

The Times article purports to resolve the matter of Ayers’ possible involvement in Obama’s choice to head the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, yet in no way does so. Clearly, the article sides with those who claim that Ayers was not involved. Yet the piece has no credibility because it simply refuses to present the arguments of those who say that Ayers almost surely had a significant role in Obama’s final choice.

Steve Diamond has made a powerful case that, whoever first suggested Obama’s name, Ayers must surely have had a major role in his final selection. Diamond has now revealed that the Times consulted him extensively for this article and has seen his important documentary evidence. Yet we get no inkling in the piece of Diamond’s key points, or the documents that back it up. (I’ve made a similar argument myself, based largely on my viewing of many of the same documents presented by Diamond.) How can an article that gives only one side of the story be fair? Instead of offering both sides of the argument and letting readers decide, the Times simply spoon-feeds its readers the Obama camp line.

The Times also ignores the fact that I’ve published a detailed statement from the Obama camp on the relationship between Ayers and Obama at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. (See Obama’s Challenge.) Maybe that’s because attention to that statement would force them to acknowledge and report on my detailed reply.

Shane’s story also omits any mention of the fact that access to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records was blocked. What’s more, thanks to a University of Chicago law student’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, we now know that access to the documents was blocked by an old Obama associate, Ken Rolling, on the day I first tried to see them. And as a result of my own FOIA, we also have evidence that Rolling may have been less than fully forthcoming on the question of Ayers’ possible role in elevating Obama to board chair at Anneberg. In fact, Rolling seems to have been withholding information from a New York Times reporter. I’ve made this material public in a piece called, Founding Brothers. How could a responsible article on the topic of Obama, Ayers, and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge ignore the story of the blocked library access and the results of the two FOIA requests? How could a responsible paper fail to aggressively follow up on the questions raised by those requests, and by the documents and analysis presented by Steve Diamond?

Most remarkably of all, Shane seems to paper over the results of his own questioning. On the one hand, toward the end of the piece we read: "Since 2002, there is little public evidence of their relationship." And it’s no wonder, says Shane, since Ayers was caught expressing no regret for his own past terrorism in an article published on September 11, 2001. Yet earlier in Shane’s article we learn that, according to Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt, Obama and Ayers "have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Mr. Obama began serving in the United States Senate in January 2005." Very interesting. Obama’s own spokesman has just left open the possibility that there has indeed been phone and e-mail contact between the two men between 2002 and 2004, well after Ayers’ infamous conduct on 9/11. Yet instead of pursuing this opening, Shane ignores the findings of his own investigation and covers for Obama.

The New York Times in the tank for Obama? You bet. And sinking deeper every day.