The World Celebrates

The above photograph, taken by flickr member NCinDC at the Inauguration, is one of thousands of photographs flowing in to flickr's Inauguration Photostream from all around the world. Below is a another photo by NCinDC taken at the World War II Memorial. I want to thank NCinDC for allowing others to republish his work under the Common Creative License.



Photos are flowing into flickr almost faster than it's possible to keep up. Some are simply television screen shots taken by home viewers. Others are impressive creative works. Still others are celebrations around the world.

And many, like NCinDC's above, are just citizen photo-journalism by some of the two million people in Washington DC to celebrate the greatest of all American Democratic Events, the peaceful change in leadership of the world's most powerful nation.

Today the entire world is proud of the United States!

They Told Me If.......

They told me if I voted for John McCain I would get a bi-partisan moderate President who would often reach across the aisle and would appoint a broad range of people from across the political spectrum to his cabinet.

They told me that if i voted for John McCain I would get a pragmatic, logical and intelligent President who would NOT be captive to dogma or partisanship in making decisions BEST for the American people.

The told me if I voted for John McCain I would get a President who followed an intelligent and protective approach to our withdrawal from Iraq, a man who would listen to our military in the field and would not just quickly and dangerously withdraw troops regardless of the outcome.

So I voted for John McCain....

And I got exactly the type of President I hoped to have!

Good Work President-Elect Obama! I couldn't possibly be more pleased!

Can The Presidency Be Bought?

This story ought to be the top headline in every newspaper in America. It ought to lead every network news broadcast. And, frankly, this story ought to thoroughly disqualify Barack Obama from the Presidency.

The Obama for President campaign has purposefully allowed and encouraged illegal campaign contributions from large donors, corporations, foreign countries and even illegal aliens. It is probable that these contributions were made with the full knowledge of the Obama campaign staff and management. It is possible that Barack Obama knew himself.

If the major news media wasn't so thoroughly in the tank for Obama the investigation would be in full force. It will take paid reporters to dig out the facts and ask the important questions. And it will eventually happen. The only question is when.

Right now only a few newspapers are beginning to ask the key questions. One real leader is Investors Business Daily who wrote in an editorial on Thursday:

Barack Obama has turned a blind eye to the use and abuse of prepaid credit cards. It's just one way he hides who his contributors are and just how much they're giving. When Steve and Rachel Larman of North Kansas City, Mo., opened their credit-card bill recently, a strange charge appeared on their statement — a $2,300 donation to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. This was odd, they thought, since they had not only not made the donation, they were planning to vote for John McCain. It was one more piece of evidence that the unprecedented flow of cash to and through the Obama campaign is not entirely legit. In any campaign, bogus or unwanted contributions can slip through the cracks. But team Obama has deliberately created a chasm of credibility. In addition to noncontributors being charged for contributions, at least $218 million has been received by the Obama campaign from donors of under $200 whose names it is keeping secret, according to FEC spokesman Robert Biersack. Fact is, team Obama has deliberately encouraged credit-card fraud by deliberately turning off the online safeguards normally used by sites receiving contributions or payments. There is no checking of names, addresses or card numbers done on the front end. According to the Washington Post, "Faced with a huge influx of donations over the Internet, the campaign has also chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts, aides acknowledged." Campaigns can accept donations of under $200 without disclosing contributors' names. McCain, who accepted public financing while Obama did not, has made his full donor database available on the Internet. Of the $150 million Obama claims to have raised in September, some $42 million was raised from secret contributors and listed under a single line, "Donors, Unitemized." Obama's deliberate lack of finance vetting allows the use of largely untraceable prepaid credit cards. These can be purchased at a local drugstore and used under any name, allowing anonymous donors to exceed limits on contributions and even foreign donors to funnel money to Obama's campaign. A Newsmax report noted a separate FEC database, of more than 11,500 foreign contributors to the Obama campaign, totaling $33.8 million. It was the largest influx of foreign money into a campaign since the Clinton-Gore campaign took millions of dollars of unregulated soft money from donors with ties to Chinese military intelligence. Typical is Viktor A. of Lagos, Nigeria, who gave $500 to Obama in May. State abbreviations accepted by the Obama campaign include IT (Italy), FR (France), GR (Greece), NZ (New Zealand), JP (Japan) and GA (Gaza). According to Newsmax, 2,372 donors gave their state of residence as "ZZ" with addresses from Beirut to Kiev to Shanghai.

I hate to sound like a paranoid right winger, but can you imagine the uproar if the roles were reversed and McCain had encouraged and accepted illegal campaign contributions and overlooked basic security? The press would have gone ballistic! And with good cause. No matter who does this kind of illegal activity, it should be investigated. And it should not be tolerated.

What Barack Obama has done is placed America for sale to the highest bidder. Elections shouldn't be bought and sold on the Internet.

Barack Obama should not be allowed to purchase the Presidency with illegal campaign funds.

Paranoia?

As I surfed around the blogosphere today I detected two distinct feelings that dominate the conservative and Republican blogs, panic and paranoia. The first is certainly understandable. Most tracking polls and virtually all reasonable pundits see an Obama victory as an absolute certainty. McCain supporters are panicking. They are looking for any tiny ray of sunlight as they head into the long dark night of defeat.

As a side note, I often must simply laugh out loud at the reporting over on the Fox News Channel. Over on Fox the polls are tightening and McCain is on the verge of victory. If you live exclusively inside the Fox News bubble, they will convince you McCain is winning. Just don't change that channel.

In the real world we are also witnessing a creeping paranoia among the folks on the right and a few on the left over the possibility of Barack Obama being elected Emperor and Chief, king god guru and messiah for life.

Even Obama has admitted he has a rather large ego. And Obama is acting is a rather partisan and vengeful in these last few days. Just ask Joe the Plumber who has felt the stinging abuse of governmental power or the reporters from The Dallas Morning News, The New York Post and The Washington Times suddenly left off the campaign planes.

But is there any validity in the paranoia? Let me direct you to Rick Moran's long and highly detailed column today, ‘WE DIDN’T KNOW” WILL NOT BE AN ACCEPTED EXCUSE.

Moran is hardly a reliable conservative. He is a strong opponent of George Bush and the War in Iraq. He often frustrates his fellow conservatives with long, rambling leftist essays. For a while many wondered if he would even support John McCain. But today Moran launched a withering attack on Barack Obama and left virtually no stone un-thrown. Here is an example. You need to read the entire column.

As clearly as many conservatives saw the way that the welfare state was designed would lead to eventual catastrophe, I will base the following on my life experience and more than 40 years observation of politics and government; a Barack Obama presidency will result in a radical diminution of American wealth, American power and prestige, and inevitably, a loss of liberty. Barack Obama is not qualified to be president of the United States. He has little interest in the nuts and bolts of how government works (yes, one can say the same of George Bush and look at us now). Unlike a Clinton or Bush #41 who enjoyed fiddling with the levers of government, enjoining the bureaucracy and Congress to bend to their wills, Obama literally doesn’t have a clue. He will be eaten alive by the striped pants set in the State Department. He will be gobbled up whole by the poverty lobby. And since he has little or no ideology or principles, he will sway with the political winds tacking hard left and then hard right until he angers everybody.

I strongly believe we can, should and even must elect John McCain president. This country needs McCain's strong leadership and logical approach to the problems we face. Barack Obama would (or will) be a complete disaster for the economy. We need McCain's simpler and more logical tax plan and we don't need Obama to expand the welfare state.

But..... should we really fear an Obama Presidency? I'll admit to a little paranoia myself. There is a grain of truth in Moran's rantings. Mostly I fear Barack Obama's ego. I fear he really does feel mightily superior to all us little people. I believe if the people of Ohio, Michigan and middle America knew Obama's real opinions of them, he couldn't be elected dog catcher.

Are a lot of people beginning to fear another Imperial President? Will Obama abuse his power to attack his opponents? Why hasn't he roundly condemned the horrific attack on Joe the Plumber?

Will Obama actually stifle the speech of his opponents? His team has attempted to do it in the campaign. And now Obama is removing reporters from newspapers who endorsed McCain from his campaign airplane.

Still, Is the loss of liberty Rick Moran writes about above a possibility? Is Obama that frightening? That concern is really showing up today among bloggers on the right.

John McCain: You Can Win! Here's How....

I don't think John McCain is reading my blog. And I rather suspect his advisers are too busy, too. But, if you are out there John, you can still win (easily).

How? Simply return to the full and open press availability that was the hallmark of your earlier campaigns. Your advisers (or should we call them "handlers") are giving you really bad, bad advice. Sarah Palin knows it. And, in your heart, you know it too.

You'll never close the 3% to 4% gap in the polls following your current plan. It's not possible. Barack Obama is out spending you in paid advertising 20 to 1. His 603 million dollars dwarfs your 87 million dollars.

O.K., accepting public financing was a huge mistake. But you can't fix that one now.

Barack Obama is completely hiding from the press. He hasn't had a press conference in ages and refuses more than two to three (carefully controlled) questions, and only on some days. And Obama has a lot of reasons to hide. More importantly, the press is finally starting to return to real journalism. They've been shamed into it.

And Joe Biden.... well, Biden is a disaster.

Sarah Palin is now the only available candidate and it's working. But you are the pro! You cannot match Obama's spending. But you can absolutely dominate every news cycle. Trust your instincts and return to the open, honest, available, candid, funny, controversial, folksy, trustworthy candidate that got you here in the first place.

John McCain, you can win. Talk to the press every hour of every day. And encourage Sarah Palin to continue to do the same thing.

The Manchurian Candidate

Is Barack Obama The Manchurian Candidate?

If somehow you are not familiar with Richard Condon's best selling 1959 novel or the 1962 blockbuster movie of the same name starring Frank Sinatra or even the rather sluggish and strange 2004 remake starring Denzel Washington, the "Manchurian Candidate" is a charismatic candidate who runs for President only to be the puppet of another, much more sinister, power. In the novel and 1962 movie that unseen power was the communist Chinese (hence the name). In the 2004 version the hidden villain was updated to be a domestic corporation, replacing our cold war fear of communism with the more politically correct (and rather prophetic) fear of Wall Street greed.

So is Barack Obama the real Manchurian Candidate? Do we have a man who has one very charismatic public persona, but a radically different personal and political agenda for the country once he takes office? We really don't know.

And this is EXACTLY what happens when the bulk of the Main Stream Media decides, in mass, to simply stop doing their jobs. When the main stream media (most importantly the print media) decides to elect one candidate instead of reporting the news and investigating the facts, the real electorate is left with a lot of questions and a whole lot of fear. That is where we are today.

The right wing blogosphere is erupting with the story of a video tape they claim is so explosive it could and would, by itself, cost Barack Obama the election. The LA Times has admitted it has the tape and has had it for months. They claim it's nothing, certainly not news. But, so far, they refuse to release it. Now that does strike me as odd. And it's the stuff conspiracies are made of.

All agree the tape in question does show Barack Obama at a party for radical Islamist Rashid Khalidi along with the left wing anti-war group Not In My Name, the Electronic Intifada, and the ex-Weatherman domestic terrorists Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. Supposedly Obama gave a speech heaping high praise upon Khalidi and, according to others, spoke harshly of Israel and the jews.

Except we don't really know, because absolutely no one in the media has bothered to lift a pencil in reporting this relationship, or the event in question.

Much worse malfeasance on the part of the MIA MSM is their failure to look into the money flow (called money laundering by many on the right) into Obama's campaign. It has been proven that Obama's campaign has turned a blind eye toward the source of the massive cash inflow, reportedly 150 million dollars last month. It is entirely possible that the hundreds of millions of dollars Obama has used to swamp McCain came from one single individual or a small group of individuals or even a foreign country or terrorist group.

All this happened (whatever may have happened) with the willful cooperation of the Obama campaign which disabled the normal name and address verification procedures for credit card donations. These are the facts we do know.

What is stunning is that the Main Stream Media has completely ignored what might be the biggest story of any election in history.

While the media was completely enraptured with front page story after front page story about Sarah Palin's wardrobe, not one single reporter was looking into this gross and now proven (thanks to the bloggers who investigated themselves) violation of campaign fund raising procedures. The MSM is still trying hard to ignore the story.

I don't think for a minute that Barack Obama is the pawn of either Islamic militants bent of the destruction of Israel or he is the pawn of George Soros or a small cabal of liberal kingmakers. Although I am certain his campaign is grossly violating campaign fund raising laws.

But we don't know. We just don't know. Because the adoring press won't or can't ask any tough questions. Not of Obama or anyone on his team.

The Sinking of the MSM Titanic

There are a few others, mostly conservatives, in both the traditional media and the blogosphere who clearly see the complete unraveling of the Main Stream Media. Chris Muir, cartoonist writing the Day by Day strip certainly gets it. If you have any trouble reading the above cartoon, please link over to the Day by Day Website for a full sized version.

Faced with the dilemma of choosing between the ethics of journalism and their dedication to the man they genuinely believe must become President of the United States, these pseudo journalists are consistently choosing politics over professionalism.

Make no mistake about it, these people genuinely believe that Barack Obama must become President. This isn't some vast left wing conspiracy to deprive the world of real news.

Instead these are zealots who have convinced themselves they are doing the right thing. A kind of "group think" mentality sets in that allows people who were at one time idealistic journalists to begin to overlook their ethics and their responsibilities. Stories get buried. Reporters are never assigned to certain stories. Key questions simply are never asked. Words and phrases are changed.

But the results are extremely serious. I have another entry coming up on this later today or tomorrow.......

The Death of Journalism, 2008

UPDATE; October 28, 2008 8:00 am: ABC News columnist Michael Malone has updated, edited and expanded the essay discussed below and ABC NEWS has published it on the flagship ABC NEWS Website. This searing indictment of the election coverage of 2008 is a must read essay. Link over to ABC NEWS and read the entire essay now: Media's Presidential Bias and Decline

- - - - - -

ABC News columnist Michael Malone, curiously writing in Pajamas Media, has a must read essay that documents the death of journalism in the United States during the 2008 election. Please link over and read the entire essay, even though it is rather long. Here are just a few of his key points:

The traditional media is playing a very, very dangerous game. With its readers, with the Constitution, and with its own fate. The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I’ve found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer. But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I’ve begun — for the first time in my adult life — to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was “a writer”, because I couldn’t bring myself to admit to a stranger that I’m a journalist...... .....what I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side - or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for Senators Obama and Biden. If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as President of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography. That isn’t Sen. Obama’s fault: his job is to put his best face forward. No, it is the traditional media’s fault, for it alone (unlike the alternative media) has had the resources to cover this story properly, and has systematically refused to do so...... .....The absolute nadir (though I hate to commit to that, as we still have two weeks before the election) came with Joe the Plumber. Middle America, even when they didn’t agree with Joe, looked on in horror as the press took apart the private life of an average person who had the temerity to ask a tough question of a Presidential candidate. So much for the Standing Up for the Little Man, so much for Speaking Truth to Power, so much for Comforting the Afflicting and Afflicting the Comfortable, and all of those other catchphrases we journalists used to believe we lived by.

What frightens me the most, Mr. Malone, is that my fellow liberals cannot see or simply refuse to see what is happening right before our eyes. Believe me, this will come back to haunt us all.

Why the Media's Mistreatment of Sarah Palin is So Important

The mainstream media and liberal/progressive blogosphere's grossly unfair treatment of Sarah Palin is not really an issue in this years campaign, at least as far as I'm concerned. Governor Palin herself has rarely complained and it does go with the territory. When you are plucked out of nowhere and placed in center stage the media is going to investigate, research and then test the new star.

And frankly, she did scare the heck out of the Democrats and Obama supporters with good cause. Barack Obama's egotistical elimination of Hillary Clinton as Vice President rubbed millions of Americans the wrong way. The left believed that McCain's Vice Presidential pick had to be destroyed in order to keep the Democrat faithful in the fold.

I do not fault any Democrat or liberal/progressive pundit or blogger for their full throated objection to everything Sarah Palin represents. Hell, it's just good politics.

What is really important is what many are calling the "death of modern journalism." When our journalists consciously make a decision to throw the election to one candidate over another, we are genuinely lost as a society.

But make no mistake, journalism is dead. Deader than a doornail. And Sarah Palin is the poster child. It all happened when the mainstream media decided to become the tabloid media. Not one reporter ever made even a pretend passing effort to actually investigate Palin, instead 100% of the effort was to dig up dirt, find embarrassing skeletons in the closet or outright fabricate totally false stories that make the Brothers Grimm look like non-fiction writers.

This all finally got to be too much for Newt Gingrich last night and he literally exploded in one of the most brilliant rants I've even been privileged to hear. Both the video and the copy follow. And Gingrich is 100% correct in every word he utters.

The elite media's attack on Governor Palin again and again has been factually wrong, intellectually dishonest, totally biased, worthy of the Polish State news media attacking Lech Walesa back in the 1980's. I mean this is the type of deliberate, vicious, dishonest, total distortion of who Governor Palin is including by the way, the Saturday Night Live Skit some of which by the way, I think were slander and were worthy of a lawsuit. And, I think the American people should realize that the elite media on the Left is so desperate to elect Barack Obama that the view they are giving you of Governor Palin is fundamentally a falsehood. And, the one you saw from CNN is so outrageous that they owe her an absolute apology. But frankly, Katie Couric misquoted Henry Kissinger, earlier than that, ABC News misquoted the Bush Doctrine. Again and again you've seen elite reporters do things that were false in order to try to make Governor Palin look bad... If you would look at the coverage Michelle Obama has gotten and the coverage that Cindy McCain has gotten you have to believe that the fix is in. When you look at the magazine covers, the pictures that were taken, again and again, over and over for the last year we have been brainwashed, propagandized, insultingly lectured by the news media. If you look what happened to Joe the Plumber... Now, I haven't seen anyone from the elite media do a live broadcast from the non-existent Katie's Restaurant to point out that Joe Biden is just out of touch with reality. He's either dishonest or has a total memory lapse about his hometown. Yet, nobody notices it. Again and again there were 14 factual mistakes by Biden in the vice-presidential debate. Nobody said that disqualified him. This has been a totally one-sided campaign where the news media has been the best ally that Barack Obama has gotten. And we ought to be honest about it. There's no pretense, not a shred of neutrality on the part of the major networks or The New York Times... I've been thinking about having one of my researchers look at every single elite media interview of Governor Palin to see if any of them asked her how she gave $1300 a person back to Alaskans as a tax break, how she negotiated and got so much money out of Big Oil, how she worked out the deal for the natural gas pipeline, or anything of substance about how she shaped an $11 billion budget involving 29,000 employees of the state government. I don't believe by the best of my knowledge that there has been a single question by an elite television journalist about her actual career in Alaska. And, I think it is the most insulting. I can't say this too strongly. This is like watching Pravda. This is a one-sided vicious unending dishonest campaign.

GayPatriotWest (B. Daniel Blatt) also has an excellent article on the same issues. Be sure to link on over and read MSM More Interested in Palin Gossip than her Record

Sarah Palin is Very Qualified to be President

We have only a few days until we cast our votes for President and Vice President. In fact many of us have already voted.

I have so much I would like to write between now and November 4th, but I also have real world duties and obligations.

Before I do anyhing else, let me thank those who read and comment here. I do really appreciate the dialog discussion following the last several posts. I deeply appreciate the quality, the wisdom and the honest and civilized debate.

I have started and then discarded several columns outlining and defining my endorsement of John McCain and Sarah Palin for President and Vice President. They will receive my vote, although I still believe that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will win. It would be a huge upset if McCain and Palin pull this one out.

I certainly do not think for even one second that anything I write here will change a single vote. The world isn't waiting on the wisdom of the Wizard for their instructions.

I've looked at dozens of different issues in making this decision. In some areas, like health care, I feel that Barack Obama has the best program. In other areas, most notably foreign policy, I feel McCain is more correct.

There are two defining areas that tipped the scale in favor of McCain and Palin. The first is obvious, and that is that John McCain and Sarah Palin have the real world experience to hold the offices they seek. And while the same can be said of Joe Biden, it cannot be said of Barack Obama.

I've said often that Obama has never made a single tough decision in his entire life and it is tragically true. He has literally voted present his entire life and throughout his public career. Such a record is actually helpful when running for President because you have no history, no paper trail. There is nothing for the press to check (as if anyone in the press was actually looking at Obama's record). You can claim to stand for anything and no one can disagree. The bottom line is Obama gives great speeches. That's it.

Compared to Barack Obama, Sarah Palin is experienced, tested and ready. She has made the toughest decisions and handled intense and detailed negotiations and faced difficult situations. She has created and submitted budgets. She has worked with the legislature in order to get things done, get laws passed. And she excelled in every single effort, building a stunning 80% approval rate. She has been wildly successful in handling a damned tough job.

Obama, by contrast, can not point to a single accomplishment throughout his entire career beyond winning a Senate seat against only token (no offense intended) competition. He can't even point to any legislation. There is no McCain-Feingold anywhere in Obama's past.

Obama has good ideas and we should not diminish his wonderful ability to communicate. But we do not know what he really stands for, at least not from any real world examples.

Now the press and the left have been grossly unfair in handling Palin. Her mistreatment is stunning, yet she has rarely objected or complained. And recently, all the networks have noted, Palin has been the most available and most interviewed of all four candidates with more press availability every day than Obama, McCain and Biden combined. And she looks and sounds good.

I've read, heard and watched literally hundreds of news stories, articles and blog posts that criticized (or more correctly defamed) Governor Palin. I've not read a single one of importance, substance or credibility. Only those rare posts that discussed Palin's policies or positions were reasonable and fair. It is certainly fair to oppose her over issues like abortion rights or sexual rights or gay rights. I applaud those who support Obama and disagree with Palin because of those issues.

Now, before I depart this evening, I want to also mention the second deciding factor in my decision to endorse John McCain. I feel McCain has the best plans to handle the economy, taxes and Washington special interests. I will be writing a full and detailed column on this issue in the next few days.

What McCain Needs to Say.....

You can add me to the long, long list of bloggers who are already second guessing John McCain's performance even before the debate has begun.
I am deeply distressed that Senator McCain cannot gain traction against Barack Obama. Obama is a terribly flawed candidate, one who certainly should not be elected President.

I remain absolutely convinced that Barack Obama will win and win by a landslide. Can John McCain do anything tonight to stop the train wreck? No. So what McCain should do is simply argue policies and facts. He should leave William Ayers and Rev. Wright at home.

Two recent Wall Street Journal articles point out the road Senator McCain needs to follow. First is Obama's 95% Illusion which clearly point out the flaws and absolute fantasy of Barack Obama's constant claim of a tax cut for 95% of all Americans, and a tax increase only on the rich. Like the Journal, I remain stunned that McCain and the Republicans haven't blown this house of cards up before now. It is, quite simply, a lie. And it's a huge lie.

Obama's plan actually is a dramatic increase in welfare. And his plan increases welfare in a way that will dis-incentivize people from working or improving their job or salary. If people get a better job, they will actually lose money.

Worse, it's a plan that will institutionalize poverty. Obama's plan will pass out a lot of checks to people who pay no taxes. But the checks will be too small to lift people out of poverty. Yet his program actually penalizes those who try. We will create the largest underclass in history, permanently on the dole.

Second McCain needs to genuinely attack Barak Obama on his absolute failure to lead during the fight for legislation that could have saved the world from this huge Banking Crisis. Again, I'll reference a Wall Street Journal article, Obama Voted 'Present' on Mortgage Reform

I must also reference my own essay from October 11th, We're About to Elect a Good Listener When We Need a Strong Leader which covers all the same facts. I can only assume, since my essay preceded the Journal article by 4 days, that they are reading my stuff...... O.K., probably not.

The Journal article is much better and much more complete than my own. You need to read every word to really understand why this collapse happened and how it was that the Democrats, and not Republicans, authored "the only banking deregulation in recent years." We are reffing to the Democrats deregulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage lenders who caused the subprime disaster.

While Barack Obama wasn't the only villain in this meltdown, he could have personally stopped it. And, worse yet, he clearly saw the disaster in the making and yet he did nothing.

The Journal writes, "In the summer of 2005, a bill emerged from the Senate Banking Committee that considerably tightened regulations on Fannie and Freddie, including controls over their capital and their ability to hold portfolios of mortgages or mortgage-backed securities. All the Republicans voted for the bill in committee; all the Democrats voted against it. To get the bill to a vote in the Senate, a few Democratic votes were necessary to limit debate. This was a time for the leadership Sen. Obama says he can offer, but neither he nor any other Democrat stepped forward."

"Instead, by his own account, Mr. Obama wrote a letter to the Treasury Secretary, allegedly putting himself on record that subprime loans were dangerous and had to be dealt with. This is revealing; if true, it indicates Sen. Obama knew there was a problem with subprime lending -- but was unwilling to confront his own party by pressing for legislation to control it. As a demonstration of character and leadership capacity, it bears a strong resemblance to something else in Sen. Obama's past: voting present."

These are just two of the real issues Senator McCain needs to address. There are several others, but Bill Ayers is not among them. Senator McCain, you cannot win. So you need to fight with class and bring the real issues of the election to a public that, frankly, does not want to see them.

A Reality Check Courtesy of Michelle Malkin

O.K., can we all come back to earth now? I mean the escalation of abject stupidity is now stratospheric. If we fly any higher we will all singe our wings on the sun and crash in flames to the earth.

No one is soaring higher than Frank Rich, who has never had any ties to the mother earth. He really believes he is a certified genius and the world's most learned student of history and politics. This, of course, has never been true and his flights of fantasy are numerous and far flung.

Often we mere mortals realize he is simply shooting off gas and we ride along for amusement, laughing at him and not with him. But I do tire of his constant effort to explain matters simple beyond his meager comprehension through his use of tired analogies and historically incorrect references. I'll cite an example in a moment, but let me broaden the discussion to other liberal, progressive and left wing narrators of current events.

The (totally false) story today across the blogosphere and main stream media wasteland is that the McCain and Palin devotes are raging out of control and may well explode into full blown revolution. Murder and mayhem are in the offing, if we can believe what we read. Conservatives are, we are told, certifiably insane.

This is all because of a couple of questions poised at John McCain's virtually constant Town Hall Meetings and catcalls during Sarah Palin's mega-rallies. Trust me when I tell you the media had to film and them ignore countless hours of thoughtful questions and great speeches to locate and explode these occasional outbursts.

Then they still had to carefully edit the sloganeering to eliminate the intelligent and calming responses from Senator McCain himself (or "that one" as I prefer to call him).

Enter the Frank Rich's of the world (and his cohorts are legion). Let me actually begin with Paul Krugman writing today in the New York Times (I will get to Rich later, I promise). Krugman is simply terrified as he writes:

“Something very ugly is taking shape on the political scene: as McCain’s chances fade, the crowds at his rallies are, by all accounts, increasingly gripped by insane rage…What happens when Obama is elected? It will be even worse than it was in the Clinton years. For sure there will be crazy accusations, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some violence.”

Not to be outdone (and to prove beyond a doubt he is an astute student of history and mankind) Franks Rich implies Sarah Palin and John McCain are engaging in behavior that will assure Barack Obama is assassinated. Rich's logic and his inferences are astonishing:

"Some voters told reporters that they didn’t want Obama to run, let alone win, should his very presence unleash the demons who have stalked America from Lincoln to King. After consultation with Congress, Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, gave Obama a Secret Service detail earlier than any presidential candidate in our history — in May 2007, some eight months before the first Democratic primaries." ".......what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist.” He is “palling around with terrorists” (note the plural noun). Obama is “not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops." "By the time McCain asks the crowd “Who is the real Barack Obama?” it’s no surprise that someone cries out “Terrorist!” The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama’s middle name by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-a-Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers’s Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today."

You've just got to love Rich's tossing in the phrase "Wiemar-like rage" to be certain that is brilliantly educated, elite readers understand the Palin and McCain are actually inciting their followers to assassinate someone or everyone of a different race, color or religion.

For those of you who haven't studied pre-World War II history lately, the phrase is used (very often by Rich and many progressive bloggers) to compare the actions of Republicans to the actions of Hitler in inciting mob violence in order to build the Third Reich. Often, in fear that readers might miss the not-so-subtle point , Rich and others simply call their opponents Reich-Wing Republicans. Isn't that clever?

Thank goodness there is someone writing this Sunday who has an ounce of intelligence and a simple sense of balance and perspective. There is someone who can actually look at both sides of the coin. There is someone to provide a "reality check."

Who knew the voice of reason and rational thought would be none other than Michelle Malkin? I hope what I have written above has peaked your interest, because I refuse to spoil one sentence of Malkin's brilliant blog entry by repeating it here. Please just link immediately over to Crush the Obamedia narrative: Look who’s “gripped by insane rage”
After reading Malkin the only word you'll be able to use to describe Frank Rich and his friends is "hypocrite."

America Burns while McCain Fiddles

Sad to say my time machine is broken. But I would love to travel back in time to the stock market crash of 1929 and listen to the discussions President Herbert Hoover had with his Cabinet and advisers. Do you suppose he was just a clueless as Barack Obama and John McCain are tonight?

I'm betting he didn't realize what the stock market crash meant. He thought it would recover. He didn't see the Great Depression coming.

Neither did a vast majority of the population. But the economic landslide was relentless.

But tonight most Americans are starting to realize they have lost 1/3 of their life's savings and/or their retirement fund. Folks that thought they could retire at 59 or even 65 now realize they may need to work the rest of their lives. Retirement is no longer an option.

People on fixed incomes or living today off their 401K's realize they are moments away from losing their homes or worse.

And they realize that neither Barack Obama nor John McCain will have the money to institute their proposed Medical Programs.

And many people really fear they might be laid off before Christmas. Those fears are well founded.

The current disaster is far worse than the stock market crash of 1929.

John McCain is genuinely clueless. He actually believes this election is about Barak Obama's relationship with distinguished University of Illinois at Chicago Professor (and unrepentant radical terrorist) William Ayers.

Wake the hell up, John. Americans couldn't give a rat's ass about Ayers. In fact Americans would overwhelmingly elect Ayers if they thought he could solve this financial mess.

And America is already scared as hell of Barack Obama. Trust me, we are terrified. And it doesn't have anything to do with Ayers. So give us an alternative. Show some real leadership.

I realize that you must attack Obama. It's part of the campaign mix and negative ads so work. So hit Obama where it will really hurt: Barack Obama's total lack of experience and timid decision making. Obama hasn't ever managed his way out of a Senate cloak room. He generally refused to make decisions. He's inexperienced and weak.

Give America an alternative. But if you continue to ignore the 8 trillion ton gorilla in the room, we are all going to lose.

As the Economy Melts, Do One Reporter's Minor Observations Matter?

I certainly intended to ignore this simple little non-story, a minor blog entry by CBS News Reporter Dean Reynolds. Oh, I read it with amused interest, one of a dozen or more blog entries I digested this afternoon.

What caught my eye was the horrific and deranged hate replies Reynold's essay inspired.

Here's a link to the original Reynold's essay: Reporter's Notebook: Seeing How The Other Half Lives

In what seemed to me to be a harmless interest story, Reynolds compared the relaxed atmosphere, the slow pace and the meticulous organization of the McCain campaign versus the frantic, high powered and terribly disorganized management of the Obama campaign. While Reynold's was complimented the McCain campaign for helping reporters, he clearly noted that McCain, with only a single appearance most days, was not putting forth the effort one might expect from someone being clobbered in the polls.

But read what poster gizmogainous wrote in reply to the Reynold's essay. He was so enraged he (or she) posted similar entries multiple times:

Awww-poor little crybaby-no one was nice to him....... Also, if you think anyone would listen to a guy who is clearly a racist hack--did you really write that he had a stinky plane?!? What, because he is a black guy??? I guess you must be Sarah's new lover since she had to get rid of the last one. I have never been this mad about an article--you really should be fired. I would be very interested to know more about your background so maybe I could understand this ignorant excuse for journalism. You are a lowlife punk.

There are dozens more that attack the reporter over a seemingly minor story. Why? And, as an aside, aren't we tired of constant cries of racism dripping from the lips of every Obama supporter? But I digress.

Do Obama supporters fear this little blog entry might reflect a larger issue in the Obama campaign" You know the logic = If Barack Obama can't run a campaign, can he possibly run a country?

I wouldn't put too much stock in that logic. President Clinton's campaign was often similarly disorganized. It's a campaign.

More likely, Obama supporters fear this entire article reflects a change in the relationship between Obama and the press.

Dean Reynolds does complain about access to Obama: "The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure."

Is the press corp beginning to behave like a scorned lover? They have given Obama way more love than Obama ever deserved.

Reynold's does finish his essay with: "Maybe none of this means much. Maybe a front-running campaign like Obama's that is focused solely on victory doesn't have the time to do the mundane things like print up schedules or attend to the needs of reporters.

But in politics, everything that goes around comes around."

Indeed.

Could We Have a Mulligan?

I enjoyed a series of conversations during the day that speak volumes about the current and generally unexpected economic meltdown and the terribly poor timing of the 2008 Presidential election. Talk about an October surprise. This is an October Nuclear Explosion.

I hope every one of you, readers and passersby all, will add your thoughts in the comments section.

Here's the question: What if the primaries were held tomorrow, not months ago. Who would you nominate from each party, in light of the economic meltdown?

The consensus in discussions earlier today was that neither Obama nor McCain would get their party's nod. Obama is way to inexperienced. McCain way too weak in the area of the economy.

Many folks feel we really need Republican Mitt Romney at the helm. He is an acknowledged economic genius. And he has solved big, big crisis in the past.

Many folks feel we need Hillary Clinton's experience and that Bill's advice and counsel would be critical in handling what could be a major depression.

What do you all think?

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P.S. I thought tonight's debate was simply terrible. Boring. Tom Brokaw was worse than Gwen Ifill and I thought that would be impossible. The questions were old and tired. The answers were right from the stump speeches. And there was never a follow-up or a demand for clarification.

Did Obama really win? The early polls say he did. I'm not so sure Obama won. I'm positive McCain lost.

But before you pull that lever on November 4th remember one thing: Barack Obama has never made one single tough decision in his entire life. Not one. Not ever.

He makes a good speech. But he tends to vote present or miss the vote or dodge the issue as he did last week during the bailout debate. Give it some thought.

The End of the World as We Know It

It's really ugly out there.

I'm not sure where to start. But I don't like what I see. It is ugly out there.

John McCain has decided to play ugly. Really ugly. I'd like to be able to devote an entire entry to the mistakes John McCain and his advisers are making in this campaign. I believe Barack Obama is vulnerable. But not to the type of attacks McCain is contemplating.

The press and main stream media are really ugly. Journalism is indeed dead. Way too many editors, publishers, reporters, newsrooms, magazines and newspapers have an agenda. And it is interfering with their their ability to fairly report the news. And most of them don't realize what they are doing. It's all about the O. This is so ugly. And we the people are being so short changed.

And the economy is ugly. Really ugly. We are headed right into a major depression. Not just a recession, but stagflation, too. Prepare today for double digit inflation. And double digit unemployment. Life as we have known it is about to come to an end.

I wish I had confidence that Barack Obama could handle all of this. I don't. He is in way over his head. You want a frightening dose of reality. Obama has never made a single tough decision in his entire life. Not one. Not ever. But he's about to learn. On the job training.

Of course nobody is discussing this. The main stream media is orgasmic. It's all about the O. Oh, and Sarah Palin. Let's not forget the fluffy bunny from Nome. The press is so obsessed with her.

Oh look, it is all about the O's. Obama and obsession.

Meanwhile John McCain is lost in endless and meaningless cycles of Ayers and Wright. If McCain can't handle this election, why would we think he could handle the economy?

A fluff bunny could beat Barack Obama. Oh wait, maybe a fluff bunny will.

Change.

Be careful what you wish for. Things are going to change. It's the end of the world as we know it.

The Wolverine

It was another great debate. I was terribly impressed with the Obama McCain debate last week. I assumed, incorrectly as it turns out, that tonight would be simply terrible. Far from it. Tonight was a very entertaining evening.

My favorite quote of the night comes, not from the candidates, but from Howard Fineman on MSNBC late tonight. Fineman said (and I'm working from memory here), "I've always wondered what a wolverine looked like. Tonight we saw it. Palin was like a wolverine chewing through plywood."

O.K. I thought Senator Joe Biden won the debate. He was knowledgeable, poised and articulate. He also had passion.

And I am so very pleased with Senator Biden's position and support for the people in Darfur. Senator Biden is willing to lay it all on the line. Darfur needs and deserves that kind of support from the United States.

I believe Biden is actually much stronger, more forceful and more committed than Barack Obama on many issues, especially the genocide in Darfur. Obama is very fortunate to have Biden on the ticket.

But, while Biden clearly won the debate, Governor Sarah Palin gained tremendous credibility. She was strong, articulate, forceful and just damned tough. She definitely got the better of Biden on several occasions.

Now I do believe that Obama's victory on November 4th is still on track unless McCain can somehow win landslide victories in both of the next two debates.

But Obama needs to hope the McCain campaign continues to very foolishly keep Palin under wraps. If the Republicans were to turn her loose, she might just chew through Obama's lead like wolverine through plywood.

Gwen Ifill Can, Should and Must Resign Immediately

Gwen Ifill can, should and must resign immediately as the moderator of tomorrow night's Vice Presidential Debate. Her conflict of interest is the size of the Grand Canyon. Ifill is writing an iconic Obama book that is pre-planned to release on the very day Obama will be inaugurated as President in 2009 (yes, Obama will win; stop worrying about it).

If, somehow, McCain were to win, Ifill's bookn would be an publishing and financial disaster. Ifill has a huge financial interest in insuring that Obama wins the election.

To make matters worse, YouTube has gone viral with Ifill videos that prove beyond any doubt that she is in the tank for Obama, and that Ifill is not capable of being fair to Palin.



Ifill won't resign, of course, and so everybody loses. Well, everybody except perhaps, Sarah Palin. This is a virtual get out of jail free card for Palin. No matter how badly Palin does in the debate, it will be easy to argue that Ifill was unfair. That's because Ifill lacks any professional journalistic ethics. Because if Ifill had one ounce of integrity, this would never have happened.

At this point I have virtually no remaining respect for Gwen Ifill. And frankly, she deserves no respect. I would be hopeful that PBS would actually discharge her for her astounding lack of professionalism.

If Gwen Ifill cares at all about her reputation, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.

If Gwen Ifill cares at all about journalistic ethics, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.

If Gwen Ifill cares at all about fairness, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.

And finally, if Gwen Ifill cares at all about Barack Obama, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.

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UPDATE: October 2, 2008 - Mary over at FREEDOM EDEN forgoes her usual rant and has posted a thoughtful and restrained review of Gwen Ifill's Omission.

A Failure of Leadership

Warren Buffett has called the current crisis an "Economic Pearl Harbor." But can you imagine what December 7, 1940 might have been like if we hadn't had the inspirational leadership of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt?

If today's crisis is the economic equivalent of Pearl Harbor, what is missing the leadership to rally and galvanize the American Public into action. As the American ship of state sinks into an economic cesspool, no captain has emerged to organize the crew to begin bailing out the water and turning the ship's weapons toward the fight.

Missing in action is President Bush. The worst kind of lame duck, Captain Bush was late to spot the economic mine fields and slow to steer the ship past the danger. It goes without saying that Bush is no Roosevelt.

But the two would-be Captains were even worse. Both abandoned ship and instead worked to organize the crew into competing water polo teams. Suddenly the object was not to save the ship, but to "win the game."

Obama's phone-it-in failure is especially bad. Not that the press or public is paying any critical attention to Obama, but he is doing what he always does, he is "voting present." Even in the heat of the House vote yesterday, Obama never ever endorsed the plan. In fact he has never admitted any support or opposition for the plan. He is completely invisible.

Obama's pathetic performance over the last week may well win him the election. but it should actually disqualify him from the office. The pubic and the press will long regret giving Obama a free pass in this election. You cannot vote "present" during the biggest economic crisis of our time.

On the other hand, McCain flopped and floundered like a wounded fish. At first he attempted to take on the role of leader. He flew to Washington and assume the role of Captain. Except he, too, refused to actually take a position on the bailout. His failed attempt at action came off as political grandstanding.

America really wanted a leader. McCain should have opposed the bailout. I believe that was his natural inclination. But he didn't. Yet he failed to actually rally enough house support to get the compromise bill passed.

The debate last Friday night was revealing. Moderator Jim Leher allowed Obama to skate completely by the issue with making any kind of commitment, but then pressed McCain repeatedly and forced him to commit his very weak and tentative support.

It was a test of leadership. Obama cut class and never took the test. He, instead went to the mall. McCain took the test, but failed.

It would be really remiss of me not to point out the biggest failure of leadership was the "worst Speaker of the House in American history." Pathetic. Once again Speaker Nancy Pelosi could have easily and simply engineered a landslide victory for the bill in the House. But, as I have often pointed out, Pelosi doesn't care about America or the people, she only cares about cheer leading the water polo game.

While some Republicans falsely blamed Pelosi's incredibly tone deaf speech on the House floor for "poisoning the vote" her real failure was in poisoning the entire process. She constantly marginalized Republicans and typically refused any effort at bipartisanship.

She falsely claimed to support the bailout, but never organized the Democrats or attempted to whip the vote. Virtually every Democrat Party leader in the House except Pelosi and Barney Frank voted against the bailout. And she demonized Republicans every second of the day. She demanded bipartisanship from Republicans but practiced none.

Any other Speaker of the House in our nation's history (and I mean any) could have easily passed the bill. Only Pelosi failed. She must be removed from her role in the House.

... and what are you blogging about?

Eleanor Roosevelt was very wise. One of Roosevelt's most famous and oft repeated quotes is especially true today.

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."

There are several great and serious issues we face today. The economy is literally moments away from collapse. Iran is perhaps six months away from having a nuclear bomb and significant means to deliver that bomb to Israel and perhaps Europe. Our health care system is on the verge of implosion.

Joe Biden's misstatements or Sarah Palin's spat with a neighbor years ago are not serious issues. This is just gossip. Gossip worthy of Entertainment Tonight, hardly worth discussing in a Presidential Election.

We are preoccupied with gotcha questions. Katie Couric "got" to Joe Biden yesterday. He looked silly and out of touch. But, after failing to press Biden on the serious questions or dealing with the life and death issues we face today, the press complained they couldn't get access to Sarah Palin. What a surprise.

Elections have often deteriorated this way. That doesn't make it any less tragic.

As we post blogs each day, please try to remember the wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt.