Big Dogs Weblog

Did Obama Bite Off More Than He Can Chew?

Sep 18, 2008 Political

I have read all the rantings over John McCain’s ads last week and how some people say they are full of lies. People lost their minds when John McCain accurately stated that Barack Obama wanted to teach sex education to kindergarten children. Obama and his supporters claim that it only dealt with inappropriate touching so children would know when someone was doing something wrong. Turns out that the curriculum that Obama wanted followed is absolutely inappropriate for children of that age and goes way beyond protection of children.

But the yappers were out screaming and when Karl Rove said that both campaigns were taking one step too far and distorting the truth the liberals, who live with their heads stuck someplace that blocks their ears, only picked up the part about McCain. Then they actually agreed with Rove, something I never thought I would see. Obama vowed to fight back. He is going to hit hard. Actually, he is just putting out statements taken out of context and telling lies. That is all OK but it would be nice if the same liberals who cried about their perception of McCain lying would go after The One.

I guess they don’t really have to go after him. Barack Obama did something really stupid today. He put out an ad that targeted Hispanics and the ad is in Spanish. The ad criticizes McCain and says he lied to the illegals. One can debate McCain’s record of reaching out to the Hispanic community. His support for amnesty was a major reason people were not enthusiastic with his nomination. If not for Sarah Palin, McCain would be toast. No, Obama can lie, in fact he did, about McCain’s record because this is politics and that is what happens. When a man runs scared he abandons his principles. No, Obama attacked Rush Limbaugh and he used two quotes from Limbaugh completely out of context. The use is so inaccurate that there is no way to look at it except as a deliberate distortion of the record; a lie.

Just so people know, the ad indicates that Limbaugh said “…stupid and unskilled Mexicans” and “You shut your mouth or you get out!”

The problem with this is that they are completely out of context. Here is what was said:

Railing against NAFTA in 1993, Limbaugh said, “If you are unskilled and uneducated, your job is going south. Skilled workers, educated people are going to do fine ’cause those are the kinds of jobs NAFTA is going to create. If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people, I’m serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do — let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.”

Not one of his most eloquent moments, to be sure, but his larger point was that NAFTA would mean that unskilled stupid Mexicans would be doing the jobs of unskilled stupid Americans.

~snip~

[while describing Mexican immigration law]
“And another thing: You don’t have the right to protest. You’re allowed no demonstrations, no foreign flag waving, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our President or his policies. You’re a foreigner: shut your mouth or get out! And if you come here illegally, you’re going to jail. ABC

Limbaugh said that if there are jobs for stupid and unskilled people then stupid and unskilled Mexicans can do them rather than stupid and unskilled Americans. The second part is when he is telling people the Mexican immigration law. He is telling people what the Mexican government’s position is. People do not have to agree with the point of view he expressed but Stevie Wonder can see that the Obama ad is a huge, deliberate lie.

Why is this a mistake for Obama? Barack Obama has to pay for airtime when he wants to run an ad. Every time he wants to put up an ad it costs him money. Rush Limbaugh has three hours of airtime each and every workday and he does not have to pay to get it. In fact they pay him to be on. Admittedly, Limbaugh has been on Obama’s case but truth be told, until McCain picked Palin Limbaugh was not on board with him. I don’t think McCain and Limbaugh like each other.

The point though, is that Limbaugh could unleash on Obama for three hours a day and he could have all those authors on for interviews. You know, the ones that Obama supporters try to shut down on orders from The One; the Constitutional lawyer who wants to deny others their right to express their views. Yes, Limbaugh could start taking all kinds of Obama quotes and using them out of context and he could keep playing that stuff for three hours a day, five days a week and it would not cost him a dime.

Obama would be forced to answer some of the allegations especially when they start going on the Internet and become viral. I just don’t think it was smart of Obama to pick a fight with a guy who talks for a living, reaches tens of millions of people a week, and has all the airtime and resources he wants to attack as much as he wants.

It was a boneheaded thing for Obama to do. Before anyone dismisses Limbaugh’s audience as a bunch of conservatives, he attracts a lot of Independents and that is the demographic that will decide the election. He might even convert some of the liberals who listen to him (we know they are there).

Do you suppose the same media that just last week called McCain sleazy will have the same to say about Obama?

Right……

Others:
Washington Post | Rush Limbaugh | Politico

Tags: ad, Democrats, immigrants, liberals, mexicans, obama lies, Rush Limbaugh, sleazey ads

Time to Set Obama Straight

Jan 29, 2008 Political

Barack Obama is running as the candidate of change (that is the buzz word this cycle) and he wants us to know that he will make things in Washington different. This is the same claim that all candidates make and none of them ever do anything except spend money. Obama took the opportunity to record his own response to President Bush’s State of the Union. Fortunately, there is a transcript so we can set this young buck straight.

• Tonight’s State of the Union was full of the same empty rhetoric the American people have come to expect from this President. We heard President Bush say he’d do something to cut down on special interest earmarks, but we know these earmarks have skyrocketed under his administration.

It is important to remember that the president does not put in the earmarks, he just signs the bills and Bush has signed way too many. Members of Congress put the earmarks in and this is an old practice that has gotten worse over the years. As a matter of fact Senator Obama, you put in nearly 400 MILLION dollars in earmarks this last year. You can talk change and say that they have increased under this president bu the fact is both parties are doing it and you are one of the very people who is earmarking millions of taxpayer dollars. So tell me again about empty rhetoric.

• We heard the President say he wants to make tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent, when we know that at a time of war and economic hardship, the last thing we need is a permanent tax cut for Americans who don’t need them and weren’t even asking for them. What we need is a middle class tax cut, and that’s exactly what I will provide as President.

I did not hear the president say anything about tax cuts for the rich. He said we need to make the tax cuts permanent. Those tax cuts were across the board but you are probably too dense to understand that people who pay the taxes get the money back. The president said that there would be 115 million people whose tax would increase if the cuts were not made permanent. I have news for you Senator, there are not 115 million rich people paying taxes in this country so that must mean that the average wage earners will be hurt by this. Logically, that means that average wage earners are benefiting from the tax cuts. The whole idea about tax cuts for the rich is a tired song that uninformed Democrats sing when they are playing class warfare. Therefore the Middle class did get a tax cut and what is more, millions of people who paid no taxes at all will be getting money from the government as part of the stimulus package. One other thing, the bottom 50% of wage earners pay about 3.5% of the taxes in this country so how are you going to give them a tax cut? The top 25% of wage earners pay 86% of the taxes so what we would have is a redistribution of wealth, or Socialism.

• We heard the President say he has a stimulus plan to boost our economy, but we know his plan leaves out seniors and fails to expand unemployment insurance, and we know it was George Bush’s Washington that let the banks and financial institutions run amok, and take our economy down this dangerous road. What we need to do now is put more money in the pockets of workers and seniors, and expand unemployment insurance for more people and more time. And I have a plan that to do just that.

As I already stated, the stimulus package gives money to a lot of people who have no financial stake in this country. They do not make enough to pay taxes and they get benefits from the government and now they are getting checks paid for by others. The stimulus package is a bad idea and it will only provide, at best, a short term solution. There are a number of other things that need to be done to get the economy up and running. Let us also be clear that the Congress has a great deal of responsibility for banks run amok and the housing crisis. Congress made a bunch of rules that forced financial institutions to make loans to people who would not otherwise qualify so as to prevent discrimination. Now those people cannot afford their homes and the government wants to fix the mess it created. Let financial institutions run themselves and decide who to loan their money to. Congress cannot get its own house in order so it should not be telling others how to do business.

• And finally, tonight we heard President Bush say that the surge in Iraq is working, when we know that’s just not true. Yes, our valiant soldiers have helped reduce the violence. Five soldiers gave their lives today in this cause, and we mourn their loss and pray for their families.

  But let there be no doubt - the Iraqi government has failed to seize the moment to reach the compromises necessary for an enduring peace. That was what we were told the surge was all about. So the only way we’re finally going to pressure the Iraqis to reconcile and take responsibility for their future is to immediately begin the responsible withdrawal of our combat brigades so that we can bring all of our combat troops home.

The surge is absolutely working. You cry about the Iraqi government not responding quickly enough. They have failed to seize the moment. So tell me Senator, how are they any different from our government? You people do not work any faster, you take off more days a year than you work (you and the others have been campaigning for a year) and you do things slowly. You do not work together, you cannot get anything passed and you are extremely dysfunctional. To top it off Barack, we are not at war here so it is not like you all have to worry about getting killed trying to do your job. Leaving is not an option until we win but you will not have to worry. If your cowardly butt gets elected a bunch of those troops will probably not reenlist because no one wants to serve under a Commander in Chief who espouses defeat.

I will leave the rest of your little soapbox speech alone because I get quite sick reading all your lies and pleas for the poor folks and your desire for socialism. You continue to say that you are about change but you are no different than the rest of them. You deride people because they demonize opponents and then you spend 5 minutes doing that to the president.

President Bush is not the greatest President we have ever had but he is a hell of a lot better than the Carter and Clinton debacles. We have been safe despite your assertion to the contrary and under him we took the fight to our enemies. I know that pains you because you have relatives in the Muslim world but they are the enemy and you are either with us or you are against us.

You do not deserve to be the President of this country. You are a fraud and people will know about you the more you are out there. Hillary will destroy us and you will just bring more sex scandals[Obama sex scandal?] to the White House.

Other sources:
Obama’s Earmarks
National Taxpayer Union
Tax Foundation

Tags: correcting, Obama, obama lies, setting straight, speech